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Summer 2017 Graduate Institute Preceptorial Descriptions All preceptorials are open to students in any of the Summer 2017 segments: History, Literature, or Philosophy & Theology. Aristotle, On the Soul and Descartes, Passions of the Soul Living beings, Aristotle observed, are distinguished by an internal source of motion: they nourish themselves, grow and produce offspring. He attributes these activities to the soul, which sets plants, animals and humans apart from inert matter. The souls of animals and humans also facilitate sensation, motion and cognitive activities. In On the Soul, Aristotle discusses the nature, parts and activities of the soul, and how to investigate them. Descartes rejected Aristotle’s view that living bodies are governed by souls. Instead, he proposed material accounts of all bodily functions and argued that humans alone have souls, which is the seat of all cognition. In Passions of the Soul (1649), Descartes addressed questions about the relationship between bodies and souls. In particular, he inquired how bodily, emotional and mental conditions affect each other. His aim was to help readers gain control over passions, such as desire and sadness, and put them to good use. Our aim in reading these books will be to reflect on what makes something living, what distinguishes different kinds of living beings, the relationship between our external and internal experiences and how best to investigate these questions. Recommended Editions: Aristotle, De Anima (On the Soul) and Descartes, Passions of the Soul. Any translations with line numbers are acceptable. First Assignment: Aristotle, De Anima (On the Soul), Book I, chapters 1 and 2. Tutor: Karin Ekholm Plato’s Apology and Crito Socrates was charged with “doing injustice by corrupting the young and by not believing in the gods the city believes in.” In the Apology, where he tells “the whole truth” about his life, Socrates defends himself to Athens as best he can. In doing so, he gives the most complete account in Plato of his purpose in refuting others, as we’ve seen him do in the Meno. (In fact, there’s a close connection between the two dialogues: the accuser most responsible for the execution of Socrates was Meno’s Athenian host, Anytus—the political man Socrates goes out of his way to anger in the second half of the Meno.) Did Socrates break the law? If so, why? And would that make him guilty of injustice? What was the purpose of those provocative refutations? These questions are best addressed through a study of the Apology itself together with its sequel, the Crito. There, for the benefit of his oldest friend, Socrates personifies the Laws of Athens and has them make as strong a case as they can that he should die in obedience to them. Required Edition: 4 Texts on Socrates, translated by West; Cornell University Press. First Assignment: Study carefully Apology, title to 20e (“… in order to slander me.”). Tutor: Robert Goldberg Preceptorial in Music In this preceptorial, we will study music as a liberal art: through close scrutiny of its elements, we will investigate what music is, what powers of the human being are involved in music, what basis music has in mathematics, as well as what great musical works have to say to us. No previous technical training in music is required for the class. Zuckerkandl’s The Sense of Music will be our guide, along with supplementary readings collected in a manual. We will study chant, works by Josquin, Palestrina, Byrd, Bach, Mozart, Schubert, and others. Besides discussion, our classroom sessions will include extensive listening, analysis at the board, and occasional composition. In order to produce the object of our study- and to get ‘inside’ the phenomena, so to speak- we will sing. Texts: Zuckerkandl, The Sense of Music and music manual, available in the bookstore. First Assignment: Reading from Zuckerkandl’s Man the Musician, in manual, pp 1-8. Sense of Music, pp 11-21. Tutor: Matthew Caswell Preceptorial on Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest In Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest, sometimes called problem plays, tragicomedies, or romances, Shakespeare is working at genre that defies genre. While tragic events frame each of the plays in various ways, Shakespeare brings each around to some sort of comedic resolution. We will begin with the first two acts of Cymbeline. Almost all editions of Shakespeare’s plays have act, scene and line numbers. Please, in addition, choose an edition that provides good notes to Shakespeare’s usage, which often differs from our own. Texts: Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest First Assignment: Cymbeline, Acts I and II Tutor: Joan Silver Machiavelli’s Discourses on Livy Machiavelli is often regarded as the founder of modern political science, because of his apparent focus on a morally neutral analysis of the means to achieve and pursue political power. Does he also deserve to be considered the founder of a distinctively modern political philosophy? Would this require reflection on the proper ends of political power? The Discourses seems a promising place to pursue these questions, insofar as Machiavelli presents himself as preferring republics to principalities, and as praising the republic of Rome in particular. What grounds does he offer for this preference and this praise? We will read the whole of the Discourses along with selections from the first five books of Livy’s History of Rome (Ab Urbe Condita). Texts: Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy. Translated by Mansfield and Tarcov. University of Chicago Press. Livy, History of Rome. Books 1-5. Any edition acceptable which includes first five books. Penguin and Oxford are two inexpensive paperback editions. First assignment: Discourses I, Preface and 1-5 (pp. 5-19 in Mansfield translation); History of Rome Book I, chapters 1-6 (pp. 33-40 in Penguin edition). Tutor: Michael Dink Socrates from Two Perspectives We will look at Socrates from two perspectives: that of Plato's Gorgias and the one Nietzsche claims to discover in Birth of Tragedy. We will also read Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound. Texts: No preferred translation, please choose texts with line numbers. First assignment is Gorgias 447A --450C, where Gorgias claims that the whole activity and power of rhetoric is in speech. Tutor: John White k/ss/curriculum/SU17