Woodrow Wilson Department of Politics

 

 

PLPT 4020                                                                                                                                                                                                       G. Klosko

Plato and Aristotle                                                                                                                                                                                            381 Gibson; x3092

Spring 2015                                                                                                                                                                                                       gk@virginia.edu

Hours:  Wed. 1:30-3:30 PM

     and by appointment

 

 

Books have been ordered at the University bookstore and should be purchased if at all possible.

They are also on reserve in Clemons Library.  Several shorter readings are on the class collab page.

 

Background A.W. Gomme, "The Working of the Athenian Democracy," History, 36 (1951):                    collab.

 

Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus (collab)

 

Recommended: H.-P. Stahl, "Speeches and Course of Events in Books Six and Seven of

            Thucydides,"   in The Speeches in Thucydides, P. Stadter, ed. (Chapel Hill, 1973).

            (collab).

 

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian Wars, R. Warner, tr. (Penguin, paperback), Selections.

 I, 1-23 (pp. 35-49) Introduction

 I, 66-88 (pp. 72-87) Debate at Sparta

 I, 89-117 (pp. 87-103) The Rise of Athens

 I, 118-125 (pp. 103-08) Congress at Sparta

 I, 139-146 (pp. 118-23) Pericles' Strategy

 II, 1-65 (pp. 124-64) Pericles and Athens early in the war

 III, 36-49 (pp. 212-23) Mitylene

 III, 51-68 (pp. 223-36) Doom of Plataea

 III, 70-85 (pp. 236-45) Civil War in Corcyra

 IV, 17-23 (pp. 274-78) Pylos

 V, 63-74 (pp. 388-95) Battle of Mantinea

 V, 84-116 (pp. 400-08) Melian Dialogue

 VI, 8 - VII, 87 (pp. 414-537) Sicilian Expedition

 

Plato, Complete Works, J. Cooper, ed. (Hackett, clothbound)

Recommended: G. Klosko, "The Platonic Corpus" (collab)

The Platonic Socrates: Hippias Minor, Ion, Laches, Symposium 212c-223c (pp. 493-505. in our edition) Apology, Crito, Euthydemus 278d-282d (pp. 715-19, in our edition), 288d-292e (pp. 726-30), Protagoras

Plato: Gorgias, Republic,

Later Works: Parmenides126a-135e; Statesman, Epistle 7, Laws.

 

Aristotle, The Ethics, J.A.K. Thompson, tr. (Penguin, paperback):

Books I, II, III.1-6, 5, 6, 7.1-4, 10

 

Aristotle, Politics, Revised ed., T. A. Sinclair and T. Saunders, trs. (Penguin, paperback):

Books I.1-7, II.1-6, III, IV.1, IV.11, V.12, VII-VIII         

 

Requirements

 

Aside from doing the reading and discussing it, there are three written requirements.

 

1. Midterm, and final examinations.  Midterm given out Wednesday March 18; due, Friday

March 20.

 

Final Exam given out last day of class, Monday April 27, due, tentatively, Mon. May 4, 4 PM.

 

2. Analytical paper, 12-15 pages; due Wednesday, April 22.  Papers must be handed in on time.  Late papers will be penalized.  Incompletes will not be given.

 

Grading: Midterm will count 25% of your grade, with paper and final exam each counting 37.5%.  Class participation will figure in on top of this, with good participation

significantly helping your grade.

 

Multiple unexcused absences may result in dismissal from the course or penalties on course grades. 

 

 Secondary Works

I have placed the following works on reserve.

E. Barker, Greek Political Theory: Plato and His Predecessors (London, 1918; rpt. 1947).

D. Bostock, Aristotle's Ethics (Oxford, 2000).

*P. Friedlander, Plato, 3 vols., H. Meyerhoff, trans. (Princeton, 1959-68).

*G. Grote, Plato and the other companions of Sokrates, 3rd ed. 3 vols. (London, 1875).

*W.K.C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy, 6 vols. (Cambridge, 1962-81), Vols. 4-6.

M. Hansen, Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes. J. A. Crook, trans. 1991; rpt.

            Norman, Ok., 1999.

W.F.R. Hardie, Aristotle's Ethical Theory, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1982).

W. Jaeger, Paideia, 3 vols., G. Highett, trans. (Oxford, 1939-45)

G. Klosko, The Development of Plato's Political Theory, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 2006).

R. Kraut, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Plato (Cambridge, 1992).

G. Morrow, Plato's Cretan City (Princeton, 1960).

R.G. Mulgan, Aristotle's Political Theory (Oxford, 1977).

K. Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies, Vol. I, The Spell of Plato (Princeton, 1966)

*P. Shorey, What Plato Said (Chicago, 1933)

H.-P. Stahl, Thucydides : Man's Place in History (1966; English trans., Swansea, 2002).

*A.E. Taylor, Plato: The Man and His Work, 6th ed. (1952; rpt. Cleveland, 1956).

(* indicates standard, dialogue by dialogue commentary on Plato)