Tragedy

Program Type:

Thesis

Course Code:

ELIT 643

Course Type:

Area Elective

P:

3

Lab:

0

Credits:

3

ECTS:

15

Course Language:

English

Course Coordinator:

Hatice Karaman

Courses given by:

Hatice Karaman

Course Objectives:

This course will explore the ethical questions raised by the possibility of ‘tragic action’ – action that one is responsible for without having freely chosen to do it. The focus will be on Sophocles’ Ajax, Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone. The main characters’ predicament will consider topics, such as (i) blameworthiness, (ii) responsibility, and (iii) the justice of their demise.

Course Content:

Apart from the specific plays, readings form philosophers whose ethical views were developed in dialog with tragedy (Aristotle, Hegel, Nietzsche, Nussbaum and Williams) will be discussed. The main aim of the course will be that of distinguishing moral and ethical evaluations, and the mode in which the difference between morality and ethics is brought into focus by Sophocles’ tragic universe.

Teaching Methods:

1: Lecture, 2: Question-Answer, 3: Discussion, 4: Simulation, 5: Case Study

Assessment Methods:

A: Testing, B: Class Performance, C: Homework, D: Presentation

Vertical Tabs

Course Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes	Program Outcomes	Teaching Methods	Assessment Methods
1. To encourage students to use literature as an occasion for philosophical reflection, and to consider how philosophical issues bear on the interpretation of a literary text.	1-6, 9-10	1,3	A, C
2. To teach the students to learn abstractly about choice, blame and responsibility (moral philosophy).	1-6, 9-10	1,3	A, C
3. To offer the students a brief survey of the history of ethics.	1-6, 9-10	1,3	A, C
4) To analyze different definitions of drama.	1-4, 6-10	1,2,3	B, C, D
5) To gain interpretative skills used in the analysis of literary texts.	1-4, 6-10	1,2,3	B, C, D

Course Flow

COURSE CONTENT
Week	Topics	Study Materials
1	Intro. to Tragedy I (Sophocles, cultural context)	Materials for the course provided by instructor
2	Intro. to Tragedy II (Interiority, subjectivity in Greek tragedy)
3	Ajax
4	Ajax
5	Oedipus Rex
6	Oedipus Rex
7	Oedipus at Colonos
8	Oedipus at Colonos
9	Antigone
10	Antigone
11	Nietzsche on Tragedy I
12	Nietzsche on Tragedy II
13	Hegel on Tragedy I
14	Hegel on Tragedy II
15	Hegel on Tragedy III

Recommended Sources

RECOMMENDED SOURCES

Textbook

Sophocles’ Plays: Ajax, Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonos, Antigone

Additional Resources

J. Gregories (ed.), A Companion to Greek Tragedy. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2005.

Bernard Williams, Shame and Necessity. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.

Edward T. Jeremiah, The Emergence of Reflexivity in Greek Language and Thought. Leiden: Brill, 2012.

Eric R. Dodds, “On Misunderstanding the ‘Oedipus Rex’”. Greece & Rome, Vol. 13, No. 1 (Apr., 1966).

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics III.1–5.

Martha Nussbaum, The Fragility of Goodness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.

K. Westphal (ed.), The Blackwell Guide to Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit. West Sussex: Blackwell, 2009.

Friedrich Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals (selections) Billings and Leonard (eds.), Tragedy and the Idea of Modernity, Oxford University Press, 2015

Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy (selections).

H. B. Nisbet (trans.), G.W.F. Hegel. Elements of the Philosophy of Right. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1991

Robert Pippin, Hegel’s Practical Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

H. B. Nisbet (trans.), G.W.F. Hegel. Elements of the Philosophy of Right. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991

Terry Pinkard (trans.), Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit. “A.II. Perception; or thing and illusion”.

Jonathan Robinson, Duty and Hypocrisy in Hegel’s Phenomenology of Mind: An Essay in the Real and Ideal. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1977 (selections).

Terry Pinkard (trans.), Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Assessment

ASSESSMENT
IN-TERM STUDIES	NUMBER	PERCENTAGE
Assignment	6	60
Final Exam	1	40
Total		100
CONTRIBUTION OF FINAL EXAMINATION TO OVERALL GRADE		40
CONTRIBUTION OF IN-TERM STUDIES TO OVERALL GRADE		60
Total		100

Course’s Contribution to Program

COURSE'S CONTRIBUTION TO PROGRAM
No	Program Learning Outcomes	Contribution
No	Program Learning Outcomes	1	2	3	4	5
1	The ability to apply knowledge of English and world literature and social sciences to topics including culture, society, ethics, politics etc.					X
2	The ability to review, analyse and apply the relevant literature.					X
3	The ability to carry out interdisciplinary reading and analysis.					X
4	The ability to utilise the basic concepts and issues of literary theories in developing life strategies			X
5	Awareness of professional ethics and responsibility			X
6	Effective communication skills.					X
7	A sufficiently broad education to understand the global and social impact of literary movements.		X
8	An awareness of the importance of lifelong learning and the ability to put it into practice.	X
9	Knowledge of issues in contemporary literature and of the cultural issues of the period.				X
10	The ability to use sources and modern tools in order to carry out research in the areas of literature and aesthetics.					X

ECTS

ECTS ALLOCATED BASED ON STUDENT WORKLOAD BY THE COURSE DESCRIPTION
Activities	Quantity	Duration (Hour)	Total Workload (Hour)
Course Duration (Including the exam week: 15x Total course hours)	15	3	45
Hours for off-the-classroom study (Pre-study, practice)	14	17	252
Presentation	1	18	18
Final Paper	1	60	60
Total Work Load			375
Total Work Load / 25 (h)			15.0
ECTS Credit of the Course			15

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