Annotation
The seminar is dedicated to two aesthetic themes among selected authors of ancient philosophy. The first theme is beauty, which we will explore among certain pre-Platonic authors (especially Homer, Hesiod, Empedocles, Heraclitus, Gorgias), Plato, the Stoics, skeptics, Epicureans, and Plotinus.
Here, we will attempt to trace a common thread revolving around the concepts of order, unity in multiplicity, divinity, and its impact on the soul. The second theme will be the ancient understanding of art among Plato, Aristotle, Epicureans, skeptics, and Plotinus.
We will focus on the relationship between art and philosophy, as well as its social and epistemic function. For master's students in philosophy, for whom the course is primarily intended, the seminar offers an enrichment of knowledge about aesthetic motifs in antiquity.
Other interested individuals from the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies as well as other departments, who are also welcome, may find both discussed themes to serve as a brief introduction to the main philosophical schools of antiquity, although the seminar's focus will remain selective. The sessions will be conducted in the form of lectures with a basis in primary texts, which we will examine together.