BA Philosophy / Course details

Plato is one of the most important thinkers in the Western tradition. His dialogues address questions of ethics, aesthetics, politics, physics, epistemology, psychology and life after death, to name just a few. This course provides an introduction to Plato’s writings. We will consider both their philosophical content and the manner in which the arguments are presented. Students will at least one of Plato’s dialogues in its entirety and be given the opportunity both to criticize and defend his thought as well as considering his relevance to the modern world.

This course aims to

• introduce students to a substantial range of Plato’s writings and ideas.
• help students to develop an awareness of what makes for successful philosophical argument via critical engagement with primary sources and secondary literature.
• aid students’ ability to develop clear and well-argued expositions and evaluations in written form and to gain confidence in oral discussion of these texts.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

• give an account of Plato’s discussions of specific philosophical issues, indicating relevant passages in the dialogues and explaining problematic aspects of their interpretation.
• discuss the relation between different dialogues and indicate its possible significance.
• assess the value of a philosophical argument.
• demonstrate achievement of these objectives by producing clear, well-focussed written expositions.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

• construct an argument in written and oral form;
• pose and attempt to answer questions about complex issues;
• assimilate and summarise large quantities of evidence;
• locate and retrieve relevant information from primary sources;
• engage in constructive philosophical discussion.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

• present the results of their work in a professional manner with appropriate reference to sources and modern published scholarship;
• assimilate and summarise large quantities of evidence;
• locate and retrieve relevant information from primary sources;
• conduct bibliographic searches;
• engage in constructive (philosophical) discussion.
• develop an effective poster presentation

By the end of this course students will be able to:

• construct an argument in written and oral form;
• pose and attempt to answer questions about complex issues;
• assimilate and summarise large quantities of evidence;
• present the results in a professional manner with appropriate reference to sources and modern published scholarship;
• manage time and resources
• develop an effective poster presentation

Primary sources:

• J. Cooper (1997) Plato Complete Works, Hackett.

Secondary readings:

• Ackrill, J.L., (2001) Essays on Plato and Aristotle, Oxford: Oxford University Press.  
• Annas, J. & Rowe, C.J. (eds) (2002) New Perspectives on Plato, Modern and Ancient, Washington, D.C.: Harvard University Press.  
• Benson, H. (ed.) (2006) A Companion to Plato, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing
• Fine, G. (ed.) (1999) Plato, Oxford: Oxford University Press. (2 volumes)
• Fine, G. (ed.) (2008) The Oxford handbook of Plato, Oxford: Oxford University Press.  
• Irwin, T., (1995) Plato's Ethics, Oxford: Oxford University Press.  
• Kahn, C., (1996) Plato and the Socratic dialogue, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  
• Kahn, C., (2013) Plato and the Post-Socratic Dialogue, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Kraut, R. ed., (1992) The Cambridge companion to Plato, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  
• Morrison, Donald R., (2010) The Cambridge Companion to Socrates, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Vlastos, G. ed., (1971) Plato: A Collection of Critical Essays, Garden City, N.Y: Anchor Books. (2 volumes)
• Vlastos, G., (1973) Platonic Studies., Princeton: Princeton University Press.