Set Texts

The following books are the translations we’ll be using in class. The UCLA Bookstore has them all in stock. I add links to Amazon in case you’d prefer to get them used (and at a fraction of the list price):

If you already own another translation of one of the above works, then please bring it to our first class, so that we can take a look at it together.

 

Maps

The Greek World (pdf)

Index of Maps of the Ancient Greek World (html, interactive)

 

Further Readings

Weeks 1–2 | Presocratics

Barnes J (1982) The Presocratic Philosophers, second edn., London: Routledge
The best philosophical account. For our purposes, the chapters on Parmenides (pp. 122–181 [pdf]) will be especially helpful.
Long AA, ed. (1999) The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy, Cambridge: CUP
Full of interesting, concise, and accessible contributions—see especially D Sedley’s Parmenides and Melissus (pp. 113–133 [pdf]).

 

Weeks 3–6 | Plato

Cooper JM, Hutchinson DS (1997) Plato: Complete Works, Indianapolis: Hackett
The best full translation of Plato’s oeuvre in English (e.g. on Amazon).
Jowett B (1892) The dialogues of Plato, vol. 4: Parmenides, Theaetetus, Sophist, Statesman, Philebus, third ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
An elegant nineteenth-century translation you may want to download (e.g. from Google Books). You’ll soon see that it is often very instructive to compare several renderings of one and the same passage.
Kraut R, ed. (1992) The Cambridge Companion to Plato, Cambridge: CUP
Includes many important contributions—note especially M Frede’s Plato’s Sophist on false statements (pp. 397-424 [pdf]) and CC Meinwald’s Good-bye to the Third Man (pp. 365-396 [pdf]).
Kraut R (2011) Plato, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato/
A useful survey article.
Zeyl D (2012) Plato’s Timaeus, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-timaeus/
Zeyl is of course also the author of our translation of the Timaeus.

Wikipedia—which you should never quote…—has a few useful entries such as Plato’s Academy, Stephanus pagination, etc.


 

Weeks 7–10 | Aristotle

Ackrill JL (1963) Aristotle: Categories and De Interpretatione, Clarendon Aristotle Series, Oxford: Clarendon Press
A classic. We’ll be using Ackrill’s translation of the first five chapters of the Categories (pp. 3-12 [pdf]). You may also want to have a look at his commentary on this section.
Barnes J, ed. (1984) The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation, 2 voll., Princeton: Princeton UP
The best full translation available. It comprises revised versions of JL Ackrill’s translation of the Categories [pdf], of RP Hardie and RK Gaye’s translation of the Physics [pdf], of WD Ross’s translation of the Metaphysics [pdf], etc.
Barnes J, ed. (1995) The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle, Cambridge: CUP
With an excellent annotated bibliography.
Barnes J (2000) Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: OUP
Lucid and stimulating. Perfect for your next holiday, or a Sunday afternoon…
Cohen SM (2008) Aristotle’s Metaphysics, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-metaphysics/
A useful survey.
Frede M (1987) Essays in Ancient Philosophy, Oxford: OUP
Includes Individuals in Aristotle (pp. 49-71) and Substance in Aristotle’s Metaphysics (pp. 72-80 [pdf])—brilliant pieces that merit reflection and re-reading…
Ross WD (1928) The Works of Aristotle, vol. 8: Metaphysica, second ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
Another good translation of the Metaphysics [pdf (64 MB)]. You may want to download it and take a look at how he renders the first few chapters of Z.
Robinson H (2009) Substance, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/substance/
Provides a glimpse into the tortuous history of this immensely influential notion.

Wikipedia has again a few good entries—on the Corpus Aristotelicum (on Bekker numbers and suchlike), the Lyceum (on the school Aristotle founded), Raphael’s School of Athens (of considerable import, as may be seen from the fact that it decorates a great many Philosophy Department websites in the country…), etc.

 

Videos

Weeks 1–2 | Presocratics

Nothing yet. Suggestions welcome!

 

Weeks 3–6 | Plato

Burnyeat M and Magee B (1987) On Plato, BBC Television
Great. Some of Magee’s other interviews are rather nice, too, by the way—there’s AJ Ayer, A Kenny, J Searle, B Williams, …

 

Weeks 7–10 | Aristotle

Leroi A (2010) Aristotle’s Lagoon, BBC 4
Fascinating documentary on the inventor of the science of biology.