PHIL 681, Section 001

Spring 2009

Readings


This vase, from about 525 BCE, depicts Heracles (Hercules, right side) and Iolaus killing the Hydra, a many-headed venomous water-snake. One of the tricky parts of this task was that when they cut off one of the hydra's heads, several more would instantly grow in its place from the blood in the wound. Iolaus stopped that process by cauterizing the necks as he cut off heads. (To make matters worse, one of the heads was immortal and while its removal and cauterization killed the body, the immortal Hydra head is still buried underground somewhere, if you believe these myths.) One advantage of accepting Anaximander's account of the universe, whereby the stuff of things is conserved, and growth follows regular processes (none of this spontaneous generation of heads from blood business), is that you don't have to worry about Hydrai. You do still have to worry about hydrai (standard water-snakes), of course. This image comes to us from the marvelous Perseus collection, courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum.
PHIL 681 Spring 2009 main page 

Prof. Cherubin's course homepage 


Last update: 5/3/09

This page lists each week's assigned reading, plus supplementary recommended and suggested reading. Recommended readings are those I think will be very helpful; suggested and optional readings are those I think will be helpful or interesting, but not of as high a priority as the recommended ones. Toward the bottom of the page you will find a list of books that I have put on reserve at the Johnson Center Library, some e-books available through the GMU Library Catalog, and some suggested readings that cover broader topics than we can cover in a single week.

Check through the whole page periodically; as I come across additional materials that might be of interest concerning each topic I will add them.

Some of the readings listed here are available online through databases to which the GMU Library subscribes. To access articles on the library's databases: Go to the GMU library page. Click "Research Databases" and then click on the first letter of your selected database ('J' for JSTOR, 'P' for Project Muse, etc.). If you are off-campus or if you are not using the GMU dialup service, you will have to enter your email address and password to access these journal databases.

Example: For JSTOR: From the page of 'J' listings, click on JSTOR. Then click on "Search," and from the "Search" page, click on "Advanced Search." Enter the author's name and the journal title in the appropriate search boxes. For prolific authors, it may be helpful to enter the date or a bit of the article title as well. Alternate method: From the main JSTOR page, click on "Browse" and "By title," then scroll down until you find the title of the journal you're looking for, then click on that title. This will bring you to a page listing all issues of the journal. Or you can click on the "By discipline" tab under "Browse." The journals you'll be looking for may be listed under 'Philosophy,' 'Classical Studies,' 'History and Philosophy of Science,' 'Language and Literature,' or several of these.

Reading due February 2

Required:
Recommended:
Optional:

Optional, though it isn't reading:


due February 9

Required:
Recommended:
  Optional:

due February 16

Required:
Recommended: It's recommended that you read at least one of the articles or chapters below under 'Optional,' but it's up to you which one(s).

Optional:

due February 23

Required:
Recommended:
Optional:


due March 2

Required:
Recommended: At least one of the following:
Optional:

due March 16

Required:

Recommended:


due March 23

Required:
Recommended:

due March 30

Required:
Recommended:
Writing assignment due March 30 


due April 6

Required:

Recommended:

Writing assignment due April 6

due April 13

Required:
Recommended:

Writing assignment due April 13


due April 20

Required:
Recommended:

Optional: 
Writing assignment due April 20 or 27


due April 27

Required:
Recommended:
Optional:
Writing assignment due April 27 or May 4


due May 4

Required:
Recommended:

Optional:

Writing assignment due May 11


General suggestions for reading:

R. Brague, "History of Philosophy as Freedom." Epoche 7, no.1 (Fall 2002). Available on-line. (This link takes you to a table of contents page; from there you can click on the article you want.)

W. Burkert, "Das Proömium des Parmenides und die 'Katabasis' des Pythagoras." Phronesis 14.1 (1969): 1-30. This course does not require you to know German, but in case you do, this article is worth reading. It is available online via JSTOR.

von Fritz, K. "Nous, Noein, and Their Derivatives in Pre-Socratic Philosophy (Excluding Anaxagoras): Part I. From the Beginnings to Parmenides." Classical Philology 40.4 (1945): 223-242.

________. "Nous, Noein, and Their Derivatives in Pre-Socratic Philosophy (Excluding Anaxagoras): Part II. The Post-Parmenidean Period." Classical Philology 41.1 (1946): 12-34.

Klaus Held, "The Origin of Europe with the Greek Discovery of the World." Epoche 7, no.1 (Fall 2002). Available on-line. (This link takes you to a table of contents page; from there you can click on the article you want.)

S. Makin, "How Can We Find out What Ancient Philosophers Said?" Phronesis 33.2  (1988):   121-132

M. Miller, "'First of All': On the Semantics and Ethics of Hesiod's Cosmogony." Ancient Philosophy 21.2 (Fall 2001): 251-276. This journal does not appear in electronic form at GMU, but we have it on the shelves in Fenwick.

M. Miller, "La logique implicite de la cosmogonie d'Hesiode." Revue de Metaphysique et de Morale 82 (1977): 433-456. This course does not require you to know French, but in case you do, this article is very much worth reading. You can order the article via the Consortium Loan Service.

Roochnik, D. “The First Philosopher (and the Poet).” Classical and Modern Literature 6 (1985): 39-54.

Rosen, S. “Thales: The Beginning of Philosophy.” Arion 1 (1962): 48-64.

R. Vaas, "Time Before Time: Classifications of universes in contemporary cosmology, and how to avoid the antinomy of the beginning and eternity of the world." Available online here (University of Pittsburgh).


The following books have been placed on reserve in the Johnson Center Library:

J. Barnes, The Presocratic Philosophers

V. Caston, ed., Presocratic Philosophy

D. Couprie, R. Hahn, and G. Naddaf, Anaximander in Context

P.K. Curd, Anaxagoras of Clazomenae

P.K. Curd, The Legacy of Parmenides

D.W. Graham, Explaining the Cosmos

W.K.C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy vols. 1 and 2

C.H. Kahn, Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans

C.H. Kahn, The Art and Thought of Heraclitus

G.B. Kerferd, The Sophistic Movement

G.S. Kirk, J.E. Raven, and M. Schofield, The Pre-Socratic Philosophers

J.H. Lesher, Xenophanes of Colophon

A.A. Long, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy

R. McKirahan, Philosophy Before Socrates

C. Riedweg, Pythagoras

R.K. Sprague, The Older Sophists

L. Taran, Parmenides

M.R. Wright, Empedocles

E-books available through the GMU Library Catalog:

G. Naddaf, The Greek Concept of Nature

D. Jacobs, ed., The Presocratics After Heidegger