Learning Modules with Objectives
Module One: Plato’s Symposium
- Motivate the general question: What is love?
- Motivate the specific question: What is Eros?
- Interpret Plato’s Symposium, a classical text on love as Eros.
- Extract philosophical theses; outline and evaluate philosophical arguments.
- Write an interpretive and evaluative philosophical paper on Plato’s Symposium.
Module Two: Emerson’s “Love,” Aristotle’s Ethics; and Peirce’s “Evolutionary Love”
- Deepen our understanding and discussion of the main question: What is love?
- Compare and contrast various kinds of love: Eros, Philia, Agape
- Interpret and evaluate three alternative accounts of love by Aristotle, Emerson, and Peirce
- Extract philosophical theses; outline and evaluate philosophical arguments.
- Prepare to develop further an interpretive and evaluative philosophical paper on love.
Module Three: Contemporary philosophical commentaries
- Deepen our understanding and discussion of the main question: What is love?
- Interpret and evaluate contemporary philosophical articles on Plato’s account of love.
- Extract philosophical theses; outline and evaluate philosophical arguments.
- Polish an interpretive and evaluative philosophical paper by including contemporary articles
Weekly Schedule
Week 1: Introduction
Activities:
Read: Welcome announcement with instructions to start the course.
Watch: CloudBiography, Sappho: Biography
Watch: BBC Ideas, Gender, love and sex: What can we learn from the ancient Greek poet Sappho
Watch (optional): It’s History, The Queen of Lesbos: Poetess Sappho [the first 4:30 minutes are most relevant, the rest is optional – if you choose to, watch open-mindedly and critically.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG3_MGYb3CI
Read: Carson, Eros the Bittersweet (password-protected pdf here)
Feb 3: Zoom class meeting at 11:00 AM to introduce course and discuss Carson, Eros the Bittersweet
Work due:
Feb 5: Discussion board deadline: Write personal introduction and reply to at least two mates.
Feb 7: Discussion board deadline: What is love?
Week 2: Plato: The Symposium
Activities:
Watch: Mitch Green, Know Yourself: The Examined Life
Watch: The School of Life, Plato
Watch: Chris Surprenant, The Good Life: Plato
Read: Plato, Symposium — Prologue (172a-177e); Phaedrus (178a-180b), Pausanias (180d-185b), and Eryximachus (186a-188e)
Feb 10: Zoom class meeting at 11:00 AM to introduce Plato’s Symposium
Work due:
Feb 14: Discussion board deadline: Definitions of Eros
Week 3: Aristophanes and Agathon
Activities:
Watch: BBC Radio 4, The Myth of the Missing Half
Read: Plato, Symposium — Aristophanes (189a-193d); Agathon (194a-197c) and Socrates’ questions (198a-201c)
Feb 17: Zoom class meeting at 11:00 AM to continue discussing Plato’s Symposium
Work due:
Feb 21: Discussion board deadline: Aristophanes’ Myth // Agathon’s Speech
Week 4: Diotima
Activities:
Read: Plato, Symposium — Diotima’s questions to Socrates (201d-203a); Diotima’s speech: Introduction (203b-204c) and The Use of Love (204d-209e)
Feb 24: Zoom class meeting at 11:00 AM to continue discussing Plato’s Symposium
Work due:
Feb 28: Discussion board deadline: Giving Birth in Beauty
Week 5: The Ascent of Love
Activities:
First read: Plato, Symposium — Diotima’s speech: The Rites of Love (210a-212c)
Then watch the following videos critically, looking out for over-simplifications:
Watch: The School of Life: Student Philosopher: Plato’s Ladder of Love
Watch: BBC Radio 4, Diotima’s Ladder: From Lust to Morality
Mar 3: Zoom class meeting at 11:00 AM to continue discussing Plato’s Symposium
Work due:
Mar 7: Discussion board deadline: The Ascent of Love
Start working on Essay 1
Week 6: Alcibiades and Socrates
Activities:
Listen: BBC Podcasts, Plato’s Symposium (In Our Time)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o_GnIFE7yM&t=751s
Read: Plato, Symposium — Alcibiades (212c-222b) and Epilogue (222c-223d)
Mar 7: Zoom class meeting at 11:00 AM to finish discussing Plato’s Symposium
Work due:
Mar 14: Discussion board deadline: Alcibiades and Socrates
Continue working on Essay 1
Week 7: Work Week
Activities:
Optional: Individual meetings to discuss papers on Plato’s Symposium (must schedule via email)
Work due:
Mar 21: Essay 1
Week 8: Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics: The Good Life
Activities:
Watch: The School of Life, Aristotle
Watch: Chris Surprenant, The Good Life: Aristotle
Watch: Monte Johnson, Aristotle on the Purpose of Life
Read: Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics Book I (esp. chapter 7) and Book II (esp. chapters 3-6)
Mar 17: Zoom class meeting at 11:00 AM to discuss Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics I and II
Work due:
None. Have a good break!
Week 9: Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics: Philia or Friendship
Activities:
Watch: The Art of Improvement, Aristotle on Friendship
Watch: Sahar Joakim, What is Aristotle’s theory of friendship?
Read: Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics Book VIII
Mar 24: Zoom class meeting at 11:00 AM to discuss Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics VIII
Work due:
Apr 11: Discussion board: Friendship and the Good Life
Week 10: Transcendentalist Love
Activities:
Watch: The School of Life, Ralph Waldo Emerson
Read: Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Love”
Apr 7: Zoom class meeting at 11:00 AM to discuss R.W. Emerson, “Love”
Work due:
Apr 18: Discussion board deadline: Emerson’s Ascent of Love
Week 11: Agapic Love
Activities:
Watch: Martin Luther King, Agape
Read: Charles Peirce, “Evolutionary Love”
Apr 14: Zoom class meeting at 11:00 AM to discuss Peirce, “Evolutionary Love”
Work due:
Apr 25: Discussion board deadline: Agapic Love
Week 12: Contemporary criticism on Eros, Philia, and Agape
Activities:
Read: Vlastos, “The Individual as an Object of Love in Plato” (password-protected PDF here)
Read: Irwin, “Platonic Love” (password-protected PDF here)
Apr 28: Zoom class meeting at 11:00 AM to discuss Vlastos’s and Irwin’s essays
Work due:
None. Start work on Essay 2
Week 13: Contemplative Creativity
Activities:
Watch: Astra Taylor, Examined Life: Martha Nussbaum
Read: Martha Nussbaum, “Contemplative Creativity: Plato” (password-protected PDF here)
May 5: Zoom class meeting at 11:00 AM to discuss Nussbaum, “Contemplative Creativity: Plato”
Work due:
None. Continue work on Essay 2
Week 14: Agapic Love in Contemporary Society
Activities:
Watch: New Thinking Allowed, Eros and Agape
Read: Daniel Campos, “An Inclination to Listen” from Loving Immigrants in America (first chapter available as a Google Books preview here)
May 12: Zoom meeting at 11:00 AM to discuss NTA’s video and Campos, “An Inclination to Listen”
Work due:
May 16: Discussion board deadline: Interpersonal love in contemporary society
Week 15: Work Week
Activities:
Optional: Individual meetings to discuss final papers (must schedule via email)
Final Examinations Week
Essay 2 due on May 21
