Institutionalization of Literate Culture

The Early Philosophical Schools: Isocrates, Plato, Aristotle

Periodization:

Socrates: 469-399 BC

Plato: 429-347 BC (follower of Socrates, 40 years younger)

Xenophon: exact contemporary of Plato, an aristocrat and Spartan sympathizer (writes of Socrates, but no school associated with him)

Isocrates: exact contemporary of Plato, rhetorician and founder of a school rival to Plato’s

Trial and Execution of Socrates: 399 BC

Aristotle: 384-322 BC

Alexander III (“the Great”): 356-323 BC

Theophrastus: generation following Aristotle (Th. was Ar.’s student)

Galen (a doctor who worked in the tradition of Aristotle): - 2nd century AD

Diogenes Laertius - c. 200 AD

Isocrates’ Against the Sophists, Antidosis

Key people, terms, episodes

    -philosophia (how defined by Isocrates? compare: how defined by Plato?)

    -Sophist (how defined by Isocrates? compare: how defined by Plato?)

    -antidosis (what does the term mean?)

    -liturgy (pp. 4-5 of the introduction to Antidosis)

    -logos

  

Brief Essay

    -what is the fictional setup to the Antidosis?

    -be prepared to list at least three similarities between the Antidosis and Plato’s Apology. What are the implications, that is, why does Isocrates choose these Apology-like features as a vehicle for his remarks?

    -in many respects, Isocrates seems to be praising his “School” in contradistinction to other modes of education; and at times with Plato and his Academy specifically in view.. Be prepared to discuss with specificity the nature of and philosophical core to Isocrates’ School. You should study, for example, the passages at Antidosis chapters 2-4, 30, 46-48, 84-88, 181-190, 254-257, 261-280.

    -what is Isocrates’ idea of philosophia? how does he define it? how does that differ from Plato?

    -does Isocrates consider himself a Sophist? if not, in what respects does he regard himself as distinct?

     -why is logos - speaking, and speaking well -- so central to Isocrates’ concerns? And how, again, does this contrast with Plato?

    -recall the central core question that distinguishes Plato (what is knowledge?) versus Isocrates (what is wisdom?) and be prepared to elaborate and explain that (e.g. how does this different take on the goals of education and philosophical inquiry relate to civic engagement and the role of a citizen in the city-state?)

Aristotle’s Generation of Animals

Key people, terms, episodes

telos

teleology

concoction

Brief Essay

    -how does Aristotle’s use of “dialectic” differ from Plato’s? (the logical split into categories taken to extreme, and used as a practical tool rather than as a means of reaching the truth: be prepared with clear examples)

    -be prepared to discuss Aristotle’s view of Nature

    -Aristotle spends a lot of time working through arguments to prove that semen is not drawn from the entire body: why is that? and what are two examples of the types of arguments he deploys (with the specifics)?

    -be prepared to describe in some detail the role of male semen and female menses in the generation of human beings

Galen, On the Usefulness of Parts (2nd century AD)

    -Galen reading: in what specific ways is a woman an “imperfect man” (chapter 6)?

    -Galen reading: How does Galen “prove” that males from from the right and females from the left? what is significant about this demonstration?

Aristotle’s Politics

Key people, terms, episodes

telos (+signficance that it turns up here as well as in works on animals and plants)

Brief Essay   

    -”man is a political animal in a sense in which a bee is not, or any other gregarious animal” (p. 509) - in what other respects has Nature made man special and different from other animals?

    -be prepared to describe how Aristotle gets from “Thus it was out of the association formed by men with these two, women and slaves, that a household was first formed”  (p. 508) to the development of the polis. What are the principles that inform this developmental account?

    -what is the difference between a “slave by nature” and a “slave by law” and what problems are solved for Aristotle by looking at slavery in this way?

    -what education does Aristotle advocate in Book VIII of the politics, and what is his justifications for that mode of education? (pp. 536ff) what does this imply about his audience?

Diogenes Laertius, Life of Aristotle, Life of Theophrastus

Key people, terms, episodes

    Theophrastus

    Lyceum - (1) public gymnasium (one of three in Athens); (2) “School” of Aristotle

Brief Essay

    - be prepared to describe the “School” of Aristotle in some detail, including the physical setup, the character and number of students, the mode of teaching, the contents of teaching, and the resources available

    - what was Aristotle’s background: where did he come from, who was his father, whom did he tutor?