Plato's later dialogues hardly seem to be "classical" works of "calm grandeur and noble simplicity" (Lessing).  Instead, they are a strange, even "uncomfortable"  wonderland of dialectics, politics, sociology, methodology, ontology all mixed together in conversations that seem more cryptic than ironic, that seem more post-modern than classical. The richness of these dialogues, their surprising images and their strangeness has always provoked lively and deep philosophical discussion and writing. We will read three dialogues, the Sophist, Politicus (Statesman), and Philebus.  There will be some introductory remarks about two other late dialogues, the Parmenides and Theaetetus.

Plato is best known for his literary/philosophical masterpieces, such as the Republic and the Symposium.  His later “dialectical” dialogues are more philosophical, and the drama is not of characters and clashing views so much as the play of concepts and understanding -- talk of a sketch artist leads to the problem of non-being; the “male” art of politics is analyzed in terms of the “female” art of weaving; and a hedonist is lulled to sleep by a discussion of pleasure.  The turns of conversation are startling, amusing, and profound.  The Sophist is taken to be a core statement of Plato's later version -- perhaps revision -- of his theory of ideas, tackling questions of being and non-being, sophistry, illusion, negation, and method.  The Politicus, a key political and methodological work, starts with a fisherman and goes on to situate politics and philosophy within human temperaments and cosmic temporality.  The Philebus connects the world of pleasure and appearances with the world of intellect and Platonic principles; it directly addresses the issue of “participation” and the relevance of philosophy to life.  All three dialogues confront the deepest problems of being and knowledge, of the one, the many and the good life.

The course presupposes no background in Plato or Plato scholarship.  The three dialogues provide occasion to look at some interesting commentaries and views of Plato in Europe (German, Italian, French) and I hope as well to make some use of recent work from a “Pittsburgh idealists” (Brandom).

There will be three short written assignments (one on each dialogue) and a final exam.  Students will be encouraged to develop a common theme in the three essays.

Texts:

Students are welcome to use their preferred translation of each of the three dialogues.  Various translations in various languages are available on the web.

Course Outline:

Here is a sketch of the topics for each of the six weeks (approximate).

June 24 & 25
Introduction to late Platonic dialogues: the 2nd and 3rd voyages.
Theaetetus & Parmenides.

July 1, 2 & 4
Sophist. Methodology. Diaeresis, diacritics, and dialectic. Sophistry, images, and falsity.  Accounts of Being.
Handout Politicus articles.

July 8, 9 & 11
Sophist. The Question of Being (Heidegger).  Platonic Principles (Krämer).  Platonic Dialectic (Hartmann).
Politicus. Another look at methodology (Delcomminette).

July  15, 16 & 18
Politicus. Human praxis: measure and weaving (Brandom). Reports on readings.

July 22, 23 & 25
Politicus. The human condition: politics and law substitute for knowledge.
Philebus.  The One/Many problem and the transfiguration of desire.

July 29, 30 & August 1
Philebus. The idealist account of experience. Finding the way home.  Paper due (on Sophist or Politicus).  Final Exam.

In effect there will be two paper assignments and an exam.

I. Due by July 18th.
Each student will read an assigned scholarly article on the Politicus and prepare

a)      a brief class statement (can be read or just spoken) about the article.

b)      A brief written summary of the “argument” of the article with some critical reflection about the argument of the article and the dialogue.  (This can be outlined.)

II. Due by August 1st

There will be a final exam as well.

Percentages: report 20%, paper 40%, final 30%, class participation 10%.