Universität Wien

180007 VO-L History of Philosophy I (Antiquity) (2018W)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 18 - Philosophie
Moodle

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Details

Language: German

Examination dates

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Monday 08.10. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal 31 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Monday 15.10. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal 31 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Monday 22.10. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal 31 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Monday 29.10. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal 31 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Monday 05.11. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal 31 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Monday 12.11. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal 31 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Monday 19.11. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal 31 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Monday 26.11. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal 31 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Monday 03.12. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal 31 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Monday 10.12. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal 31 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Monday 07.01. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal 31 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Monday 14.01. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal 31 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Monday 21.01. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal 31 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The aim of these lectures is to review the History of Ancient Philosophy, but we will do so focusing on ancient cosmology and ontology. Ancient Philosophy indeed begins with theories about the world (kosmos). These theories address the questions of how the world has come about, which are the principles accounting for the world, and of what the world consists. These questions were for the first time systematically treated by Plato in his dialogue Timaios. In this dialogue we are presented with the view that the world has been created by God, an intellect, who is portrayed as the creator of the universe. Aristotle disputes that view and he argues instead that nature alone is responsible for the structure and maintainance of the world. The relevant theories of the Hellenistic philosophers, Stoics and the the Epicureans, are strongly influenced by the corresponding views of the Presocratics Heraclitus and Democritus. Cosmology becomes particularly prominent in later ancient philosophy, because for the philosophers of that time, Platonists, Peripatetics, and early Christian philosophers, the topic of the origin and structure of the world bears much on the question of structure of the human being and the soul-body relation and also on ethics. This is because contemporary philosophers consider man both as part of the world and as small world (microkosm).

Assessment and permitted materials

written Examination

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

amiliarity with important ancient philosophical concepts, methods and arguments.

Main aim of the course is that students gain knowledge of ancient philosophy from the beginnings with the Presocratics and until Aristotle and that they by the end of the course have understood the main philosophical questions that preoccupied ancient philosophers.

Examination topics

We will proceed thematically focusing mainly on ancient cosmology. We will aim to analyze the conceptual tools and arguments of ancient philosophers, their interaction and dialogue on the issue of the nature of the world, its coming into being, and its causes.

Reading list

C. Horn - C. Rapp (ed.), Wörterbuch der antiken Philosophie, München 2002
M. Erler, Platon, München 2006
T. Irwin, Classical Thought, Oxford 1989
C. Rapp, Aristoteles zur Einführung, München 2012 (revised edition)
D. Sedley, Creationism and its Critics in Antiquity, Berkeley 2007
Reader (available in Facultas)

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:36