LBST 506 - Ancient Greek Philosophy

This course focuses on the relationship between ethics and metaphysics in Aristotle, Epicurus, and the Stoics. For these ancient thinkers, ethics begins with and focuses on the agent’s life as a whole. Their ethical theories view lives intricately embedded into the social context, and their distinctive approach to ethics takes root in natural science. The course seeks both to understand and situate the texts historically and to discover philosophical insights that remain relevant in the social and scientific context of the twenty-first century. Texts will include Aristotle’s Physics II, selections from the Nicomachean Ethics, the letters of Epicurus, and Stoic texts.

Unit(s): 0.5
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Notes: Graduate course. Offered summer 2024.