Week 1

Course Introduction and Ancient Mesopotamia

T, 8/22

Course Introduction

View the Lascaux Cave in France

R, 8/24

Reading: Chapter 1 of WH 1-27
Reading: The Code of Hammurabi, (selections) RWH 1-5
Film.... Egypt: Quest for Immortality
Discussion: Consideration of the “legacy” of these cultures for developments in Greece. Consideration of the “legacy” of these cultures in the contemporary self-understanding of the West.
Complete Code of Hammurabi
Babylonian mathematics
Focus on the debates about the ownership and preservation of antiquities. 
Read: National Geographic article on Iraq
Article on Hatshepsut from Smithsonian.com

Recommended books:
History Begins at Sumer by Samuel Kramer
Lost Discoveries: The Ancient Roots of Modern Science from the Babylonians to the Maya by Dick Teresi
 

  

































Week 2

 Mesopotamia Continued and Archaic Greece

T, 8/29

Reading: Epic of Gilgamesh (selections) RHW 5-13
Discussion: The readings and their relation with the history, art, architecture of these cultures. The philosophy—considerations of the central concerns of human life—contained in these selections.  

Discovery of the Epic of Gilgamesh

R, 8/31

Reading: WH 31-53
Reading: Homer, Iliad (selections) RWH 34-45 ( Iliad Complete Text)
Reading: Sappho, Poems RWH.53-55
Discussion: The art, architecture and history of Aegean Civilization and Archaic Greece. The relation of Archaic Greece to Mesopotamia, Persia and Egypt. The ethos of Archaic Greece as gleaned through Homer.

Map of Greece
Phoenician Alphabet
View Mycenae
 

 
Week 3

Aegean Civilization & the Beginnings of Hellenic Greece

T, 9/5

Reading: Pre-Socratic Philosophers (selections from Parmenides, Anaximander & Heraclitus) –Handout
Discussion: Continue discussion of the ethos of Archaic Greece, the origins of Greek Philosophy in the pre-Socratic thinkers, beginning of Hellenistic Greece. The nature of philosophy and science and where these ways of thinking originated.
 

R, 9/7

***Quiz***
Reading: WH 55-84
Reading: Herodotus, History of the Persian Wars (selections) –Handout Discussion: The history, art and architecture of Hellenistic Greece; the rise of Athens. Greece and Persia—the emergence of the Hellenistic self-conception and its relation to the Eastern Mediterranean.

Week 4

Hellenic Greece

T, 9/12

Reading: Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound (complete) in Three Greek Plays
Reading: Sophists (selections from Gorgias and Protagoras) --Handout
Discussion: The development of the profession of sophistry and its relation to Athens. The controversy over the war with Sparta.
 

R, 9/14

Reading: Plato, Protagoras (complete) Discussion: Socrates and the Sophists: is there an “art” (techne) for living well (justice)?

 
Week 5

Hellenic Greece: Plato

T, 9/19

Reading: Plato, Gorgias (complete)
Discussion: Socrates and the Sophists (con’t).
 

R, 9/21

Reading: Plato, Phaedo (complete)
Reading: Plato, Symposium (selections) & Republic (selections)
Discussion: Plato and the eidos. What does justice in the world require the world to be like? The relationship of the dialogues to one another, the character of Socrates, the issue of justice as framed by Plato, the question of philosophical inquiry. The development of Aristotle’s thought and the criticism of the “Forms” (eidos).
 

 
Week 6

Hellenic Greece

T, 9/26

Reading: Euripides, The Trojan Women (complete in Three Greek Plays)
Reading: Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War (selections) –Handout Discussion: The political context of this play.  The philosophical position of this play. What conclusions can be drawn about Athenian culture.
 

R, 9/28

***Quiz***
Reading: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (selections)
Discussion: The good life as the practice & theory of virtue.

 
Week 7

Hellenic Greece: Aristotle

T, 10/3

Reading: Aristotle, Politics (major portions)
Discussion: Justice in the state.

R, 10/5

Finish Aristotle

 
Week 8

Hellenistic Greece and the Emergence of Rome

T, 10/10

Reading: WH 87-107
Reading: Xenophon, Alexander (selections)
Reading: Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus RWH 98-102
Discussion: The changing ethos of Greece: from polis to empire and kingdoms. The shifting philosophical perspective. The emergence of new influences from Central Asia and India.

R, 10/12

Reading: Chapter 5, WH 109-142

Reading: Apuleius’ The Golden Ass Books 1-6

Maps of the Roman Empire

Saving Antiquities for Everyone

Week 9

Roman Civilization Continued

T, 10/17

Reading: Vergil, Aeneid (selections) RWH 109-118
Reading: Auleius, The Golden Ass Books 7-11
Discussion: The history, art and architecture of Roman Civilization. The myth of Rome’s founding in Vergil. The syncretism of Roman Civilization—the ethos of the empire. Magic, sex and the gods in the Roman Empire.
Discussion: Complete Discussion of Roman conception of self in society. Philosophy during the Roman (pre-Christian) Period (the first Aristotelian Revival).

Study Guide for the Third Exam
 

R, 10/19

Please note that the quiz has rescheduled to 10/24.
Reading, WH 145-167
Reading: Hebrew Bible, WHR 139-154
Discussion: The history of Judaism and its early art and architecture.  Why Judaism challenged the Roman Empire.  The philosophical content of Job and a comparison to Prometheus Bound.  The early history of Christianity and the issue of its relationship to Judaism.

Don't forget to attend The Trojan Women at the PAC.  Buy your tickets at the Student Activities Office in the cafeteria.
 

Week 10

The Rise of Christianity and the Fall of Rome

T, 10/24

***Quiz***

Reading: New Testament (selections) RWH 154-160.
Reading: Philo (selections) –handout
Reading: Tertullian (selections)--handout
Discussion:. The emergence of Christianity in the Greco-Roman world of the Levant. Judaic and early Christian encounters with Greek philosophical perspectives. The philosophical content of “The Sermon on the Mount.”
 

R, 10/26

Reading: WH 169-199
Reading: Augustine, Confessions (selections)
Reading: Augustine, City of God (selections)

Discussion: the history, art and architecture of late Roman and Byzantine civilization. The development of a distinctively Christian-Greek philosophical perspective. The challenges of orthodoxy and the impact of the loss of Greece for the Western Roman Empire’s (and its remnants) intellectual development. 

 
Week 11

The World of Islam

T, 10/31

Reading: Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy (selections)

R, 11/2

Introduction to Islam
Reading: WH 203-225
Reading: Qu’ran (selections) RWH 192-198
Discussion: The history, art, architecture and literature of Islamic civilization. Its central importance in the actual historical development of the West. Its place in the West’s self-understanding, then and now.
Reading: Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah (selections) RWH 198-204
Discussion: Continue discussion of Islamic culture. The rise of science, medicine and philosophy in the Islamic Middle East and Spain. Influences from India and Central Asia. The interaction of the various Muslim Dynasties and the Byzantine (Roman) Empire.

Week 12

Islamic Philosophy

T, 11/7

Reading: Al Farabi, The Attainment of Happiness (complete)
Reading: Al Farabi, The Perfect State (selections)
Discussion: The development of Islamic philosophy and science. The discovery of, the preservation of, and the improvement of Greek philosophy, math, and science (particularly medicine).
 

R, 11/9

Reading: Ibn Sina, Healing (selections)
Reading: Ibn Sina, On the Proof of Prophecies (selections)
Reading: Ibn Tufayl, Hayy the Son of Yaqzan (selections)
Reading: Ibn al-Sa’igh, The Governance of the Solitary (selections)
Discussion: Islamic political philosophy. The transformation / merging of Greek philosophy, Indian philosophy, and Islam. The emergence of Illuminationism and its relation to Sufi mysticism.

Week 13

Islamic Philosophy Continued

T, 11/14

Reading: Ibn Rushd, On the Harmony of Religions and Philosophy. This can be found online in HTML format at: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1190averroes.html   Since we are reading this text in its entirety, we would rather that you just print it out. 

Reading: Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed (selections)
Discussion: Islamic Spain and the translation of Aristotle from Arabic and Hebrew to Latin. Philosophy in Islamic Spain.
 

R, 11/16

***Quiz***
Reading: Arab Historians of the Crusades (selections)
Discussion: Continue discussion of Islamic Philosophy. The relation between Islam, Byzantium, and the Christian West (as seen through the eyes of Muslims): the Crusades. The sack of Constantinople and the subsequent loss of huge archives of Ancient Greek literature (only preserved in Islamic culture) by the Franks in 1204. 

 
Week 14

High Middle Ages

T, 11/21

Reading: WH 227-260
Reading: Dante, The Divine Comedy (selections) RWH 235-247
Discussion: The history, art, architecture and literature of the High Middle Ages in Europe. Dante as a lens for understanding the ethos of Europe.
 

R, 11/23

Thanksgiving

 
Week 15

The Aristotelian Revolution (the 13^th Century)

T, 11/28

Reading: Abelard, Ethics (selections)
Reading: Abelard & Heloise, Letters (selections)
Reading: Anselm, Proslogion (complete?)
Discussion: Philosophy in the High Middle Ages. The importance of the will in ethics—the first intentional theory of wrong-doing (pre-Kantian). Continuing conflict between orthodoxy and philosophy. Proofs of God’s existence—the relation between faith and reason.
 

R, 11/30

Reading: Aquinas, Summa Theologica (selections)
Reading: Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles (selections)
Discussion: Aquinas’ philosophical perspective. The importance of Aristotle development of philosophy and science. The emergence of “Scholaticism”. Aquinas and the wedding of orthodoxy and philosophy (and their later divorce).

 
Week 16

The Late Middle Ages

T, 12/5

Reading: WH 263-294
Reading: Boccaccio, Decameron (selections) RWH 256-261
Reading: Christine de Pizan, Book of the City of the Ladies (selections) RWH 275-279

R, 12/7

***Final Exam***

 Week 17
 

Final Reflections

T, 12/12

What is Western Culture? Who is included in Western culture?