Lecturer PhD- Panos Eliopoulos Course: Introduction to Ancient

University of Ioannina- Greece and Medieval Philosophy

INTRODUCTION TO ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY

COURSE SYLLABUS

Objectives:
The particular introductory study aims to teach to students basic notions from the
most important theories and thinkers according to the evolution of philosophy from
its beginning in ancient Greece till the end of the medieval period.

Description of the Course:

Starting from a visit in the historical frame, we will study the evolution in ancient
Greek philosophy, and the transition in main philosophical concepts from the
Presocratics until the Hellenistic doctrines and the Neoplatonist philosophers.
Medieval philosophy will be the final stage of our exploration. Ontology,
Gnoseology, Metaphysics, Ethics and Political Philosophy will be the main areas
of this inquiry with a view to understanding specific terms and concepts, such as
arête, eudaimonia, the human telos, fate and the divinity, human nature, the
good, etc. In exploring the work of major philosophers we shall address such
basic philosophical questions as: What can I know? What should I do? What is
real? Do human beings have free will? Can the existence of God be proven? What
is evil? Students will learn to engage with certain thinkers and the questions
posed in their own contexts, with a mind to their contemporary relevance.

NOTE 1: Everyone can undertake an essay and present it in class. Pro et contra
argumentation or Socratic dialogue will be encouraged.
NOTE 2: Prior attendance of courses on Ancient Greek and/or Medieval Philosophy
is not a prerequisite.

Course Requirements:
1. Readings from the texts, and other assigned readings.
2. Participation in class dialogues.
3. A midterm exam.
4. A research paper (4 to 6 pages in length) or final exam.
NOTE: Grading will come from a combination of 1& 2 (20 pts), 3 (30 pts) and 4 (50
pts).

First week:
The beginning of Ancient Greek Philosophy: the historical frame. The
Presocratics. The Pre-Parmenideans: Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes,

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Heraclitus, Xenophanes, Pythagoras. The Eleatics: Parmenides, Zeno, Melissus.
The Response to Parmenides: Empedocles, Anaxagoras, the Atomists
(Democritus and Leucippus). The Sophists.

Second week:
The philosophy of Socrates and Plato. The influence of the previous Greek
philosophical Schools on their theories. The phantasia in Plato’s Theaetetus, the
influence in Timaeus and the introduction of certain new concepts. The question
of what the Good is for human beings. Justice in the State and the Individual in
accordance with the parts of the human soul. The account of the Forms (Ideas)
and the ascent to the Good by means of Eros or Dialectics.

Third week:
The philosophy of Aristotle and the basis of his empirical approach. Logic: the
categories, dialectics and the criteria of Truth. Modes of syllogism and methods
of argumentation. The concepts of Good and Evil and the question of Eudemonia
as a practical end. Nature, the four causes, and intrinsic teleology. The issue of
the connection between body and soul. Aristotle’s moral and political views.

Fourth week:
The historical frame of the philosophical Schools of the Hellenistic era. The
connection of the Hellenistic Schools with the philosophies of the Presocratics,
Plato and Aristotle. The division of Epicurus’ philosophy: Logic, Natural
Philosophy, Ethics. Philosophy as a method for the cure of the human soul from
the fear of death and from fallacies. Main Stoic thinkers and the problem of the
sources. Their Metaphysics and Ontology. Their concepts of Physis, Pneuma,
Logos, Heimarmene. The question of determinism, theodicy and the freedom of
the will. Epoche and Ataraxia for the philosophers of Skepsis and the problem of
the feasibility of knowledge.. Differences between Pyrrhonian and Academic
skepticism.

Fifth week:
Social and political perceptions. From individualism to the establishment of a
cosmopolitan worldview. From the optimi viri of Cicero to the views of the later
Stoics against slavery and to the references of the Cynic Dio Chrystostom on the
virtues of the Ruler. The Greek philosophical vocabulary and the transition of the
terms into Latin: Cicero and Lucretius. The translated terms and their
assessment in later western philosophy. Neoplatonism and the Later Antiquity.
The influences from Iamblichus, Plotinus and Proclus. The refutation of their
doctrines in the Greek texts of the fathers of the desert (Philokalia).

Sixth week:
Medieval Philosophy. The problem of the existence and nature of God. The
general outlines of the philosophy of Augustine and the Just War theory. Thomas

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Aquinas’ De Ente et Essentia. The theories of Duns Scotus and the problem of
knowledge. Boethius’ Consolations. The relation between faith and philosophy.

SUGGESTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
 Aristotle, The Complete Works of Aristotle, edited by J. Barnes, Volumes I and
II, Princeton University Press, Princeton 1984.
 Bosley Richard and Tweedale Martin, Basic Issues in Medieval Philosophy:
Selected Readings Presenting the Interactive Discourses among the Major
Figures, 2nd edition, Broadview Press, Peterborough Ont. 2006.
 Cohen Marc, Partricia Curd and Reeve C. D. C. (eds), Readings in Ancient Greek
Philosophy: From Thales to Aristotle, 4thedition, Hackett, Cambridge MA 2011.
 Gill Mary Luise and Pellegrin Pierre (eds.), A Companion to Ancient
Philosophy, Blackwell, Oxford 2006.
 Gracia Jorge J. E. and Timothy Noone, A Companion to Philosophy in the
Middle Ages (Blackwell Companions to Philosophy), Blackwell Publications,
Oxford 2003.
 Graham Daniel (ed.), The Texts of Early Greek Philosophy: The Complete
Fragments and Selected Testimonies of the Major Presocratics, two volumes,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2010.
 Hicks, R. (ed. and trans.), Diogenes Laertius: Lives of Eminent Philosophers (Loeb
Classical Library), 2 volumes, Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA 1991.
 Hyman Arthur, Walsh James and Williams Thomas (eds), Philosophy in the
Middle Ages: The Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Traditions, 3rd edition, Hackett,
Cambridge MA 2010.
 Koterski Joseph, An Introduction to Medieval Philosophy: Basic Concepts, Wiley-
Blackwell, Chichester 2009.
 Long Anthony A., Hellenistic Philosophy: Stoics, Epicureans, Skeptics, 2nd
edition, Duckworth, London 1986.
 Plato, Complete Works, ed. John M. Cooper, Hackett, Indianapolis 1997.
 Plotinus, The Essential Plotinus, Second Edition, tr. Elmer O’Brien, Hackett,
Indianapolis 1978.
 Rubenstein Richard, Aristotle’s Children, Harcourt, Orlando 2003.
 Shields Christopher, The Oxford Handbook on Aristotle, Oxford University
Press, Oxford 2012.
 Taylor Alfred Edward, Plato. The Man and his Work, Methuen & Co Ltd,
London 1978.
 Zeller Eduard- Nestle Wilhelm, Outlines of the History of Greek Philosophy,
13th edition, Meridian, New York 1967.