Universität Wien

180088 VO-L History of Philosophy I (Antiquity) (2014W)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 18 - Philosophie

An introduction to the philosophy of the Ancient world has to face many challenges: Explain philosophic-historical contexts to our understanding, refer to doctrines, describe and interpret works, initiate critical discussions on various issues. A compromise has to be achieved between these manifold approaches in order that the lecture can provide an introduction to the ideas, terms and constellation of problems of that era by using carefully selected topics and texts. Reading and explaining short and concise original texts enabel a sustainable approach to the thinking of ancient philosophers.

The goal of the lecture in general is to demonstrate in an historic-systematic overview the all-important significance of ancient philosophy for the basic understanding of philosophy in particular. This is to succeed trying to describe the spectrum of meaning of important original Greek terms in their adequate philosophical context and possibly prove their survival or existance in today's scientific language.

The goal is to intensify the understanding of ancient philosophy as the Greeks first developed these very issues on interrogation as well as different methods and terms that characterize Western thought substantially up to current debates.

Nevertheless, problems, questions and topics of those times have remained ours afterall: Explain the world, coexist in social structures, act morally, strive for happiness, cope with suffering and death.
Moodle

Details

Language: German

Examination dates

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Thursday 09.10. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 33 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7
  • Thursday 16.10. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 33 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7
  • Thursday 23.10. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 33 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7
  • Thursday 30.10. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 33 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7
  • Thursday 06.11. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 33 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7
  • Thursday 13.11. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 33 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7
  • Thursday 20.11. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 33 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7
  • Thursday 27.11. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 33 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7
  • Thursday 04.12. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 33 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7
  • Thursday 11.12. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 33 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7
  • Thursday 18.12. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 33 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7
  • Thursday 08.01. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 33 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7
  • Thursday 15.01. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 33 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7
  • Thursday 22.01. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 33 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7
  • Thursday 29.01. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 33 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 7

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

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Examination topics

Reading list

Chr. Horn - Chr. Rapp (ed.), Wörterbuch der antiken Philosophie, Münich 2002, A. Gregory, Ancient Greek Cosmology, London 2007, D. Sedley, Creationism and its Critics in Antiquity, Berkeley 2007, R. Sorabji, Time, Creation, and the Continuum, London 1983

Association in the course directory

BA M 4.1, PP § 57.2.5, EC 4

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:36