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philosophy · 11 lessons

The Long Conversation

History of Western Philosophy I: Ancients to Aquinas

An accessible academic survey of the ancient and medieval conversation about reality, knowledge, virtue, and God, from the Presocratics through Thomas Aquinas.

Prerequisites

🔒 Introduction to Thinking and Knowledge Acquisition

The Planned Arc

The syllabus below is settled — this is the course you'll get. Lesson titles link once each lesson is written and passes editorial review.

01
Why Philosophy Began: The Presocratics
02
Socrates and the Examined Life
03
Plato I: Forms and Knowledge
04
Plato II: The Soul and the Good Life
05
Aristotle I: Logic and Nature
06
Aristotle II: Virtue Ethics
07
Hellenistic Schools: Stoics, Epicureans, Skeptics
08
Augustine: Philosophy Meets Christianity
09
Anselm and the Ontological Argument
10
Aquinas: Reason and Revelation
11
Capstone: What Have the Ancients Given Us?