Lehrveranstaltungen Winrersemester 2021-2022
Fortgeschrittenenseminar
Cicero's "On the Nature of the Gods"
Mi. 12:00 bis 14:00 c.t. woch 20.10.2021 bis 09.02.2022 Geschw.-Scholl-Pl. 1 (A) - A 020
This seminar will be devoted to a major philosophical work by the famous Roman jurist and rhetorician Cicero: On the Nature of the Gods. As in other works (like the Academica and On Ends), Cicero here offers ample reports of the teachings of Hellenistic schools on his topic. Exploiting the dialogue form, Cicero uses the spokesmen Velleius and Balbus to represent the viewpoints of the Epicureans and Stoics, and Cotta to criticize them from his own point of view, that of a moderate Skeptic. Philosophical themes include Hellenistic accounts of providence, proofs for the gods’ existence, and the nature of their involvement in human life, if any. The result is one of the most important texts of ancient philosophical theology, and an important example of the transmission of Greek thought into Latin.
The class will be conducted in English and we will make use of an English translation, but those with Latin reading skills will be encouraged to read the original text carefully and discuss it in the seminar.
As an added bonus, Tad Brennan from Cornell University will be taking part in the seminar.
Literatur
Literature
• A. Dyck, Cicero: De Natura Deorum, Book 1 (Cambridge: 2003).
• G. Rackham (ed. and trans.), Cicero: On the Nature of the Gods, Academics (Cambridge MA: 1967).
• P. Walsh (trans.), Cicero: On the Nature of the Gods (Oxford: 1997).
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• K. Algra, “Stoic Theology,” in B. Inwood (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics (Cambridge: 2003), 153-78.
• T. Brennan, The Stoic Life (Oxford: 2005).
• H. DeFilippo, “Cicero vs. Cotta in De natura deorum,” Ancient Philosophy 20 (2000), 169-87.
• M. Dragona Monachou, The Stoic Arguments for the Existence and Providence of the Gods (Athens: 1976).
• H. Essler, “Cicero’s Use and Abuse of Epicurean Theology,” in J. Fish and K. Sanders (eds), Epicurus and the Epicurean Tradition (Cambridge: 2011), 129-51.
• J. Glucker, “Cicero’s Philosophical Affiliations,” in J.M. Dillon and A.A. Long (eds), The Question of Eclecticism (Berkeley: 1987), 34-69.
• D. Konstan, “Epicurus on the Gods,” in J. Fish and K. Sanders (eds), Epicurus and the Epicurean Tradition (Cambridge: 2011), 53-71.
• D. Obbink, “The Atheism of Epicurus,” Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 30 (1989), 187-223.
• J.G.F Powell, Cicero the Philosopher (Oxford: 1995).
• R. Salles (ed.), God and Cosmos in Stoicism (Oxford: 2009).
• M. Schofield, “Ciceronian Dialogue,” in S. Goldhill (ed.), The End of Dialogue in Antiquity (Oxford: 2008), 63-84.
• D. Sedley, Creationism and its Critics in Antiquity (Berkeley: 2007).
• G. Striker, “Cicero and Greek Philosophy,” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 97 (1995), 53-61.
• L. Taran, “Cicero’s Attitude Towards Stoicism and Scepticism in the De Natura Deorum,” in K. Selig and R. Somerville (eds), Florilegium Columbianum: Essays in Honor of Paul Oskar Kristeller (New York: 1987), 1-22.
• R. Woolf, Cicero: the Philosophy of a Roman Sceptic (London: 2015).
• J.P.F. Wynne, “God’s Indifferents: Why Cicero’s Stoic Jupiter Made the World,” Apeiron 45 (2012), 354-83.
• J.P.F. Wynne, “Learned and Wise: Cotta the Sceptic in Cicero’s De Natura Deorum,” Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 47 (2015), 245-74.
• J.P.F. Wynne, Cicero on the Philosophy of Religion: On the Nature of the Gods and On Divination (Cambridge: 2019).
Leistungsnachweis
term paper OR (presentation(s)+essay/record), according to the lecturer's specification [9 ECTS-points]
Anmeldung
LSF-registration via the menu item "Vorlesungsverzeichnis" (=> click through after LSF login to the individual view of this course) sometime between 27 September 2021 and 11 October 2021
Seminar und Lektürekurs
Das Selbst in der Vormodernen Philosophie: Indisch, Altgriechisch, Islamisch, und Afrikanisch
Mi. 10:00 bis 12:00 c.t. woch 20.10.2021 bis 09.02.2022 Geschw.-Scholl-Pl. 1 (E) - E 206
In diesem Seminar werden drei philosophische Traditionen der Vormoderne untersucht, mit Hinblick auf deren Konzeptionen des Selbsts. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit wird der Tradition des Dualismus gewidmet, etwa bei Platon und den Neuplatonikern in der altgriechischen Philosophie, Avicenna in der islamischen Welt, und der Saṃkhya Schule in Indien. Allerdings werden wir auch kritische Reaktionen auf die Idee eines “Selbsts” diskutieren, vor allem in Indien mit den Buddhisten und Carvaka-Schule. Wir werden u.a. (in englischer oder deutscher Übersetzung) Platons Alkibiades, Plotin Ennead 1.1, Avicennas “Fliegender Mann” Argument, und die Saṃkhya-karika lesen.
Literatur
Literature
• P. Adamson and F. Benevich, “The Thought Experimental Method: Avicenna’s Flying Man Argument,” Journal of the American Philosophical Association (2018), 1-18.
• P. Adamson and J. Ganeri, A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps: Classical Indian Philosophy (Oxford: 2020).
• T. Alpina, Subject, Definition, Activity: Framing Avicenna’s Science of the Soul (Paris: 2021).
• R. Bhattacharya, “Lokayata Darsana and a Comparative Study with Greek Materialism,” in P. Ghose (ed.), Materialism and Immaterialism in India and the West: Varying Vistas (Delhi: 2010), 21–34.
• H. Blumenthal, Plotinus’ Psychology (The Hague: 1971).
• T.-A. Druart, “The Human Soul’s Individuation and its Survival After the Body’s Death: Avicenna on the Causal Relation Between Body and Soul,” Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 10 (2000), 259-273.
• E.K. Emilsson, “Plotinus on Soul-Body Dualism,” in S. Everson (ed), Psychology: Companions to Ancient Thought (Cambridge: 1991).
• E. Frauwallner, “Die Erkenntnislehre des Klassischen Saṃkhya-Systems,” Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Süd- und Ostasiens 2 (1958), 84-139.
• G. Fine (ed.), Plato 2: Ethics, Politics, Religion, and the Soul (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999).
• J. Ganeri, “Self-Intimation, Memory and Personal Identity,” Journal of Indian Philosophy 27 (1999), 469-83.
• J. Ganeri, “Emergentisms, Ancient and Modern,” Mind 120 (2011), 671-703.
• J. Ganeri, The Concealed Art of the Soul: Theories of Self and Practices of Truth in Indian Ethics and Epistemology (Oxford: 2007).
• J. Ganeri, “Emergentisms, Ancient and Modern,” Mind 120 (2011), 671-703.
• G.J. Larson and R.S. Bhattacharya (eds), Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, vol. IV: Saṃkhya, a Dualist Tradition in Indian Philosophy (Delhi: 1987).
• P. Remes, Plotinus on Self: The Philosophy of the “We” (Cambridge: 2007).
• A. Sen Gupta, Classical Saṃkhya: a Critical Study (New Delhi: 1982).
• M. Siderits et al. (eds), Self, No Self? (Oxford: 2011).
Leistungsnachweis
In den unten zugeordneten Bachelor-Philosophie-Modulen (Haupt- und Nebenfach): a) Hausarbeit (10-12 S.) ODER b) benotete Präsentation (ca. 15 Minuten) mit wissenschaftlicher Ausarbeitung (ca. 6 S.), je nach Vorgabe der/des Dozierenden
Anmeldung
Muss irgendwann zwischen dem 27.09.2021 und dem 11.10.2021 über das LSF-System (über den Menüpunkt "Lehrveranstaltungen belegen/abmelden") priorisiert belegt werden.
Fortgeschrittenenseminar (zus. m. Dr. Hansberger, Rotraud)
Aristotle's zoology in Arabic
Di. 10:00 bis 12:00 c.t. woch 19.10.2021 bis 08.02.2022 in MusaPH (Leopoldstr. 11b, 4. Stock, Raum 433)
In this seminar we will read selected excerpts from Aristotle’s works on animals, comparing the Greek original to the medieval Arabic translation which combined these works into a single work called simply Book of Animals. The seminar will be taught in English, and participation requires the ability to read and translate classical Arabic; facility with Ancient Greek would be helpful but is not required.
Literatur
Literature
• ‘A. Badawi (ed.), Tibaʿ al-Ḥayawan (Kuwait: 1977).
• L.S. Filius (ed.), The Arabic Version of Aristotle’s Historia Animalium: Book I-X of Kitab al-Hayawan (Leiden: 2019).
• R. Kruk (ed.), The Arabic Version of Aristotle’s Parts of Animals (Leiden: 1979).
Leistungsnachweis
term paper OR (presentation(s)+essay/record), according to the lecturer's specification [9 ECTS-points]
Anmeldung
LSF-registration via the menu item "Vorlesungsverzeichnis" (=> click through after LSF login to the individual view of this course) sometime between 27 September 2021 and 11 October 2021
Oberseminar (zus. mit Dr. Laura Castelli, Prof. Dr. Oliver Primavesi)
MUSAPH Research Seminar ("Aristotle's critique of Plato's theory of forms and principles")
Di. 12:00 bis 14:00 c.t. woch 19.10.2021 bis 08.02.2022 in MusaPH (Leopoldstr. 11b, 4. Stock, Raum 433)
Current research projects in ancient philosophy
Topic in the winter semester 2021/22: "Aristotle's critique of Plato's theory of forms and principles"