Module CLAS2311: PLATO ON LOVE AND DESIRE

Department: Classics and Ancient History

CLAS2311: PLATO ON LOVE AND DESIRE

Type	Open	Level	2	Credits	20	Availability	Available in 2007/08	Module Cap	None.	Location	Durham

Prerequisites

• Remembering Athens (CLAS1601) or Monuments and Memory in the Age of Augustus (CLAS1301) or Ethics and Values (PHIL1011) or Knowledge and Reality (PHIL1021) or Reading Philosophy (PHIL1041).

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• After a year of relatively broad study, students in the three new degree programmes being introduced (from 2004) in the Department will begin more specialised study of different aspects of the ancient world, of which philosophy, and this module, will be one.
• The module will introduce students to some central Platonic texts, ideas, and arguments.
• It may be taken either on its own, or alongside (and before) other philosophical modules in the Department (or in the Department of Philosophy).

Content

• The module will consist in the close study, in translation, of Plato's Symposium and Phaedrus, with reference to other dialogues (especially the Lysis) where appropriate.
• The two dialogues will be located within the general context of Platonic thought, and Platonic writing, as well as of Greek thought and culture.
• They will then be explored in relation to their overall construction, their arguments (in both broad and narrow senses), and the range of interpretations available - which will by itself introduce issues relating to the afterlife of the two works, and their place in Western culture.

Learning Outcomes

• A knowledge of the key Platonic texts on the subject of love and desire (Lysis, Symposium, Phaedrus, to be read in translation only), of the main alternative approaches to and interpretations of both Plato in general and the target dialogues in particular, and of the literary, philosophical and methodological issues raised by the target dialogues.

• An ability to handle a group of diverse and complex texts in such a way as to reach a coherent and argued view of their import, whether separately or as a group; and an ability to combine literary with philosophical analysis of the texts in question.

• An ability to comprehend and evaluate alien cultural and philosophical starting-points; an ability to compare and assess different interpretative approaches and methodologies; a capacity to construct a clear and well-structured argument in written form, showing some awareness of counter-arguments.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Teaching will be by means of lectures, to introduce target material and ideas for discussion; seminars, to allow group discussion of material and ideas introduced in seminars; and tutorials, to address individual responses to the material studied and the ideas raised.
• Assessment will be on the basis of two summative essays, to be submitted at the end of the second and in the third terms; assessment will relate to the learning outcomes listed under 15 above.
• These summative essays will be preceded by two formative essays, each followed by tutorials.
• The first summative essay will also be followed by a tutorial.
• The emphasis will be on progression of understanding; accordingly, lesser weight will be given to the first summative essay in relation to the second (in a ratio of 40:60).

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Activity	Number	Frequency	Duration	Total/Hours
Lectures	22	Weekly	1 hour	22
Tutorials	3	Termly	1 hour	3
Seminars	3	Termly	1 hour	3
Preparation and Reading				172
Total				200

Summative Assessment

Essay 1 40% (summative essay 100%), Essay 2 60% (summative essay 100%).

Formative Assessment:

2 formative essays. No collections.

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■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University