Ancient Theories of Knowledge Tuesday 14:10 16:00 Dr Inna Kupreeva (inna.kupreeva@ed.ac.uk) Office hours: DSB 5.02, Tuesday and Thursday 16:00-17:00 Course. What is knowledge? Why is it important? How is it possible to come to possess knowledge of something? These questions, important today, were first asked by philosophers long ago, when our planet looked very different from now and the word philosophy was a new coinage in the Greek language. In this course, we shall look at the reasons our ancestors had for asking those questions. We shall also look at some of the most important and influential answers given to these in antiquity. The course will include a survey of the earliest attempts of demarcation between knowledge and belief in the Presocratic theories, a discussion of Plato s concepts of inquiry, belief and knowledge. We shall devote a class to Aristotle s account of the principles of scientific demonstration, where we ll discuss the epistemological import of Aristotle s theory of scientific knowledge. In the last part of the course, we shall look at the most interesting epistemological discussions of the Hellenistic period: Epicurus version of strong empiricism, Stoic epistemological foundationalism, Academic criticism of the Stoic theories of cognitive impression and Stoic responses. We shall also discuss ancient medical epistemology, particularly the epistemological views of the ancient medical school of Empiricism. We ll finish by scrutinising the position and arguments of Pyrrhonean sceptics. This course will provide you with a clear map of ancient epistemological debates. You will see that this legacy is actively used by the early modern thinkers, from Descartes and Locke to Hume and Kant. Assessment. The course is assessed by two essays: midterm (1500 words, 40% of a grade) and final (2000 words, worth 60% of a grade). The essays will be marked within three weeks from the due date. It is essential that your read carefully the feedback you are given; should you have any questions, don t hesitate to come and speak to me. Class presentation. All students are encouraged to do a short class presentation on one of the topics (5-10 minutes in the beginning of the class, to start the discussion; there can be from one to three presenters on each topic). This presentation is not marked, but it gives you an opportunity to come to grips with the material and prepare for one of your essays. Also, it is a good way to develop your presentation and discussion leading skills you will need in any path of postgraduate study or work. You are encouraged to come and see me a week before your presentation. Reading (general) 1
R. McKirahan (ed) Philosophy Before Socrates, Berkeley, 1994, use 2nd edition Hackett 2011 (available online through the University Library) Plato, Meno Republic Theaetetus Aristotle, Posterior Analytics, On the Soul, Physics (excerpts) B.C. Inwood, L.P. Gerson (eds), Hellenistic Philosophy: Introductory Readings, Indianapolis: Hackett, 1988 A.A. Long, D.N. Sedley (eds), The Hellenistic philosophers, 2 vols, Cambridge, 1987 Ch. Brittain (ed), Cicero, On Academic Scepticism, Indianapolis, Hackett, 2005 M. Frede, R. Walzer (eds) Galen: Three Treatises on the Nature of Science, Hackett, 1985 J. Annas, J. Barnes (eds) Sextus Empiricus, The Outlines of Scepticism, Cambridge, 2001. K. Algra, J. Barnes, J. Mansfeld, M. Schofield (eds), Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy, Cambridge, 1999 [=CHHP] J. Allen, Inference from Signs: Ancient Debates about the Nature of Evidence [IFS], Oxford, Clarendon, 2001 J. Annas, Hellenistic Philosophy of Mind, Berkeley, 1992 E. Asmis, Epicurus Scientific Method, Ithaca, 1984 H. Benson, Clitophon s Challenge: Dialectic in Plato s Meno, Phaedo, and Republic, Oxford, 2015 J. Barnes, J. Brunschwig, M. Burnyeat, M. Schofield (eds), Science and Speculation: Studies in Hellenistic theory and practice, Cambridge, 1982 D. Bostock, Plato s Theaetetus, Oxford, 1988 D. Bronstein, Aristotle on Knowledge and Learning: The Posterior Analytics, Oxford, 2016 M.F. Burnyeat and M.J. Levett, The Theaetetus of Plato, Indianapolis, Hackett, 1990 S. Everson (ed) Companions to ancient thought 1: Epistemology, Cambridge 1990 G. Fine, Plato on Knowledge and Forms: Selected Essays [=PKF], Oxford, 2003 G. Fine, The Possibility of Inquiry: Meno s Paradox from Socrates to Sextus, Oxford, 2014 M. Frede, Essays on ancient philosophy, Minneapolis, 1987 L.P. Gerson, Ancient Epistemology, Cambridge, 2009 Z. Giannopoulou, Plato s Theaetetus as a Second Apology, Oxford, 2013 R.J. Hankinson, The Sceptics, London and New York, 1995 2
B. Inwood, J. Mansfeld (eds) Assent and Argument: Studies in Cicero s Academic Books, Brill, 1997 Mi-Kyuong Lee, Epistemology after Protagoras, Oxford, 2005 A.A. Long (ed), The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy, Cambridge, 1999 R. Polito, The sceptical road: Aenesidemus' appropriation of Heraclitus, Leiden, Brill, 2006 D. Sedley, The Midwife of Platonism, Oxford, 2002 D. Scott, Recollection and experience: Plato s theory of learning and its successors, Cambridge, 1995 D. Scott, Plato s Meno, Cambridge, 2006 G. Striker, Essays on Hellenistic Epistemology and Ethics [=EHEE], Cambridge 1996 H. Thorsrud, Ancient Scepticism (Ancient Philosophies), Durham and Berkeley, 2010 K. Vogt, Belief and Truth: A Skeptic Reading of Plato, Oxford 2012 Time-table and weekly readings Please note: + indicates suggested background reading (especially if you are not familiar with the broader area); * indicates further readings; no prefix means reading is to be done for class. Further readings on specific topics will be recommended in each class. Week 1, Sept. 19: The Problem of Knowledge in Early Greek Philosophy. Introductory survey of approaches. Tasks of the course. Primary sources R. McKirahan (ed) Philosophy Before Socrates, Berkeley, 1994 (focus on chapters 7-11, 20) *Kirk, G.S., Raven, J. Schofield, M. (eds) The Presocratic Philosophers, 2 nd ed. Cambridge, 1983 *Sprague, R.K. (ed.), The Older Sophists: A Complete translation, 1972 Secondary literature +C. Osborne, Presocratic Philosophy: A very Brief Introduction, Oxford, 2004 +C.C.W. Taylor (ed), Routledge History of Philosophy, vol. I. From the Beginning to Plato, London, 1997 + Laks, A. Soul, sensation and thought 250-270 in Long, A.A. (ed), The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy, Cambridge, 1999 E. Hussey, The beginnings of epistemology: from Homer to Philolaus in Everson (ed) Epistemology, 11-38 J. Lesher, J. Xenophanes scepticism Phronesis 23, 1-21, 1978 3
J. Lesher, Early Interest in Knowledge in Long (ed), The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy, 1999, 225-249 *J. Barnes, The Presocratic Philosophers, London, 1982 (2 nd edition, 1 st ed. in 2 vols., 1979) *Graham, D. and Curd, P. eds., (2008) The Oxford Companion to Presocratic Philosophy, Oxford *Mi-Kyoung Lee, Epistemology after Protagoras, Oxford, 2005, chapters 2,3 *J. Warren, Presocratics. Natural Philosophers before Socrates, Stockfield, 2007 Week 2, Sept. 26. The problem of inquiry. Knowledge and belief. Plato, Meno and Republic V-VII Plato, Meno Plato, Republic V-VII (473C-520D) +J. Annas, An Introduction to Plato s Republic, Oxford, 1981 +J. Annas, Plato: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, 2003 G. Fine, Inquiry in the Meno in her Plato on Knowledge and Forms and in R. Kraut (ed) Cambridge Companion to Plato, 1992 G. Fine, Knowledge and true belief in the Meno, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 27 (2004), 41-81 G. Fine, Knowledge and Belief in Republic V-VII in Everson (ed) Epistemology, 85-111 *D. Devereux, Nature and teaching in Plato s Meno, Phronesis 23/2 (1978), 118-126 (online) *G. Fine, Knowledge and Belief in the Republic V, Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 60/2 (1978), 121 139, reprinted in her Plato on Knowledge and Forms *D. Scott, Recollection and experience: Plato s theory of learning and its successors, Cambridge 1995, 3-85 Week 3, Oct. 3: Knowledge is perception. Plato, Theaetetus I. Plato, Theaetetus 151D 186E 4
M.F. Burnyeat, Introduction in M. Burnyeat, M.J. Levett (edd) The Theaetetus of Plato, Hackett 1990, 1 64 M.F. Burnyeat, Protagoras and self-refutation in Plato s Theaetetus, in Philosophical Review 85 (1976) and in Everson 1990, 39 59 *G. Fine, Protagorean Relativisms, in Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy 10 (1994), 211-43 and in her PKF, 132 59 *G. Fine, Conflicting Appearances: Theaetetus 153D 154B in C. Gill and M.M. McCabe (eds) Form and Argument in Late Plato, Oxford, 1996, 105 33 and in her PKF, 160 83, *G. Fine, Plato s Refutation of Protagoras in the Theaetetus, in Apeiron 32 (1998), 201 34 and in her PKF, 184 212 Week 4, Oct. 10: Knowledge is true belief. Plato, Theaetetus II. Plato, Theaetetus 187D 201C M.F. Burnyeat, Introduction, 65 127 J. Barnes, Socrates and the Jury, [II]. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society. Suppl. 54 (July 1980), 193-206. *M F. Burnyeat, Socrates and the Jury. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society. Suppl. 54 (July 1980), 173-192 *D. Barton, The «Theaetetus» on how we think, Phronesis 44/3(1999), 163-180 (online) *Benson, Hugh H. Why Is There a Discussion of False Belief in the "Theaetetus"? Journal of the History of Philosophy. 30/2 (1992) 171-199. *P. Crivelli, The argument from knowing and not knowing in Plato's Theaetetus (187 e 5-188 c 8), Proceedings of Aristotelian Society 96 (1996), 177-196 *G. Fine, False Belief in the Theaetetus in Phronesis 24 (1979), 70 80 and in her PKF, 213-224 *Woolf, Raphael. A Shaggy Soul Story: How Not to Read the Wax Tablet Model in Plato's Theaetetus, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 69/3 (2004), 573-604. Week 5, Oct. 17: Knowledge is True Belief with logos. Plato, Theaetetus III. 5
Theaetetus 201C 210D Select secondary literature: M.F. Burnyeat, Introduction, 128 242. *G. Fine, Knowledge and "Logos" in the Theaetetus, Philosophical Review 88 (1979) 366-397 and in her PKF, 225-251 *T. Nawar, Knowledge and True Belief at Theaetetus 201a c, British Journal of the History of Philosophy, 21 (2013), 1052 70. *Shields, Christopher. The logos of logos : Theaetetus 206 C-210 B, Apeiron 32/4 (1999), 107-124 *N. Thaler, Taking the syllable apart: the Theaetetus on elements and knolwedge, OSAP 2011, 201-228 *Watanabe, K. The Theaetetus on letters and knowledge. Phronesis 32 (1987), 143-165. Week 6, Oct. 24: Aristotle s theory of knowledge: the knowledge of principles and the theory of learning Aristotle, Posterior Analytics I. 1 4, 8,10,13; II 1-2, 8-10, 19; *Prior Analytics 1.1-7 *On the Soul, 2.12, 3.1 6 *Physics 1.1, 2.3 +J. Barnes, Aristotle: a Very Short Introduction, Oxford, 2000 +C. Natali, Aristotle, Oxford, 2014 J. Barnes (ed) Aristotle, Posterior Analytics (commentary) D. Bronstein, Aristotle on Knowledge and Learning: The Posterior Analytics, Oxford, 2016, chapters 1-4, 13 C.C.W. Taylor, Aristotle s epistemology in Everson, Epistemology, 116 142 *J.L. Ackrill, Aristotle s Theory of Definition: Some questions on Posterior Analytics 2.8-10 in his Essays on Plato and Aristotle, Oxford, 1997, 110 130 *J. Allen, Inference from Signs, 13-86 *D. Scott, Recollection and experience, 87-156 *C. Shields, Aristotle, London, 2007 Week 7, Oct. 31. 6
Epicurean epistemology. Epicurus, Letter to Herodotus B.C. Inwood, L.P. Gerson (eds), Hellenistic Philosophy: Introductory Readings, Indianapolis: Hackett, 1988 A.A. Long, D.N. Sedley (eds), The Hellenistic philosophers, 2 vols, Cambridge, 1987 (sections 16-19) +S. Everson, Epicureanism in D. Furley (ed), From Aristotle to Augustine, London, 1997, 188-221 S. Everson, Epicurus on the truth of the senses, in Everson, Epistemology, 161 183 A.A. Long, Hellenistic philosophy: Stoics, Epicureans, Sceptics, Introduction, Berkeley, 1974, 14-29 R.W. Sharples, Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics, ch. 1, London, 1996, 5-8, 11-19 *E. Asmis, Epicurean Epistemology in CHHP, chapter 8. D. Sedley, On Signs in J. Barnes et al. (eds) Science and Speculation, Cambridge 1982, 239-72 *G. Striker, The problem of the criterion in S. Everson (ed), 1990, 143-160 and in her EHEE. *G. Striker, Epicurus on the truth of sense-impressions in Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 59 (1977), 125 42 and in her EHEE. *C.C.W. Taylor, All perceptions are true in Schofield, Burnyeat, Barnes (eds) Doubt and Dogmatism, 1980, 105 24 and in his Pleasure, Mind and Soul, Oxford, 2008 (online) Week 8, Nov. 7: Stoicism. Impression and assent C. Brittain, Cicero On Academic Scepticism B.C. Inwood, L.P. Gerson (eds), Hellenistic Philosophy: Introductory Readings, Indianapolis: Hackett, 1988 A.A. Long, D.N. Sedley (eds), The Hellenistic philosophers, 2 vols, Cambridge, 1987 (selected texts) +Annas, Hellenistic Philosophy of Mind, Berkeley, 1992, chapters 3-4 +B. Inwood, Stoicism in D. Furley (ed), From Aristotle to Augustine, London, 1997, 222-252 7
J. Annas, Stoic Epistemology in S. Everson (ed) Epistemology / Companions to ancient thought 1, Cambridge, 1990, 184 203 M. Frede, Stoic epistemology, in K. Algra, J. Barnes, J. Mansfeld, M. Schofield (eds), Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy, Cambridge, 1999, 295-322J. Allen, IFS, 147-194 R.J. Hankinson, Stoic Epistemology in B. Inwood (ed) The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics, Cambridge, 2003, 59-84J. A.A. Long, Hellenistic philosophy: Stoics, Epicureans, Sceptics, Introduction, Berkeley, 1974, 107-147 R.W. Sharples, Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics, ch. 1, London, 1996, 20-27 *B. Inwood, J. Mansfeld (eds) Assent and Argument: Studies in Cicero s Academic Books, Brill, 1997 *A.A. Long, Language and Thought in Stoicism in A.A. Long (ed) Problems in Stoicism, London, 1971 (repr. 1996), 75-113 *F.H. Sandbach, Phantasia katalêptikê in A.A. Long (ed) Problems in Stoicism, London, 1971, 9-21 *F.H. Sandbach, Ennoia and Prolêpsis in A.A. Long (ed) Problems in Stoicism, London, 1971, 22-37 *G. Watson, The Stoic theory of knowledge, Belfast, 1966 Week 9, Nov. 14 Impression and assent: Academic objections Reading Primary Sources: Cicero, On Academic Scepticism, trans., Intro., notes by Charles Brittain, Indianapolis/Cambridge, 2005 A.A. Long, D.N. Sedley, The Hellenistic Philosophers, Cambridge, 1987, sec. 1-3, 39-42, 68-72 M. Schofield, Academic epistemology in K. Algra, J. Barnes, J. Mansfeld, M. Schofield (eds), Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy, Cambridge, 1999, 323 51. G. Striker, Kritêrion tês alêtheias, in her Essays on Hellenistic Epistemology and Ethics, Cambridge, 1996, 22-71 *Ch. Brittain, Philo of Larisa, Oxford University Press, 2000 *J.M. Cooper, Arcesilaus: Socratic and Skeptic in his Knowledge, Nature, and the Good, Princeton, 2004, 81 106 *R.J. Hankinson, The Sceptics, London and New York, 1995 *B. Inwood, J. Mansfeld (eds) Assent and Argument: Studies in Cicero s Academic Books, Brill, 1997 *A.A. Long, Arcesilaus in his time and place in his From Epicurus to Epictetus, Oxford, 2006, 96 113 8
*H. Thorsrud, Ancient Scepticism (Ancient Philosophies), Durham and Berkeley, 2010 Week 10, Nov. 21: The Epistemology of the Empiricist school of medicine Galen, Three Treatises on the Nature of Science, Hackett, 1985 + V. Nutton, Ancient Medicine, London, Routledge, 2005 + M. Frede, Philosophy and medicine in antiquity, in his Essays on Ancient Philosophy, 225-242 M. Frede, The Ancient Empiricists in his Essays on Ancient Philosophy, 243-260 M. Frede. The Empiricist Attitude towards Reason and Theory. Apeiron, 21.2 (2011). 79-98. M. Frede, An empiricist view of knowledge: memorism, in Everson (ed), Epistemology, 225 250 *M. Frede, The Method of the So-Called Methodist School of Medicine in his Essays on Ancient Philosophy, 261-278 *M. Matthen,"Empiricism and Ontology in Ancient Medicine" Apeiron, 21.2 (2011), 99-122. Week 11, Nov. 28: Pyrrhonism Sextus Empiricus, Outlines of Scepticism, ed. by Julia Annas and J. Barnes, Cambridge, 2001, Introduction, Book 1; Book 2 sections i-xi. B. Inwood, L. Gerson (eds) Hellenistic Philosophy: Introductory Readings, Indianapolis/Cambridge, 1988 (2 nd ed. 1997), 261-341 Select secondary literature: J. Barnes, Some ways of scepticism, in Everson 1990 M. Frede, The sceptics, in D. Furley (ed), From Aristotle to Augustine, London, 1997, 253-286 R.W. Sharples, Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics, ch. 1, London, 1996, 27-32 *J.E. Annas, J. Barnes, The Modes of Scepticism: Ancient Texts and Modern Interpretations, Cambridge, 1985 *J. Barnes, The Toils of Scepticism, Cambridge, 1990 9
*R. Bett, Pyrrho, his antecedents and his legacy, Oxford University Press, 2000 *R. Bett (ed) The Cambridge Companion to Scepticism, 2010 *M. Burnyeat, M. Frede (eds), The Original Sceptics: A Controversy, Indianapolis, Hackett, 1997 *R.J. Hankinson, The Sceptics, London, Routledge, 1995 *A.A. Long, Hellenistic philosophy: Stoics, Epicureans, Sceptics, Berkeley, 1974, 75-106 *C. Perin, The Demands of Reason: an Essay on Pyrrhonian Scepticism, Oxford, 2010 *G. Striker, The problem of the criterion, in her Essays on Hellenistic Epistemology and Ethics, Cambridge, 1996, 150-65 *G. Striker, Sceptical strategies, ibid., 92-115 *G. Striker, The Ten Tropes of Aenesidemus, ibid., 116-134 *G. Striker, On the difference between the Pyrrhonists and the Academics, ibid., 135-149 10