Justice and Politics in Antiquity
How ought I to act and why? How should we organize our political institutions? What is reality really like? Is it all just atoms in the void, or is there some transcendent reality? Ultimately, what is the nature of the human person? These are questions of ethics, politics, metaphysics, and anthropology. The world’s greatest minds – – philosophers, literary authors, theologians – – have left us a patrimony, as it were, of thinking about these questions.
The goal of this seminar series is to explore this patrimony and ask the question: What does this have to do with me and how I ought to live?
In the Fall semester, we will explore texts from Antiquity and in the Spring, we will look at texts from Modernity, both broadly understood. We will focus the academic year on one question and address other questions and texts from Antiquity and Modernity in future years.
For the Fall 2020 – Spring 2021, our focus will be on politics. How should we think about our relationship to other citizens? To political leaders? The law? To other political communities? To help us in our reflection, this Fall we will read Sophocles’ Antigone as well as selections from Aristotle’s pivotal work The Politics.
No background in philosophy required. Undergraduates and graduate/professional students welcome.
Meets Tuesdays 5:30 – 6:45 pm
10/13, 10/20, 10/27, 11/3, 11/10
Email: vs15@rice.edu for more information
