PHIL 310: e Philosophy of Plato

MWF 12-1pm — CHEM C126

___________________________________________________

Plato’s dialogues embody a series of questions that have never lost their immediate vigour:
how we should live, what there is, and how we can know. But it is the way that Plato posed
those questions – his rigour, his artful use of dialogue to justify both sides of a question, and
the inspired vitality of his central arguments – that renew the value of his original writing for
each generation. In this course, aimed at the more advanced student with some existing
knowledge of Plato, we engage with a range of his richest and most challenging works, and
explore the evolution of his central ideas and methods, including his attempt to differentiate
the ideal philosopher from the student of language and persuasion or the natural scientist; his
reinterpretation of the Socratic method as a sharp dialectical instrument for locating the
truth; his development of a famous case for eternal mathematical and ethical patterns and his
application of these Forms to questions in ontology and epistemology; his moral and political
theory; and his most developed articulations of the philosopher’s function in society.

REQUIRED TEXT INSTRUCTOR

J. Cooper, Plato: Complete Works (Hackett, 1997) Michael Griffin
Email: michael.griffin@ubc.ca
Office: Buchanan C212
TEACHING ASSISTANT Josh Johnston (joshjj@interchange.ubc.ca) Phone: 604.822.4050
COURSE WEBPAGE http://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/mgriffin/310 Office Hours: MW 3-4pm
___________________________________________________

SYLLABUS
Please read the required texts before each lecture, and bring the text to class.
Optional readings avail. in G. Fine, Plato 1-2 (Oxford, 2000, on course reserve), or by request from instructor.
Students must adhere to the University’s standards for academic integrity.
(For guidance, visit learningcommons.ubc.ca/get-study-help/academic-integrity).
Students with special needs are encouraged to contact the instructor as soon as possible.

I. Introduction Sep 8
• Approaches to Plato
• Dividing the dialogues
Texts Plato: A bird’s eye view (handout)
II. Plato’s challenge
(a) Athens in the fih century
(b) Socrates on trial Sep 10, 13
Texts Apology
eaetetus 172A-177C
(c) Socrates among the Sophists
Texts Gorgias 447A-471D Sep 15
Protagoras 309A-335C Sep 17
Phaedo 96A-101E Sep 20
 PHIL 310: e Philosophy of Plato
MWF 12-1pm — CHEM C126

III. e “Socratic method”: Reading Plato Writing

(a) Socrates in dialogue: e elenchus; the disavowal of knowledge; self-knowledge
Texts Apology 19A-23B (review)
Laches 185A-201B Sep 22
Gorgias 471E-488A (esp. 475E-79E) Sep 24
Opt’l Vlastos, ‘e Socratic Elenchus’
—, ‘Disavowal’
Frede, ‘Plato’s Arguments...’ Oxford Stud. in Anc. Phil. (1992 supp.), 201-20.
(b)  Socratic definition: the “What is F” question
Texts Euthyphro 5D-11A Sep 27
Meno 71E-72D
Opt’l Geach, ‘Euthyphro’
Irwin, ‘eory of Forms’ (pp. 143-50)

IV. Socratic moral philosophy

(a) e Socratic paradoxes: Virtue is knowledge; unity of the virtues; no one does wrong willingly
Texts Protagoras 332A-361D Sep 29
Laches 197E-199E
Charmides 169D-175B
Opt’l Penner, ‘Unity of the Virtues’
(b) Eudaimonia
Texts Gorgias 499C-509E Oct 1
Opt’l Vlastos, ‘Happiness and Virtue’
— FIRST PAPER DUE — Oct 1
V. Knowledge and reality: Dialectic from Socratic definitions to the Forms
(a) Dialectic: Describing and using the forms Oct 4, 6, 8
Texts Aristotle, Metaphysics 987a32-b10, 1078b12-1079a4, 1086a37-b11 (handout)
Phaedo 72E-77D; 95A-107A (the “hypothetical” method)
Symposium 202D-212C
Opt’l Irwin, ‘eory of Forms’ (pp. 151-end)
Nehamas, ‘Imperfection’
Scott, ‘Recollection’
— NO CLASS MONDAY (anksgiving Day) — [ Oct 11 ]
(b) e possibility of knowledge and the Form of the Good Oct 13, 15
Texts Republic V 472A-VII 526C (the line, the philosopher’s ascent, and the cave)
Opt’l Fine, ‘Knowledge and Belief ’
Santas, ‘e Form of the Good’
— MIDTERM EXAMINATION — Oct 18
(c) e method of collection and division
Texts Phaedrus 265C-272A Oct 20
Philebus 14B-20A Oct 20
Sophist 216A-250B Oct 22
Opt’l H. Benson, ‘Plato’s Method of Dialectic’, in Benson, Companion to Plato, 85-100.
 PHIL 310: e Philosophy of Plato
MWF 12-1pm — CHEM C126

VI. Platonic epistemology and criticism

(a) “Knowledge is perception”: Protagorean relativism Oct 25, 27
Texts eaetetus 151-186E (formulation and critique)
Opt’l Burnyeat, ‘Knowledge is Perception’
Cooper, ‘Plato on Sense-Perception’
(b) “Knowledge is true judgement”; the jury and the aviary Oct 29, Nov 1
Texts eaetetus 187A-201C
(c) “Knowledge is true judgement with an account (logos)” Nov 3, 5
Texts eaetetus 201C-210D
Opt’l E. L. Gettier, ‘Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?’, Analysis 23 (1963), 121-23.
(d) Challenges for Forms: e Parmenides Nov 8, 10
Texts Parmenides 126A-136A
Opt’l S. Marc Cohen, ‘Logic of the ird Man’

VII. Politics
(a) Plato’s defense of justice Nov 12, 15
Texts Republic II 357A-367E
Republic IV 427D-434C
Opt’l Dahl, ‘Plato’s Defense of Justice’
— SECOND PAPER DUE — Nov 15
(b) e tripartite soul and the constitution and corruption of the state
Texts Republic II 367E-369C Nov 17
Republic IV 435C-441C Nov 17
Republic V 451A-464A (Platonic “feminism”) Nov 17
Republic VIII Nov 19, 22
Opt’l Cooper, ‘Plato’s eory of Human Motivation’
Williams, ‘Analogy of City and Soul’
Annas, ‘Plato’s Republic and Feminism’
Taylor, ‘Plato’s Totalitarianism’
(c) e philosopher’s return to the cave; the function of philosophy
Texts Republic VI 485-502 Nov 24
Republic VII 514-521 Nov 24
Phaedrus 237A-259E Nov 26
Republic X Nov 29
Opt’l Kraut, ‘Return to the Cave’

VIII. Plato’s heritage: the fourth-century schools Dec 1

Class review and discussion
Class review and discussion Dec 3

EVALUATION
Approximate grade distribution

Class participation 10%

First paper 15%
Second paper 25%
Midterm Exam 20%
Final Exam 30%