Syllabus
1. Introduction
2. In the grip of gods (Homer, Hesiodos)
3. Inquiry into nature (Presocratics, Hippocratics, Herodotus)
4. Ontology (Presocratics, Hippocratics, Plato)
5. Methodology (Presocratics, Hippocratics, Plato)
6. Dietetics (the Hippocratic Nat. Hom., Vict., VM, Morb. Sacr.)
7. Medicine and philosophy (Hippocratics, Plato, Aristotle)
8. Plato’s (un)natural philosophy (Timaeus)
9. Aristotle’s response to Plato’s paradoxes (Meno, Phaedo, Timaeus)
10. Introduction into zoology (Aristotle, PA
1)
11. Aristotle’s science of man (biology – politics – ethics)
12. Diocles, Theophrastus, Galen
13. From Aristotle to W. Harvey and Ch. Darwin
14. Concluding discussion
Annotation
The aim of this course is to introduce students to the Greek natural philosophy and science and to provide them with the opportunity to read the original texts (in English translations) and identify in them ideas that paved the way for modern life sciences. By studying these texts, one gains insight into the essential terminology and conceptions
(e.g. logos, idea/eidos, úsia, hylé-morphé, physis, causality, necessity, teleology) of Ancient Greek philosophy.