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Winter Registration Opens Dec 02
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CLA 80 — Marcus Aurelius and the Good Life: Lessons from Roman Stoicism

Quarter: Winter
Instructor(s): Barbara Clayton
Duration: 8 weeks
Location: On-campus
Date(s): Jan 13—Mar 17
Class Recording Available: No
Class Meeting Day: Mondays
 
Class Meeting Time: 6:30—8:20 pm (PT)
Please Note: No class on January 20 and February 17
Tuition: $465
   
Refund Deadline: Jan 15
 
Unit(s): 1
   
Status: Registration opens Dec 2, 8:30 am (PT)
 
Quarter: Winter
Day: Mondays
Duration: 8 weeks
Time: 6:30—8:20 pm (PT)
Date(s): Jan 13—Mar 17
Unit(s): 1
Location: On-campus
 
Tuition: $465
 
Refund Deadline: Jan 15
 
Instructor(s): Barbara Clayton
 
Recording Available: No
 
Status: Registration opens Dec 2, 8:30 am (PT)
 
Please Note: No class on January 20 and February 17
 
Marcus Aurelius, Rome’s philosopher-emperor from 161–180 CE, was deeply committed to Stoicism. He saw philosophy not as a matter of wrestling with abstract ideas but as a practical guide to living the best life possible. He wrote Meditations to and for himself. While few of us face the kinds of dilemmas a 2nd-century Roman emperor might encounter, Marcus Aurelius’s thoughts still have remarkable relevance for the challenges of today; for centuries, Meditations has inspired countless readers with its wisdom.

This course will cover the history and basic tenets of Stoicism from its beginnings. We will start our journey with Plato's The Apology of Socrates. Though not a Stoic himself, Socrates profoundly influenced Stoic thought. We will move on to The Handbook of Epictetus, written by a slave-turned-philosopher whom Marcus quotes most often. Using this groundwork, we will then conduct an in-depth study of Meditations, aiming to understand how Stoic principles can offer practical wisdom and transformative insights for contemporary life.

BARBARA CLAYTON
Independent Scholar

Barbara Clayton has taught Classics at Oberlin College, Santa Clara University, and Stanford, where she was a lecturer in a freshman humanities program for many years. Since 2015, she has taught for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. She is the author of A Penelopean Poetics: Reweaving the Feminine in Homer’s Odyssey. Clayton received a PhD in Classics from Stanford.

Textbooks for this course:

(Required) Marcus Aurelius, Robin Waterfield(trans), Meditations (ISBN 978-1541673861)
(Required) Plato, Harold Tanant and Hugh Tredennick, trans., The Last Days of Socrates (ISBN 978-0140449280)
(Required) Epictetus, Nicholas P. White(trans.), The Handbook (ISBN 978-0915145690)
(Recommended) Donald Robertson, How to Think Like a Roman Emperor (ISBN 978-1250621436)