Module Descriptors
INTRODUCTION TO ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHY
PHIL40137
Key Facts
Faculty of Arts and Creative Technologies
Level 4
15 credits
Contact
Leader: David Webb
Email: D.A.Webb@staffs.ac.uk
Hours of Study
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities: 23
Independent Study Hours: 127
Total Learning Hours: 150
Assessment
  • CRITICAL ANALYSIS weighted at 50%
  • CLASS-TEST weighted at 50%
Module Details
Module Learning Strategies
The module will be delivered by a combination of lectures and student led seminars.
Module Resources
IT facilities, Library, seminar rooms for the preparation of independent and group work.
Module Texts
Annas, J An Introduction to Plato?s Republic, Clarendon Press, 1981.
Pappas, N Plato and the Republic, Routledge 1999.
Plato, Republic, Penguin, 2001.
Reeve, CDC Philosopher Kings: the Argument of Plato?s Republic, Princeton University Press, 1992.
Module Additional Assessment Details
A critical analysis [Learning Outcomes 1, 3]
Clast test [Learning Outcomes 1-3]

Module Indicative Content
Plato, and the remarkable figure of Socrates who features in his dialogues, have been supremely influential throughout the history of Western philosophy. Their legacy consists not only in distinct philosophical views and opinions, but also in a singular vision of what it means to engage in philosophy. The module will consist in a close reading of Plato's Republic. The central concern of this dialogue is the question: what is the good life? As we follow Plato's response to this question we shall be introduced to a series of further issues and problems relating to political philosophy, ethics, epistemology, metaphysics and aesthetics.