Description
Teaching Delivery:ÌýThis module consists of 10 weekly two-hour classes.Ìý
Module Content:ÌýIn this module, we study ancient philosophical accounts of moral education. We look at how, for thinkers like Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics, human beings can learn to be morally good. Our guiding questions will be: is virtue teachable? Does our environment determine whether or not we will become morally good? Does becoming virtuous require acting well, or is theoretical teaching sufficient? Can a virtuous person become vicious and vice versa? Is virtue acquired through habituation? If so, is habituation a sort of blind conditioning?Ìý
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At the end of the module, students will:Ìý
– be able to read critically passages from Aristotle’s and Plato’s works in ethics;Ìý
–Ìý be familiar with the more fragmentary sources in Stoic philosophy;Ìý
– be able to evaluate the arguments proposed in the sources and to propose and assess different possible interpretations;Ìý
– be able to reflect critically on the significance of the material.Ìý
°Õ±ð³æ³Ù²õ:ÌýThe central primary texts will be Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Politics and Plato’s Republic and the Laws. Further sources (mostly fragments) will be consulted to cover the Stoic approach.
Module deliveries for 2024/25 academic year
Last updated
This module description was last updated on 19th August 2024.
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