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Origins of Western Philosophy

Presocratics
​For the Presocratics, be able to speak in general of what sorts of intellectual inquiries we associate with the Milesians, giving at least three examples, and be prepared to speak in specific terms of the ways in which Parmenides marks a decisive intervention in western intellectual history.

Presocratics: the Milesians

• Key people, terms, episodes
  •     -Thales
  •     -Anaximander
  •     -Anaximenes
  •     -archê (principle/source: water for Thales, the “boundless” (apeiron) for Anaximander, aer (mist) for Anaximenes)
• Brief Essay
  • Be prepared with examples that show the prescience and importance of the presocratics, e.g. Anaximenes on condensation/rarefaction, Anaximander on the first animals and first humans, and in general the assumption of law-like forces in an ordered universe that has the divine but does not have traditional gods

Presocratics: Parmenides

• Key people, terms, episodes
  • Path of Truth vs. the Path of Opinion
• Brief Essay
  • Be prepared to describe the “real” world of Parmenides (changeless, uniform, indivisible, immortal), and what arguments he uses to deduce this “real” world (i.e. how the “what is not cannot be” argument works)
  • Be ready in more general terms to describe why Parmenides' writings mark a decisive intervention in western intellectualism (radical dependence on logic over senses, the idea of an unseen world that is the "really real" world, the idea of an eternal and indivisible world that we cannot directly experience but can access only through pure reason)

Socrates and Plato
For the three Platonic dialogues we read, know the principal characters, events, and the arc of the argument, and be prepared to speak to the significance of salient passages for the understanding of each dialogue. The testing for this will either be one of the brief essays listed below (not necessarily verbatim), or a passage for which you will be asked to identify the context (what is going on in the treatise just then, and who the characters are), and to explain the significance for the treatise as a whole. You may also be asked about the Ormand reading on Greek sexuality: either to give a brief summary of his most important points, or to react to a quotation from the article.

Plato’s Apology

• Key people, terms, episodes
  • daimonion, as presented in the Apology
  •  what the “first accusers say” (these are not the formal charges)
  •  the formal charges (the “second accusers”)
  •  “the unexamined life is not worth living”
  •  Socrates as “gadfly”
  •  Apology - what does the word mean?
  •  what penalty does Socrates suggest?
• Brief Essay
  • what is Socrates’ stance towards the jurors? why does he take that stance? what is his attitude, in this treatise, towards participation in society and the state (see e.g. p. 291 top)
  • be prepared to tell the story of Socrates and the oracle of Delphi - Socrates’ mission in life, Socrates’ role as a “wise man” (philo-soph-ia)
  • what are his counter-arguments to the two formal charges?

Plato’s Ion

• Key people, terms, episodes
  • Ion
  • rhapsode
  • techne (“art”)
  • episteme (“knowledge”)
• Brief Essay
  • what does it mean that rhapsodes are “interpreters of interpreters”? And what is so bad about that (from Socrates’ point of view)?
  • be prepared to discuss and elucidate the magnetic chains metaphor
  • why does Socrates, and not Ion, do most of the quoting by memory of Homeric passages in this dialogue?
  • be prepared to describe the performance of a rhapsode, as inferred from details in this treatise
  •  what about the conclusion, namely, that a rhapsode and a general are “one and the same”? why this?

Plato’s Symposium

• Key people, terms, episodes
  • Ormand: be prepared to define per Kirk Ormand “sex” “gender” “sexuality”
  • Ormand: erastês / eromenos
  • Phaedrus (+ give brief summary of his speech and viewpoint)
  • Pausanias (+ give brief summary of his speech and viewpoint)
  • Eryximachus (+ give brief summary of his speech and viewpoint)
  • Aristophanes (+ give brief summary of his speech and viewpoint)
  • Agathon (+ give brief summary of his speech and viewpoint)
  • Diotima
  • Alcibiades
  • Note: for all the characters above, you should know (not simply recognize) the names, and be able to identify a prominent clip from one of the speeches
• Brief Essay
  • Be prepared to discuss (following or in knowledgeable reaction to Ormand) the problems of using the term “homosexual” with reference to the culture portrayed in the Symposium; include the erastes (lover)/eromenos (beloved) relationship, and how that is specific to ancient Greek (and mostly Athenian/Spartan) culture
  • Be prepared to discuss the different methods that are deployed to convey the pursuit of knowledge in this dialogue (i.e. that Phaedrus deploys traditional poetry and myth to speak to the riddle of love, etc.); be prepared to give a capsule summary (i.e. very brief) of the content of each of the speeches
  • Be prepared to speak to both the content and significance of the scene where Alcibiades enters: what does it tell us about the (model) figure of Socrates, and what important specifics of his life does Alcibiades mention? what about Alcibiades himself -- why does he intrude at the end, and after Diotima’s account?
  • Be prepared to describe Diotima’s account of Love and its relationship to the Idea of Beauty
  • Why does Socrates use Diotima, an obviously fictional character, rather than explaining this in his own voice?

Pictured at top (close-up) and above: Modern statue of Socrates, with a head based on ancient models.
​Quote from the Socrates of Plato's Apology.