Course Syllabus
Brief description of the course
The goal of the course is to help you comprehend Dialogue of Plato for academic purpose. Upon completing the course, you should be able to understand the main aesthetical chapters and the basic topics of Dialogue. The major task is to carry out a semester-long intensive reading of Dialogue and other Greek works.
The course rationale
Ancient Greek is the source of the whole Occidental culture. The outstanding achievements were made in kinds of areas, the sculpture, the poem, the music and the philosophy. There was a book covered almost all of them, the Dialogue of Plato. As the most sensitive organ of the society, the Helladic philosophers concerned the meta-theory and universal circumstance. The Dialogue is full of puzzles and miracles. In the vivid discourse, there was a unique figure hunted from beginning to end, Socrates. Through the reading, you can sense the charming aura from a long time ago and from the faraway Aegean Islands. That’s the glory of a great time. It’s the golden age, the perfect childhood of the human being. Up to now, the impulse of returning Athens is still resounded. It would be reasonable to believe that it will continue forever. To sense and share the exciting thoughts is your gain in the course.
Goals and objectives of the course
The goal of the course is to expect you to read ten texts of Dialogue in the semester. Through the reading and discussion, you will have a clear acknowledge of the aesthetics of Plato. Also you will understand an extremely troubled personality, Socrates’ destiny.
Course Request & Grading
30% Class Performance
20% Presentation
50% Final Exam
Main Reference Book
The Dialogues of Plato Volume 1 and Volume 2,
TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY B.JOWETT,M.A.
Copyright, by the Oxford University Press
• Thomas Taylor, Plato's Divine Dialogues: Together with the Apology of Socrates , 1851
• Henry Cary , Henry Davis, The Works of Plato, 1923
• Edith Hamilton, The Collected Dialogues of Plato, Including the Letters, 1963
• Bury，Shorey，A Loeb classical library, 1983
• Hamilton & Cairns, ed., Plato The Collected Dialogues, including the letters, with Introduction and Prefatory Notes, Princeton, 1961.
• 朱光潜，《文艺对话集》， 人民文学出版社，1963年。
• 《希腊人》[英]基托上海人民出版社1998
• Kitto, The Greeks, Harmondsworth ; New York : Penguin, 1984, ©1957.
• Greek Myth
• Rose, Herbert Jennings (1991). A Handbook of Greek Mythology. Routledge (UK)
• 《古希腊神话与传说》【德】斯威布高中甫、关惠文、晓辉译北京燕山出版社
• Homer Epics (Iliad, Odyssey)
• The Odyssey, trans, Robert Fitzgerald, William Heinemann, Ltd, 1961.
• The Iliad of Homer Richmond Lattimore, translator. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1961
• 《荷马史诗》王焕生，人民文学出版社 陈中梅，上海译文出版社
• Greek Drama
• The Complete Greek Tragedies and Comedies
• 《古希腊悲喜剧全集》全8卷, 南京：凤凰出版社2007
Required textbook(s)
① Ten texts listed blow
Apology
Republic II
Republic III
Republic X
Ion
Hippias
Philebus
Phaedrus
Symposium
Laws
② Teaching materials provided by the teacher
Methodologies
Close reading of the appointed texts at first, and then give the analysis under the hermeneutic prospective.
Course Description
The goal of the course is to help you get close to the source of the Occidental knowledge and comprehend the classical works deeply. The course will be composed by three parts: your pre-reading, the lecture in the class and the assignments online. The assignment is not the stark repeating of the book or lecture, but a lively creative presentation.
Detailed Arrangement in the Semester
(it could be adjusting)
Week ⑴
Instruction
The briefing of the course
The basic request and the guidance
Week ⑵
Topic: To Start with One Passing
Text: Apology
Week ⑶
Topic: The Death of Philosophy and Religion
Text: Apology
Reference: The Legend of Jesus
Week ⑷
Topic: Imitation Itself, the Truth and the Artist
Text: Republic X
Week ⑸
Topic: The Education of the YOUNG
Text: Republic II
Week ⑹
Topic: The Matter and Manner of the poetry
Text: Republic III
Week ⑺
Topic: Inspiration of the Poets
Text: Ion
Week ⑻
Topics: The Poem belong to The Republic
Text: Ion
Week ⑼
Topics: Beautiful as a Virtue
Text: Hippias Major
Week ⑽
Topics: The Criterion to Judge the Beauty
Text: Hippias Major
Week ⑾
Topics: Admixture of Pleasures and Pains in Tragedy and Comedy
Text: Philebus
Week ⑿
Topic: Dispute about What the Truly Nice Article Is
Text: Phaedrus
Week ⒀
Topic: Dispute about What the True Love Is
Text: Phaedrus
Week ⒁
Topic: Custom Painting of Greek Leisure Time
Text: Symposium
Week ⒂
Topic: The Last Pleasure before the Death
Text: Symposium
Week ⒃
Answering for the review & Presentation
Week ⒄
Final examination on the arrival of the New Year
