A road sign in Missouri, NOT advice for students. Photo by Jim Bohman

ERIC BROWN Associate Professor of Philosophy Washington University in St. Louis home | research | TEACHING | advising | fun?

I am on sabbatical until Spring 2010, when I will be teaching Philosophy 451 = Classics 451: Plato. If you scroll down, you can find an old syllabus and some information about this course. In Spring 2010, we'll focus on the big picture. Plato's dialogues, whatever else they do, recommend the philosophical life. That is, they advise that pursuing wisdom is the best way to live well. This advice raises two big questions: what is wisdom? and what is it to live well? We'll explore and assess the answers developed or suggested by the Euthyphro, Meno, Republic, Theaetetus, Philebus, and (possibly) parts of the Laws. Although our primary focus will be on epistemology and ethics, Plato will not let us ignore metaphysics, natural philosophy (including psychology), and politics.

The following are some courses I teach regularly. Only twice have I taught exactly the same syllabus a second time, but these descriptions and syllabi should give some indication of the sorts of classes I teach.

Humanities 203C: Text and Tradition: Early Political Thought (syllabus [pdf])
A small freshman seminar dedicated to spirited, thoughtful discussion and writing about some great works of political thought from Thucydides to Machiavelli, focusing on four milieus: Classical Athens, late Republican Rome, medieval Europe, and Renaissance Italy.

Philosophy 125C: Great Philosophers (syllabi one and two [pdf])
A concentrated attempt to begin thinking philosophically about some central questions, inspired by readings of six or so great philosophers. The readings come from different eras and are written in divergent styles or genres, but they all attend in some way or another to a single overarching theme for the semester, such as skepticism about the external world and value; God, duty, and happiness; or death. The class proceeds by a mix of lecture and discussion; several essays and quizzes (on the readings) are typically required.

Philosophy 347C = Classics 347C = Religious Studies 356C: Ancient Philosophy (syllabus [pdf])
A careful survey of some high-water marks of ancient Greek philosophy, presupposing some experience with philosophy (or willingness to work hard to catch up) and aiming to explore critically what philosophy was for ancient Greeks. Readings always draw from practical and theoretical philosophy, and generally focus on Plato and Aristotle, but some Presocratic and Hellenistic philosophers also enter the mix. The goal is to give advanced undergraduates, and especially majors in philosophy, classics, or religious studies, an appreciation of what philosophy was for the Greeks. The class proceeds by lecture, with a fair amount of free discussion, and the assignments include multiple papers, short assignments, and a final exam.

Philosophy 451 = Classics 451: Plato (syllabus [pdf])
Primarily a lecture course, designed to help graduate students and advanced undergraduates grapple philosophically with the greatest philosopher of them all. Readings always include the Republic, but the other assigned dialogues vary with different iterations of the course. Assignments include two substantial papers, or one very substantial paper, and a final exam.

Philosopy 452 = Classics 452: Aristotle (syllabus [pdf])
Primarily a lecture course, designed to help graduate students and advanced undergraduates grapple philosophically with the greatest philosopher's greatest student. Assignments include two substantial papers, or one very substantial paper, and a final exam.

Philosophy 4530 = Classics 4350: Hellenistic Philosophy
Primarily a lecture course, designed to help graduate students and advanced undergraduates grapple philosophically with Stoicism, Epicureanism, and skepticism, whose ideas exerted a tremendous influence on the rise of modern philosophy and challenge twenty-first century perspectives as well as any past philosophy. Assignments include two substantial papers, or one very substantial paper, and a final exam.

Philosophy 4310: Twentieth-Century Metaethics (syllabus [pdf])
Primarily a lecture course, designed to help graduate students and advanced undergraduates grapple philosophically with the semantic, metaphysical, and epistemological puzzles about moral judgment and motivation. The first two thirds or so surveys the highlights from 1900 to about 1990, and the last third focuses on one or two recent debates. Assignments include two substantial papers, or one very substantial paper, and a final exam.

Various official listings: Seminar
Graduate seminars are small, and their members share the burden of leading the discussion. I have organized seminars on cosmopolitanism (Spring 1999, with Pauline Kleingeld), Stoic ethics (Fall 2000), akrasia (Fall 2001), Socratic ethics (Spring 2004), and Epicureanism (Fall 2006). I've also led a couple of seminars for advanced undergraduates, one on akrasia, at the University of Chicago (Fall 1995), and one in WUSTL's Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities, on conceptions of rhetoric, for and against (Spring 2005, with Ryan Balot). I plan to teach another IPH seminar in Spring 2011, with Michael Sherberg, on friendship. Contact me if you are interested in one of these syllabi.

last updated 2 September 2009 ©1997-2009, Eric Alan Brown problems? questions? comments? please email me.