| INTRODUCTION
(approx. 1 class) PART 1: Knowledge and being (approx. 2 weeks) books 5-7 (esp. 6.507b - 7.521b) (the sun/the good, the divided line, the cave) Paper one assigned PART 2: Virtue and the soul (approx. 3 weeks) 1. 4.427c - 445e (esp. 4.435a - 445e) (tripartite soul--reason, spiritedness, desire) 2. 6.484a - 502c (the soul that pursues/does everything for the sake of the good) 3. 9.588b - 592 b (the soul as complex beast--human being, lion and many-headed beast) Paper two assigned PART 3: Justice and the city (approx. 6 weeks) book 1: what is justice? Paper three assigned books 2-4: attack and defense of justice Paper four assigned books 5-7: attack and defense of justice (continued) books 8-9: the decline of the city Paper five assigned PART 4: Poetry and the afterlife (approx. 2 weeks) book 10: poetry and the afterlife Optional sixth paper due the last day of class COURSE TOPICS: justice, truth, friendship, advantage, regimes, communism, education, philosopher-kings, imagination, trust, thought, intellectual insight, knowledge, mathematicals, forms, seeming and being (appearance and reality), 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 Class attendance Five papers (5 or 6 pages long) 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, emergency or religious holiday, to be present for the entire fifty minute period and not to make appointments that conflict with class sessions. Graded assignments are based, in part, on class discussion. As a result, it is to your disadvantage to miss class. 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 or word-processed, double-spaced, in 10- or 12-point type. 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. Long quotations will be block indented. 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? REFERENCES: Quotations in the text should end with quotation marks followed by a reference in parentheses followed by a period. For example: “Then this isn’t the definition of justice, speaking the truth and giving back what one takes,” Socrates says to Cephalus (331d). Socrates asks Polemarchus, “Does he mean then that justice is doing good to friends and harm to enemies?” (332d). Thrasymachus’ view is that “the just is nothing other than the advantage of the stronger” (338c). EVALUATION: Grades will be based on the five papers weighted equally (1/5 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 (ten points) for each class session they are late. The grade on the optional sixth paper replaces the lowest previous grade. Papers will be turned in not e-mailed. 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. 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. 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> or by means of a search engine such as Google: <www.google.com> (search for: “Deborah Achtenberg” homepage). USE OF THE INTERNET: Use of the internet for research purposes is appropriate. However, students should use their own ideas in their papers. In addition, they should be aware that papers plagiarized from internet sources can easily be detected through the use of a search engine such as Google. PLAGIARISM: Plagiarism is a serious offense. You plagiarize when you use someone else’s words or ideas without attribution. When you do this, you are putting forward someone else’s work as if it were your own. Changing a few words in a phrase or sentence is not enough to avoid plagiarism. (1) Instead, when you utilize someone else’s exact phrases, put them in quotation marks and cite in parentheses the person whose words you have used. (2) It is fine to paraphrase someone, but when you do, you must say so. You can make it clear by saying “As Blanchot says...” or “According to Derrida...”. (3) Finally, do not utilize even short phrases from another person’s work without a citation. If you follow these guidelines, you will find it is easy to use sources in your own writing without being academically dishonest. INTERNET
RESOURCES: Some
on-line reference books of use to
students (you may need UNR access for some of these sites; visit the
UNR library Off-campus
Access page to learn how
to gain access): Perseus
(classics)
Tufts University site for texts, images, museum photography, site photography, etc., of the classical world. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy The on-line edition of Routledge's encyclopedia of philosophy. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Another good on-line encyclopedia of philosophy, this one from Stanford University. Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper In addition to suggestions I will make in class, you may find this webpage from Jim Pryor at NYU's Department of Philosophy helpful. Webster's Unabridged Dictionary The electronic version of Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged, published in 1961, with updates. Oxford English Dictionary The electronic version of the OED with the latest new and revised entries. WordReference.com An on-line French, Italian and Spanish translation dictionary provided by Michael Kellogg. German-English Dictionary An on-line German translation dictionary provided by the Chemnitz Technical University and Frank Richter. Liddell, Scott, Jones Lexicon Perseus's on-line version of the Liddell, Scott, Jones lexicon (dictionary) of ancient Greek. (To look up a transliterated Greek word--such as logos or physis--type the word in the Find space, click on the Submit Query button, then double-click on Middle Liddell which will take you to definitions found in the middle-sized Liddell, Scott, Jones Lexicon.) Words William Whitaker's on-line translation dictionary of Latin. CLASS FORMAT: This class will be a combination of lecture and discussion. Discussions generally will have a focus rather than being general discussion or debate. Class discussions will refer to course texts. Students will need to bring the course text to class if they are to benefit from lectures and discussions. 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. If you have a disability for which you will need to request accommodations, please contact me or the Disability Resource Center (Thompson Building, Suite 101) as soon as possible to arrange for appropriate accommodations. GRADUATE STUDENTS: This course is a 400-level undergraduate course offered also for graduate-level credit. To receive graduate-level credit, students will fulfill some requirements that are the same as the requirements for undergraduate students, namely: readings as assigned, class attendance. Graduate students will also fulfill some requirements that are different than the requirements for undergraduate students. They will write four papers, ten pages each. The first paper is due after we complete Part 2 of the course, the second after we complete our reading of book 1, the third after we complete book 7 and the fourth the last day of class. Graduate students may complete an optional fifth paper, due the last day of class (ten pages). In addition, graduate students will do some additional reading from recent literature on the Republic, will meet with the instructor to discuss their reading and wioll be prepared to discuss the reading in class. Graduate students will meet with the instructor during the second or third week of classes to decide what additional readings to do. Other requirements are the same as those for undergraduate students. Grades will be based on the four papers and the additional reading/discussion, weighted equally (1/5 each). In addition, graduate students will meet with the instructor to discuss papers before beginning work on them. Graduate students will meet the same evaluation criteria as undergraduate students and some additional criteria, namely: Does the student’s writing reflect broad familiarity with philosophic concepts and modes of argumentation? Does the student’s writing reflect some understanding of the history of philosophic treatment of the concepts discussed? Is the student able to sustain multifaceted argument and analysis? Graduate students will achieve deeper understanding of the course material as a result of their additional reading and of their discussions with the instructor. * * *
OUTLINE OF PLATO’S REPUBLIC
BOOK I: What is justice? 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 Attack Glaucon
Adeimantus
Defensefounding 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) Three waves education of women and children
The greatest studycommunism of women and children philosopher-kings the sun/the good
Education of philosophers the divided line the cave calculation
geometry depth astronomy harmony dialectic BOOKS VIII-IX: The decline of the city Timocracy Oligarchy Democracy Tyranny The unhappiness of the tyrannnic man (soul 2) BOOK X: Poetry and the afterlife Poetry The afterlife * * *
My office hours are Wednesday, 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., 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 another 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. Please contact me as much as possible in person or by phone so that I can get to know you better. For short communications, my e-mail address is: <achten@unr.nevada.edu>. Keep in mind that, due to time delays, e-mail generally is an unsuccessful medium for making appointments or for taking care of other time-sensitive matters. Finally, advisement is best taken care of in person rather than by e-mail. Revised 1/22/07
by Deborah Achtenberg.
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