Universität Wien
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180010 VO-L History of Philosophy I (Antiquity) (2017W)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 18 - Philosophie
Moodle

Details

Language: German

Examination dates

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Wednesday 11.10. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 41 Gerda-Lerner Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 8
  • Wednesday 18.10. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 41 Gerda-Lerner Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 8
  • Wednesday 25.10. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 41 Gerda-Lerner Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 8
  • Wednesday 08.11. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 41 Gerda-Lerner Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 8
  • Wednesday 15.11. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 41 Gerda-Lerner Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 8
  • Wednesday 22.11. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 41 Gerda-Lerner Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 8
  • Wednesday 29.11. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 41 Gerda-Lerner Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 8
  • Wednesday 06.12. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 41 Gerda-Lerner Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 8
  • Wednesday 13.12. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 41 Gerda-Lerner Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 8
  • Wednesday 10.01. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 41 Gerda-Lerner Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 8
  • Wednesday 17.01. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 41 Gerda-Lerner Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 8
  • Wednesday 24.01. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 41 Gerda-Lerner Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 8

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The aim of these lectures is to review the History of Ancient Philosophy, but we will do so focusing on ancient cosmology and ontology. Ancient Philosophy indeed begins with theories about the world (kosmos). These theories address the questions of how the world has come about, which are the principles accounting for the world, and of what the world consists. These questions were for the first time systematically treated by Plato in his dialogue Timaios. In this dialogue we are presented with the view that the world has been created by God, an intellect, who is portrayed as the creator of the universe. Aristotle disputes that view and he argues instead that nature alone is responsible for the structure and maintainance of the world. The relevant theories of the Hellenistic philosophers, Stoics and the the Epicureans, are strongly influenced by the corresponding views of the Presocratics Heraclitus and Democritus. Cosmology becomes particularly prominent in later ancient philosophy, because for the philosophers of that time, Platonists, Peripatetics, and early Christian philosophers, the topic of the origin and structure of the world bears much on the question of structure of the human being and the soul-body relation and also on ethics. This is because contemporary philosophers consider man both as part of the world and as small world (microkosm).

Assessment and permitted materials

Written examination

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Familiarity with important ancient philosophical concepts, methods and distinctions.
Gaining knowledge of ancient philosophy from the beginning with the Presocratics to the end with Neoplatonists.

Examination topics

We will proceed thematically focusing mainly on ancient cosmology. We will aim to analyze the conceptual tools and arguments of ancient philosophers, their interaction and dialogue on the issue of the nature of the world, its coming into being, and its causes.

Reading list

Chr. Horn - Chr. Rapp (Hg.), Wörterbuch der antiken Philosophie, Münich 2002
A. Gregory, Ancient Greek Cosmology, London 2007
D. Sedley, Creationism and its Critics in Antiquity, Berkeley 2007
R. Sorabji, Time, Creation, and the Continuum, London 1983
Reader (bei Facultas und auf Moodle)

Association in the course directory

Last modified: We 03.11.2021 00:20