Papers…

It’s that time of year…when I have to start writing papers due at the end of the semester. I’ve got two papers to write – one for a seminar on Plato’s psychology and one for a class in ancient ethics. It struck me, though, that this is the last semester I’m taking classes. Come August I’ll be taking my comprehensive exams and then it’s on to dissertation writing. Dissertation writing. Wow. And yikes. But before then 1) I need to write these papers and 2) I need to pass my exams.

First things first, you know.

These papers should be pretty fun to write. The ancient ethics paper will likely be about what impact Epicurean epistemology has on their ethics (and then whether this epistemic foundation results in a worry for some of their ethical positions). It’ll be a good way to knock off my Epicurus reading from my exam reading list while writing a paper.

The Plato paper is on the later education of the philosopher king in the Republic. The first question is what the later education consists in (I think there are four stages, beginning with seeing the kinship between stuff learned in the earlier stages of education, then dialectic, then experience, then knowledge of the Form of the Good). The second question is what the later education gives the philosopher king (new content? just an ability to put beliefs into the proper structure such that it become knowledge?). The final question is whether the account of education put forward by Plato is enough to give the philosopher king the knowledge he needs to run Kallipolis. It’ll be really fun to write. I *heart* the Republic. Really I do.

It’s amazing how quickly time flies. Both this year (it’s April! Wow! (And I still haven’t done my taxes! Yikes!)) and just life in general. I’m close to writing my dissertation. For my PhD. It’s crazy!

Speaking of crazy…Tucson is crazy beautiful right now. (I’ve been saying this for a while, haven’t I?) Spring is glorious in Tucson. My favorite coffee shop has a patio with a couple of orange trees. The orange blossoms are in bloom right now and the smell is just stunning. There just isn’t a better place to read Plato and drink coffee than sitting on their patio under the orange blossoms with the sun making its way through the leaves to warm you up and the birds playing in the branches above you.