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2018/19 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

CLAS3910 Plato's Republic

20 creditsClass Size: 24

Module manager: Dr Elizabeth Pender
Email: E.E.Pender@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2018/19

This module is mutually exclusive with

CLAS2920

Plato's Republic

This module is approved as a discovery module

Module summary

This 20-credit module taught over two semesters will provide a reading of one of the most famous and controversial books of world literature: Plato’s Republic. This influential text of ancient Greek philosophy presents a utopian vision of the best type of political constitution, based on ideals of justice and rationality. The discussions between Socrates and his friends deal with many still pressing questions of human life, including how to organise and live in communities, how to educate citizens, and how to achieve happiness. The main approach of the module will be literary, examining in detail how Plato presents and develops his enquiry into the just society, including his use of character, dramatic setting, structure, conceptual vocabulary, conversation and story-telling. Attention to the placing of the various mythological stories of the text will help to uncover its philosophical programme.

Objectives

On completion of this module, students should be able to analyse and discuss central philosophical issues of Platonism as presented in Plato's Republic, the philosopher's best known work. Grasp the overall progression of thought through this long and apparently meandering work that seeks to imitate the nature of conversation. Understand Plato's political thought as a reaction to the contemporary political situation at Athens in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Appreciate the implications of the dialogue form for the expression of Plato's ideas. Be sensitive to the different modes of writing present within the text (aporetic dialectic, exposition, extended images and analogies, and myth).

Learning outcomes
On completion of this module students should have provided evidence of being able to:

- understand and demonstrate coherent and detailed knowledge of Plato’s Republic and competencies some of which will be informed by current research/scholarship on Plato;
- deploy accurately standard techniques of analysis and enquiry within the discipline of Classics and the sub-disciplines of ancient literature and philosophy;
- demonstrate a conceptual understanding which enables the development and sustaining of an argument;
- describe and comment on particular aspects of current research and/or scholarship on Plato;
- appreciate the uncertainty, ambiguity and limitations of knowledge in the study of Plato;
- make appropriate use of scholarly literature and primary sources;
- show a further enhanced knowledge of classical literature and philosophical writing;
- undertake independent study on Plato's Republic.

Syllabus

The module will consider each of the ten books of the Republic. Lectures will begin at book 1 and trace the central questions of: justice and the nature of the soul; the theories of Tripartition and Forms; Plato's utopian vision of the ideal state; radical proposals about the capacities of women and the care and education of children; the philosopher king; the banishment of the artists; the good life and how to achieve harmony of soul for this life and the afterlife. The impact of the chosen setting (at a religious festival) and various characters, including Plato's own brothers, will be explored. These and other literary features, such as Plato's dominant comparisons of 'inner and outer states' and of enlightenment as an upward journey, will be noted as the discussion progresses through the individual books.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lecture	16	1.00	16.00
Seminar	5	1.00	5.00
Private study hours			179.00
Total Contact hours			21.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

80 hours preparation of mid-module essay (40%), divided through teaching weeks in the form of set-reading prescriptions of the set text (Republic) and relevant secondary literature according to topics that follow the sequence of the set text.
100 hours preparation of end of module exam (60%), once the essay is completed, the private study can turn fully to secondary literature, as relevant to the chosen main topic (via topic-based bibliographies).
For the exam the students will undertake independent study into their two chosen topics, on key aspects of Plato’s text, from a choice of five:
1. Justice
2. Education
3. Women
4. Ideal State
5. Harmony & Happiness

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Seminar discussion

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	1 x 3,000 word essay	40.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		40.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Exams

Exam type	Exam duration	% of formal assessment
Standard exam (closed essays, MCQs etc)	2 hr 00 mins	60.00
Total percentage (Assessment Exams)		60.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 23/11/2018

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