PH 203 - Topics in Philosophy

Institution:

Colorado College

Subject:

Description:

Experimental and occasional courses taught by either visiting professors or permanent staff. Courses offered under this rubric will vary from year to year. Block 2: Topics in Philosopy: Greek Lyric Poetry and Philosophy. This course explores the fact that both lyric poetry and philosophy, as we know them in the West, have their roots in the culture of archaic Greece. Through close reading of texts by such poets as Archilochus, Sappho, Alcaeus (7th and 6th centuries BCE). Xenophanes (6th century BC), and Simonides (6th to 5th centuries BCE) and equally close reading of texts by such Presocratic philosophers as Heraclitus, Parmenides, and Empedocles (largely 5th century BCE), we will examine the variety of ways in which these writers articulated and constituted their individual place in the space between culture and nature. We will turn to Plato's Ion and Symposium to see how the lyric and the philosophical are explicitly united in the writing of perhaps the greatest thinker in the Western tradition. In an effort to isolate what is distinctive about the lyric impulse and the philosophical impulse, we will also read from the Iliad of Homer (8th century BCE), the Oresteia of Aeschylus (5th century BCE), and Longus' Daphnis and Chloe (ca. 200CE ). The course will conclude with close reading of several 20th century and contemporary Greek poets-including Constantine Cavafy (1863-1933) and George Seferis (1900-1971), among others-whose work embodies the continuing dialogue between lyric poetry and philosophy. Exploring village life at harvest time as well as the ancient and modern polis, this course will be taught in Greece. After a short stay in Athens, we will spend roughly a week on the island of Lesbos (home of Sappho and Alcaeus, and the setting of Daphnis and Chloe), a week in the Peloponnesos, and a final week in Athens (where we expect to give our students the opportunity to meet and interact with contemporary Greek writers.) Prerequisite: Consent of instructor (taught in Greece) ~$500*. (Also listed as Comparative Literature 220 and English 280.) 1 unit - Lee, Mason. Block 6: Topics in Philosophy: Philosophy, East and West. An exploration of central issues in philosophy from a cross-cultural, comparative perspective, focusing on Classical China and the West. Includes discussion of conceptions of the self, human nature, skepticism, and ethics in Chinese and Western thought. (Meets the Critical Perspectives: Diverse Cultures and Critiques requirement.) 1 unit - Hourdequin. Block 7: Topics in Philosophy: American Pragmatism. An introduction to the classical American tradition of pragmatism. Readings may include works by Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, John Dewey, W. V. O. Quine, and Richard Rorty, among others 1 unit - Bayer.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.coloradocollege.edu

Phone Number:

(719) 389-6000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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