PHIL 410.1001/610.1001/711.1001 Fall 2017
Plato Tues., Thurs.
Dr. Deborah Achtenberg 3:00 – 4:15 p.m.
PLATO’S REPUBLIC
Third c. C.E. manuscript
of Plato’s Republic
INTRODUCTION (approx. 1 week)
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)
PART 2: Virtue and the soul (approx. 2 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)
PART 3: Justice and the city (approx. 5 weeks)
book 1: what is justice?
books 2-4: attack and defense of justice
books 5-7: attack and defense of justice (continued)
Paper four assigned
books 8-9: the decline of the city
Optional paper five assigned
PART 4: Poetry and the afterlife (approx. 2 weeks)
book 10: poetry and the afterlife
Optional fifth paper due the last day of class
Final paper due for graduate students
COURSE TOPICS: knowledge and being, virtue and the soul, justice and the city, poetry and the afterlife; truth, friendship, advantage; reason, spiritedness, desire; regimes, communism, education, philosopher-kings; imagination, trust, thought, intellectual insight; images, things, mathematicals, forms; pleasure; seeming and being (appearance and reality)
COURSE OUTCOMES: through reading the Republic, students will achieve familiarity with Plato’s views on the course topics; in class discussions and papers, students will learn to interpret, analyze, explain, compare and evaluate those views; in general, students will learn how to read a Platonic dialogue. “Students will be able to:
(SLO 1) State a thesis about a key Platonic dialogue, explain the thesis, and provide evidence, textual and philosophical, in its defense.
(SLO 2) Explain and interpret some central ideas associated with Platonic philosophy.
(SLO 3) Distinguish better and worse reasoning, and recognize conceptual relationships, in a Platonic dialogue and/or a secondary source that comments critically on it.
(SLO 4) Show what is at stake, for current philosophical debates, in Plato’s philosophical work.”
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 discussion
Class attendance
Four papers (5 or 6 pages)
Optional fifth paper (5 or 6 pages)
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 and are expected to reflect familiarity with topics discussed. As a result, it is to your disadvantage to miss class.
Attendance is required and will be taken at the beginning of each class session. It is the student’s responsibility to sign the roll sheet in each class. Students may miss three classes without penalty. Five points will be subtracted from the final grade for the fourth class missed and two points for each class missed after that. Exceptions will be made in the case of illness, emergency, religious holiday or university-sanctioned extracurricular activity. A written excuse or concrete evidence must be provided in timely fashion for exceptions to be made.
If you miss class, contact one of your fellow students to find out what we did in your absence and to get notes on the class you missed. Once you have done that, you may wish to talk to the instructor about what you missed. Please do not e-mail the instructor to find out what you missed in class or to inform the instructor that you will be absent.
THANKSGIVING BREAK: November 23-24, 2017
PAPERS: The papers will be essays (not research papers). They will be five or 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 four papers weighted equally (1/4 each). Excellent class participation may raise your grade somewhat over the mathematical average, at the discretion of the instructor. Any points for non-attendance will be subtracted as described above.
Late papers will lose a letter grade (ten points) for each class session they are late. Exceptions will be made only in the case of serious illness, emergency, religious holiday or university-sanctioned extracurricular activity. A written excuse must be provided for exceptions to be made. The grade on the optional fifth paper replaces the lowest previous grade so long as that grade is not a 0. Papers will be submitted and not e-mailed. There will be no extra credit work.
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 are posted on the world wide web. They can be accessed by visiting: <deborahachtenberg.com/courses/pf17co>. They will also be distributed in class. My homepage can also be accessed through the Department of Philosophy website <www.unr.edu/philosophy/>.
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 Socrates says…” or “According to Glaucon…”. (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: For original sources and commentaries on ancient Greek philosophy, visit the Perseus site located at Tufts University <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/>, click on Collections/Texts and then on Greek and Roman. The two main U.S. associations for the study of ancient Greek philosophy are: the Ancient Philosophy Society <http://www.ancientphilosophysociety.org/> and the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy <http://www.societyforancientgreekphilosophy.com/>.
Some on-line reference books of use to students (you may need UNR access for some of these sites; visit the UNR library site to learn how to gain access):
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.
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
The electronic version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
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–go to “Dictionary Entry Lookup”, enter the word you wish to look up, click on “search,” and then click either on “LSJ” (for longer, historical set of definitions) or “Middle Liddell” (for shorter set of definitions).
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. Students will be expected to respond to questions asking them to reflect on the text and the issues it raises, to speculate in a thoughtful way when not sure, and in general to participate in discussion.
Class discussions will refer to the course text. Students will need to bring the course text to class if they are to benefit from lectures and discussions.
Web surfing and sending or reading e-mail or text messages during class are not allowed. In addition, please refrain from carrying on extensive side conversations during class discussion and please refrain from eating during class.
STUDYING: Many students will find that they do better work in this course if they study together with other students.
REQUIRED STATEMENT ON DISABILITY POLICY: “Any student with a disability needing academic adjustments or accommodations is requested to speak with the Disability Resource Center (Pennington Student Achievement Center,, Suite 230) as soon as possible to arrange for appropriate accommodations.”
REQUIRED STATEMENT ON AUDIO AND VIDEO RECORDING: “Surreptitious or covert video-taping of class or unauthorized audio recording of class is prohibited by law and by Board of Regents policy. This class may be videotaped or audio recorded only with the written permission of the instructor. In order to accommodate students with disabilities, some students may be given permission to record class lectures and discussions. Therefore, students should understand that their comments during class may be recorded.”
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 meet as a group with the instructor a few times during the semester for discussion, will read additional selections from Plato, etc., and will meet with the instructor to discuss papers before beginning work on them. It is the student’s responsibility to arrange to meet with the instructor (and to do so sufficiently ahead of time).
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 (1/4 each).
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
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)
Three waves
education of women and children
communism of women and children
philosopher-kings (soul 2)
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
Timocracy
Oligarchy
Democracy
Tyranny
The unhappiness of the tyrannic man (soul 3)
BOOK X: Poetry and the afterlife
Poetry
The afterlife
* * *
My office hours are 12:15 to 1:15 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday, or by appointment (Jones 101A). Please feel free to come by to discuss the course topics or your progress in the course. I look forward to meeting with you for such discussions. Please contact me as much as possible in person or by phone so that I can get to know you better!
Please note that I do advising in person, not by e-mail. Please try to meet with me during my scheduled office hours, if you can. If you cannot, I am more than happy to meet you at another time. Just see me before or after class, call 784-6742 (my office), or drop by my office and see if I am there, to make an appointment. If you try to get in touch with me and cannot, leave a voice mail message or a note with your phone number so that I can call you.
Please do not send e-mail messages informing me that you will not be attending class or asking me what we did in class. Please use e-mail sparingly, primarily in unusual or emergency circumstances: <achten@unr.edu>. I want to get to know you, and the best way for that to happen in the short time we have together is for us to meet in person.