PLATO ON BEAUTY
| PHIL 410.001/610.1001
Plato Dr. Deborah Achtenberg |
Fall 2012 Tues., Thurs. 2:30 - 3:45 p.m. |
|
PLATO ON BEAUTY |
| INTRODUCTION
(approx. ) HIPPIAS MAJOR Introduction (281a1 -
286c2) (approx. 1 week)
1. Beautiful maiden (286c3
- 289d5) (approx. 1 week)
2. Gold (289d6 - 291c5) (approx. 1 week) 3. Beautiful funeral (291c6
- 293b9) (approx. 1 week)
4. The fitting (to prepon) (293b10 - 294e10) (approx. 1 week) 5. The useful; power (295a1
- 297d9) (approx. 1 week)
REPUBLIC (books 6 and 7) (approx. 1
week)6. The pleasant (297d10 - 304e9) (approx. 1 week) SYMPOSIUM (approx. 1 week) PHAEDRUS (approx. 1 week) SELECTIONS (FROM TIMAEUS, PHILEBUS, ETC.) (approx. 1 week) CONCLUSION (approx. 1 week) (optional paper due the last day of class)
COURSE TOPICS: Plato on beauty (to kalon) COURSE GOALS: through reading the Hippias Major and related works by Plato, students will achieve familiarity with Plato’s views on beauty; in class discussions and papers, students will learn to interpret, analyze, explain, compare and evaluate those views; in general, students will learn how to read a Platonic dialogue COURSE TEXT: Plato, The Complete Works, Cooper and Hutchinson, ed. (Hackett Publishing Company). COURSE REQUIREMENTS: Readings as assigned Participation in class discussion Class attendance Four papers (six or seven pages long)
ATTENDANCE: Much of the important work in this course goes on in class. Students are expected to be in attendance except in cases of illness, emergency or religious holiday, to be in attendance for the whole class session and not to make appointments that conflict with class sessions. Attendance is required and will be taken at the beginning of each class session. Students may miss three classes without penalty. Five points will be subtracted from the final grade for the fourth class missed and two additional points for each class missed after that. Exceptions will be made in the case of illness, emergency or religious holiday. A written excuse must be provided for exceptions to be made. If you miss class, contact one of your fellow students to find out what we did in your absence and to get notes on the class you missed. Once you have done that, you may wish to talk to the instructor, either during office hours or before or after class, about what you missed. Please do not e-mail the instructor to find out what you missed in class. PAPERS: The papers will be essays (not research papers). They will be around six pages long. You need use no books other than the course texts in order to write the papers. In an essay, you state a thesis, explain it and argue for it. The basic structure of an essay is: an introduction in which you state your thesis, the body of the essay in which you explain and argue for your thesis, the conclusion in which you summarize or highlight what you have done in the essay. Essays will be typed or word-processed, double-spaced, in 10- or 12-point type. They will have a title and a title page. They will be in finished form and without errors in grammar, spelling and punctuation. All quotations will be accompanied by a reference in parentheses. Long quotations will be block indented. Essays will be evaluated on the following basis: 1. Do you have the parts mentioned above (introduction, body, conclusion)? 2. Do you fulfill the functions mentioned above (state thesis, explain it, argue for it, summarize or highlight)? 3. Is the thesis you are writing about an interesting and important one? 4. Does your explanation of the thesis show that it is an interesting and important one? Does your explanation make the basic concepts and terms in your essay clear to the reader? 5. Are your arguments clear and convincing to the reader? 6. Do you use specific examples from the text you are writing about to make your arguments stronger? Do you use direct quotations from the text you are writing about to make your arguments stronger? 7. Does your conclusion add something to the essay as a whole? 8. Is the essay typed (double-spaced)? Does it include a title and a title page? Is it in finished form and without errors in grammar, spelling and punctuation? Are all quotations accompanied by a reference in parentheses? REFERENCES: Quotations in the text should end with quotation marks followed by a reference in parentheses followed by a period. For example: Interestingly, Socrates says, at the end of the dialogue, “For I seem to myself to know what the proverb means that says, 'the beautiful things are difficult’” (304e7-9). It is important to think about what Socrates means when he says, "I then seem to me, Hippias, to have been benefited by association with both of you" (304e6-7). EVALUATION: Grades will be based on the four papers weighted equally. Papers will be turned in not e-mailed. Excellent class participation may raise your grade somewhat over the mathematical average, at the discretion of the instructor. Students who make a substantial effort on each of the four papers may write an optional fifth paper (instructor approval required). Late papers will lose a letter grade (ten points) for each class session they are late. The grade on the optional fifth paper replaces the lowest previous grade. There will be no extra credit work. The student will be held responsible for knowing what goes on in class. Absences will not excuse you from knowing due dates of papers. The grading scale is: 94-100, A; 90-93 A-; 87-89 B+; 84-86 B; 80-83 B-; 77-79 C+; 74-76 C; 70-73 C-; 67-69 D+; 64-66 D; 60-63 D-; below 60, F. It is the instructor's policy that cheating, plagiarism or submission of written work for this course which was submitted in another course merits a course grade of F.
USE OF THE INTERNET: Use of the internet for research purposes is appropriate. However, students should use their own ideas in their papers. In addition, they should be aware that papers plagiarized from internet sources can easily be detected through the use of a search engine such as Google. PLAGIARISM: Plagiarism is a serious offense. You plagiarize when you use someone else’s words or ideas without attribution. When you do this, you are putting forward someone else’s work as if it were your own. Changing a few words in a phrase or sentence is not enough to avoid plagiarism. Instead, when you utilize someone else’s exact phrases, put them in quotation marks and cite in parentheses the person whose words you have used. It is fine to paraphrase someone, but when you do, you must say so. You can make it clear by saying “As Plato says...” or “According to Socrates in the Hippias Major...”. Finally, do not utilize even short phrases from another person’s work without a citation. If you follow these guidelines, you will find it is easy to use sources in your own writing without being academically dishonest.  COURSE LINKS: The course outline and class assignments can be accessed through my homepage: <www.unr.edu/~achten/homepage.html>. They will also be distributed in class. My homepage can also be accessed through the Department of Philosophy website <www.unr.edu/philosophy> or by means of a search engine such as Google: <www.google.com> (search for: “Deborah Achtenberg” homepage). INTERNET RESOURCES: For original sources and commentaries on ancient Greek philosophy, visit the Perseus site located at Tufts University <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/>, click on Collections/Texts and then on Greek and Roman. The two main U.S. associations for the study of ancient Greek philosophy are: the Ancient Philosophy Society <http://www.ancientphilosophysociety.org/> and the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy <http://www.societyforancientgreekphilosophy.com/>. Some on-line reference books of use to students (you may need UNR access for some of these sites; visit the UNR library site to learn how to gain access): Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy The on-line edition of Routledge's encyclopedia of philosophy. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Another good on-line encyclopedia of philosophy, this one from Stanford University. Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper In addition to suggestions I will make in class, you may find this webpage from Jim Pryor at NYU's Department of Philosophy helpful. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary The electronic version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Oxford English Dictionary The electronic version of the OED with the latest new and revised entries. WordReference.com An on-line French, Italian and Spanish translation dictionary provided by Michael Kellogg. German-English Dictionary An on-line German translation dictionary provided by the Chemnitz Technical University and Frank Richter. Liddell, Scott, Jones Lexicon Perseus's on-line version of the Liddell, Scott, Jones lexicon (dictionary) of ancient Greek. (To look up a transliterated Greek word--such as logos or physis--go to “Dictionary Entry Lookup”, enter the word you wish to look up, click on “search,” and then click either on “LSJ” (for longer, historical set of definitions) or “Middle Liddell” (for shorter set of definitions). Words William Whitaker's on-line translation dictionary of Latin.
CLASS FORMAT: This class will be a combination of lecture and discussion. Discussions generally will have a focus rather than being general discussion or debate. Students will be expected to respond to questions asking them to reflect on the texts and the issues raised, to speculate in a thoughtful way when not sure, and in general to participate in discussion. Each student is expected to make at least one in-class comment in every class session. Class discussions will refer to the course text. Students will need to bring the course text to class if they are to benefit from lectures and discussions. Web surfing and sending or reading e-mail or text messages during class are not allowed. In addition, please refrain from carrying on extensive side conversations during class discussion, and from eating during class. Please silence cell phones before class. STUDYING: Many students will find that they do better work in this course if they study together with other students. DISABILITY POLICY: The Department of Philosophy is committed to meeting the special needs of students with disabilities. If you suffer from a disability and need to request accommodations, please contact me as soon as possible. REQUIRED STATEMENT ON AUDIO AND VIDEO RECORDING: “Surreptitious or covert video-taping of class or unauthorized audio recording of class is prohibited by law and by Board of Regents policy. This class may be videotaped or audio recorded only with the written permission of the instructor. In order to accommodate students with disabilities, some students may be given permission to record class lectures and discussions. Therefore, students should understand that their comments during class may be recorded.” IMAGES: Peplos Kore (530-520 BCE) (color reconstruction), Acropolis Museum, Athens (original), Glyptotek, Munich (reconstruction) Hygieia (ca. 360 BCE), National Archaeological Museum, Athens Euphronios Calyx Krater (6th c. BCE), National Etruscan Museum, Rome (previously, Metropolitan Museum, New York) Grave Stele of Aristion (ca.510 BCE ) by Aristocles, Glyptotek, Munich (reconstruction) Artemesion Bronze (Zeus or Poseidon) (ca. 460 BC.), National Archaeological Museum, Athens Grave Stele of Aristion (ca.510 BCE ), National Archaeological Museum, Athens (original) Priestess (Thera/Santorini, ca. 1500 BCE), National Archaeological Museum, Athens GRADUATE STUDENTS: This course is a 400-level undergraduate course offered also for graduate-level credit. Requirements for graduate students are: Readings as assigned
Class attendance Three papers, ten to twelve pages Meetings to discuss additional material Papers will be due the same dates as those for undergraduate students (select three out of four). Graduate students who make a substantial effort on each of the three papers may write an optional fourth paper (instructor approval required). Assuming satisfactory participation in additional meetings, grades will be based on the three papers, weighted equally (1/3 each). The grade on the optional fourth paper replaces the lowest previous grade. Graduate students will meet the same evaluation criteria as undergraduate students and some additional criteria, namely: Does the student’s writing reflect broad familiarity with philosophic concepts and modes of argumentation? Does the student’s writing reflect some understanding of the history of philosophic treatment of the concepts discussed? Is the student able to sustain multifaceted argument and analysis? * * *
My
office hours are Wednesdays, 1:00 - 3:00 p.m., or by appointment (EJCH
231). Please feel free to come by to discuss the course topics or
your progress in the course. The best time to meet with me is
during my office hours (no appointment needed). I am happy to
meet with you at some other time if you cannot meet with me during
office hours. To make an appointment to see me at some time other
time, please see me before or after class, or call 784-6742 (my office
in Philosophy). If you try to get in touch with me and cannot,
leave a note with your phone number so that I can call you. My e-mail address is: <achten@unr.edu>. I invite you to e-mail me when appropriate. Keep in mind that, due to time delays, e-mail can be an unsuccessful medium for making appointments or for taking care of other time-sensitive matters. In addition, I prefer to do most advisement and discussion in person rather than by e-mail. Revised
11/27/12
by Deborah Achtenberg
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