CLASS 3676

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  • Schedule of Classes - June 16, 2025 11:41AM EDT
  • Course Catalog - September 10, 2024 9:48AM EDT
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CLASS 3676
Ancient Political Thought

Course information provided by the 2024-2025 Catalog. Courses of Study 2024-2025 is scheduled to publish mid-June.

Ancient political debates about democracy, empire, and justice appear in late fifth-century BCE Athenian dramatic, historical, and philosophical literatures composed against the backdrop of the 27-year Peloponnesian War over the control of Greece (which Athens lost). Reading selected tragedies of Euripides, comedies of Aristophanes, and philosophical dialogues of Plato, in combination with the history of Thucydides, this course retraces, explores, and interrogates these texts' complex, provocative, and surprisingly relevant arguments for and against the pursuit of equality (democracy), security (war and imperialism), goodness (aretê from "excellence" to "virtue"), and fairness (justice), and their often unexpected results in practice. All the readings for this course are in English.


Last 4 Terms Offered (None)

Distribution Category (ALC-AS)

When Offered Fall.

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: GOVT 3736

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 21337 CLASS 3676   LEC 001

  •  
    • MW White Hall 106
    • Aug 26 - Dec 9, 2024

    • Chen, A

  • Instruction Mode: In Person