This is an idealized syllabus for Greek Ethics, probably best suited for a semester system.  It outlines a fairly comprehensive course, which we will need to abridge.  I see two main plans for abridging this material.  Plan A would make connections between Greek ethics and political theory (including sections 4, 8, and 11).  But to do so, we would probably have to sacrifice an examination of Hellenistic ethics (sections 12-13).  Plan B would allow our coverage of Greek ethical theory to be broader in scope, extending to Hellenistic ethics (including sections 12-13).  But then we must likely sacrifice coverage of issues in Greek political theory (sections 4, 8, and 11).  I'm not sure that either plan will allow time for coverage of Plato's Philebus (section 9).  My inclination is to pursue Plan B in order to focus on issues in ethical theory and to trace the evolution of some common issues from Socrates, through Plato, Aristotle, and the Hellenistic schools (both Epicurean and Stoic schools have some interesting and paradoxical ethical views).  So unless there is a clear majority preferring Plan A, we will follow Plan B, focusing on sections 1-3, 5-7, 10, and 12-13.  Students interested in Greek political theory or Plato's  Philebus, which are left out of Plan B, are encouraged to do the readings relevant to these topics and write on one of these topics (provided the topic is approved with me in advance).

Required readings are drawn from the required texts and are preceded by '(A)'. Recommended readings are preceded by '(B)'.  Especially recommended readings are preceded by an asterisk.  Bibliographic details for texts can be found on the Select Bibliography.  If you are having trouble locating a particular text, let me know, and I can try to help (e.g. lend you a copy myself).

1.  PRESOCRATIC BACKGROUND

• (B) Adkins, Merit and Responsibility, chs. i-xii; Aeschylus, Agamemnon; Barnes, Early Greek Philosophy (esp. Heraclitus, Parmenides, and Democritus); Dover, Greek Popular Morality; Hesiod, Works and Days and Theogony; Homer, Iliad (esp. i, vi, ix, xvii, xix, xxiv); Irwin, Plato's Moral Theory, ch. 2 and *"Plato: The Intellectual Background" in The Cambridge Companion to Plato, ed. Kraut; Sophocles, Antigone and Oedipus the King.

• (A) Apology.
• (B) Crito. *Aristotle, Metaphysics i 6, xiii 4; *Irwin, Plato's Ethics, ch. 1 and "Plato: The Intellectual Background" in The Cambridge Companion to Plato, ed. Kraut; Lacey, "Our Knowledge of Socrates" in Socrates, ed. Vlastos; Penner, "Socrates and the Early Dialogues" in The Cambridge Companion to Plato, ed. Kraut; *Vlastos, "The Paradox of Socrates" in Socrates, ed. Vlastos, and *Socrates, Ironist and Moral Philosopher, chs. 1-3.

• (A) Euthyphro; Laches; Lysis esp. 219d-220b; Euthydemus esp. 278e-282e.
• (B) *Charmides.  *Irwin, Plato's Ethics, chs. 2-5; *Penner, "The Unity of Virtue" reprinted in Essays on the Philosophy of Socrates, ed. Benson, and "Socrates and the Early Dialogues" in The Cambridge Companion to Plato, ed. Kraut; Santas, "Socrates at Work on Virtue and Knowledge in Plato's Laches" in Socrates, ed. Vlastos and Socrates; Vlastos, "What Did Socrates Understand By his 'What is F?' Question?" in Vlastos, Platonic Studies,*Socrates, Ironist and Moral Philosopher, chs. 4-8, and *Socratic Studies, chs. 1-3, 5.

• (A) Crito.
• (B) Brickhouse and Smith, Socrates on Trial; *Irwin, "Socratic Inquiry and Politics" and *"Socrates and Athenian Democracy"; *Kraut, Socrates and the State; Santas, Socrates, ch. 1; Vlastos, "The Historical Socrates and Athenian Democracy" in Vlastos, Socratic Studies; Woozley, "Socrates on Disobeying the Law" in Socrates, ed. Vlastos.

• (A) Protagoras [esp. 317e-334c, 348c-362a].
• (B) Devereux, "The Unity of the Virtues in Plato's Protagoras and Laches; Gosling and Taylor, The Greeks on Pleasure, ch. 3; *Irwin, Plato's Ethics, ch. 6; McDowell, "Virtue and Reason"; *Penner, "The Unity of Virtue" reprinted in Essays on the Philosophy of Socrates, ed. Benson; Rickless, "Socrates's Moral Intellectualism"; *Taylor, Plato's Protagoras [notes]; *Vlastos, "The Unity of the Virtues in the Protagoras" in Vlastos, Platonic Studies and "Introduction" to Plato's Protagoras, ed. Vlastos.

• (A) Gorgias [esp. 461b-509e or, at least, 481b-509e].
• (B) Gosling and Taylor, The Greeks on Pleasure, ch. 4; *Irwin, Plato's Gorgias [notes], "Objectivity and Coercion in Plato's Dialectic," "Socrates the Epicurean" reprinted in Essays on the Philosophy of Socrates, ed. Benson, and *Plato's Ethics, chs. 7-8; Santas, Socrates, ch. 8; *Vlastos, Socrates, Ironist and Moral Philosopher, ch. 8; White, "Rational Prudence in Plato's Gorgias."

• (i) General.
• (A) Republic i-ix
• (B) Annas, An Introduction to Plato's Republic and Platonic Ethics, Old and New; Cross and Woozley, Plato's Republic; *Irwin, Plato's Ethics, chs. 11-18; Reeve, Philosopher-Kings; White, A Companion to Plato's Republic.
• (ii) Doubts about Justice.
• (A) Republic i-ii (through 367e).
• (B) *Irwin, Plato's Ethics, chs. 11-12; White, "The Classification of Goods in Plato's Republic".
• (iii) Moral Psychology and the Virtues.
• (A) Republic ii-iv.
• (B) Cooper, "The Psychology of Justice in Plato" and "Plato's Theory of Human Motivation" in Reason and Emotion; *Irwin, Plato's Ethics, chs. 13-14.
• (iv) The Eudaimonist Defense of Justice.
• (A) Republic iv, viii-ix.
• (B) Annas, Platonic Ethics, Old and New; *Irwin, Plato's Ethics, chs. 15, 17; *Kraut, "The Defense of Justice in Plato's Republic" in The Cambridge Companion to Plato, ed. Kraut; *Sachs, "A Fallacy in Plato's Republic" in Plato II, ed. Vlastos; Vlastos, "Justice and Happiness in the Republic" in Vlastos, Platonic Studies.
• (v) Platonic Love.
• (A) Symposium 210-212; Phaedrus 230-234, 237-257.
• (B) Brink, "Self-love and Altruism" and "Eudaimonism, Love and Friendship, and Political Community"; *Irwin, Plato's Ethics, ch. 18; Price, Love and Friendship in Plato and Aristotle, chs. 2-3; *Vlastos, "The Individual as Object of Love in Plato" in Vlastos, Platonic Studies.
• (vi) Metaphysics and Epistemology.
• (A) Republic v-vii.
• (B) *Phaedo; *Fine, "Knowledge and Belief in Republic v-vii"; *Irwin,Plato's Ethics, ch. 16; Vlastos, "Degrees of Reality in Plato" in Vlastos,Platonic Studies; White, Plato on Knowledge and Reality, ch. 4 and "Plato's Metaphysical Epistemology" in The Cambridge Companion to Plato, ed. Kraut.

• (A) Review Republic ii-ix, esp. 347bc, 368c 376d, 413c 434e, 451b 466d, 471c 474c, 487b 489d, 492a 496a, 499d 501c, 519b 521b, 539e 580c, 590a 592b.
• (B) *Statesman and Laws 624a 636e, 643a 645e, 653a c, 660e 668d, 676a 681d, 687a 690c, 694b, 697a 698b, 701de, 705d 706a, 712c 715d, 719e 720e, 722c 728c, 730b 735a, 739a e, 744a 745b, 745e 746d, 756b 758d, 759b, 767e 771a, 780a 783a, 811c e, 818a, 853a 854c, 857b 858b, 859c 864c, 874e 875d, 924a c, 945b e, 949e 952d, 960d end; Barker, The Political Thought of Plato and Aristotle, esp. chs. 3-4; Brink, "Eudaimonism, Love and Friendship, and Political Community"; *Mill On Liberty; Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies, vol. 1; Vlastos, "Was Plato a Feminist?"; White, "The Ruler's Choice".

• (A) Philebus.
• (B) Frede, Plato's Philebus [introduction] and "Disintegration and Restoration: Pleasure and Pain in Plato's Philebus" in The Cambridge Companion to Plato, ed. Kraut; Gosling, Plato's Philebus [notes]; Gosling and Taylor, The Greeks on Pleasure, chs. 7-8; *Irwin, Plato's Ethics, ch. 19.

• (i) General.
• (A) Nicomachean Ethics, esp. i-iii, v, vii-x.
• (B) *Eudemian Ethics; Magna Moralia; Annas, The Morality of Happiness; Broadie, Ethics with Aristotle; Hardie, Aristotle's Ethical Theory; Irwin, Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics [notes and glossary] and *Aristotle's First Principles, esp. chs. 16-21; Kraut, Aristotle on the Human Good; Reeve, Practices of Reason; *Rorty [ed.], Essays on Aristotle's Ethics; Williams, Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy, chs. 1-3.
• (ii) Eudaimonia.
• (A) Nicomachean Ethics i and x.
• (B) *Physics i 7-8, ii; *Metaphysics vii 3, 17; *De Anima i 1, ii 1-5. Ackrill, "Aristotle on Eudaimonia" in Essays on Aristotle's Ethics, ed. Rorty; Cooper, Reason and Human Good in Aristotle and "Aristotle on the Goods of Fortune" in Reason and Emotion; Gosling and Taylor, The Greeks on Pleasure, chs. 12-17; Hardie, Aristotle's Ethical Theory, chs. 2, 14, 16; Irwin, "The Metaphysical and Psychological Basis of Aristotle's Ethics" in Essays on Aristotle's Ethics, ed. Rorty and *Aristotle's First Principles, ch. 16; Kraut, *"Two Conceptions of Happiness," "The Peculiar Function of Human Beings," and *Aristotle on the Human Good; McDowell, "The Role of Eudaimonia in Aristotle's Ethics" in Essays on Aristotle's Ethics, ed. Rorty; *Nagel, "Aristotle on Eudaimonia" in Essays on Aristotle's Ethics, ed. Rorty; ; Whiting, "Aristotle's Function Argument: A Defense" and *"Human Nature and Intellectualism in Aristotle"; Wilkes, "The Good Man and the Good for Man in Aristotle's Ethics" in Essays on Aristotle's Ethics, ed. Rorty.
• (iii) Virtue and Akrasia.
• (A) Nicomachean Ethics ii-v, vii.
• (B) Burnyeat, "Aristotle on Learning to Be Good" in Essays on Aristotle's Ethics, ed. Rorty; Cooper, "Aristotle on Friendship" in Essays on Aristotle's Ethics, ed. Rorty; Hardie, Aristotle's Ethical Theory, chs. 6-13; Irwin, Aristotle's First Principles, chs. 17, 21; Kraut, Aristotle and the Human Good, ch. 6; McDowell, "Virtue and Reason" and "The Role of Eudaimonia in Aristotle's Ethics" in Essays on Aristotle's Ethics, ed. Rorty; Urmson, "Aristotle's Doctrine of the Mean" in Essays on Aristotle's Ethics, ed. Rorty; Wiggins, "Deliberation and Practical Reason" in Essays on Aristotle's Ethics, ed. Rorty.
• (iv) Eudaimonism and the Good of Others: Friendship and Justice.
• (A) Nicomachean Ethics v, viii-ix.
• (B) *Rhetoric i 9.  *Annas, The Morality of Happiness, ch. 12; Brink, "Self-love and Altruism" and "Eudaimonism, Love and Friendship, and Political Community"; Cooper, "Aristotle on Friendship" in Essays on Aristotle's Ethics, ed. Rorty; Hardie, Aristotle's Ethical Theory, ch. 15; *Irwin, Aristotle's First Principles, ch. 18; Vlastos, "The Individual as Object of Love in Plato" in Platonic Studies; Whiting, "Impersonal Friends".

• (A) Politics, esp. i-iv, vii.
• (B) The Constitution of Athens. Adkins, "The Connection Between Aristotle's Ethics and Politics" in A Companion to Aristotle's Politics, ed. Keyt and Miller; Brink, "Eudaimonism, Love and Friendship, and Political Community"; Irwin, "Aristotle's Defense of Private Property" in A Companion to Aristotle's Politics, ed. Keyt and Miller, "The Good of Political Activity," *Aristotle's First Principles, chs. 19-21, and "Moral Science and Political Theory in Aristotle"; Keyt, "Three Basic Theorems in Aristotle's Politics" in A Companion to Aristotle's Politics, ed. Keyt and Miller; *Kraut, Aristotle.

• (A) Long and Sedley, The Hellenistic Philosophers sections 21-25; Cicero, De Finibus, i-ii.
• (B) Lucretius, On the Nature of the Universe.  Annas, The Morality of Happiness; Long and Sedley, The Hellenistic Philosophers [commentary]; Mitsis, Epicurus' Ethical Theory and *"Epicurus on Death and the Duration of Life".

• (A) Long and Sedley, The Hellenistic Philosophers sections 56-67; Cicero, De Finibus, iii-v.
• (B) *Annas, The Morality of Happiness; *Irwin, "Stoic and Aristotelian Conceptions of Happiness"; Long and Sedley, The Hellenistic Philosophers [commentary].