Units timetabled for 2013 and 2014 are provisional only, and details of semester and time will change. The official timetable for each year is released on 1 September of the prior year.

Archived unit descriptions for 2011 are available here.

Greek Sources of Western Thought

Unit Code: 
AP372
RTI: 
United Faculty of Theology
Unit Value: 
15 points

Western philosophy, as it provides context for later theological developments, has its roots in the Greece of the sixth through fourth centuries BCE, becoming most definitively cast in the work of Plato and his successor Aristotle. These two thinkers tower over fourth-century BCE Athens. In tandem or in tension, they shape the schools which will later in significant part interact with Christian theology at the points of its origin and development. This unit gives detailed philosophical consideration to Plato and Aristotle in turn, not neglecting the pre-Socratic philosophers upon whom they build, and their respective contributions to the art of reasoning itself. Students will be advised of specific texts for study.

Learning Outcomes: 

Upon successful completion of this unit, it is expected that students will be able to:

  1. Locate the thought of Plato and Aristotle in relation to that of pre-Socratic philosophers
  2. Compare and contrast the approaches of the two philosophers to key questions of being, truth and ethics.
  3. Outline and assess the arguments by which they respectively arrive at various philosophical definitions.
  4. Identify basic ways in which their respective philosophies reflect theological stances.
Lecturer/s: 
John Martis
Timetabling
Semester: 
Semester 1
Day: 
Thursday
Time: 
10 - 1
Location: 
Centre for Theology and Ministry
Unit Frequency: 
Biennial
Years Offered: 
2011
Years Offered: 
2013
Unit Fields
Courses: 
Graduate Diploma in Theology
Courses: 
Master of Divinity
Courses: 
Master of Theological Studies
Field: 
Field A Humanities
Disciplines: 
Philosophy
MDiv Field: 
Christian Thought and History
Department Name: 
Department of Philosophy
Unit Level
GradDip Field: 
Elective
MDiv Type of Study: 
Specialised
Prerequisites: 

30 points of Foundational study in Christian Thought and History

Mode of Teaching: 
Semester
Teaching Methods: 

Lectures and tutorials

Workload
Number of timetabled hours per week: 
3
Expected personal study hours per week: 
9
Total workload hours per week: 
12
Total workload hours for unit: 
144
Assessment
Assessment TypeWeightingLearning Outcomes Assessed
Assessment Type: 

1 x 3000 word essay

Weighting: 
50%
Assessment Type: 

1 x 3000 word essay

Weighting: 
50%
Recommended reading: 

* = set texts recommended for purchase

 

Ackrill, A. Aristotle the Philosopher. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981.

Barnes, Jonathon, ed. The Complete Works of Aristotle. 2 Vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984.

Barnes, Jonathon. Early Greek Philosophy. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1987.

Irwin, Terence. Aristotle’s First Principles. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Irwin, Terence. Classical Thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.

Kraut, Richard, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Plato. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

*Melchert, Norman. The Great Conversation: A Historical Introduction to Philosophy. 4th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2001.

Plato. The Collected Dialogues of Plato, including the Letters. Ed. Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns. Bollingen Series 71. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961.

Prior, W. Virtue and Knowledge: An Introduction to Greek Ethics. London: Routledge, 1991.

Ring, Merrill. Beginning with the Pre-Socratics. 2nd ed. Mountain View: Mayfield, 2000.

Taylor, C.C.W., R.M. Hare and Jonathon Barnes. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. Past Masters. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Vlastos, Gregory. Socrates: Ironist and Moral Philospher. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.

© United Faculty of Theology, 2008-2012.