Jason Rheins
Dr. Jason G. Rheins is a scholar of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy. In 2003 he received his BA with honors in Philosophy and Classical Studies from Stanford University.
Ancient Greek Thought and Civilization Part III. The World and Ideas of the Socratics and their Contemporaries (c. 428-362 BCE)
In this course we will study philosophical, sociopolitical, and artistic developments in the Greek world during the late 5th and early 4th cc. BCE, roughly from the death of Pericles and birth of Plato during the Peloponnesian War to the Battle of Mantinea and the death of Epaminondas of Thebes. Although this period saw the collapse of the Athenian Empire and the rise of Greek hegemonies led by Sparta and Thebes, Athens remained the epicenter of ever more impressive achievements in the domains of history, rhetoric, moral philosophy, mathematics, and the visual and performing arts.
Price
$1,500.00
Level
100
Timing
Q4
Format
Live
About this course
In this course we will study philosophical, sociopolitical, and artistic developments in the Greek world during the late 5th and early 4th cc. BCE, roughly from the death of Pericles and birth of Plato during the Peloponnesian War to the Battle of Mantinea and the death of Epaminondas of Thebes. Although this period saw the collapse of the Athenian Empire and the rise of Greek hegemonies led by Sparta and Thebes, Athens remained the epicenter of ever more impressive achievements in the domains of history, rhetoric, moral philosophy, mathematics, and the visual and performing arts.
We will begin with an historical overview of the final years and aftermath of the Peloponnesian War, the resulting ascendancy of Sparta, and its subsequent overthrow by the rising power of Thebes. For this, our primary source will be Xenophon’s Hellenica.We will then look at artistic, legal, and philosophical responses to the horrors of the Peloponnesian War and the defeat of Athens. Starting with drama, we will read the final tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides, Oedipus at Colonus and Bacchae respectively, which were composed in the dark final years of the war. We will also read Aristophanes’ comic masterpiece and smash success from the following year, the Frogs. In addition we will reflect upon the visual arts of this period, which show both continuing advancement in technique and a significant expansion in their range of subjects and an increasing depiction of emotion. We will look at pottery painting, the architecture and reliefs of the Temple Parapet of Athena Nike and the Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae, and the free-standing sculptures of Polycleitus, Praxiteles, and Lysippos.We turn thence to Greek oratory, beginning with several famous speeches by Lysias including a speech in defense of a man for the ‘justifiable homicide’ of killing his wife’s lover and a speech in which the orator prosecutes Eratosthenes, one of the Thirty Tyrants, for the murder of his brother, Polemarchus. We will then turn to the orations of Isocrates, a student of the sophist Gorgias and a rival of Plato’s. We will study his views of philosophy and education as presented in his speeches “Against the Sophists” and “To Nicocles”.
Then we turn to another trial conducted in the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War and Tyranny of the Thirty, the infamous prosecution of Socrates (399 BCE). We will read two very different versions of Socrates’ defense speech, both written by students of his, the Apology of Plato and the Apology of Xenophon. This will lead us into the person of Socrates, his numerous, influential students, and the diverse and popular genre of ‘Socratic Dialogues’ which they wrote. We will read in Diogenes Laertius’ Lives of the Philosophers about the various schools founded or heavily inspired by Socrates’s pupils such as the Cyrenaics, the Cynics, and Megarians. We will examine the representation and defense of Socrates in several dialogues by Xenophon, before turning at greater length to the early, Socratic dialogues of Plato.Roughly half of the course will cover dialogues from Plato’s early stylistic period. Plato’s earlier works feature Socrates interrogating his interlocutors about various concepts of great moral or sociopolitical significance such as courage, moderation, piety, friendship, and oratory. Through his method of questioning, Socrates quickly proves that they do not know and cannot define or explain that which they purported to know. However, these conservations typically end without a definite answer to the questions they take and thus are known as ‘aporetic’, “aporia” being the state in which one is at a loss for how to proceed. Plato’s early dialogues gradually evolve, so that eventually the character of Socrates is answering questions and offering Platonic doctrines as his own. By the end of his early literary period, Plato has offered his earliest proofs for the immortality of the soul and his first formulations of the theory of Forms. In addition to the Apology, we will read such early dialogues as: Ion, Crito, Laches, Euthyphro, Protagoras, Gorgias, Meno, Phaedo, and Symposium.
Course Prerequisites
Prerequisites or Corequisites: 100-level courses have “Objectivism through Ayn Rand’s Fiction” or the “Intensive Seminar on Objectivism” as a corequisite.
Instructors
About Ayn Rand University
Ayn Rand described Objectivism as “a philosophy for living on earth.” This idea is at the heart of the Ayn Rand University, an online school of philosophy whose mission is to educate our students about Objectivism and to provide them with the intellectual, career, and life guidance they need to flourish.
Ayn Rand University provides an online educational experience, giving you the flexibility to attend from anywhere in the world. Each quarter, you’ll take one or more courses that feature lectures, graded assignments, classroom discussion, and feedback from our expert faculty. You may also meet regularly with one of our mentors, who will work with you to help you reach your learning and career goals so you can achieve success in thought and action. Though our program is demanding, most students find that they can succeed by devoting about 10 hours a week to their studies. And while we strongly encourage live attendance, all of our classes are recorded so that you can conveniently fit our classes into your schedule.
