PHIL 301 - Ancient Philosophy

This course focuses on the relationship between ethics and metaphysics in Aristotle, Epicurus, the Stoics, and the Skeptics. 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.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Prerequisite(s): Two 200-level PHIL courses
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Notes: This course applies to the department’s ancient philosophy or ethics requirement.
Not offered: 2024-25
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).