Duke Summer Program- Greece

  Greece

• Athens: 
Athinai (Athens)

Term: Summer 
Dates: Mid- May - Mid- June

Description: During the summer, the Department of Philosophy and the Office of Study Abroad at Duke University will offer an integrated course of study combining in-depth tours of the important sites and museums in various regions of this spectacular country with close reading and discussion of key ancient philosophical texts. The principal course objective is to give the student a thorough understanding of (and a critical perspective upon) the classical Greeks' pronounced emphasis on the rational aspect of human nature which enabled them not only to produce the artistic and architectural splendors we shall be seeing first-hand, but also to lay the intellectual foundations for subsequent western civilization.

Highlights: The program begins with twelve days in the Aegean Islands, where students will consider how the ancient rationalistic movement first came to life with the mechanistic science of the Milesians, and the theoretical mathematics and metaphysics of the Pythagoreans. The course location then shifts onto the Greek mainland, first to the Peloponnese and then on to Athens, where the dramatic rise and fall of the Athenian Empire serves as a backdrop to Socrates' revolutionary denunciation of the "unexamined life", and the great philosophical system of Plato's Republic.

The program then travels northward to Thessaly, finally arriving on the very slopes of Mt. Olympus. During this segment the class will study the great ancient ethical systems of Aristotle, Epicurus, and the Stoic philosophers. During the final days of the program, the group will board a spacious chartered yacht to sail the quiet waters of the western Aegean while students complete individual course projects designed to put the themes and issues encountered during the entire course in broad perspective.

PHIL 127 (Birth of Reason in Ancient Greece)will be taught by Professor Michael Ferejohn, who teaches Ancient Greek Philosophy at Duke University, with occasional guest lectures by scholars from Greek universities. Professor Ferejohn is the author of The Origins of Aristotelian Science (Yale University Press, 1991) and has published numerous articles on Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. He has been teaching in Greece the past six summers, and knows both Ancient and Modern Greek.

Cost in US$: Inquire for more info.

Experience Required: no

Participants Travel to Greece Independently

Typically Participants Work in Groups

Application Process Involves:

• Letters of Reference
• Online Application plus Application Assessment
• Transcript