Philosophy Department

Classical Values: The Art of Living
(PHLV 3512)

Babette Babich

This course explores the classic ideal of the art of living and the cultivation (or care) of the self by way of readings in the Greek poetic tradition, including Homer and Pindar as well as Aeschylus and Sophocles in addition to readings in classical philosophy and beyond (from the Presocratics to Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, etc.).   The course includes Nietzsche’s and Foucault’s classical challenges to the Christian ideal of virtue (reviewed by way of MacIntyre and Nehamas as well as Hadot).

Cicero