Philosophy 160

This course will mainly focus on Plato’s metaphysics and epistemology to elucidate what is meant by ‘Platonism’. It therefore tries to reconstruct the development of the theory of Forms from its first traces in some of Plato’s early dialogues to its application in his middle years and possible revisions in his late work. This reconstruction will at the same time require a discussion of the development in Plato’s theory of knowledge and of the methods he uses in connection with his different treatment of the Forms. The focus will be on the central passages for this topic in Plato’s Euthyphro, Meno, Phaedo, Republic, Symposium, Phaedrus, Parmenides, Sophist, and the Philebus.
The discussion will focus largely on Plato’s texts but important secondary literature will be included and made available on bspace.