Currently
American Study Abroad Program College Year in Athens, CYA; Athens Greece
A.OPEN COURSES
*Open courses are complemented with:
- Guest lectures, On site classes in Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum, Art shows, movie screenings and literature readings.
1.The Concept of Life in Ancient Greek Philosophy and its Relevance Today (Fall)
The aim of this class is to explore the concept of life in ancient Greek philosophy and its relevance today.
In the first part, we will explore the first systematic account of the concept of life which is Aristotle’s. To do this we will examine Aristotle’s understanding of nature as having its own ends, his understanding of life as genus and as species, his account of the logic of life and his distinction between forms of life [vegetative(plants), sensitive(animals), rational(humans)].
In the second part, we will see that the concept of life plays a crucial role in the formation of the ancient Greek philosophy of ethics, politics and culture and that this philosophy of life is both an influence and an alternative to modern and contemporary philosophies of ethics, politics and culture.
http://www.cyathens.org/31/1/courses/81/
2. Humanity & Citizenship in Philosophy: Historical Background and Contemporary Issues (Spring)
This course explores the philosophical question of the essence of citizenship and its relevance to contemporary social and political issues.
In the first part we study the classical conception of the polis and the citizen in the works of Plato and Aristotle, the modern conception of the state and the citizen in the works of Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, the Hegelian distinction between citizen and bourgeois and the Marxist critique of the liberal conception of civil rights.
In the second part, we examine how the philosophical question of citizenship may relate to contemporary issues of justice and difference (class, race, gender, culture, etc.) as well as justice and globalization (immigration, asylum, nationalism, etc.).
B.ADVANCED COURSES
1.Action in Ancient Greek and Contemporary Analytical Philosophy (Fall)
This course explores the philosophical question of the nature of action. What is the essence of human action? How does it differ from animal activity? Is it a sort of natural event or process? If yes how can we tell the difference between a mere event and an action? How does it relate to psychological states or processes? How does it relate to thought and reasoning?
In the first part of the class we will examine Socrates’ conception of the paradigmatic human activity as the activity of philosophy, Plato’s account of the connection between action and the idea of the good and Aristotle’s distinction between action as production (poiesis) and action as infinite activity aiming at wellbeing (praxis).
In the second part, we will examine contemporary discussions of the metaphysics of action and in particular we will look into causal and non causal theories of action, theories of intention, etc.
http://www.cyathens.org/31/1/courses/86/
2.Weakness of Will and Self-Deception; Ancient Greek and Contemporary Philosophical Approaches (Spring)
This course explores the philosophical question of weakness of will and self-deception. How is it possible to act and believe against one's own judgment?
In the first part of this course we will examine weakness of will in Ancient Greek philosophy. And in particular we will study the Socratic conception of weakness of will as ignorance of the good, the Platonic conception of weakness of will as conflict and injustice in the soul, and the Aristotelian account of weakness of will as the failure to exercise one's capacity for knowledge.
In the second part we will examine contemporary accounts of weakness of will and self-deception.
Hellenic Open University
History of European Philosophy
American Study Abroad Program College Year in Athens, CYA; Athens Greece
A.OPEN COURSES
*Open courses are complemented with:
- Guest lectures, On site classes in Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum, Art shows, movie screenings and literature readings.
1.The Concept of Life in Ancient Greek Philosophy and its Relevance Today (Fall)
The aim of this class is to explore the concept of life in ancient Greek philosophy and its relevance today.
In the first part, we will explore the first systematic account of the concept of life which is Aristotle’s. To do this we will examine Aristotle’s understanding of nature as having its own ends, his understanding of life as genus and as species, his account of the logic of life and his distinction between forms of life [vegetative(plants), sensitive(animals), rational(humans)].
In the second part, we will see that the concept of life plays a crucial role in the formation of the ancient Greek philosophy of ethics, politics and culture and that this philosophy of life is both an influence and an alternative to modern and contemporary philosophies of ethics, politics and culture.
http://www.cyathens.org/31/1/courses/81/
2. Humanity & Citizenship in Philosophy: Historical Background and Contemporary Issues (Spring)
This course explores the philosophical question of the essence of citizenship and its relevance to contemporary social and political issues.
In the first part we study the classical conception of the polis and the citizen in the works of Plato and Aristotle, the modern conception of the state and the citizen in the works of Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, the Hegelian distinction between citizen and bourgeois and the Marxist critique of the liberal conception of civil rights.
In the second part, we examine how the philosophical question of citizenship may relate to contemporary issues of justice and difference (class, race, gender, culture, etc.) as well as justice and globalization (immigration, asylum, nationalism, etc.).
B.ADVANCED COURSES
1.Action in Ancient Greek and Contemporary Analytical Philosophy (Fall)
This course explores the philosophical question of the nature of action. What is the essence of human action? How does it differ from animal activity? Is it a sort of natural event or process? If yes how can we tell the difference between a mere event and an action? How does it relate to psychological states or processes? How does it relate to thought and reasoning?
In the first part of the class we will examine Socrates’ conception of the paradigmatic human activity as the activity of philosophy, Plato’s account of the connection between action and the idea of the good and Aristotle’s distinction between action as production (poiesis) and action as infinite activity aiming at wellbeing (praxis).
In the second part, we will examine contemporary discussions of the metaphysics of action and in particular we will look into causal and non causal theories of action, theories of intention, etc.
http://www.cyathens.org/31/1/courses/86/
2.Weakness of Will and Self-Deception; Ancient Greek and Contemporary Philosophical Approaches (Spring)
This course explores the philosophical question of weakness of will and self-deception. How is it possible to act and believe against one's own judgment?
In the first part of this course we will examine weakness of will in Ancient Greek philosophy. And in particular we will study the Socratic conception of weakness of will as ignorance of the good, the Platonic conception of weakness of will as conflict and injustice in the soul, and the Aristotelian account of weakness of will as the failure to exercise one's capacity for knowledge.
In the second part we will examine contemporary accounts of weakness of will and self-deception.
Hellenic Open University
History of European Philosophy
Formerly
University of Athens, Greece, http://plato.academia.gr
Political Philosophy and the Crisis at "Plato's Academy"
University of Pittsburgh (2003-2010)
A. Intensive Writing Courses in the Arts and Sciences School
History of Ethics, Part Time Faculty (responsible for all aspects of the course)
Ethics, Teaching Fellow (responsible for all aspects of the course)
Political Theory, Teaching Assistant (main instructor: Michael Otsuka m.otsuka@ucl.ac.uk )
Modern Philosophy, Teaching Assistant (main instructor: Steven Engstrom engstrom@pitt.edu)
B. Non Writing Philosophy Courses
Ancient Philosophy, Teaching Fellow (responsible for all aspects of the course)
Social Philosophy, Teaching Assistant (main instructor: Jason Dickinson)
Ancient Philosophy, Teaching Assistant (main instructor: Jessica Moss jessica.moss@philosophy.ox.ac.uk)
University of Athens (2002)
- Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (main instructor: Vasso Kindi vkindi@phs.uoa.gr)
University of Athens, Greece, http://plato.academia.gr
Political Philosophy and the Crisis at "Plato's Academy"
University of Pittsburgh (2003-2010)
A. Intensive Writing Courses in the Arts and Sciences School
History of Ethics, Part Time Faculty (responsible for all aspects of the course)
Ethics, Teaching Fellow (responsible for all aspects of the course)
Political Theory, Teaching Assistant (main instructor: Michael Otsuka m.otsuka@ucl.ac.uk )
Modern Philosophy, Teaching Assistant (main instructor: Steven Engstrom engstrom@pitt.edu)
B. Non Writing Philosophy Courses
Ancient Philosophy, Teaching Fellow (responsible for all aspects of the course)
Social Philosophy, Teaching Assistant (main instructor: Jason Dickinson)
Ancient Philosophy, Teaching Assistant (main instructor: Jessica Moss jessica.moss@philosophy.ox.ac.uk)
University of Athens (2002)
- Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (main instructor: Vasso Kindi vkindi@phs.uoa.gr)
Sample Syllabi (shortened version)
1. The Concept of Life in Ancient Greek Philosophy and Its Relevance today
1st section– Introduction: The Concept of Life as a Philosophical Idea
In this we will examine how the Concept of Life first appears in questions of ethical, political and cultural significance, such as the following:
2nd section– Introduction to Fundamental Aristotelian Concepts
In this section we will introduce and explore some fundamental Aristotelian concepts. In particular, we will read excerpts from two of his books, the Physics and the Metaphysics and try to come to familiarize ourselves with his conception of nature, his account of form and matter and his account of potentiality and actuality. These will give us the conceptual tools necessary to understand his account of Life and Human Life.
* Read: Aristotle’s Physics, Metaphysics
3rd section– Aristotle’s Biological Works and Philosophy of Biology
In this section we will familiarise ourselves with Aristotle’s conception of Life in general. In particular we will read passages from his so-called biological works and try to reconstruct his understanding of the concept of Life, while focussing on particular discussions in the philosophy of biology in Aristotle, such as his distinction between genos (genus) and eidos (species) in living beings, his teleological explanations, etc.
* Read: Aristotle’s Parts of Animals, Movement of Animals, History of Animals
4th section– Aristotle’s Forms of Life – The Concept of Bios
In this section we will examine Aristotle’s account of the psyche, the soul, as the form of the body, and as what is responsible for a form of life, a bios and we will explore his distinction between three forms of life, the vegetative, the sensitive and the rational form of life. The first, he thinks, we share with plants, the second with animals and the third is the one that is peculiar to us, human animals. In this section we will also see how this conception of a form of life is a logical conception.
* Read: Aristotle’s De Anima
Michael Thompson, The Representation of Life
*Watch: Terrence Malik’s The Tree of Life
(We will discuss how this film presents the idea that our life is always within the context of and arising out of living nature.)
5th section– Ethical Life in Ancient Greek Philosophy
In this section we will explore the role that a conception of Life and Human Life (such as Aristotle’s) plays into the Ancient Greek conception of ethics. In particular, we will see how the conception of the Human Soul (i.e. the Human Form of Life) that Aristotle shares with Plato shapes their respective conceptions of the aim and shape of ethics, by reading passages from Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Plato’s Republic.
* Read: Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics
Plato’s Republic
We will discuss Plato’s Republic on site in Plato’s Academy.
6th section– Ethical Life in Modern Philosophy
In this section we will see how the ancient Greek conception of ethics above contrasts with the modern conception of Ethics in the hands of Imannuel Kant and John Stuart Mill. In particular we will see how in their ethical works there is a switch from the concept of a Form of Life to the concept of a Rational Being. In a sentence we could say that we will explore the contrast between an Ethics of Life and an Ethics of Rule.
*Read: I. Kant, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals & Critique of Practical Reason
J.S. Mill, Utilitarianism
7th section– The Animal and the Human Living Being
In this section we will explore the issue of our relation to our animality.
In the first part we will explore different conceptions of the sense in which we too are animals, starting from Plato and Aristotle. In the second part we will explore the issue of our living relation to animals and the duties and obligations that arise thereof.
*Read: Plato, Republic (the parts of the soul)
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (the parts of the soul)
Mary Midgley, Man and the Beast
Jonathan Coetzee’s , “Our Lives with Animals”
Derrida’s The Animal that therefore I am
8th section– The idea of a (Wrong) Way of Life in Plato and Existentialism
In the first part of this section we will explore the first philosophical appearances of the idea of a way of life in the Socratic account of the philosophical way of life in his Apology and his Crito and in Plato’s Phaedo. And in the second part we will examine the tranformation of the idea of a wrong way of life in the hands of the existentialist philosophers, and in particular in the hands of Heidegger and his conception of authenticity.
*Read: Plato’s Apology, Crito & Phaedo
Heidegger’s Being and Time
Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich
We will discuss Socrates’Apology and the Crito on site in the area where he was sentenced to death and died.
9th section– A Platonic Answer to the Existentialist Problem of the Meaning of Life
In this section we will see how a major figure of 20th century moral philosophy and literature, Iris Murdoch reverted to Plato’s conception of the good in the Republic to argue against the existentialist transformation of the aim of human life in her book, The Sovereignty of the Good. We will also read abstracts from Aristotle’s Poetics to further highlight the core of the criticism.
*Read: Plato’s Republic
Iris Murdoch, The Sovereignty of the Good
10th section– An Aristotelian Answer to the Problem of the Death of a Way of Life
In this section we will explore how the Aristotelian conception of the ethical life, or virtues as the excellent practices of a way of life, contributes to the understanding of the problem of what it is for a way of life to come to an end and what an individual human being can do and hope for in the face of such a devastation. To do this we will read Jonathan Lear’s book Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation.
*Read: Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics
Jonathan Lear, Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation.
11th section– Political Life in Ancient Greek Philosophy
In this section we will explore the role that the Concept of Life and Human Life plays in Politics in the hands of Plato and Aristotle. In particular we will explore Plato’s and Aristotle’s account of the origin of the political community (polis) in Plato’s Repubic and in Aristotle’s Politics and the role that the Concept of Life plays in their accounts.
*Read: Aristotle’s Politics
Plato’s Republic
Coetzee’s The Childhood of Jesus
We will discuss Aristotle’s Politics on site in Aristotle’s Lyceum.
12th section– Political Life in Contemporary Philosophy
In this section we will explore Michel Foucault’s conception of free market politics as aiming at governing Life directly. In this section we will see the transformation of the ancient Greek concept of Human Life as the Life of Politics to the free market conception of Human Life as the Politics of Life; or else, in Foucault’s terms the conception of Biopolitics.
*Read: Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics
2. The Good Life and the Common Good (Ancient Philosophy) (P354)
Schedule*
*Subject to possible revisions. These revisions will be pointed out in class as we move along.
JANUARY
Day 1 M 27th Course Introduction. Ethics and politics. Our conceptions.
Day 2 W 29th Crito. Socrates facing death: Ethical and political obligation.
FEBRUARY
Day 3 M 3rd Crito. Socrates facing death: Political Disobedience.
Day 4 W 5th Protagoras. Knowledge and the Good. Against moral relativism.
Day 5 Fr 7th Protagoras. Crito revisited: Political Obligation as the commitment to Critique.
10-15 – Field Trip to Peloponnese/Delphi
Day 6 M 17th Republic. First definitions of justice: Morality and power.
Day 7 W 19th Republic. The parts of the soul: Morality and the best order of the soul.
Day 8 M 24th Republic. The parts of the soul: Morality and the best order of the soul.
Day 9 W 26th Republic. The classes of the polis: The best order of the polis.
MARCH
Day 10 W 5th Republic. The classes of the polis: The best order of the polis.
Day 11 Fr 7th The Symposium. Beauty, Love and the Good.
Day 12 M 10th The Symposium. And the Republic revisited: Ethos, Polis and Eros.
Day 13 W 12th Nicomachean Ethics. Introduction to Aristotle’s Ethics: Activity.
Day 14 M 24th Nicomachean Ethics. What is the job of a human being to do. (Ergon)
Day 15 W 26th Nicomachean Ethics. To live well is to do that job well. (Arete)
Day 16 M 31st Nicomachean Ethics. To do that job well you need to a. be disposed the right way. (Hexeis or Character)
APRIL
Day 17 W 2nd Nicomachean Ethics. To do that job well you need to b. know what to do. (Phronesis or practical wisdom)
Day 18 M 7th Nicomachean Ethics. Eudaimonia.
Day 19 W 9th Nicomachean Ethics. Eudaimonia is only possible in the Polis.
Day 20 W 23rd Nicomachean Ethics. Friendship. Ethos, Polis and Friendship.
Day 21 M 28th Politics. Man is a political being by nature.
Day 22 W 30th Politics. The best citizen and the virtuous man.
MAY
Day 23 M 5th Comparison between contemporary and Ancient Greek conceptions of ethics and politics.
Day 24 W 7th Final Papers discussion
Fr MAY 09th --- Deadline for Final Papers ---
1. The Concept of Life in Ancient Greek Philosophy and Its Relevance today
1st section– Introduction: The Concept of Life as a Philosophical Idea
In this we will examine how the Concept of Life first appears in questions of ethical, political and cultural significance, such as the following:
- What is the place of ethics in our life? What is it to live an ethical life?
- In what sense is our life similar to and different from the life of plants and animals?
- Can one live one’s life in a way that is wrong?
- What is it to have a way of life at all? What is it for a way of life to come to an end?
- Should life be the object of politics?
2nd section– Introduction to Fundamental Aristotelian Concepts
In this section we will introduce and explore some fundamental Aristotelian concepts. In particular, we will read excerpts from two of his books, the Physics and the Metaphysics and try to come to familiarize ourselves with his conception of nature, his account of form and matter and his account of potentiality and actuality. These will give us the conceptual tools necessary to understand his account of Life and Human Life.
* Read: Aristotle’s Physics, Metaphysics
3rd section– Aristotle’s Biological Works and Philosophy of Biology
In this section we will familiarise ourselves with Aristotle’s conception of Life in general. In particular we will read passages from his so-called biological works and try to reconstruct his understanding of the concept of Life, while focussing on particular discussions in the philosophy of biology in Aristotle, such as his distinction between genos (genus) and eidos (species) in living beings, his teleological explanations, etc.
* Read: Aristotle’s Parts of Animals, Movement of Animals, History of Animals
4th section– Aristotle’s Forms of Life – The Concept of Bios
In this section we will examine Aristotle’s account of the psyche, the soul, as the form of the body, and as what is responsible for a form of life, a bios and we will explore his distinction between three forms of life, the vegetative, the sensitive and the rational form of life. The first, he thinks, we share with plants, the second with animals and the third is the one that is peculiar to us, human animals. In this section we will also see how this conception of a form of life is a logical conception.
* Read: Aristotle’s De Anima
Michael Thompson, The Representation of Life
*Watch: Terrence Malik’s The Tree of Life
(We will discuss how this film presents the idea that our life is always within the context of and arising out of living nature.)
5th section– Ethical Life in Ancient Greek Philosophy
In this section we will explore the role that a conception of Life and Human Life (such as Aristotle’s) plays into the Ancient Greek conception of ethics. In particular, we will see how the conception of the Human Soul (i.e. the Human Form of Life) that Aristotle shares with Plato shapes their respective conceptions of the aim and shape of ethics, by reading passages from Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Plato’s Republic.
* Read: Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics
Plato’s Republic
We will discuss Plato’s Republic on site in Plato’s Academy.
6th section– Ethical Life in Modern Philosophy
In this section we will see how the ancient Greek conception of ethics above contrasts with the modern conception of Ethics in the hands of Imannuel Kant and John Stuart Mill. In particular we will see how in their ethical works there is a switch from the concept of a Form of Life to the concept of a Rational Being. In a sentence we could say that we will explore the contrast between an Ethics of Life and an Ethics of Rule.
*Read: I. Kant, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals & Critique of Practical Reason
J.S. Mill, Utilitarianism
7th section– The Animal and the Human Living Being
In this section we will explore the issue of our relation to our animality.
In the first part we will explore different conceptions of the sense in which we too are animals, starting from Plato and Aristotle. In the second part we will explore the issue of our living relation to animals and the duties and obligations that arise thereof.
*Read: Plato, Republic (the parts of the soul)
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (the parts of the soul)
Mary Midgley, Man and the Beast
Jonathan Coetzee’s , “Our Lives with Animals”
Derrida’s The Animal that therefore I am
8th section– The idea of a (Wrong) Way of Life in Plato and Existentialism
In the first part of this section we will explore the first philosophical appearances of the idea of a way of life in the Socratic account of the philosophical way of life in his Apology and his Crito and in Plato’s Phaedo. And in the second part we will examine the tranformation of the idea of a wrong way of life in the hands of the existentialist philosophers, and in particular in the hands of Heidegger and his conception of authenticity.
*Read: Plato’s Apology, Crito & Phaedo
Heidegger’s Being and Time
Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich
We will discuss Socrates’Apology and the Crito on site in the area where he was sentenced to death and died.
9th section– A Platonic Answer to the Existentialist Problem of the Meaning of Life
In this section we will see how a major figure of 20th century moral philosophy and literature, Iris Murdoch reverted to Plato’s conception of the good in the Republic to argue against the existentialist transformation of the aim of human life in her book, The Sovereignty of the Good. We will also read abstracts from Aristotle’s Poetics to further highlight the core of the criticism.
*Read: Plato’s Republic
Iris Murdoch, The Sovereignty of the Good
10th section– An Aristotelian Answer to the Problem of the Death of a Way of Life
In this section we will explore how the Aristotelian conception of the ethical life, or virtues as the excellent practices of a way of life, contributes to the understanding of the problem of what it is for a way of life to come to an end and what an individual human being can do and hope for in the face of such a devastation. To do this we will read Jonathan Lear’s book Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation.
*Read: Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics
Jonathan Lear, Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation.
11th section– Political Life in Ancient Greek Philosophy
In this section we will explore the role that the Concept of Life and Human Life plays in Politics in the hands of Plato and Aristotle. In particular we will explore Plato’s and Aristotle’s account of the origin of the political community (polis) in Plato’s Repubic and in Aristotle’s Politics and the role that the Concept of Life plays in their accounts.
*Read: Aristotle’s Politics
Plato’s Republic
Coetzee’s The Childhood of Jesus
We will discuss Aristotle’s Politics on site in Aristotle’s Lyceum.
12th section– Political Life in Contemporary Philosophy
In this section we will explore Michel Foucault’s conception of free market politics as aiming at governing Life directly. In this section we will see the transformation of the ancient Greek concept of Human Life as the Life of Politics to the free market conception of Human Life as the Politics of Life; or else, in Foucault’s terms the conception of Biopolitics.
*Read: Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics
2. The Good Life and the Common Good (Ancient Philosophy) (P354)
Schedule*
*Subject to possible revisions. These revisions will be pointed out in class as we move along.
JANUARY
Day 1 M 27th Course Introduction. Ethics and politics. Our conceptions.
Day 2 W 29th Crito. Socrates facing death: Ethical and political obligation.
FEBRUARY
Day 3 M 3rd Crito. Socrates facing death: Political Disobedience.
Day 4 W 5th Protagoras. Knowledge and the Good. Against moral relativism.
Day 5 Fr 7th Protagoras. Crito revisited: Political Obligation as the commitment to Critique.
10-15 – Field Trip to Peloponnese/Delphi
Day 6 M 17th Republic. First definitions of justice: Morality and power.
Day 7 W 19th Republic. The parts of the soul: Morality and the best order of the soul.
Day 8 M 24th Republic. The parts of the soul: Morality and the best order of the soul.
Day 9 W 26th Republic. The classes of the polis: The best order of the polis.
MARCH
Day 10 W 5th Republic. The classes of the polis: The best order of the polis.
Day 11 Fr 7th The Symposium. Beauty, Love and the Good.
Day 12 M 10th The Symposium. And the Republic revisited: Ethos, Polis and Eros.
Day 13 W 12th Nicomachean Ethics. Introduction to Aristotle’s Ethics: Activity.
Day 14 M 24th Nicomachean Ethics. What is the job of a human being to do. (Ergon)
Day 15 W 26th Nicomachean Ethics. To live well is to do that job well. (Arete)
Day 16 M 31st Nicomachean Ethics. To do that job well you need to a. be disposed the right way. (Hexeis or Character)
APRIL
Day 17 W 2nd Nicomachean Ethics. To do that job well you need to b. know what to do. (Phronesis or practical wisdom)
Day 18 M 7th Nicomachean Ethics. Eudaimonia.
Day 19 W 9th Nicomachean Ethics. Eudaimonia is only possible in the Polis.
Day 20 W 23rd Nicomachean Ethics. Friendship. Ethos, Polis and Friendship.
Day 21 M 28th Politics. Man is a political being by nature.
Day 22 W 30th Politics. The best citizen and the virtuous man.
MAY
Day 23 M 5th Comparison between contemporary and Ancient Greek conceptions of ethics and politics.
Day 24 W 7th Final Papers discussion
Fr MAY 09th --- Deadline for Final Papers ---