PHIL 201

Spring 2024 All Classes

All Classes

Philosophy in Literature

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Credit: 3 hours.

Consideration of the philosophical themes implicit in a variety of important literary works, both classical and modern; may include such authors as Sophocles, Shakespeare, Goethe, Dostoevsky, and Sartre.

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PHIL 201 class schedule data for spring 2024
	CRN	Type	Section	Time	Day	Location	Instructor	Section Details
	39134	Lecture-Discussion	A	4:00PM -5:20PM	MW	Gregory Hall	Rowe, J	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/16/24-05/01/24 Credit: 3 hours Section Info: Is there a better way for human beings to live together? In today's world, we must address this question with the courage and tenacity shown by some of the greatest ancient and modern authors. This course begins with selections from two ancient masterpieces which remain profoundly instructive: Plato's Republic and Plutarch's life of Lycurgus, the Spartan lawgiver. Plato's and Plutarch's heroes strove for a life of liberty, equality, and brotherhood—and for a mode of life which was more disciplined and rational, less erratic and desire-driven. During the course we trace the far-reaching repercussions of this ancient ideal. We explore its resonance in the Utopia by Thomas More, whose title gave us our term for dreams of a better future; and in the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, whose utopia led a far darker afterlife. We explore how the ancient hopes were crushed in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and in George Orwell's Animal Farm (the shorter and brighter twin of his Nineteen Eighty-Four). Today, must we accept as inevitable that, in Orwell's memorable phrase, "all animals are equal—but some animals are more equal than others"? Or can we escape Orwell's "Big Brother" and create a better future? In order to examine the trajectory from Plato to Orwell, students are expected to obtain hard (paper) copies of the following works: Huxley, Brave New World; Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto; Orwell, Animal Farm; and Plato, Republic. The required editions may be purchased from the Illini Union Bookstore.