Philosophy 160

This course will be devoted to a close examination of some of the central themes of Plato’s metaphysics and epistemology. The topics to be covered will include the theory of Forms, the doctrine the learning is recollection, the distinction between knowledge and belief, the nature and role of perception, and the treatment of non-being. We will discuss the treatment of these topics in Plato’s Phaedo, Republic, Cratylus, Theaetetus, Sophist and Parmenides.

Required Texts: Plato: Complete Works, edited by John M. Cooper (Hackett: 1997). Plato 1: Metaphysics and Epistemology, edited by Gail Fine (Oxford: 1999).