Introduction to the History of Philosophy
2015/16
Course Convenor Anthony Price
Lectures
The lectures for this module will be held in ***, on Tuesdays from 6 to 7 p.m. in Terms 1
and 2. The lecturer in Term 1 is Anthony Price, the lecturer in Term 2 is Susan James.
Seminars
The seminars for this module will be held in *** on Tuesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. in Terms 1
and 2. These are led by graduate tutors.
Readings
Every week the ‘essential reading’ forms the focus of the seminar discussion; it is
essential that you read that in advance of the lecture and seminar. In addition, there is a
selection of ‘additional reading’. Attending to pieces of ‘additional reading’ through the
two terms will deepen your understanding and help you to get the most out of the module.
NB Recent books (and some older ones) published by Oxford University Press (OUP)
are often accessible electronically through Oxford Scholarship Online (OSO). All
articles listed below are accessible electronically through J-store (or similar sites).
You may access all these through Birkbeck eLibrary (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/lib/elib/).
Assessment
This module is assessed by a two-hour examination in Term 3. The exam falls into two
parts, one relating to Term 1, the other to Term 2; you will have to answer one question
within each part. Past papers may be consulted at www.bbk.ac.uk/lib/elib/exam.
Essays
You should write at least two essays during each term of the course, taken from the titles
below, and receive feedback on them from your seminar leader. This is the best way of
getting into the material yourself (as well as the best way of preparing for examination).
Within each term, you should submit the first essay by the first seminar after reading
week, and the second by one week after the last seminar of term. [Notes: (1) You are
always welcome to submit an essay earlier than these dates; (2) the seminar leader should
not be expected to comment on the same essay more than once.]
Autumn Term,
Term 1, Weeks 1-5.
In these lectures we shall look at alternative views of the nature of justice, and of
virtue in general, to be found in Plato’s Republic, Books 1-2, Stephanus pages
(usually indicated in the margin) 336b-367e, and his Protagoras.
Week 1, Thrasymachus against Justice
Essential Reading:
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• Plato, Republic, Book 1, Stephanus pages (given in the margin of most
translations) 336b-354b (many good translations; the most reader-friendly in
presentation is the Penguin translation, now with additional
matter by Melissa Lane, by Desmond Lee)
Additional Reading:
• T. Irwin, Plato’s Ethics (OUP 1995), 174-80
• J. Annas, An Introduction to Plato’s Republic (OUP 1981), 34-58
• N. Pappas, Plato and the Republic (Routledge, 3rd edn 2013 – but previous edns
are fine), ch. 3, first part
• T.D.J. Chappell, ‘The Virtues of Thrasymachus’, Phronesis 38 (1993), 1-17
• R. Barney, ‘Callicles and Thrasymachus’ (2011), Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/callicles-thrasymachus/), §§ 2-3
Question:
Is Thrasymachus’ position coherent? Does Socrates refute it by sound arguments?
Week 2, Glaucon and Adeimantus on Justice as (at best) a Second Best
Essential Reading:
• Plato, Republic, Book 2, 357a-367e
Additional Reading:
• T. Irwin, Plato’s Ethics, 181-91
• N. Pappas, Plato and the Republic, ch. 3, second part
• C. Kirwan, ‘Glaucon’s Challenge’, Phronesis 10 (1965), 162-73
• R.E. Allen ‘The speech of Glaucon in Plato’s Republic’, Journal of the History of
Philosophy 25 (1987), 3-11
Question:
How successful is the contract theory presented by Glaucon in defining the nature,
and explaining the origin, of our concept of justice?
Week 3, Protagoras on Virtue
Essential Reading:
• Plato, Protagoras, 320d-328d (I recommend the translation by C.C.W Taylor,
published in OUP World’s Classics 1996, or in the Clarendon Plato Series with a
full commentary, 2nd edn 1991)
Additional Reading;
• T. Irwin, Plato’s Ethics, 79-80
• G.B. Kerferd, ‘Protagoras’ Doctrine of Justice and Virtue in the Protagoras of
Plato’, Journal of Hellenic Studies 73 (1953), 42-5
• M.C. Nussbaum, The Fragility of Goodness (CUP 1986), 100-6
Question:
How successful is Protagoras in offering an aetiology (account of the origin) of
human morality?
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Week 4, Socrates on Acting against one’s Judgement
Essential Reading:
• Plato, Protagoras, 352a-357e
Additional Reading:
• T. Irwin, Plato’s Ethics, 83-4
• G. Santas, ‘Plato’s Protagoras and Explanations of Weakness’, Philosophical
Review 75 (1966), 3-33
• G. Vlastos, ‘Socrates on Acrasia’, Phoenix 23 (1969), 71-88
• M.C. Nussbaum, The Fragility of Goodness, 113-17
• A.W. Price, Virtue and Reason in Plato and Aristotle (OUP 2011), pp. 253-69
Question:
Does Socrates succeed in proving that it is impossible for an agent consciously to
act against his own current judgment of how he should best act?
Week 5, Socrates on the Unity of the Virtues
Essential Reading:
• Plato, Protagoras 328d-334c, 358d-360e
Additional Reading:
• T. Irwin, Plato’s Ethics, 80-1, 84-5
• G. Vlastos, ‘The Unity of the Virtues in the Protagoras’, Review of Metaphysics
25 (1971/2), 415-58
• T. Penner, ‘The Unity of Virtue’, Philosophical Review 82 (1973), 35-68
• D. Devereux, ‘The Unity of the Virtues in Plato's Protagoras and Laches’,
Philosophical Review 101 (1992), 765–89
• A.W. Price, Virtue and Reason in Plato and Aristotle, pp. 86-100
Question
How successful is Socrates in grounding a thesis that it is impossible to possess
one virtue without possessing all the others?
Term 1, Weeks 6-10.
In these lectures we shall look at a selection of topics from Aristotle’s Nicomachean
Ethics. (Any translation is fine, but W.D. Ross in the Oxford World’s Classics series,
with an introduction by L. Brown, 2009, is recommended. Ross’s translation is also
available online at e.g. http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.html [sic])
Week 6, Aristotle on eudaimonia (acting and living well)
Essential Reading:
 Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book 1, chs 1-5, 8-12
Additional Reading:
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 J.O. Urmson, Aristotle’s Ethics (Blackwell 1988), ch. 1
 M. Pakaluk, Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (CUP 2005), ch. 2
 J.L. Ackrill, ‘Aristotle on eudaimonia’, Proceedings of the British Academy 60
(1974), 339-59; repr. in A.O. Rorty ed., Essays on Aristotle’s Ethics (California
1980), 15-33
 A.W. Price, ‘Eudaimonism and Egocentricity’, The Harvard Review of
Philosophy 19 (2013), 84-95 (accessible through my site at academia.edu)
Question
Can Aristotle make out a claim that the agent’s eudaimonia is the final goal of all
his or her actions? If so, are we all self-centred?
Week 7, Aristotle’s Function Argument
Essential Reading:
 Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book 1, chs 7, 13
Additional Reading:
 J.O. Urmson, Aristotle’s Ethics, pp. 19-22
 M. Pakaluk, Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, pp. 74-82
 K.V. Wilkes, ‘The Good Man and the Good for Man in Aristotle’s Ethics’,
Mind 87 (1978), 553-71; repr. in Rorty ed., Essays on Aristotle’s Ethics, 341-57
 Korsgaard, C., ‘Aristotle’s Function Argument’, in her The Constitution of
Agency (OUP 2008), 129-50
Question
Does man have a function? Supposing that he does, to what extent can it help to
define the human good?
Week 8, Aristotle on virtue of character
Essential Reading:
 Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book 2
Additional Reading:
 J.O. Urmson, Aristotle’s Ethics, ch. 2
 M. Pakaluk, Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, ch. 3
 J.O. Urmson, ‘Aristotle’s Doctrine of the Mean’, American Philosophical
Quarterly 10 (1973), 223-30
 R. Hursthouse, ‘A False Doctrine of the Mean’, Proceedings of the Aristotelian
Society 81 (1980/1), 57-72
 R. Hursthouse, ‘The Central Doctrine of the Mean’, in R. Kraut ed, Blackwell
Guide to Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (Blackwell, 2006), 96-115
Question:
How can we best make sense of Aristotle’s doctrine of the mean?
Week 9, Aristotle on responsibility
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Essential Reading:
 Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book 2, chs 1, 5
Additional Reading:
 J.O. Urmson, Aristotle’s Ethics, pp. 42-9, 59-61
 G.J. Hughes, Routledge Guidebook to Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics
(Routledge 2013), ch 7
 M. Pakaluk, Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, pp. 119-29, 143-9
 S.S. Meyer, Aristotle on Moral Responsibility (OUP 2011), chs 4-5
Question
What, in Aristotle’s view, can make agents not responsible for what they do?
Week 10, Aristotle on the Ideal Life
Essential Reading:
 Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book 10, chs 6-9
Additional Reading:
 J. O. Urmson, Aristotle’s Ethics, ch. 10
 M. Pakaluk, Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, ch. 11
 A.W. Price, Virtue and Reason in Plato and Aristotle, pp. 69-80
 G. Lawrence, ‘Aristotle and the Ideal Life’, Philosophical Review 102 (1993),
1-34
Question
Can Aristotle establish that the best human life is intellectual? Where does this
leave the claims of the ethical life?
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Spring Term Course Schedule
Living and Living Well in Early Modern Philosophy
What makes a thing alive? And what is it to die? For early-modern European
philosophers these questions were fraught with philosophical, ethical and
theological implications. In the first seven weeks we shall consider some of the
answers defended by dualists, monists, materialists and vitalists, which contributed
to a rich seventeenth-century debate about life itself.
As well as contrasting the living and the dead, some philosophers argued that
human beings could be more or less fully alive. In the final three weeks of term we
shall discuss the suggestion that a virtuous person is in some sense more alive than a
vicious one.
Readings
Every week the ‘essential reading’ forms the focus of the seminar discussion; it is
essential that you read that in advance of the lecture and seminar. In addition, there
is a selection of ‘additional reading’. Attending to pieces of ‘additional reading’
through the two terms will deepen your understanding and help you to get the most
out of the module.
All essential and additional readings will be available on Moodle. You can also access
many of them through the Birkbeck College e-library.
(http://www.bbk.ac.uk/lib/elib/).
Week by Week Outline
Section I, Weeks 1-7: Being Alive and Being Dead
Week 1
Life and Soul: Aristotle on Living Things
Required Reading:
Aristotle, On the Soul, Book 2, 1-5 (i.e. 412.1 – 418.1); Book 3, 3- end of 4 (i.e. 427.1
– 4.30.1).
Additional Reading:
Michael Frede, ‘Aristotle on the Soul’ in M. Nussbaum and A. Rorty, Essays on
Aristotle’s De Anima, available at Oxford Scholarship Online.
Week 2
Rejecting Aristotle: Descartes on Living Machines
Required Reading:
6
Descartes, Principles of Philosophy, Part 2, sections 1 – 36.
Descartes, Discourse on the Method, Part 5.
Additional Reading:
Susan James, 'The Emergence of the Cartesian Mind' in T. Crane and S. Patterson
(eds), The History of the Mind-Body Problem
Question: How plausibly does Descartes defend the view that a thing can be alive
without having a soul?
Further Reading
Dennis Des Chene, ‘Aristotelian Natural Philosophy’ in Carriero and Broughton eds.,
A Companion to Descartes.
*Desmond Clarke, ‘Descartes’s philosophy of science and the scientific revolution’ in
John Cottingham ed., The Cambridge Companion to Descartes.
Daniel Garber, ‘Semel in vita: The Scientific background to Descartes’ Meditations’.
Stephen
Gaukroger,
‘Descartes
on
Mindless
Animals’
at
http://openjournals.library.usyd.edu.au/index.php/ART/article/view/5595/6264
Peter Harrison, ‘Descartes on Animals’, Philosophical Quarterly, April 1992
* Garry Hatfield, ‘Animals’ in Carriero and Broughton eds. A Companion to Descartes
Week 3
The Limits of Mechanism; Cartesian Dualism
Required Reading:
Descartes, Meditations 1 and 2.
Descartes, Principles of Philosophy Part 1, 51- 65.
Additional Reading:
John Cottingham, ‘Cartesian Dualism: Theology, Metaphysics and Science’, in
Cottingham ed., The Cambridge Companion to Descartes
Question: What does Descartes mean by thinking? Why does he believe a human
being needs a soul to think?
Further Reading
Descartes, Meditation 6
*Marleen Rozemond, ‘The Real Distinction’ in Carriero and Bourghton eds., A
Companion to Descartes
Amelie Rorty, ‘Cartesian Passions and the Union of Mind and Body’ in A. Rorty ed.,
Essays on Descartes’ Meditations
Week 4
Questioning Dualism: Descartes and Princess Elisabeth
Required Reading:
a) Descartes and Hobbes, Third Set of Objections and Replies to the Meditations,
Objections 1-3 and Descartes’ replies to them.
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b) Descartes and Princess Elisabeth, Correspondence with the Princess Elisabeth – 6th
May to 1st July 1643.
Additional Reading:
Lisa Shapiro, ‘Princess Elisabeth and Descartes: The Union of Mind and Body and the
Practice of Philosophy’ British Journal for the History of Philosophy , Volume 7, no. 3,
October, 1999. Reprinted in Feminism and the History of Philosophy , ed. G. Lloyd.
Question: Does Descartes have a satisfying argument for his view that a human
being is a composite of soul and body?
Further Reading
See further reading for week 3 plus:
*Lisa Shapiro, “Cartesian Selves” in Descartes’s Meditations: A Critical Guide, ed.
Karen Detlefsen, Cambridge UP, (January 2012), pp. 226-242.
John Cottingham, ‘Cartesian Trialism’, Mind 1965.
Jasper Reid (2008) ‘The Spatial Presence of Spirits among the Cartesians’, Journal of
the History of Philosophy, 46 (1), pp. 91–118.
Week 5
Opposing Mechanism I: Cavendish on Matter
Required Reading:
a) Margaret Cavendish, Philosophical Letters, Letters 30-45 on Descartes.
b) Margaret Cavendish, Observations on Experimental Philosophy, sections 31, 35,
36, 37.
Additional Reading:
Karen Detlefsen, ‘Atomism, Monism and Causation in the Philosophy of Margaret
Cavendish’
Question: Assess Cavendish’s attempt to overcome what she sees as the deficiencies
of mechanism.
Further Reading
Jacqueline Broad, Women Philosophers of the Seventeenth Century, chapter 2.
(Good introduction.)
Stewart Duncan (2012). Debating Materialism: Cavendish, Hobbes, and More.
History of Philosophy Quarterly 29 (4):391-409.
Susan James (1999). The Philosophical Innovations of Margaret Cavendish. British
Journal for the History of Philosophy 7.
*Catherine Wilson (2007). Two Opponents of Material Atomism: Cavendish and
Leibniz. In P. Phemister & S. Brown (eds.), Leibniz and the English-Speaking World.
READING WEEK
Week 6
Opposing Mechanism II: Cudworth on Plastic Natures
Required Reading:
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Ralph Cudworth, ‘The Plastick Life of Nature’ in C.A. Patrides, The Cambridge
Platonists, pp. 288-325.
Justin Smith, ‘Machines, Souls and Vital Principles’ in D. Clarke and C. Wilson eds.,
The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy in Early Modern Europe, pp. 96-115.
Question: Does Cudworth offer compelling reasons for positing plastic natures?
Further Reading
Walter Ott, Causation and Laws of Nature in Early Modern Philosophy, ch. 15.
Breteau, ‘Chaos and Order in Cudworth’s Thought’ in Douglas Hedley and Sarah
Hutton eds., Platonism at the Origins of Modernity.
*John Henry, ‘Occult qualities and the experimental philosophy’, History of Science,
1986.
(Note: the secondary literature on Cudworth is comparatively thin.)
Week 7
Accommodating Mechanism: Spinoza’s Monism
Required reading:
Genevieve Lloyd, Spinoza and the ‘Ethics’, ch. 2, pp. 29-70.
Additional reading:
Spinoza, Ethics, Part II up to proposition 13, including the first part of P13.
Question: Can we make sense of Spinoza’s claim that a mind and a body are the
same thing?
Section II, Weeks 8-10: Living Fully
Week 8
Coping with the passions: Descartes and Princess Elisabeth on the good life
Required reading:
Descartes, Discourse on the Method, parts 1-3.
Descartes and Princess Elisabeth, Correspondence 1st Sept 1645 – 3 Nov 1645.
Additional Reading:
Frierson, Patrick R., 2002. “Learning to Love: From Egoism to Generosity in
Descartes,” Journal of the History of Philosophy, 40: 313–348.
Question: How does Descartes think generosity is related to living well?
Week 9
Virtue as Activity: Spinoza on Empowerment
Required Reading:
Spinoza, Ethics, Part III up to Proposition 15.
Additional Reading:
Michael Le Buffe, ‘The Anatomy of the Passions’ in Olli Koistinen ed., The Cambridge
Companion to Spinoza’s ‘Ethics’, pp. 188-222.
Question: How does Spinoza defend his view that human beings strive to empower
themselves?
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Week 10
Virtue as Activity: The Character of an Active Life
Required Reading:
Spinoza, Ethics, Part IV, propositions 19-40 and propositions 64-73.
Additional Reading:
Moira Gatens and Genevieve Lloyd, Collective Imaginings: Spinoza Past and Present,
chapter 3, pp. 41-57.
Question: Why, according to Spinoza, does the free man think of nothing less than
death?
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