Module description
This course is designed to give students an overview of key topics in Plato’s epistemology and metaphysics, and, more generally, to guide students in how to approach Plato’s dialogues. The course will place emphasis on close reading and critical analysis of the primary texts (in translation), introducing students to different interpretative strategies, as well as to key debates in the secondary literature. Central questions will be: What is knowledge on Plato’s account? What is the distinction between knowledge and belief? What are forms? What are forms for? What is the role of the form of the good? How do we attain the good? A focus throughout will be how Plato’s epistemology shapes his metaphysics and vice versa, and the relation of epistemology to ethics in Plato. The course will cover a range of texts, including the Meno, Phaedo and Parmenides, focusing in particular on the Republic.
Assessment details
Formative assessment: two 1,500–2,000-word essays.
Summative assessment: one 2-hour exam (100%).
Teaching pattern
One weekly one-hour lecture and one weekly one-hour seminar.