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Core modules and Options at Level 10

PHI9HG The Soul and the Good

Outline

Plato was concerned with the individual’s relation to the world and the Good: how we can make human good safe from the contingency of human existence; how we can become rational through the pursuit of the Good. The questions he tackles involve fundamental issues in epistemology, ethics and metaphysics but, radical and original though his thought was, it nonetheless arose from a background of concepts and ideas which need to be appreciated if Plato is to be properly understood. Students taking this module must be prepared to engage seriously with texts which are quite different in form from those with which they are likely to be most familiar. They will be expected to become familiar with the required texts listed below and are strongly advised to have read at least the Meno before the first class.

 

Reading

Required Texts

Gorgias            (Oxford University Press, World Classics)

Meno               (Protagoras and Meno, Penguin Books)

Republic          (Oxford University Press, World Classics)

Commentaries

Martha Nussbaum       The Fragility of Goodness (Cambridge University Press)

Terence Irwin              Plato’s Ethics (Oxford University Press)

 

Availability:	Honours semester 5/7, BA in Philosophy or the General degree
Prerequisite:	PHI9CA or PHI9CB
Assessment:	Coursework (one required essay) 50%; examination (3 questions in 3 hours) 50%. Students may choose to submit a second essay to improve their coursework grade.
Teaching Pattern:	Each week there will be two one-hour lectures and one one-hour seminar
Regulation:	For the purposes of the University’s attendance regulation 14, seminars are prescribed classes. The rationale for prescribing these classes may be found in the Philosophy Student Handbook, section F. This section also contains regulations relating to the submission of essays, and other matters.

 

If you would like to know more about this module please contact Departmental Secretaries