You may use “Hellenistic Philosophy: Introductory Readings Second Edition” (it’s a book with a yellow cover)

Epicurus: Letter to Herodotus (begins on page 5) -Letter to Pythocles, Letter to Menoeceus and Maxims (begins page 19) -The testimonies of Cicero and Lucretius (begins on pages 45 and 63) -The Polemic of Plutarch, Fragments and Testimonial, Lucretius, DRN book 3 (page 65) -Ethics: The Testimony of Diogenes Laertius -Seneca, Shortness of life, to Helvia and Tranquility of Mind -Academic Scepticism (page 261) -Sceptic Ethics (page 387) a) What primary text(x) you plan to engage. You may want to focus on one specific text or work with more than one. You may also bring in a thinker from a different period but Hellenistic philosophy has to be your primary focus and must be analyzed and discussed in detail. (b) The issue you wish to focus on and its relevance. Your paper should not be a survey or summary of what the author(s) is/are arguing for.

A good paper should start by identifying a problem, a difficulty, a hypothesis you wish to explore and resolve. (c) What secondary sources you have found. As long as they are relevant to your project, you are welcome to make use of any external sources you wish to use (novels, movies, scientists, religious thinkers, etc.) However, you must make use of (at least) TWO scholarly sources on ancient philosophy. You can start by looking at the articles on Canvas. As your topic gets more precisely defined, you will have to do further research on your own. For this, use the library catalogue, look at the “philosopher’s index” (on the library web page under “Indexes and databases”) and of course you can always talk to me. (d) What do you want to argue for? Philosophy papers are argumentative. Even when they tend to be hermeneutic (as often happens in history of philosophy), your interpretation still has to be supported by some argument. It is probable that at this early stage you’re not quite sure about your thesis (as you work on your project and learn more about it, you’re likely to change your thesis.) Still you need to start somewhere. Even if you are not completely sure, you need to at least suggest a hypothesis as a starting point.