TEST III; Review
Material to be covered:
Epicurus-
How
science is connected with ethics (understood as the pursuit of pleasure).
What
is the soul composed of? How does its
composition entail, for Epicurus, that we should not
worry about death?
Discuss
the moral theory of Epicurus (p. 475, III):
Principle Doctrines (beginning on p. 478)
XVII, XXXII, XXXIII, and XXXVI: write a paragraph which clarifies Epicurus’s theory of justice.
Lucretius-
p. 484: What view of Epicurus does Lucretius echo?
How does the last paragraph of 491
contradict the statement that the soul enjoys life after death?
Zeno of Citium (selections
from Diogenes Laertius)-
[499, paragraph 1] and class discussion:
What is, if anything, the difference between “living in accordance with
universal nature + living in accordance with the nature of man” and merely
“living in accordance with universal nature”?
[453-455 and class notes]: What was
Hellenistic life like that it could be the fertile ground for Stoicism and
Epicureanism?
Cleanthes-
On the second day of class, we
identified the “problem of polytheism”, which is that if there are many gods,
how do we know which one to listen to?... We saw this problem addressed in Plato’s Euthyphro as
well. For the Greek mind, which was
beginning to attribute order to the world, this potential disorder of divine
disagreement was unacceptable. So, Zeus
becomes King of the Gods.
Now the question: How does the
Hellenistic Cleanthes refer to the solution of the
“problem of polytheism” and connect the solution to his Stoicism?
Epictetus-
What was Epictetus’s occupation?
Summarize his philosophy and use 511 #3, 515 #26, and 516
#29 in your summary.
Compare Epictetus p. 517 # 31 to Cleanthes pp. 507-508.
Marcus Aurelius-
What was Marcus Aurelius’s occupation?
What does Aurelius’ p. 529 #35 “All is ephemeral, the one
remembering and the one remembered” mean?
How could p. 530 #49 be used to justify
“putting away” a killer who, sadly, was abused as a child?
Additional Questions.
1.
How did Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, Roman slave and
emperor respectively, draw upon the philosophy of Zeno of Citium? Putting these Stoics together, we get a
relatively cohesive picture of 1) control over life’s happenings, 2) human
happiness, 3) harmony with the universe, and 4)
death. Choose at least three of these
and summarize the Stoic views on them, noting who articulates each view.
2. Discuss Beauty for Plotinus.
3. Discuss
the Soul for Plotinus, pointing out similarities and
differences between his account and Plato’s account.
4. Contrast
stoicism and Epicurean hedonism.
5. List 6
accurate items you remember from our Fulbright Egyptian scholar.
The cumulative part:
Topics of each of Plato’s works, Aristotle’s virtue
ethics and ideas about moral education, natural philosophy vs. introspective
philosophy