CLU44562 Classics In Theory

Classics is a discipline in transformation. It’s an evolving science, a philosophy, a method. It’s a way of shaping our presents and our futures through new readings of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. It’s a way of ‘making the past for today’. How, then, do we read and reimagine our classical worlds? Looking to philosophy, to the philosophy of history and the history of ideas, to critical thought, science and method, ‘Classics in Theory’ explores a discipline in change. In this module we will read some epoch-making critiques of Greek and Roman sources such as Homer, Sophocles, Herodotus and Thucydides, Plato and Aristotle, Virgil and Lucan, Livy and Tacitus, Cicero, Lucretius and more. We will discuss revolutionary, inspiring and inspired readings of classical materials by some key modern thinkers (if you have a favourite – please speak out in class! If you don’t know, please ask!) from Adorno to Zizek, Barad and Butler to Badiou, Derrida, De Landa and Deleuze, Hegel, Husserl and Heidegger, Latour, Lacan, Ranciere, Schmitt and more (…not all at once…). The module’s texts are demanding but insightful and rewarding. We will read them as a group, with close discussions, guidance and support.