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. After an introductory period of study, students will work with the professor to choose topics and readings for presentation to the class. Some common topics will be selected to fill in around student choices.
Book List
Here's a beginning 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.
- Hellenistic Cosmopolitanism, Religion, Naturalism
- Teleology across Hellenistic Philosophies: Cicero's On Ends.
Recent (or not so recent) Books suggesting other topics and lines of inquiry
- If you want to get into issues about personal identity or epistimology, you might check out Sorabji's "Self: Ancient and Modern Insights about Individuality, Life, and Death"
- Sorabji also wrote "Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation" which is an important exploration of some of the hardest issues in Stoic practice. His focus is on Stoic theory of emotion. It's pretty fascinating stuff.
- Julia Annas, "The Morality of Happiness" - This is a major historical study on Hellenistic thought. It's a good work to look at if you particularly interested in seeing how topics like happiness and ethics are more intimately related for ancients than for us.
- Shadi Bartsch, The Mirror of the Self: Sexuality, Self-Knowledge and the Gaze in the Early Roman Empire, is a fascinating work which explores the cultural meanings and relationship between the philosophical gaze and self-knowledge. Along the way you get treated to some interesting background on ancient optics and metaphor of the mirror in the representation of self-knoweledge.
- Shadi Bartsch also co-edited a collection of essays called "Erotikon: Essays on Eros Ancient and Modern". The first few of these bear on Platonic views of eros, Eros and the Roman Philosopher, and Eros in Augustine.
- Volumes 2 and 3 of Foucault's History of Sexuality informs a great deal of the new interpretive work on ancient culture and their concept of the self. You might want to browse these two volumes if you want topic ideas in this area.
