Grad Seminar in Philosophy - Fall 2007
Contents
Hellenistic Philosophy and the Problem of the Self
Course Description
The Hellenistic period offers us centuries of practice and development of distinctive approaches to philosophy, particularly in the relationship of philosophy to everyday life. In the post-Socratic period and again after Alexander, we continue to encounter cosmologies and metaphysics – the diversity of thought in the Mediterranean at this time is astounding, but the emphasis clearly falls, for Hellenistic thinkers, on practical philosophies of the best way to live. This way of doing philosophy makes the period particularly attractive for study because many of the central topics discussed by philosophers in this period are matters of real personal concern for most people today. At the same time, recent research in economics and psychology is proving once again the contemporary relevance of these Mediterranean and Middle Eastern thinkers.
The course will give us both an overview and some in depth study of the Hellenistic Period, but our larger goal is to connect the philosophical issues and problems of this period to contemporary philosophical concerns.
Book List
Here's a beggining book list. I suggest we all buy:
A.A. Long & D.N. Sedley, The Hellenistic Philosophers, Volume 1, Translations of the Principal Sources, Cambridge 0-521-27556-3 A.A. Long, Hellenistic Philosophy, 2nd Edition, California, 0-520-05808-9. Seneca, Moral Essays, Loeb Classical Library #214 Epictetus, The Discourses as reported by Arrian, Loeb Classical Library, 2 volumes
Project List
This is a rough list of topic areas which you my encounter as you begin your reading. We'll develop it in light of your expressed interests.
- Stoic influence on Christianity.
- Stoics and contemporary philosophy of emotion.
- Epicurus - philosophical hedonism old and new.
- Ancient vs. Moden Scepticism
- Happiness in Hellenistic Philsophy
- Foucault and the History of Sexuality
- The development of the concept of self in Roman hellenism and culture.
- Hellenism - East and West - before/after Alexander.
- Hellenistic materialism and the contemporary discussion of materialism.
- Hellenist Cosmopolitanism, Religion, Naturalism
