Conflict and Character: Great Books in the Ancient World

3 Credits

In this course, we ask the question: how do we develop the character to handle life’s conflicts and tragic events? We will pursue answers to this problem through a study of ancient Western drama and philosophy. We will read Plato and Aristotle Stoics to grapple with classical philosophical accounts of the relationship between virtue, practical reasoning, and human flourishing. We will also read four tragedies: Sophocles’ Antigone and Oedipus the King, Aeschylus’s Prometheus Bound, and Euripides’ Hecabe. Through our study of these plays, we will explore questions concerning ethics, responsibility, and luck. We will reflect on how the study of philosophy and dramatic literature can enrich our experience and understanding of each, and how that knowledge can help move us through the deepest difficulties of life.