CLA 235 ANCIENT IDEAS OF PERSONHOOD

This course engages the Ancient Greeks on questions newly pressing in the 21st century: what makes a person a person? Are we our bodies? Our thoughts? Our histories? Are we souls, or patterns of information? Is “personhood” limited to humans? What practical, ethical implications follow?  Students will explore Ancient Greek ideas in depth by studying primary sources, comparing them with select Indian and Chinese texts to help form a broader picture. Ancient views will be set against the Cartesian and Kantian notions still dominant in the West.