(in Polish) Language and Categories in Ancient philosophy

The seminar will be devoted to selected topics from ancient and contemporary debates on categories and philosophy of language. The following three sets of topics are planned:

1) Aristotle's system of categories vs. other systems of ontological categories.

2) Neoplatonic interpretations of Plato’s "Cratylus".

3) The doctrine of universals in Aristotle’s “Categories” and in Simplicius’ commentary

The seminar will be devoted to selected topics from ancient and contemporary debates on categories and philosophy of language. The following three sets of topics are planned:

1) Aristotle's system of categories vs. other systems of ontological categories.

One of the most interesting problems about any system of categories is the question, on what grounds it is built and does it really comprehend everything that exists. This problem is sometimes called the problem of the deduction of categories. In this part of the seminar we will be discussing the Aristotelian system of ten categories, the possible philosophical principles on which it is based and the various ways in which different philosophers (such as e.g. Thomas Aquinas or contemporary philosopher Paul Studtmann) tried to present a deduction of them. In the course of this discussion we will have a look at contemporary systems of categories in ontology and linguistics, in order to have a comparison with Aristotle’s system.

2) Neoplatonic interpretations of Plato’s "Cratylus".

The “Cratylus” is one of Plato's most interesting and most controversial dialogues. In this text Plato discusses two crucial topics - the concept of a name, which plays a central role in Greek reflection on language, and the problem of the relationship between a name and a thing. The famous claim made in this text is that names are attached to things in a natural way, not by convention. During the seminar we will read passages from Plato’s dialogue and large sections of Proclus' commentary on the "Cratylus", in which we can find a developed version of Plato's theory of language, as well as Proclus's comments on metaphysics (especially on the nature of soul, understood both as an individual soul and a Neoplatonic hypostasis Soul) and on the relationship between humans and gods.

3) The doctrine of universals in Aristotle’s “Categories” and in Simplicius’ commentary

Depending on the time and on the preferences of the group, we will also discuss a third topic which is the doctrine of universals in a very important and influential commentary on Aristotlte’s “Categories” by Simplicius (6th c. AD). Simplicius’s text provides us with a summary of all the debates in Ancient philosophy on this topic, especially of the positions of the Late Ancient philosophers, in particular of Proclus and Iamblichus. Because of its comprehensive character and of its theoretical subtlety Simplicius’s commentary is a great guide to the debates on universals in Ancient philosophy.

Primary texts:

Plato: The Cratylus; Aristotle: Categories, Metaphysics, Physics; Proclus: On Plato’s Cratylus; Simplicius: On Aristotle’s Categories; Thomas Aquinas: Commentary on the Metaphysics of Aristotle

Secondary texts:

J. Ackrill, Aristotle’s Categories and De Interpretatione, Oxford 1963.

R. Berg, Proclus’ Commentary on the Cratylus in Context, Leiden 2007.

D. Morrison, „The Taxonomical Interpretation of Aristotle’s Categories: a Criticism”, in: J. Preus, J. Anton (eds.) Essays in Ancient Greek Philosophy, New York 1992.

A. Wierzbicka, Semantics. Primes and Universals, Oxford 1996.

A. Wierzbicka, „Uniwersalia ugruntowane empirycznie”, Teksty Drugie, 2011, s. 13-30.

R. Chisholm, A Realistic Theory of Categories,

R. Ingarden, Spór o istnienie świata, Warszawa 1961.

P. Studtmann, Foundations of Aristotle’s Categorial Scheme, Marquette 2008.

M. Baumer, “Chasing Aristotle’s Categories Down the Tree of Grammar,” Journal of Philosophical Research, XVIII, 1993, s. 341–449.

J. Moravcsik, “Aristotle’s Theory of Categories,” w: J. Moravcsik (ed.), Aristotle: A Collection of Critical Essays, Garden City 1967, s. 125–148.

P. Studtmann, “Aristotle’s Categorial Scheme,” w: Shields (ed.) Oxford Handbook to Aristotle, OUP, Oxford 2012, s. 63–80.

Knowledge:

- the student has basic knowledge about main directions of development and new interpretations in the research on ancient philosophy of language

- knows basic research methods typically used in the area of history of philosophy

- knows the principles of working out interpretations of philosophical texts

Skills:

- is able to read, understand and compare different philosophical texts

- is able to listen and understand oral presentations of philosophical ideas and arguments and is able to prepare his/her own presentations

- is able to analyze the logical structure of the argument presented by other participants of the seminar and is able to assess the possible influence of logical mistakes on the validity of the conclusions (2nd degree of studies)

- is able to choose suitable argumentative strategies, present objections and formulate arguments in favour of his/her own position

- is able to conduct research on a basic (1st degree) or advanced (2nd and 3rd degree) level under the guidance of the teacher

Social competence:

- without the help of the teacher sets up and carries out simple research tasks

- is open to discussion and new solutions of the presented problems

- is able to cooperate within a group, assuming different roles within the group

The course requirements are: reading of obligatory texts, seminar presentation or essay and a short final written test. The final grade will be based on student’s activity, the presentation/essay and the result from the test.

Acceptable number of missed classes without formal explanation: 2 per semester.