Philomobile 2012
Dates of Travel: January 3 - 11, 2012
Dr. Charles Oliver

This course traces the gradual emergence of philosophy from Greek myth, epic, and drama.
Students learn about this new outlook through site visits, readings, and lectures. Our first stop is
Delphi, where we encounter the power of the numinous and study the traditional gods. Excerpts
from Homer and Hesiod are our guide. Early natural scientists then challenged this conception of
the divine, yet retained many of its characteristics in their new explanatory schemes. Next we
examine Homer’s influence on traditional moral and martial values. We visit Olympia and discuss
the agonistic character of early Greek culture. At Mycenae, we see the remains of the palace based
civilization which launched the Trojan War and lived by the heroic code. At the theater at
Epidaurus, we discuss how the tragedians picked up these Epic themes and developed them.

We read Aeschylus’ Persians and observe the Greeks’ growing self confidence, after they defeat the
Persians. Inspired by this success, Athens then seizes her own empire. Her riches draw thinkers and
artists from all over the Mediterranean. In the last segment, we journey to this bold city, protected
by Athena. It is now a vibrant, powerful, and welcoming democracy. The visiting Sophists
question traditional moral precepts, asking which are natural and which exist only by convention.
The dramatists use these inquiries to criticize the epic legacy and make it speak to contemporary
concerns brought on by the endless war with Sparta. Provoked by their relativism and nihilism,
Socrates attempts to determine the true nature of these principles. Attended by the city’s young
elite, he questions and embarrasses those who claim to know these things. He makes powerful
enemies and his odd way of life invites satire. Despite his contention that he is acting on behalf of
Apollo, the philosopher is put to death for corrupting the young and not believing in the city’s
ancestral gods. He dies, but his ideas live on. Inspired by his example, his students build on this
legacy and Alexander spreads these new doctrines throughout the world.

Philomobile 2012
Dates of Travel: May 16 - 25, 2012
Dr. Yunus Tuncel

In this travel course, we will visit villages, towns, and cities where Nietzsche lived and discuss his works and ideas. An anthology of readings will be prepared by the instructor and sent to all of the participants in advance. During the trip, there will be lectures in the morning, followed up by discussions. In addition to the instructor, there will be guest lecturers (a schedule of guest lectures will be provided closer to our departure date).

All participants are expected to do the readings and come on the trip with questions. It is important to keep in mind that since this is a group trip which takes place overseas, everyone is obligated to fulfill their individual  responsibilities (even responsibilities as basic as having the proper travel documents).

Our tour operator will prepare all travel logistics, and once our group is formed, they will make all the arrangements in cooperation with you. For the lectures, we will follow the chronological order of Nietzsche’s works. As for his life and the places where he lived, we will start in Leipzig region (Saxon-Anhalt) where he is originally from and move south (a strictly chronological order in this area is not possible). There will also be sightseeing led by tour guides to amplify our knowledge of the places we are visiting.

Please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information.

Philomobile 2012
Dates of Travel: TBA
Dr. Gail Linsenbard

Are we “condemned to be free”? Do we have the world we deserve? Are we “without excuse?” Why do we routinely and stubbornly lie to ourselves about ourselves, and our possibilities? Is “hell” other people? Do writing and art have a social conscience? Do we, individually and collectively, bear responsibility for our larger humanity? Why is the human condition ambiguous? The most exciting and morally challenging philosophical movement of the 20th century, Existentialism, began in post World War II Paris and its relevance is still felt today as we continue to ask ourselves, in various ways, what it means to be human. Are we, as Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir insisted, free to create ourselves, and our world? Sartre and Beauvoir led fascinating, intense, and provocative lives mostly in Paris and, nearly every summer, in Rome. We will trace their steps, visit their favorite cafes and monuments and, along the way, ask through our own 21st century lens many of the vital, and today perhaps even more urgent, questions they asked. Our responses will inevitably lead to deeper questions that will promise to enrich our experiences and fundamentally change our outlook.

Philomobile 2012
Dates of Travel: July 7 - 15, 2012
Dr. Rachael Sotos

In Democracy in America Alexis de Tocqueville offers the melancholy wish that the Native American tribes, whom he views to be nobler, morally superior, and profoundly more philosophical than their "civilized" Anglo-Saxon conquerors, might not suffer a seemingly inevitable genocide.  If only the Native Americans were to the white men as the ancient Greeks were to the Romans, in Horace's words, "conquered Greece took captive her barbarous conqueror."  For Tocqueville, the Americans, like the Romans, are a practical, mechanical people, while the indigenous red men manifest great linguistic versatility, reveal a grasp of  "the great intellectual truths simple and philosophical." At the risk of finding ourselves in an untimely mode,  this Philomobile course will take up Tocqueville's melancholy wish for a more wholesome, more philosophical political culture in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, amidst the remnants of Magna Graecia in the Campania region of Southern Italy.