Seminar in Ancient Philosophy - B

Each of Plato’s dialogues is, in its own way, a work of art. Most of them are philosophically fascinating. Some of them are both. Among these, Plato’s Theaetetus is perhaps the most intriguing of Plato’s dialogues. Framed around a single socratic question: “what is knowledge?”, its core arguably resides in the variety of philosophical issues discussed in testing the answers that Socrates’ interlocutor, the young Theaetetus, provides. Theaetetus offers three tentative answers on what knowledge is. Accordingly, the dialogue naturally splits into three parts, each of which touching on a variety of philosophical topics. In this course, we shall focus on Theaetetus’ first answer: knowledge is the same as perception. By making Socrates take this answer seriously, Plato provides us with an excellent example of philosophical discussion, where Socrates examines the presuppositions from which Theaetetus’ thesis follows and the consequences that can be drawn from it. Their dialogic discussion hence ranges from epistemology to metaphysics, from the theory of perception to political considerations on what is good and useful for a city, from metaphilosophical issues concerning what is the philosopher to eternal debates concerning what truth is. Indeed, a very rich and thought-provoking dialogue, where Plato makes his characters also engage with other thinkers of the past, such as Heraclitus and Protagoras. I personally believe the first part of the Theaetetus is an excellent case-study for advanced Bachelor students to engage with philosophy broadly construed starting from a classical text.

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In presence

After a short introduction of the dialogue, the lecturer will propose to work on the first part of the Theaetetus (151d-184a). Depending on the interest, participation, and preparation of the students, the ratio between frontal lectures, presentations, and discussion on the text can vary, but the course will in any case comprise all the three teaching methods. During the course, both exegetical and philosophical issues will be discussed, and different interpretations of the text will be offered. Students who are curious and interested in taking the course can (but are not required to) read the relevant section of the Theaetetus in advance. The precise syllabus of the course, some translations and some research essays on the dialogue will be made available on the ICorsi platform.

A written essay and/or a presentation in class. While the course will be in english, students can choose to write their essays in english, italian, french, spanish, or german.