Professor Stefan Rodde
roddesw@yorku.ca
Office Location:  S417 Ross Building
Phone Number:  (416) 736-2100 Ext. 40901

Office Hours:  Office hours will be held on Mondays and Wednesdays, immediately following the lectures. If you are unavailable at those times, please contact me to arrange an online meeting.

This course is an introduction to the main figures and problems in ancient Greek philosophy. The course focuses on the views of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle but aims at a broader understanding of ancient Greek philosophy by relating the views of these thinkers to those of their predecessors (the Presocratic philosophers) and successors (the Hellenistic philosophers). Through a close reading of primary sources students gain a basic understanding of these thinkers’ views on a range of topics, such as the nature of reality, the nature of the soul and its relation to the body, the acquisition of knowledge and wisdom, and the good life for human beings. This is an introductory course. No prior knowledge of ancient Greek philosophy is required.

Technical requirements for taking the course:

Lectures: The lectures and tutorials for this course will be delivered in-person. You will need a computer with an internet connection to upload assignments and online commentaries

Here are some useful links for student computing information, resources and help:

Student Guide to Moodle

Zoom@YorkU Best Practices 

Zoom@YorkU User Reference Guide

Computing for Students Website

Student Guide to eLearning at York University

To determine Internet connection and speed, there are online tests, such as Speedtest, that can be run.]

Times and locations:

Lectures: The lectures for this course will be delivered in-person on Mondays and Wednesdays, 12:30-1:20. The Monday lectures are in DB 0006 (Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Building) and the Wednesday lectures are in CLH J (Curtis Lecture Hall).

Tutorials: The tutorials will also be delivered in-person. Please see your schedule for information about the location and time of your tutorial

Office Hours: Office hours will be held on Mondays and Wednesdays, immediately following the lectures. If you are unavailable at those times, please contact me to arrange an online meeting.

Plato. Plato,Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo, 2^nd ed.

Trans. by G.M.A. Grube, revised by John Cooper. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2002.

Aristotle. Aristotle: Introductory Readings. Trans. by Terence Irwin and Gail Fine.

Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1996.

Hellenistic Philosophy: Introductory Readings, 2^nd edition. Trans. by Brad Inwood

and L.P. Gerson. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1997.

Additional readings will be made available online.

Note: All of the readings in this course are translated from ancient Greek or Latin. Some translations are better than others. If you would like to use a different translation than one from the assigned texts, please talk to me first.

Reflective Summary (1). . . . . 25% (Due before material is covered in lecture)

Online Commentaries (10) . . 10% (Due before material is covered in lecture)

Essay (1). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35%

Tutorial participation. . . . . . . .10%

Final Exam. . . .  . . . . . . . . . . .20%

Lectures and tutorials will be delivered in-person. The final exam will scheduled by the Registrar and will also be written in-person. All other assignments will be submitted online.

By the end of this course you will have read selections from the works of a number of philosophers and you should have a basic familiarity with their views. In addition, you should have developed your ability to:

• Read and understand difficult and challenging texts
• Critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of arguments
• Appreciate unfamiliar ideas and points of view
• Express yourself clearly in discussion
• Write clearly, concisely and effectively in support of your claims

Additional Information:

• At the end of the course you will have the opportunity to complete a course evaluation. These evaluations are taken seriously. They enable us to improve the course design, and they figure prominently in the evaluation of instructors.
• A late penalty of 2%/day will be given for late assignments or essays.
• The online commentaries must be submitted before the start of lecture. The reflective summaries must be submitted before the material has been covered in class.

Course policies

[Insert your course policies on grading, assignment submission, tests and makeup tests, lateness penalties, etc. For language on these policies, please review the basic course outline provided by the Academic Standards, Curriculum & Pedagogy Committee.

If you will be including audio-visual recordings of your live sessions on Moodle, you may wish to include a course policy on how those recordings should be used by students. Please review the guidelines for the taking and use of photographs, video and audio recordings by York employees. Please note in your policy that 1) the recordings should be used for educational purposes only and as a means for enhancing accessibility; 2) students do not have permission to duplicate, copy and/or distribute the recordings outside of the class (these acts can violate not only copyright laws but also FIPPA); and 3) all recordings will be destroyed after the end of classes.

For some common language about academic integrity, and the online tools used to promote it, please see the text in blue font below. Please note that students should be able to opt out of Turnitin and remote proctoring, if they so choose. For the few students who opt out, they will need to inform you. For these students, please make alternative arrangements for assignment submission and/or assessment. Students who opt out should not be penalized in any way.]