Ancient Philosophy: Aristotle and His Successors
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Ancient Philosophy: Aristotle and His Successors
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About this course: What is philosophy? How does it differ from science, religion, and other modes of human discourse? This course traces the origins of philosophy in the Western tradition in the thinkers of Ancient Greece. We begin with the Presocratic natural philosophers who were active in Ionia in the 6th century BCE and are also credited with being the first scientists. Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximines made bold proposals about the ultimate constituents of reality, while Heraclitus insisted that there is an underlying order to the changing world. Parmenides of Elea formulated a powerful objection to all these proposals, while later Greek theorists (such as Anaxagoras and the atom…
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When you enroll for courses through Coursera you get to choose for a paid plan or for a free plan .
- Free plan: No certicification and/or audit only. You will have access to all course materials except graded items.
- Paid plan: Commit to earning a Certificate—it's a trusted, shareable way to showcase your new skills.
About this course: What is philosophy? How does it differ from science, religion, and other modes of human discourse? This course traces the origins of philosophy in the Western tradition in the thinkers of Ancient Greece. We begin with the Presocratic natural philosophers who were active in Ionia in the 6th century BCE and are also credited with being the first scientists. Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximines made bold proposals about the ultimate constituents of reality, while Heraclitus insisted that there is an underlying order to the changing world. Parmenides of Elea formulated a powerful objection to all these proposals, while later Greek theorists (such as Anaxagoras and the atomist Democritus) attempted to answer that objection. In fifth-century Athens, Socrates insisted on the importance of the fundamental ethical question—“How shall I live?”—and his pupil, Plato, and Plato’s pupil, Aristotle, developed elaborate philosophical systems to explain the nature of reality, knowledge, and human happiness. After the death of Aristotle, in the Hellenistic period, Epicureans and Stoics developed and transformed that earlier tradition. We will study the major doctrines of all these thinkers. Part I will cover Plato and his predecessors. Part II will cover Aristotle and his successors.
Created by: University of Pennsylvania-
Taught by: Susan Sauvé Meyer, Professor
Department of Philosophy
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University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (commonly referred to as Penn) is a private university, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. A member of the Ivy League, Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and considers itself to be the first university in the United States with both undergraduate and graduate studies.Syllabus
WEEK 1
Aristotle’s Categories
Aristotle’s anti-Platonic metaphysics: the ultimate realities are ordinary objects of our experience, like people and animals. Each of these is a substances, the most fundamental type of being.
6 videos, 1 reading expand
- Reading: Aristotle's Categories
- Video: Introduction to Ancient Philosophy
- Video: Introduction to Aristotle
- Video: Subjects and Predicates
- Video: Universals and Particulars
- Video: Substance and Subject
- Video: Subjects of Change
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion Question: Aristotle's Categories
Graded: Subjects and Predicates
Graded: Substances & Subjects
WEEK 2
Aristotle's Natural Philosophy
Natural substances have matter and form, and natural processes are goal-directed. Every living thing, plants and animals included, has a soul that moves it.
6 videos, 2 readings expand
- Reading: Aristotle's Physics
- Video: Matter, Form, and Change
- Video: Nature
- Video: Is Form or Matter Nature?
- Video: The Four Causes
- Video: Natural Teleology
- Reading: Aristotle's On the Soul
- Video: Soul As Cause
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion Question: Aristotle's Natural Philosophy
Graded: Change & Nature
Graded: Causes in Nature
Graded: Aristotelian Souls
WEEK 3
Aristotle's Ethics
The motion of the universe is eternal and its cause is an eternal unmoved mover, Aristotle’s god. Our goal in life is to achieve happiness, which comes in two varieties: the human happiness we achieve by exercising the virtues of character, and the godlike happiness we achieve when we grasp eternal truths.
9 videos, 2 readings expand
- Reading: Aristotle's Metaphysics
- Video: The Eternity of Motion
- Video: The First Mover of the Cosmos
- Video: The Unmoved Mover
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion Questions: Unmoved Mover
- Reading: Aristotle's Ethics
- Video: The Goal of Life
- Video: What Are You Doing With Your Life?
- Video: Happiness and Living Well
- Video: Pleasure and the Human Function
- Video: Virtue of Character
- Video: Godlike Virtue
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion Question: Aristotle's Ethics
Graded: The Unmoved Mover
Graded: Aristotle's Ethics
WEEK 4
Epicureanism
Epicureans return to the atomism of Democritus, and find no purpose in nature. Philosophy is a therapeutic practice that removes fear and anxiety and provides us with the tranquility (ataraxia) of the gods.
8 videos, 4 readings expand
- Reading: The Letter to Menoeceus
- Reading: The Letter of Epicurus to Herodotus
- Reading: On the nature of the gods
- Reading: Principal Doctrines
- Video: Introduction to Epicurus
- Video: Nature and the Gods
- Video: Therapeutic Philosophy
- Video: Death Is Nothing To Us
- Video: What's Wrong With Death?
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion Question: Gods and Death
- Video: Ataraxia
- Video: Restricting Desire
- Video: Enduring Pain
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion Question: Pleasure and Pain
Graded: Gods and Death
Graded: Pleasure and Pain
WEEK 5
Stoicism
A providential god is at work in every detail of the cosmos, where everything happens by fate. Our goal in life is to accommodate ourselves to this divine nature by giving up our concern for (but not our pursuit of) worldly objectives.
9 videos, 4 readings expand
- Reading: The Enchiridion
- Reading: On the nature of the gods
- Reading: De Fato (On Fate)
- Reading: De Finibus (On Ends)
- Video: Introduction to Stoicism
- Video: God in Nature
- Video: Following Nature
- Video: A Good Flow of Life
- Video: The Goal vs. The Target
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion Question: Stoic Natural Philosophy and Ethics
- Video: The Lazy Argument
- Video: What Is Up To Us
- Video: Stoic Compatibilism
- Discussion Prompt: Discussion Question: Fate and Human Action
- Video: Conclusion
Graded: Stoic Natural Philosophy and Ethics
Graded: Fate and Human Action
Graded: Aristotle and His Successors Final Project
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