[MUSIC] Hello, welcome to Aristotle and his successors. Which is the second half of our two part online course on the history of ancient philosophy. My name is Susan Sauvé Meyer. I'm a professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania where I teach courses on Plato, Aristotle and other figures in the philosophical tradition that began in Ancient Greece. In part one of this course, we saw how philosophy emerged along with the beginnings of Ancient Science among the greek colonies in Ionia, over 25 hundred years ago. And we got a good sample of the range and power of philosophy in the works of Plato, the brilliant Athenian writer of the fourth century BCE. If you didn't take part one of the course, you can get a brief summary of some of the high points of that survey and the concluding lecture to Plato and his predecessors. In this part of the course, we will begin with Aristotle, who was Plato's greatest student, but who had many differences of opinion with his teacher. And developed a rival philosophical system whose importance and influence in the later philosophical tradition has proven to be at least as great as those of Plato. That is why the painter Raphael has Aristotle share the central frame with Plato in his painting School of Athens. Raphael here captures in the gestures of his two central figures, one of the most famous disagreements between Plato and Aristotle. In contrast to Plato, who maintain that the ultimate reality was above and beyond the world of our experience hence his gesture upwards. Aristotle insist that the ultimate reality are the ordinary objects of our experience like the people, animals and physical objects we encounter in our daily life. Hence his gesture downwards to the everyday world. We'll see how Aristotle develops this anti platonic view of reality and the work that has come to be called the categories. Which will in fact tell us something interesting about the history of the word category. After that we will consider Aristotle's natural philosophy, where he presents the famous doctrine of the four causes, and argues that nature is full of goal directed processes. And that the cosmos is ultimately due to the operation of an eternal unmoved mover. We will look briefly at his psychology or theory of the soul which is very different from what we find in Plato and has a surprisingly modern feel to it. And then finally, we'll look at Aristotle's Ethical Theory where he formulates the question that will dominate philosophical ethics for centuries afterwards. What is the goal of life? We'll spend some time figuring out how to understand the question. And then consider Aristotle's answer, which has inspired many philosophers today to develop the cluster of theories known as virtue ethics. After Aristotle, we will consider the Epicureans and the Stoics. The two major schools that arose in Athens after the death of Aristotle. The long philosophical legacy of these two schools has bequeathed us some vocabulary. We use the term epicurean today, when talking about fine food and drink. And we sometimes commend people for being stoical in the face of disappointment. One of the things we will learn is that the ancient epicureans were hardly epicureans by modern standards, and that the theory behind the stoic attitude is much more extreme and demanding than many of us would be comfortable endorsing. Of course the ethical teachings of the Stoics and the Epicureans just like those of Aristotle, have their place in a comprehensive philosophical system that considers the nature of the cosmos. The place of human beings within it, as well as the nature and role of the gods. The epicureans maintain that atoms moving around in the void are the ultimate constituents of the world, and that the gods lead a blessed life, free of all concern of human affairs or for the operation of the cosmos. The stoic god by contrast, is a physical force that manifests itself in every detail of the cosmos, which it governs with perfect intelligence. But both schools agree that god or the gods, provide the model to which human beings should aspire to emulate. So much for the course content. Now a little about the online format. For each unit of the course, there will be a series of short recorded lectures by me, most of them under ten minutes which you can view at your own pace. There will also be assigned readings, which I highly recommend that you do. As you'll get a lot more out of the course, and out of the lectures if you read the works of the philosophers I'm talking about. And since it's also very useful when studying philosophy to be able to talk about the ideas and texts with other people, there will be discussion boards in which you can participate over the course of each unit. For those of you who wish to get a certificate of completion for the course, there will be quizzes, multiple choice at the end of each unit. As well as a brief writing assignment, which will be peer reviewed. For those of you completing both part one and part two for a certificate, there will be a final project, also peer reviewed. All the lectures will have brief in video quizzes, and you can skip these if you want. You can find details of the course requirements as well as the recommended readings, and the other details about the course units on the course website. After you've reviewed that material, I'll meet up with you again in the first lecture on Aristotle.
