关于此课程： What is philosophy? How does it differ from science, religion, and other modes of human discourse? This course traces the origins of philosophy in the Western tradition in the thinkers of Ancient Greece. We begin with the Presocratic natural philosophers who were active in Ionia in the 6th century BCE and are also credited with being the first scientists. Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximines made bold proposals about the ultimate constituents of reality, while Heraclitus insisted that there is an underlying order to the changing world. Parmenides of Elea formulated a powerful objection to all these proposals, while later Greek theorists (such as Anaxagoras and the atomist Democritus) attempted to answer that objection. In fifth-century Athens, Socrates insisted on the importance of the fundamental ethical question—“How shall I live?”—and his pupil, Plato, and Plato’s pupil, Aristotle, developed elaborate philosophical systems to explain the nature of reality, knowledge, and human happiness. After the death of Aristotle, in the Hellenistic period, Epicureans and Stoics developed and transformed that earlier tradition. We will study the major doctrines of all these thinkers. Part I will cover Plato and his predecessors. Part II will cover Aristotle and his successors.
制作方： 宾夕法尼亚大学
教学方： Susan Sauvé Meyer, Professor
Department of Philosophy
| 承诺学习时间 | 5 weeks of study, 1-3 hours/week |
| 语言 | English |
| 如何通过 | 通过所有计分作业以完成课程。 |
| 用户评分 |
授课大纲
第 1 周
Aristotle’s Categories
Aristotle’s anti-Platonic metaphysics: the ultimate realities are ordinary objects of our experience, like people and animals. Each of these is a substances, the most fundamental type of being.
6 视频, 1 阅读材料
- Reading: Aristotle's Categories
- 视频: Introduction to Ancient Philosophy
- 视频: Introduction to Aristotle
- 视频: Subjects and Predicates
- 视频: Universals and Particulars
- 视频: Substance and Subject
- 视频: Subjects of Change
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion Question: Aristotle's Categories
已评分: Subjects and Predicates
已评分: Substances & Subjects
第 2 周
Aristotle's Natural Philosophy
Natural substances have matter and form, and natural processes are goal-directed. Every living thing, plants and animals included, has a soul that moves it.
6 视频, 2 阅读材料
- Reading: Aristotle's Physics
- 视频: Matter, Form, and Change
- 视频: Nature
- 视频: Is Form or Matter Nature?
- 视频: The Four Causes
- 视频: Natural Teleology
- Reading: Aristotle's On the Soul
- 视频: Soul As Cause
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion Question: Aristotle's Natural Philosophy
已评分: Change & Nature
已评分: Causes in Nature
已评分: Aristotelian Souls
第 3 周
Aristotle's Ethics
The motion of the universe is eternal and its cause is an eternal unmoved mover, Aristotle’s god. Our goal in life is to achieve happiness, which comes in two varieties: the human happiness we achieve by exercising the virtues of character, and the godlike happiness we achieve when we grasp eternal truths.
9 视频, 2 阅读材料
- Reading: Aristotle's Metaphysics
- 视频: The Eternity of Motion
- 视频: The First Mover of the Cosmos
- 视频: The Unmoved Mover
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion Questions: Unmoved Mover
- Reading: Aristotle's Ethics
- 视频: The Goal of Life
- 视频: What Are You Doing With Your Life?
- 视频: Happiness and Living Well
- 视频: Pleasure and the Human Function
- 视频: Virtue of Character
- 视频: Godlike Virtue
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion Question: Aristotle's Ethics
已评分: The Unmoved Mover
已评分: Aristotle's Ethics
第 4 周
Epicureanism
Epicureans return to the atomism of Democritus, and find no purpose in nature. Philosophy is a therapeutic practice that removes fear and anxiety and provides us with the tranquility (ataraxia) of the gods.
8 视频, 4 阅读材料
- Reading: The Letter to Menoeceus
- Reading: The Letter of Epicurus to Herodotus
- Reading: On the nature of the gods
- Reading: Principal Doctrines
- 视频: Introduction to Epicurus
- 视频: Nature and the Gods
- 视频: Therapeutic Philosophy
- 视频: Death Is Nothing To Us
- 视频: What's Wrong With Death?
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion Question: Gods and Death
- 视频: Ataraxia
- 视频: Restricting Desire
- 视频: Enduring Pain
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion Question: Pleasure and Pain
已评分: Gods and Death
已评分: Pleasure and Pain
第 5 周
Stoicism
A providential god is at work in every detail of the cosmos, where everything happens by fate. Our goal in life is to accommodate ourselves to this divine nature by giving up our concern for (but not our pursuit of) worldly objectives.
9 视频, 4 阅读材料
- Reading: The Enchiridion
- Reading: On the nature of the gods
- Reading: De Fato (On Fate)
- Reading: De Finibus (On Ends)
- 视频: Introduction to Stoicism
- 视频: God in Nature
- 视频: Following Nature
- 视频: A Good Flow of Life
- 视频: The Goal vs. The Target
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion Question: Stoic Natural Philosophy and Ethics
- 视频: The Lazy Argument
- 视频: What Is Up To Us
- 视频: Stoic Compatibilism
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion Question: Fate and Human Action
- 视频: Conclusion
已评分: Stoic Natural Philosophy and Ethics
已评分: Fate and Human Action
已评分: Aristotle and His Successors Final Project
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制作方
宾夕法尼亚大学
The University of Pennsylvania (commonly referred to as Penn) is a private university, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. A member of the Ivy League, Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and considers itself to be the first university in the United States with both undergraduate and graduate studies.
评分和审阅
Amazing content. I enjoyed and lernt a lot.
Philosophy is the way to understand the world by using rational structures of mind. Taking it into account, it's really important to have deep understanding of philosophical concepts and theories. The course really helps you to grasp the understanding of such kind. The lecturer explains genius ideas of ancient greek philosophers in a clear logically sequential way using excellent language. Definitely recommend!
Very well-prepared and informative course. I've really enjoyed reading and listening to the lectures. Thank you!
Really good overview. Information is presented in a very clearly and concisely. The pace is good, and the topics are all very interesting.
The only things I didn't like had to do with format issues: I did not find the periodic "quizzes" that interrupt the videos to be helpful. They were more frustrating than anything since they broke up the flow of the videos and didn't add anything to my understanding of the topics. And while the intro sequences to each video are high-quality, it's unnecessary to have 25 seconds dedicated to the into for *each* and *every* video. This was repetitive and frustrating, especially since the volume on the intro sequences was much louder than the rest of the video, meaning I had to either manually skip the into or adjust the volume each time. These are technical details, so I don't want them to reflect poorly on the content of the course, which is excellent. It's more a suggestion to re-edit the course videos at some point.