Ancient Greek and Roman Ethics

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

In this course we will study Aristotelian and Stoic ethics, beginning with a focus on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and his views on how to find happiness with virtuous action and emotion at its core. Aristotle insists that happiness also depends upon good fortune. The Stoics challenge the idea that fortune can play a role in happiness. Virtue and virtue alone, they claim, is sufficient, for happiness. We will read Aristotelian and Stoic texts carefully and turn to secondary sources to take some of these arguments.