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Showing posts from September, 2013

Review of John Cooper's Pursuits of Wisdom in Foucault Studies

My review of John Cooper's Pursuits of Wisdom: Six Ways of Life in Ancient Philosophy from Socrates to Plotinus  has now been published by Foucault Studies. You may access a full copy of the review by clicking here . Please feel free to email me comments.

Fall Semester at Deep Springs

We're now about to complete the second week of classes at Deep Springs, which means the syllabi for my two courses are pretty much set. I've posted copies under "Teaching" above. "Herodotus, Storytelling, and the Politics of History" investigates the interrelationships between storytelling, history, and politics by examining the so-called “father of history,” Herodotus, and his magnum opus known as the Histories . We take a three-pronged approach in the course: first, trying to make sense of the Histories as a text with special attention to its language, narrative construction, and form of argument; second, placing this text in its context, namely, as a successor to Homer, a contemporary of early Greek science, and a forerunner of Greek tragedy and Thucydides; and, third, examining the influence and importance of Herodotus for how the discipline of history has developed and been justified in the recent Western academic tradition. The course will culminate