Philosophy 160

This course will study the development of Plato’s theory of Forms from its first traces in some earlier dialogues to its explanation his middle years and possible revisions in his work. The examination will also include questions of the development in Plato’s theory of knowledge and the methods he uses in the discussion of the theory of Forms. The focus will be on the central passages for this topic in Plato’s Euthyphro, Meno, Phaedo, Republic, Symposium, Phaedrus, Parmenides, Sophist and the Philebus.

Required: Plato. Complete Works. Ed. J. M. Cooper Indianapolis 1997. Hackett Publishing Company. ISBN 0-87220-349-2

Recommended: The Cambridge Companion to Plato. Ed. R. Kraut. Cambridge 1992. Cambridge University Press ISBN 0-521-43018-6

Plato 1: Metaphysics and Epistemology. Ed. G. Fine. Oxford 1999. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-875206-7

White, Nicholas P. Plato on Knowledge and Reality. Indianapolis 1976. Hackett Publishing Company ISBN 0-915144-22-0