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This part of the course will introduce a range of texts from the first two hundred and fifty years of Greek philosophy, beginning with the birth of Greek physical science on the borders of the ancient civilisations of the Near East. It will follow the logical turn of Parmenides and the ethical turn of Socrates to focus on Plato. Each week texts will be provided in advance, with a guide and questions to help reading. A readiness to read and try to make sense of (occasionally) abstruse arguments will be an advantage on this course!
Week 1
Physics makes the world go round
This session will introduce some of the earliest attempts in Greek to explain the mechanics of the universe without reference to divine action, beginning with Thales and ending with Democritus. Highlights include four-element theory, natural selection and atomism.
Week 2
Reality is unbecoming
This session will introduce one of the most continually influential standoffs in philosophy, between the world in flow of Heraclitus and the static changeless Being of Parmenides, who ruthlessly deploys an early form of logic to deny the reality of the world that meets our gaze.
Week 3
Socrates’ Soul
This session introduces one of the great themes of metaphysics, the soul or human self, through extracts from Plato’s Phaedo. This is set against the background of political upheaval and ethical uncertainty in 5th Century Athens which led to the trial and execution of Socrates.
Week 4
Building back better?
This session will focus on some key texts from the Republic, and Plato’s integrated vision of the quest for human fulfilment, transcendent wisdom and a state which manifests justice.
Week 5
Physics, Forms and the Other.
This more challenging session will focus on two very different later texts of Plato’s: the Timaeus, which has had a big influence of Jewish, Christian and Islamic philosophy of creation, and the Sophist, in which Plato ‘solves’ the paradox of being and becoming set by Parmenides- a solution whose terms have been influential in modern philosophy from Hegel to Derrida.
Greetings and welcome to the first part of a History of Philosophy in a Year! In these weeks we will be looking at the work of some of the early Greek philosophers (weeks 1 and 2) and of Plato (weeks 3 to 5). Please do not be intimidated by the volume of primary material - I promise you, I won't be asking you to read it all. I shall be referring to a small number of specific texts in the course of each session, and inviting you to explore one or two of them in small discussion groups. The remaining texts are there for you to explore at your leisure, following your own interest in particular areas of inquiry. I will ask all participants, whether online or in person to have these texts available on laptop or phone for easy reference during the sessions. You, are of course welcome to print them out for yourselves if that would be more helpful.
For the first week we'll be looking at authors 1 - 6. May I ask you first to read the introduction to the Presocratics, and then to look at and be prepared to share your comments with others on one text, presenting the doctrine of either Anaxagoras or Democritus or Empedocles. Use the following general questions to guide your reading: (1) what exactly does the author seem to be trying to say? (2) where does his method match up with or diverge from modern standards of reason or scientific enquiry? (3) which points raised by the text still have relevance for our own thinking about the world today? Write down your thoughts and be ready to share them in your small group.
Good luck with the reading and I look forward to seeing you next week.
John Moffatt SJ works at the London Jesuit Centre. His first degree was in Classics. He taught in London secondary schools intermittently between 1985 and 2016 and has worked briefly in University Chaplaincy. He has been involved with teenage and adult faith education in Britain and South Africa and has recently completed a doctorate in medieval Islamic philosophy.
