Week One: Aristotle

Image: Aristotle and Phyllis, Oscar Kokoschka. Original lithograph, 1914. The image depicts the philosopher Aristotle saddled and ridden by Phyllis, a young woman whom he had previously told Alexander to avoid, because rulers needed to rule their passions. After Aristotle himself fell in love with her, she punished him by showing him that men are indeed the slaves of their lusts. A favorite theme in the art of the early German Renaissance, Kokoschka is here reviving it in recognition of his own enslavement to his desires for Alma Mahler.

After thinking about thinking more broadly in the first class, we will focus on Aristotle's concepts of logos (involving enthememes and paradigms), ethos, and pathos, and we will be analyzing the rhetoric of Bacon's preamble (titled "Francis of Verulam") to The Great Instauration of Francis of Verulam. This is the topic of the first essay (which is due on Wednesday of Week 3). Please find the link to the prompt for Essay One below and read it through as soon as possible; we will begin discussing the prompt in more detail on Wednesday, but in the meantime, please feel free to ask me questions about it (or other things) or to send me an email.

Now you can post questions below, and comments! There has been a lot of room for confusion in this first week, so please comment below if you have questions, problems, concerns, etc,...