INTRODUCTION  (approx. 1 week)

BOOK I:  What is justice?  (approx. 2 weeks)
    Introduction
    Cephalus:  telling the truth and paying your debts
    Polemarchus:  helping your friends and harming your enemies
    Thrasymachus:  the advantage of the stronger

BOOKS II-IV:  Attack and defense of justice  (approx. 3 weeks)
    Attack
        Glaucon
        Adeimantus
    Defense
        founding of a city in speech
        city of mere need/city of pigs
        luxurious city
        education of guardians
        rulers (tests, noble lie, communism)
        justice in a city
        justice in a human being (soul 1)

BOOKS V-VII:  Attack and defense of justice (continued) (approx. 3 weeks)
    Three waves
        education of women and children
        communism of women and children
        philosopher-kings
    The greatest study
        the sun/the good
        the divided line
        the cave
    Education of philosophers
        calculation
        geometry
        depth
        astronomy
        harmony
        dialectic

BOOKS VIII-IX:  The decline of the city  (approx. 2 weeks)
    Timocracy
    Oligarchy
    Tyranny
    The unhappiness of the tyrannnic man (soul 2)

BOOK X:  Poetry and the afterlife  (approx. 2 weeks)
    Poetry
    The afterlife

COURSE TOPICS:  justice, truth, friendship, advantage, regimes, communism, education, philosopher-kings, knowledge, forms, the soul, pleasure, spiritedness, desire, tyranny, poetry, the afterlife

COURSE GOALS:  increased understanding of the course topics; increased self-awareness.

COURSE TEXT:  The course text, The Republic of Plato (Allan Bloom, Basic Books) is available from the University Bookstore:

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Readings as assigned
Participation in class discussions
Class attendance
Four take-home assignments.
Two papers (around 6 pp.)

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 (double-spaced).  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.  The format for references will be explained in class.

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?
 

Paper #1

Paper #2

TAKE-HOME ASSIGNMENTS:  The take-home assignments will be short essays, one on Book I, one on  Books II-IV, one on  Books V-VII and one on Books VIII-IX or Book X.  They will be due two weeks after we finish our discussion of the relevant section.  Topics will be announced.  The take-homes will aid students in writing the papers.  Papers may be longer versions of the shorter essays, if desired.

EVALUATION:  Grades will be based on the papers and take-home assignments weighted equally (1/2 each).  Excellent class participation may raise your grade somewhat over the mathematical average, at the discretion of the instructor.

Late papers will lose a letter grade for each class session they are late.  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 and take-home assignments.

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'.

GRADUATE STUDENTS:  Graduate students will have only three graded assignments, three papers around ten pages each.  Each paper will be an analysis of some aspect of a section of the Republic, one on Book I or Books II-IV, one on Books V-VII and one on Books VIII-IX, Book X or the Republic as a whole.  The first paper will be due two weeks after we finish our discussion of Book I or Books II-IV, the second two weeks after discussion of Books V-VII and the third on the last day of class.  Assignments

Evaluation will be based on the three papers, weighted equally.  One paper will be due October 14.  One will be due Graduate students will discuss their papers with the instructor prior to writing them and will take the initiative to schedule a meeting with the instructor to do so.  All other requirements and procedures for graduate students are the same as those for undergraduate students.

CLASS FORMAT:  This class will be a combination of lecture and discussion.  The discussion will be, generally, guided discussion rather than general discussion or general debate.

Lectures and discussions will refer to course texts.  Students will need to bring the relevant course texts to class if they are to benefit from lectures and discussions.

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 or emergency, to be present for the entire fifty minute period and not to make appointments that conflict with class sessions.

COURSE LINKS:  The course outline and class assignments can be accessed through my homepage:   www.unr.nevada.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.

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 equal opportunity in education for all students, including those with documented physical or learning disabilities.  According to University policy, a student with a documented disability is required to contact his or her instructors during the first week of each semester to discuss accommodations appropriate to ensure equity in grading, classroom experiences and out-of-class assignments.  Each instructor will meet with the student and Student Services Center staff members to formulate a written plan for appropriate accommodations, if they are required.

My office hours are Monday and Wednesday, 11:00-11:50am, or by appointment (Cain Hall 108D).  Please feel free to come by to discuss the course topics or your progress in the course.  I am happy to meet with you at some other time if it is more convenient.  If you wish to make an appointment to see me at some other time, call 784-6742 (my office).

If you try to get in touch with me and cannot, leave a note with your phone number so that I can call you.
 

Last updated November 12, 2002, by Deborah Achtenberg.