Aristotle

Phil 6020, CRN 16451
Spring 2008
2:30 pm - 3:45 pm TR Sparks Hall 302, plus additional weekly meeting (probably Th 4:00-5:00, philosophy conference room)

Instructor: Tim O'Keefe
Office: 1105 34 Peachtree
Phone: O: (404) 413-6108, H: (404) 371-8199
e-mail: tokeefe AT gsu DOT edu
Office Hours: 10:30-12:00 T Th, and by appointment


Course description and objectives

In this course, we will examine various parts of the philosophy of Aristotle. We will spend the most time wih the Nicomachean Ethics, which we will look at over the course of the whole semester. Aristotle's ethics cannot be understood in isolation, however. We will use the ethics as a jumping off-place to look at other areas of his philosophy, including, but probably not limited to:

Class format

This class will primarily be seminar format, and class discussion of the readings will play a major role. You will compose two short papers during the course of the semester and a longer final paper.

In each class we'll have a member of the class contribute a short reading response paper. The full class (undergrad and graduate students) will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with the graduate students having an additional meeting after the Thursday meeting. The undergraduate students will be posting reading response papers for the joint sessions. I will rotate the schedule of reading response papers, so that every week one graduate student (typically) will submit a short paper for the additional meeting. These papers will usually involve setting out and evaluating one of the arguments in the reading for that class day. You will post this paper to the class bulletin board. Please post your paper the night before the class. Everybody will be responsible for reading the reading response papers before the class meeting and posting a reply to one of the papers, or even a reply to one of the replies.

You can post several types of replies:

  1. Clarification request. You claim p, but I don't know what you mean by saying p. Please clarify. Do you mean by this p', p''...?
  2. Argument request. You claim p. I think I know what you mean by p. But why do you claim p? I don't see any argument for p, and I think you need to give an argument for it.
  3. Objection. You claim p (and maybe you argue for it). However, I think that p, (or your argument for p), is problematic. Here's my objection to p (or to your argument for p): q. What do you say in response to q?
  4. Assistance. You claim p. I agree with you that p, but I think the following additional reason (which you do not mention) can be given in support of p: q.
  5. Competing interpretation. You say that the reading claims that p. However, I don't think that this is exactly what it says. Instead, I think it says p' (and here's why I think this).
  6. Suggestion of parallels. You claim p. P (or your argument for p) reminds me of so-and-so's claim that q (or his argument for q). Are the two really similar? Does comparing p to q help illuminate p, or is it just misleading?
Sometimes, the bulletin board may be down. If so, please e-mail me your paper before class.

Typically, I will explain the material in the first part of the class, and the latter part of the class will be devoted to discussing the material, using the reading response papers and replies as a way to start the discussion. But this division is not meant to be hard and fast: discussions and evaluation will often break out during the first part of the class, and during the course of discussing the material in the second part, sometimes I may go back to clarify some points in the material.

The bulletin board also has a forum for posting questions about the material. If anything in the reading is unclear to you, or you have any other questions about the material, please post them in this forum. I will look over it before class.

The bulletin board, announcements, copies of this syllabus, regularly updated reading assignments, and a trove of other information is available from the course web site, http://www.gsu.edu/~phltso/aristotleS08.html.

Texts:

  • A New Aristotle Reader, edited by J.L. Ackrill. Princeton University Press. A pricier alternative is Complete Works of Aristotle, edited by Jonathan Barnes (2 volumes), also from Princeton University Press.
  • Aristotle. The Nicomachean Ethics. trans. J.A.K. Thompson, revised by Hugh Tredennick, introduction Jonathan Barnes. 2003. Penguin Classics; New Ed edition. 978-0140449495.
  • Course packet (contains secondary literature on Aristotle). Available at The Printshop, 6 Decatur Street, SE (near Five Points). Order on-line at http://www.theprintshopatlanta.com/material/
    REQUIREMENTS:
    Reading response papers and participation 20%
    First two paper (4-7 pages each) 30%
    Final paper (15-20 pages) 50%
    Important Dates (subject to change):

    Feb. 14: First paper due
    March 27: Second paper due
    May 5: Final paper due

    If you will be unable to turn in a paper when it's due, please let me know beforehand and let me know why you'll be unable to turn in the assignment on time. We can arrange for an extension (although your grade may be reduced). I'm usually much more understanding of people who come to me before an assignment is due and say they'll have difficulty completing it on time than I am of those who tell me afterwards that they were unable to do it. However, if you miss the deadline for an assignment, please contact me as soon as possible to arrange to make it up. Unless there is some compelling excuse (e.g., you had to be rushed to the hospital the night before a paper was due), there will be a penalty for tardiness, and there is no guarantee that you will be allowed to make up the assignment.

    You're also responsible for attending class regularly. If you know beforehand that you'll be unable to attend a class, let me know so that we can arrange for you to receive notes, discuss the material, or do anything else necessary so that you do not fall behind. If you miss a class without notification, you will still be responsible for knowing course content discussed in the class that day, learning about any announcements made in class, etc.

    Return to the course web site.
    Return to the course materials index.
    Return to Tim O'Keefe's homepage.