Classics 303; CRN 25790
Spring 2010
UH 12.00-1.20 pm; 111 Lillis
Malcolm Wilson (mwilson@uoregon.edu)
Office: 815 PLC; MWF 11-11.50am (346-4155)
Website: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~mwilson/Homepage.html

Aims of Course
Plato and his student Aristotle are the two most influential philosophers in the western tradition.  We shall study some basic ideas in the philosophy of Aristotle in the context of the contemporary debate in Plato’s Academy.  Our especial focus will be on philosophical method and the attendant techniques of knowledge, how they originated and what their purpose was. 

Evaluation
Weekly synopses and critiques due as appropriate (30%)
Research paper due Friday of the 9th week 8-10 pages (40%)
Final Exam (30%)

Books
Basic Works of Aristotle, ed. R. MacKeon
J. Barnes, Aristotle: a Very Short Introduction
texts of Plato are available on the net

Week 1
PreSocratic background to the Academy; History of the Corpus of Aristotle; Timeline
read: Barnes; Heraclitus; Parmenides;

Week 2
Categories 1-6 (11pp), Prior Analytics I.1-7 (12pp)

Week 3
Posterior Analytics I.1-11,34 (17pp); II; (28pp) Topics I  (18pp)

due Thusday: a synopsis on Posterior Analytics II.19 (please include word count and do not exceed 300 words)

Week 4
Physics  I-III (50pp)

due Thursday: a synopsis on Physics II.8 (300 words; include word count)

Week 5
Physics VIII (40pp) ;On the Heavens I and II.13 and 14 (39pp)

due Thursday: a synopsis on Physics VIII.1 (300 words; include word count)

Week 6
On the Soul (70pp)

Week 7
Metaphysics 1,3,4 (60pp)

Week 8
Metaphysics 7,8,9 (56pp) 

Week 9
Ethics I-III  (50pp)

Week 10
Ethics VI,VII,X; Review   (55pp)

Synopses and critiques are one to two page descriptions (no more than 500 words) of the Aristotelian passage under consideration.  You must paraphrase in your own words the argument Aristotle is making, and provide some comment on it at the same time.  Critique does not mean that you must provide a negative evaluation; it means that you must provide some insight not explicitly present in the text itself. 

Research papers are extended critical considerations of certain passages or questions in Aristotelian philosophy.  They must be argumentative, that is, they must keep an interpretation or thesis clearly before the reader.  In citing the text of Aristotle, you must use work, book, chapter and Bekker pagination (e.g. de Anima iii.4 429a15).   You must make use of at least four secondary sources (online resources do not count, with the exception of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and online versions of peer-reviewed journal articles, which are to be cited by the print format).  You must use standard footnote and bibliographical formats.