CL3APP: Aristotle: Philology, Philosophy, Politics

Module code: CL3APP

Module provider: Classics; School of Humanities

Credits: 20

Level: Level 3 (Honours)

When you’ll be taught: Semester 1

Module convenor: Dr Doukissa Kamini, email: doukissa.kamini@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: No

Last updated: 11 November 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module provides a close analysis of the language, themes, and significance of Aristotle’s philological, political, and philosophical works. It contextualises them within ancient contexts and discusses their reception in the Renaissance, Humanism, and 20th-century history and philosophy of language, literature, and politics (Saussure, Genette, Derrida). It explores the contribution of Poetics and Rhetoric to the history, philosophy, and theory of language (structure, semantics, pragmatics) and literature (context, genre, argument).  It examines political and ethical language and concepts in Nicomachean Ethics and Politics (government, moderation, causality, reason) and contextualises them within ancient and modern political/philosophical discourse. It explores the origins of philosophy and its relation to science by discussing On the Soul, Physics, Metaphysics. The students will revisit ancient genres from an interdisciplinary and intertextual perspective which highlights the versatility of language and the diversity of Classical contribution to human thought while forging them as Classicists in the round. 

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Interpret, contextualise, and compare Aristotle’s political, philosophical, and philological writings within their contemporary historical, political, literary, and philosophical background and context as well as in their reception in modern literary theory, politics, and philosophy
2. Focus on particular aspects of Aristotle’s work and articulate effective arguments which illustrate how the interaction among philology, philosophy, and politics shaped ancient Greek society as a whole based on evidence from primary sources and secondary sources
3. Recognise and criticise key arguments made in recent scholarship on specific aspect of Aristotle’s works and trace how such findings highlight the diversity and versatility of Classics as a vital part of Humanities and the development of human thought
4. Select, critically analyse, interpret and compare passages from Aristotle’s works from a specific point of view which indicates the students’ engagement with primary sources in depth and independent research while allowing them to form intertextual and applied theoretical points with other ancient and modern political, philosophical, and literary sources

Module content

Topics covered in this module may include the philosophical, political, scientific, ethical, linguistic, and literary context of Aristotle’s writings, the interaction between his works and the philosophical, political, scientific and literary ancient Greek tradition, the formation of his philological argumentation and its employment in Roman literary works and treatises, and the use of such models in Roman philosophy and modern philosophy, political thought, and literary theory. Ancient texts that may be discussed will include (but will not be limited to) Aristotle’s Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, On the Soul, Poetics, and Rhetoric. In addition, references to ancient epic, lyric, and tragic poetry as well as to rhetoric and other philosophical writings in both ancient Greece and Rome will be made across the module. The lectures will discuss each aspect of Aristotle’s contribution (philological, political, philosophical) and will encourage comparative readings among them. They will conclude with an exploration of the ways in which such concepts develo