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HU Credits:
2
Degree/Cycle:
1st degree (Bachelor)
Responsible Department:
Theatre Studies
Semester:
1st Semester
Teaching Languages:
Hebrew
Campus:
Mt. Scopus
Course/Module Coordinator:
Dr. Ira Avneri
Coordinator Office Hours:
By appointment
Teaching Staff:
Dr. ira avneri
Course/Module description:
Philosophy is a practice that had emerged in ancient Greece more or at the same time as the theatre. Their relationship was that of a complex dialogue that sometimes bore the form of an explicit agôn (contest). In the course we will discuss critical representations of theatre in the philosophical discourse, and of philosophy in the theatrical discourse – as introduced in several Greek texts, as well as in modern texts that examine in retrospect the birth of theatre and philosophy in ancient Greece.
Course/Module aims:
1. Discussion of the birth of theatre and philosophy in ancient Greece, and the modern revival of the tension between them.
2. Encounter with some notable critical representations of theatre in the philosophical discourse, and of philosophy in the theatrical discourse.
3. Perception of theatre and philosophy as complementing discursive practices whose relationship is based on dialogue and contest.
Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
1. To better understand the questions which lay at the core of the competitive encounter between theatre and philosophy.
2. To be able to track other examples of dialogue and contest between these discursive practices.
3. To analyze the specific features of philosophy's critical examination of the theatre, and of the theatre's critical examination of philosophy.
Attendance requirements(%):
95
Teaching arrangement and method of instruction:
Lecture
Course/Module Content:
1. The birth of both theatre and philosophy out of the myth.
2. Sophocles’ “Oedipus Tyrannus”, a tragedy whose hero had proven himself a philosopher when solving the riddle of the Sphinx yet failed to solve the riddle of his self-identity.
3. Aristophanes’ “Clouds”, a comedy which mocks Socrates and presents him as one who hubristically sees himself superior not only to his fellow humans but also to the Olympian gods.
4. Plato’s “Symposium”, a dialogue wherein Socrates implicitly claims philosophy’s supremacy over the theatre but in fact explicitly appropriates theatrical tools in order to establish this superiority.
5. Aristotle’s “Poetics”, probably the earliest philosophical text devoted in its entirety to the art of theatre.
6. Henrik Ibsen’s “Peer Gynt”, a play whose hero ‘encounters’ the Sphinx as part of his infertile quest for selfhood.
7. Friedrich Nietzsche’s “The Birth of Tragedy out of the Spirit of Music”, where he connects the decline of Attic tragedy – which was born from the unification of the Apollonian and the Dionysian – with the emergence of the rational philosophy associated above all with Socrates.
Required Reading:
To be published near the beginning of the semester
Additional Reading Material:
Grading Scheme :
Essay / Project / Final Assignment / Referat 75 %
Active Participation / Team Assignment 15 %
Attendance / Participation in Field Excursion 10 %
Additional information:
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