Sex, Love, and Immortality: Ancient Greece

PHIL 101 – Introduction to Philosophy
ENGL 103 – Introductory Writing

Taught by Professors Erich Freiberger and Dick Gibson

Ancient Greece invented the modern world – philosophy, drama, and the kinds of formal writing still used all over the world today.  Explore the emergence of philosophy and drama out of myth, tragic poetry and the experience of democratic life in Ancient Athens.  Discover the role of sex, death, and immortality in works of Homer, Socrates, Plato and others.  The semester ends with a performance of sections of Plato’s Symposium – an account of a drinking party at which the participants give speeches in praise of love, ranging from the comic to the sublime.Writing opportunities will range from the script of this performance to short response papers to the methods of formal research and
argumentation used in all academic and professional situations.