Reading Assignments

NOTE: The assigned readings listed below in Aristophanes, Plato, Xenophon, Bonaventure, Ugolino, Chesterton, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, and Reps and Senzaki are all in the books I've ordered through The Book Stop. Where links are provided for these, they're most often to translations different from the ones contained in those books. There's an on-line edition of the Mitchell translation of the Tao Te Ching and there's an on-line edition of the (complete!) Watson translation of the Chuang Tzu, but all the other on-line editions contain translations different from the ones I've made available through The Book Stop. Be aware that relying on them could make for difficulties. See the note in the syllabus regarding the use of on-line editions. Most of the other assigned readings listed below are ones you'll have to do on the Web.

To simplify things, I'll use the following codes (NB: the following four links aren't working links):

• white background -- recommended, but not assigned
• green background -- translation is the same as that in the assigned book
• red background -- translation is different from that in the assigned book
• blue background -- assigned work on the Web

The backgrounds should be visible in Internet Explorer 5.x and in Netscape Navigator 6.x, but probably won't be visible in any other browsers.

For Friday, January 19:

• Read Sanderson Beck's on-line piece on The Socratic Problem -- the difficulty of tracking down the facts regarding the historical Sokrates.
• Also read Beck's on-line piece on the life of Socrates, his on-line treatment of Aristophanes (which is part of a larger piece on Greek Theater), the article on Xenophon from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and the page on the life of Plato at the Exploring Plato's Dialogues Web site, an excellent on-line resource for the beginning student of Plato.

For Monday, January 22:

• Read the following series of pages from a course on Greek and Roman Comedy taught by Roger Dunkle at Brooklyn College:
  • Introduction
  • The Great Dionysia (1)
  • The Great Dionysia (2)
  • Theater of Dionysos (1)
  • Theater of Dionysos (2)
  • Origins of Comedy
  • Comedy in Performance (including a scene probably from the Clouds).
• Read Aristophanes' Clouds -- the entire play.

For Wednesday, January 24:

• Read the first six paragraphs of this article on Greek Philosophy from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy and then look at the additional information available through the hyperlinks contained in those six paragraphs.
• Read this account of the Philosophical Background of the 5th Century B.C.E. from the Brooklyn College Core Curriculum site for still more information about the Sophists.
• Review the Clouds -- I'd recommend a second reading at this point.
• If you'd like more on the Presocratics, I highly recommend the following book-length treatment by John Burnet: Early Greek Philosophy, 3rd ed., 1920. It's 80 years old (if it weren't an older work, it wouldn't be available for free on the Internet), but it's a classic. It's also got more translations of fragments and other relevant material. (Note: the Burnet is a recommended text, not an assigned one.)

For Friday, January 26:

• Read Plato's Apology -- the entire dialogue. (The link here is to the H.N. Fowler translation at the Perseus Project -- probably the best translation available on the Web.)
• If you'd like to take a look at an illustrated edition with hyperlinks to explanations of the references and allusions contained within the dialogue, you might want to take a look at this one -- based on the Benjamin Jowett translation -- at the Last Days of Socrates site.
• Added Jan. 24: If you'd like to follow up the suggestion I made in class today about the additional material on the Sophists and the Presocratics on the web site on Oedipus and the Greek Enlightenment, maybe this is also the time to do that. There are plenty of references in Plato's Apology, too, to both the Presocratics and the Sophists.

For Wednesday, January 31:

• Read Plato's Symposium -- the entire dialogue. (The link here is to the H.N. Fowler translation at the Perseus Project -- the best translation I know about that's available on the Web.)

For Friday, February 2:

• No new assignment. Review Aristophanes and Plato. Begin on the Xenophon assignment for Monday if you've got everything else in good order.

For Monday, February 5:

• Read Xenophon's Apology -- or as it's also called (e.g., in the edition I ordered at The Book Stop), Socrates' Defence. (The link is to the O.J. Todd translation at the Perseus Project.) I also want you to read, in the edition I ordered at The Book Stop, Robin Waterfield's Preface and Introduction to the entire volume, Conversations of Socrates, as well as his introduction to his translation of Socrates' Defence. In other words: in Conversations of Socrates, read pp. 1-49. Reread Plato's Apology for the purpose of comparing the two representations of the trial of Sokrates.

For Wednesday, February 7:

• Read Xenophon's Symposium -- or as it's also called (e.g., in the edition I ordered at The Book Stop), The Dinner-Party. (The link is to the O.J. Todd translation at the Perseus Project.) I also want you to read, in the edition I ordered at The Book Stop, Robin Waterfield's introduction to his revision of the Hugh Tredennick translation of The Dinner-Party. In other words: in Conversations of Socrates, read pp. 219-267. Review Plato's Symposium for the purpose of comparing the two.

For Friday, February 9:

• No new assignment. Review Aristophanes, Plato, and Xenophon. Begin reading Xenophon's Memorabilia (Memoirs of Socrates) for Monday if you've got everything else in good order.

For Monday, February 12:

• Read Books I and II of Xenophon's Memorabilia -- or as it's also called (e.g., in the edition I ordered at The Book Stop), Memoirs of Socrates. (The link is to the O.J. Todd translation at the Perseus Project.) I also want you to read, in the edition I ordered at The Book Stop, Robin Waterfield's introduction to his revision of the Hugh Tredennick translation of Memoirs of Socrates. In other words: in Conversations of Socrates, read pp. 53-135.

For Wednesday, February 14:

• Read Book III of Xenophon's Memorabilia (Memoirs of Socrates.) In other words: in Conversations of Socrates, read pp. 136-176.
• Also, study the passage from Nietzsche's Twilight of the Idols that I read you in class on Monday, Feb. 12: The Problem of Socrates. This is due for discussion on Friday, but you should really look it over a couple of times with dictionary in hand, so now's the time to begin working on it.

For Friday, February 16:

• Read Book IV of Xenophon's Memorabilia (Memoirs of Socrates.) In other words: in Conversations of Socrates, read pp. 177-216.
• Make sure you've got the passage from Nietzsche's Twilight of the Idols that I read you in class on Feb. 12: The Problem of Socrates well in hand for discussion in class today.

For Monday, February 19:

• Read the general introduction to the book Bonaventure (pp. 1-48, omitting, if you wish, the sections on The Soul's Journey Into God and The Tree of Life on pp. 18-37) and, in The Life of St. Francis, the Prologue and Chapters I-V (i.e., pp. 177-227).

For Wednesday, February 21:

• Read Chapters VI-X of The Life of St. Francis, in Bonaventure (i.e., pp. 228-279).

For Friday, February 23:

• Read Chapters XI-XV of The Life of St. Francis, in Bonaventure (i.e., pp. 280-327).

For Monday, February 26:

• Read the front matter, the Introduction, and Chapters 1-25 of The Little Flowers of St. Francis, pp 1-99 in the print edition.

For Wednesday, February 28:

• Read Chapters 26-53 of The Little Flowers of St. Francis, pp 100-167 in the print edition.

For Friday, March 2:

• Read Parts Two and Six of The Little Flowers of St. Francis: The Considerations on the Holy Stigmata (pp. 171-216) and Additional Chapters (pp. 293-318) -- no on-line edition of Part VI is available, but the Considerations are available, following Chapter 54 in what there is treated as Part I.

For Monday, March 5:

• No specific assignment, but you should be working on the assignment for Wednesday.

For Wednesday, March 7:

• Parts III, IV, and V of The Little Flowers of St. Francis, pp. 219-289 in the print edition. (Note: in the on-line edition, read the section titled "Here Beginneth the Life of Brother Juniper" and Parts III and IV.)

For Friday, March 9:

• In the book Bonaventure, read The Soul's Journey into God, pp. 53-116 in the print edition.

For Monday, March 12:

• Read Chapters I-IV of G.K. Chesterson's St. Francis of Assisi.
• Not assigned now -- though it will be assigned later on -- is Simone Weil's "Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God." See my newsgroup posting on "'...reading...without unction....'" posted early in the morning of 3/11/01.

For Wednesday, March 14:

• Read Chapters V-VII of G.K. Chesterson's St. Francis of Assisi.
• Also, take a look at the following sites on G.K. Chesterson:
  • G.K. Chesterton -- The "Colossal Genius"
  • Introduction to G.K. Chesterton

For Friday, March 16:

• Read Chapters VIII-X of G.K. Chesterson's St. Francis of Assisi.

For Monday, March 26:

• Read the Stephen Mitchell translation of the Tao Te Ching, concentrating on poems 1-15. For comparative purposes, consult also the Feng-English translation.

For Wednesday, March 28:

• Read the Stephen Mitchell translation of the Tao Te Ching, concentrating on poems 16-31. For comparative purposes, consult also the Feng-English translation.

For Friday, March 30:

• Read the Stephen Mitchell translation of the Tao Te Ching, concentrating on poems 32-50. For comparative purposes, consult also the Feng-English translation.

For Monday, April 2:

• Read the Stephen Mitchell translation of the Tao Te Ching, concentrating on poems 51-66. For comparative purposes, consult also the Feng-English translation.

For Wednesday, April 4:

• Read the Stephen Mitchell translation of the Tao Te Ching, concentrating on poems 67-81. For comparative purposes, consult also the Feng-English translation.

For Friday, April 6:

• Review the entirety of the Dao De Jing, this time in the light of Kelley Ross's Comments on theTao Te Ching. (For this purpose, you may want to work back through the work in the Feng-English translation, as that's rather closer to the D.C. Lau translation than is the Mitchell translation.)

For Monday, April 9:

• Read the Introduction (pp. 1-22) and the first three chapters in Burton Watson's Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings: "Free and Easy Wandering" (Section 1), "Discussion on Making All Things Equal" (Section 2), and "The Secret of Caring for Life" (Section 3).

For Wednesday, April 11:

• Read the next four chapters in Burton Watson's Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings: "In the World of Men" (Section 4), "The Sign of Virtue Complete" (Section 5), "The Great and Venerable Teacher" (Section 6), and "Fit for Emperors and Kings" (Section 7). Also read Alan Fox's introductory article on Zhuangzi .

For Friday, April 13:

• Read the last four chapters in Burton Watson's Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings: "Autumn Floods" (Section 17), "Supreme Happiness" (Section 18), "Mastering Life" (Section 19), and "External Things" (Section 26). Also read Alan Fox's essay on "Reflex and Reflectivity: Wuwei in the Zhuangzi."

For Monday, April 16:

• Read 101 Zen Stories, pp. 1-82 in Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. (The pagination differs in the miniature edition some of you have.)

For Monday, April 18:

• Read The Gateless Gate, pp. 83-129 in Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. (The pagination differs in the miniature edition some of you have.) Aha! Here's an online edition -- unhappily accesible only through a directory listing, but that's better than nothing.

For Monday, April 20:

• Read 10 Bulls, Centering, and What Is Zen? pp. 131-175 in Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. (The pagination differs in the miniature edition some of you have.) Again, some recently discovered online editions: 10 Bulls, More Bulls (actually, more of the same), and The Ten Oxherding Pictures (no bull!). Also, here's a site on the tantric tradition worth looking at in connection with Centering.

For Monday, April 23:

• Read Simone Weil's "Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God." (If you have trouble with the .pdf file to which the preceding link should take you, here's another version of the same piece -- this time as a Microsoft Word document.)

For Wednesday, April 25:

• Review Simone Weil's "Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God," and this time, really pay attention! (If you have trouble with the .pdf file to which the preceding link should take you, here's another version of the same piece -- this time as a Microsoft Word document.)

For Friday, April 27:

• The same continued.

For Monday, April 30:

• Review Chesterton's St. Francis of Assisi, Chapters 1-5.

For Wednesday, May 2:

• The same continued.

For Wednesday, May 4:

• No reading assignment.