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Mind and World in Early Greek Philosophy (P01248)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : HCA-P-MWEGP

The course will be a survey of the speculations of Early Greek Philosophers on the nature of Mind or thinking, starting from Homer and Hesiod, down to Democritus and the Sophists. Allowing for time, Plato's views in the Meno and Phaedo may also be considered. The course will touch upon issues relating to Mind versus Body, i.e. the Mind/soul and sense-perception, the soul as controller of the body, etc., but the main emphasis will be upon the nature of consciousness, memory, and the relation between Mind and its objects, incl. its claim to be able to discriminate between appearances and reality, truth and falsehood, etc. Some modern concepts of Mind will be introduced to frame the discussion, but by and large the course will consist of close reading and commentary of passages in the original.

Entry Requirements

none

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Postgraduate (School of History and Classics), (School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Schedule E)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Not being delivered

? Contact Teaching Time : 1 hour(s) 50 minutes per week for 11 weeks

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

-Close, historically-informed reading of Greek philosophical texts.
-Understanding of the history of the concept of Mind, including the distinction between folk-theories, naive metaphors and more self-conscious technical terminology.
-Methodological problems pertaining to the interpretation of foreign and/or primitive mental concepts and categories.

Assessment Information

Students in Classics will have one in-class translation and commentary exam worth 30% plus a 2000 word essay worth the remaining 70%.

Philosophy students will write a 2000 word essay worth 100%.