tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post8641612100846631945..comments2024-03-14T04:16:20.472-07:00Comments on In Socrates' Wake: Difficulties of Teaching Ancient Philosophy: taking the “Ancient” out of Ancient PhilosophyMichael Cholbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02012523929044363216noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-54507416377937916562009-10-16T13:46:01.362-07:002009-10-16T13:46:01.362-07:00The right writers are a good suggestion, like Pier...The right writers are a good suggestion, like Pierre Hadot as someone mentioned. I studied for a while under one of his students, Horst Hutter. He wrote a book called Shaping the Future and I think the title alone could inspire students. Hutter and others like him discuss philosophy in a way that is close to life and doesn't feel completely relegated to an academic setting, suggests spiritual (e.g. breathing) exercises that don't require any specific doctrine, and bring out an existential quality that to the texts (like Plato's erotics) that are very seductive for new students. Also, I had a presocratics teacher who gave each student a Heraclitus fragment and asked them to make what they could of it and talk about it in class for a minute or two. Told us no one knew what it really meant anyway. Ended up being some of the most enjoyable lectures I ever had. I think you have to get through to it but the interest in Ancient thought is usually there.<br /><br />if you want to reply could you do so at my site, I don't think anyone's been there yet<br /><br />asanother.blogspot.com<br /><br />http://asanother.blogspot.com/2009/10/reply-to-httpinsocrateswakeblogspotcom2.htmlXOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12381418190092933854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-45944295954709794652009-03-24T18:09:00.000-07:002009-03-24T18:09:00.000-07:00I think it depends on the teacher. I took a intro ...I think it depends on the teacher. I took a intro course and I absolutely hated philosophy. I took a Greek Civ class and my teacher went over all the classical philosophers and now i'm hooked, and shortly after i changed my major. Check out my blog, if your interested in another point of view.<BR/>http://sciphijoshbrian.blogspot.com/Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03507246694466295105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-64941908715060297932009-01-05T16:53:00.000-08:002009-01-05T16:53:00.000-08:00While I have not taught much ancient philosophy, I...While I have not taught much ancient philosophy, I do think that one of the barriers to understand them is that we treat their terms as technical terms rather in the manner of modern or scholastic philosophy, and use the scholastic terms when translating the ancients (e.g., species, premise, and so on).<BR/><BR/>I think most of the classical philosophers up until Aristotle or some time after (including the Epicureans) used terminology of ordinary language instead of a technical vocabulary, and the best way to understand them is replace the technical terms with ordinary contemporary words in a rough translation. Then they start to make sense, and the reader is not misled by the homonymity of terms like species or morphe or ideai. Locke got this.<BR/><BR/>In short, treat them as ordinary language philosophers, trying to get at the meaning of terms in the vernacular, and they often make more sense.John S. Wilkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04417266986565803683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-10528665794719859292009-01-04T13:32:00.000-08:002009-01-04T13:32:00.000-08:00Thanks Jason,I use a similar technique but in reve...Thanks Jason,<BR/><BR/>I use a similar technique but in reverse. After introducing my students to predicate calculus, I then introduce them to the Ontological Argument, Kant's objection, and subsequent discussions about whether or not existence is a predicate. Modern technical devices become interesting when students see that they can be used to cast light on ancient problems. It also is a good way of letting them see what symbolic logic can and cannot do: once an argument has been formalized within a particular logical system, testing for validity becomes a technical issue of applying rigidly defined rules - but the really difficult questions arise when you are considering which set of rules to adopt.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-38723059510678490402009-01-03T21:15:00.000-08:002009-01-03T21:15:00.000-08:00Why not go with the good ol' Socratic Method/Quest...Why not go with the good ol' Socratic Method/Questioning or Coyote teaching.Travis Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00474420975853375436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-73153846115902188312009-01-03T20:49:00.000-08:002009-01-03T20:49:00.000-08:00In part, I suspect, it depends upon what sorts of ...In part, I suspect, it depends upon what sorts of issues you take up from Ancient philosophy. <BR/><BR/>I have organized my Ancient course (required for our major and a gen ed course for non-majors probably about 1/3 majors each time) around the question of the "best life." I motivate the question with Socrates and trace an arc through Plato, Aristotle, Stoic, Epicurean, Skeptic answers to the question. This is in part a function of the place of Ancient in our curriculum and the need to have a class that can both provide majors with a good basis for later courses, and not turn off non-majors.<BR/><BR/>Along the way we explore some epistemological, metaphysical, and meta-ethical questions that must be considered in order to ask or answer the question of the best life.<BR/><BR/>I don't pretend to give a complete survey of Ancient philosophy (generally no pre-socratics) and less metaphysics than might be traditionally taught. Nevertheless, I think that I can give an accurate representation of the questions that prompted philosophy and keep those questions close to life for students, while introducing some of the key metaphysical and epistemological questions (typically I've do epistemology and metaphysics of forms with some of the Aristotelian response, and the skeptic's arguments).<BR/><BR/>Works by Pierre Hadot, Annas, and Nussbaum are probably influences on this approach.<BR/><BR/>This also allows me to evaluate students in two different registers in a sense. The best students master the technical and textual matters as well as possess an understanding of their significance, the good students will typically be stronger on the latter--that is, they may have less nuanced understanding of the subtleties of e.g. the Aristotelian ergon argument, but they demonstrate mastery of the significance and the key ideas.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com