<h2>ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY</h2>
<p>The ancient world is the birthplace of philosophy and home to some of its most vibrant and revolutionary thinkers.<span> </span> To study ancient philosophy is to study the foundations of our culture: the roots of democracy, theology, and early advances in mathematics and science.<span> </span> But ancient philosophers also could be deeply counter-cultural and shocking: skeptics, totalitarians, and revolutionaries who argued against the corruption and banality of everyday life.</p>
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<p>Philosophy 300, Greek and Roman Philosophy, introduces you to the greatest and most influential philosophers of the ancient world, beginning with Socrates.<span> </span> On trial for heresy and facing execution, Socrates defiantly declared that he would never cease philosophizing because “the unexamined life is not worth living.”<span> </span> After Socrates was killed, his student Plato founded the first university in the West, the Academy, and produced a body of work unmatched since.<span> </span> It has been said that the entire history of Western Philosophy is nothing but a series of footnotes to Plato.<span> </span> That may be an exaggeration, but just barely.<span> </span> We focus each term on the philosophy of Plato and, from there, rotate through a legion of ancient philosophers who came after him, including his student Aristotle, the Stoics, Epicureans, and Skeptics.</p>
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<p>Above all else, philosophers of the ancient world challenge us to examine our values, beliefs, and lives.<span> </span> In Philosophy 300, our aim is to listen to what these philosophers have to say and decide for ourselves if they were right.<br /><br /><a href="/id0904f67a8063e511">Back</a></p>