Plato and Aristotle on the Soul

This course studies the concept of the soul in Ancient greek philosophy, and especially Plato s and Aristotle's views concerning the nature of the soul and its relation to the body.

Objectives

The course aims at familiarizing the students with: (a) the methodology of studying and interpreting ancient philosophical texts, (b) with the views of Plato's and Aristotle's concerning the soul.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course.

Syllabus

1. Introduction 2. The term soul in the Homeric poems and the pre-platonic philosophical literature. 3. Plato's Phaedo: The argument for the immortality of the soul from the contraries. 4. Plato's Phaedo. The argument for the immortality of the soul from the claim that knowledge is recollection. The combination of the first two arguments for immortality. 5. Plato's Phaedo. The affinity argument for the immortality. 6. Objections and replies concerning the immortality of the soul. 7. Plato's Phaedo. The final argument for the immortality of the soul.