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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences : Philosophy

Postgraduate Course: Aristotle MSc (PHIL11108)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThe course will introduce students to the main concepts and arguments of Aristotle's philosophy, and examine the links between Aristotelian and modern philosophy. It will commence with a survey of Aristotle's theories of truth and scientific method and proceed to the metaphysics of substance and some of its applications in philosophy of mind and ethics. The main texts to look at will include Physics, Posterior Analytics, Metaphysics, De anima, and selections from the ethical corpus.
Course description Not entered
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2022/23, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  None
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 22, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 174 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) One 3000 word essay.
Feedback Students have the opportunity to submit a formative essay. The essay cannot be draft of the summative essay but it can be on the same topic.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. grasp and analyse some of the central concepts in Aristotle's logic, philosophy of language, metaphysics and philosophy of mind;
  2. state and discuss the main principles and arguments of Aristotle's theories of truth, method and explanation; hylomorphic metaphysics of substance and its applications in philosophy of mind;
  3. understand the nature and methods of ancient philosophical debates and their relevance to modern discussions of the same topics;
  4. situate Aristotle and Peripatetics within their own intellectual context;
  5. read ancient philosophical texts in a more expert way, using analytic and critical tools (with respect to both doctrinal and textual problems)
Reading List
Primary sources:

Full corpus in English:

J. Barnes (ed), The Complete Works of Aristotle, Volumes I and II, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984

Substantive selections covering most of the course material:

J. Ackrill, A New Aristotle Reader, OUP, 1979

T. Irwin and Fine, G., Aristotle: Selections, Translated with Introduction, Notes, and Glossary, Indianapolis: Hackett, 1995

Secondary sources:

General Introductions:

Ackrill, J., Aristotle the Philosopher, OUP, 1981.

Jaeger, W., Aristotle: Fundamentals of the History of his Development, OUP, 1934.

Lear, J., Aristotle: the Desire to Understand, CUP, 1988.Ross, W. D., Aristotle, London: Methuen and Co., 1923

Lloyd, G.E.R. Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of his Thought. Cambridge, 1968

Shields, C., Aristotle, London: Routledge, 2007.

Monographs and article collections:

J. Barnes (ed) The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle, CUP, 1995

J. Barnes, M. Schofield, R. Sorabji, Articles on Aristotle, vols 1 - 4, Duckworth, 1979

J. Beere, Doing and Being: an Interpretation of Aristotle Metaphysics IX, OUP, 2011

E. Berti (ed), Aristotle on Science, Padova: Antenore, 1981

D. Bostock, Space, Time, Matter and Form: Essays on Aristotle's Physics, OUP, 2006

D. Charles, Aristotle's Theory of Action, Cornell University Press, 1984

U. Coope, Time for Aristotle, OUP, 2005

P. Crivelli, Aristotle on Truth, CUP, 2004

M. Furth, Substance, Form and Psyche: An Aristotelian Metaphysics, CUP, 1988

M.L. Gill, Aristotle on Substance: The Paradox of Unity, Princeton, 1989

A. Gotthelf (ed) Aristotle on Nature and Living Things, Pittsburgh, 1985

A. Gotthelf and J. Lennox (eds) Philosophical Issues in Aristotle's Biology, CUP, 1987

P. Gregoric, Aristotle on Common Sense, OUP, 2006

R.J. Hankinson, Cause and Explanation in Ancient Greek Thought, OUP, 1998

E. Hartman, Substance, Body and Soul: Aristotelian Investigations, Princeton, 1977

T.H. Irwin, Aristotle's First Principles, OUP, 1988

T.H. Irwin, The Development of Ethics, vol. 1, OUP, 2007

V. Kal, On Intuition and Discursive Reasoning in Aristotle, Leiden: Brill, 1988

R.A.H. King, Aristotle on Life and Death, Duckworth, 2000

M.R. Johnson, Aristotle on Teleology, OUP, 2007

G. Lear, Happy Lives and the Highest Good: an Essay on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, OUP, 2004

J.G. Lennox, Aristotle's Philosophy of Biology, CUP, 2000

G.E.R. Lloyd (ed), Aristotle on Mind and the Senses, CUP, 1978

G.E.R. Lloyd, Aristotelian Explorations, Cambridge, 1996

H. Lorenz, The Brute Within, OUP, 2006

D. Modrak, Aristotle: the Power of Perception, Chicago, 1987

D. Modrak, Aristotle's Theory of Language and Meaning, CUP, 2000

M. Mohan (ed) Aristotle Today: Essays on Aristotle's Ideal of Science, Edmonton, AB, 1987

B. Morison, Aristotle on Location, OUP, 2003

M.C. Nussbaum, A.O. Rorty (eds) Essays on Aristotle's De anima, 2nd edition, OUP, 1992

P. Pellegrin, Aristotle's Classification of Animals, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1986

A.O. Rorty (ed) Essays on Aristotle's Ethics, Berkeley, Univesity of California Press, 1980

F. Solmsen, Aristotle's System of Physical World, Cornell University Press, 1961

R.R.K. Sorabji, Necessity, Cause, and Blame, Duckworth, 1980

R.R.K. Sorabji, Matter, Space, and Motion, Duckworth, 1988

S. Waterlow, Nature, Change, and Agency in Aristotle's Physics, OUP, 1982

M. Wedin, Mind and Imagination in Aristotle, Yale University Press, 1988
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
Keywordsaristotle,ancient philosophy
Contacts
Course organiserDr Inna Kupreeva
Tel: (0131 6)50 3653
Email: inna.kupreeva@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Sabina Ali
Tel: (0131 6) 50 4400
Email: Sabina.Ali@ed.ac.uk
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