Philosophy 350 - Topic: Aristotle and Mengzi

This course will be an examination of the ethical works of two philosophers working on different continents at approximately the same time, the 4th century BCE: Aristotle and Mengzi. We will mainly study two texts: Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, and the work eponymously called Mengzi. Each of these philosophers is attempting to set out and defend a particular view about virtue (for Aristotle, aret for Mengzi, d'). What makes for virtuous action, or character? How does one become (or fail to become) a virtuous person? We will critically examine Aristotle and Mengzi's answers to these and other questions.

Prereq: 8 credits from the Philosophy department