Students may want to purchase the following books:
[Republic] = 
Plato. Republic. Translated by R. E. Allen. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780300114515.
[Ethics] = Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. Translated by Christopher Rowe. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780198752714.
| SES # | TOPICS | READINGS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction | No readings |
| I. Ancient and Modern Knowing | ||
| 2 | Knowledge as Power/ Knowledge as Virtue |
Bacon, Francis. Novum Organon. 1620. Descartes, René. Rules for the Direction of the Mind. 1619. Plato. Meno. (PDF) |
| 3 | Logos as Definition: What is "What is?" |
Plato. Meno. (PDF) Euclid. Elements. Book 1, Definitions. Aristotle. Topics. Book 1. Definition Assignment 2 (PDF) |
| The Idea of a Proof |
Descartes, René. Geometry. [Read in French on Project Gutenberg] Euclid. Elements. Book 1 (entire) and II (proposition 1 and 4) Pappus. Commentary on Euclid. Book 1. ( | |
| II. Logos and Arithmos | ||
| 4 | Logos as Ratio | Euclid. Elements. Book V (Study definitions and browse proofs). |
| Magnitude and Multitude | Euclid. Elements. Book VII (Study definitions and browse proofs). | |
| Quality and Quantity | Aristotle. Categories. Chapters 6-8. | |
| 5 | The Greek Conception of Number |
Nicomachus of Gerasa. Introduction to Arithmetic. Euclid. Elements. Book VII (Study definitions and browse proofs). |
| The Idea of Number: Ancient vs. Modern | Newton, Issac. Arithmetica Universalis. [Read on Google Books] | |
| III. Measuring the Unmeasurable: Putting the Irrational in Ratio | ||
| 6 | Aristotle, Plato, Euclid, and Theon of Smyrna |
Aristotle. Prior Analytics. 41a, 50a. ———. Topics. 158b. Plato. Epinomis. (Excerpt). Euclid. Elements. Book V (Definitions Book 5), Book VII (Propositions 1, 2), Book X (all definitions, propositions 1-3, 5, 6).
|
| IV. Fitting Ideas to the World | ||
| 7 | Courage | Plato. Laches. |
| 8 | Justice | [Republic] Book 1. [Read on Project Gutenberg] |
| 9 | The Pursuit of Truth |
[Republic] Books VI-VIII. [Read on Project Gutenberg] Euclid. Elements. Book XII (selected proofs). |
| 10 | The Truth as a Surd | Plato. Theaetetus. |
| 11 | The Truth as a Surd (cont.) | Plato. Theaetetus, cont. |
| V. The Ethics of Arithmetic and Geometry | ||
| 12 | John Stuart Mill |
Mill, John Stuart. Utilitarianism. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2007. ISBN: 9780486454221. [Read on Google Books] |
| 13 | Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics |
[Ethics]. [Read online]. Book I all chapters except 6, 9, 10. (Anyone caught reading 6, 9, 10 will be banished.) Pay special attention to Chapter 3. Book II in its entirety; Chapters 6, 7, 11 of Book III Chapters 6 & 7 of Book IV |
| 14 | Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics (cont.) | [Ethics], cont. |
