Ancient Philosophy Themes
Code
711031071
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Filosofia
Credits
6
Weekly hours
4
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
a) to acquire a deeper knowledge of the most important figures in ancient philosophical thought and of some of their texts.
b) to acquire a deeper understanding of the specificity of ancient philosophy as a foundational moment in and the beginning of the philosophical tradition.
c) to acquire a deeper knowledge of the main lines of development of ancient philosophy.
d) to develop the ability to identify concepts, methodological and doctrinal positions in the context of ancient philosophy.
e) to Acquire a thorough knowledge of ancient philosophical terminology and its role in the genesis of philosophical terminology.
f ) To acquire the critical and independent reading skills of some fundamental philosophical texts of ancient philosophy.
g ) To develop the ability to identify connections between problems and concepts of ancient philosophy and current philosophical questions.
h ) To acquire the basic ability of problem research in Ancient Philosophy.
Prerequisites
None.
Subject matter
The human thing: -res mortalium/Hê physis anthrôpôn. From Tacitus and Thucydides.
1) The meaning of technical expressions that designate the Human Being.
2) The expressions for causality in ancient Greek and Roman Thought.
3) Historical motivation and scientific causation.
4) Human characters and their influence upon the State.
5) Symptoms, causes in political domain and medicine.
Bibliography
H.S. Jones and J.E. Powell (1942). Thucydidis historiae, 2 vols. Oxford.
Fischer, C. D. 1901. Cornelii Taciti, Annalium Ab Excessu Diui Augusti Libri. Oxford.
Teaching method
The syllabus resorts two main activities. In the first hour we will read, expose and explain the fundamental key concepts and the theoretical frameworks of the texts at stake. In the second hour we will be interpreting and analysing the texts with the students in order to promote a debate about alternative views, possible objections, argumentation and expression.
Evaluation method
The evaluation is individual, through one written test (70 %) in the end of the semester and one written paper (30%) discussed and supervised in tutorial monitoring.