Recommended Electronic Versions (Where Available) of Texts in the Books Required for the Course

• Aristophanes’ Clouds.
  • Clouds Trans., Jeffrey Henderson.
  • Clouds. Trans., unknown.
• Plato’s Apology, Meno, and Symposium:
  • Apology. Trans., H.N. Fowler.
  • Meno. Trans., W.R.M. Lamb.
  • Symposium. Trans., H.N. Fowler.
• Xenophon’s Apology, Economics, Memorabilia, and Symposium.
  • Apology. Trans., O.J. Todd.
  • Economics. Trans., O.J. Todd.
  • Memorabilia. Trans., E.C. Marchant.
  • Symposium. Trans., O.J. Todd.
• Bonaventure’s The Soul’s Journey into God, The Tree of Life, and Life of St. Francis. No electronic versions of the latter two available; the first available in two versions:
  • Itinerarium Mentis in Deum/The Journey of the Mind into God.—Trans., unknown. A dual language edition containing both the Latin and a very literal English rendering.
  • The Mind’s Road to God.—Trans., George Boas. Also contains a useful introduction.
• Ugolino’s Little Flowers
  • The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi. Trans., Lady Georgina Fullerton, rev. by Roger Hudleston.
• Chesterton’s St. Francis of Assisi. No electronic version available.
• Dao De Jing.
  • Tao Te Ching Trans., Stephen Mitchell.
• Zhuangzi.
  • Chuang Tzu—Apparently the complete Watson translation.
  • Chuang-tzu—Selected chapters (some not in our edition of Watson). Trans., Lin Yutang.
• Reps’s and Senzaki’s Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. No electronic version available.

Course-Related Sites

• General Sites on Ancient Greece
  
  
  • Ancient Greece—From Washington State University’s World Civilizations site.
  • The Ancient Greek World—A good introductory discussion of life in ancient Greece, from the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Women’s Life in Greece and Rome—An extensive (and extremely useful) supplement to the UP site listed just above.
  • Maps of the Ancient Greek World—an extremely useful set of maps for those interested in what was where in ancient Greece, from Bernard Suzanne’s site on Plato and His Dialogues.
  • The Perseus Project—The site for ancient Greek texts and much, much more.
  • Resource Area for Classical Greek—A helpful site for anyone interested in getting his or her bearings with respect to classical Greek—the Greek of Aristophanes, Plato, and Xenophon. Not online Greek lessons, but useful discussions of various aspects of the language.
  • The Musical Pitch Accents in Greek—An explanation of the function of the accents that appear above the vowels in classical Greek. An useful supplement to the information contained on the site listed just above if you’re at all interested in what ancient Greek really sounded like.
  • An Overview of Classical Greek History from Homer to Alexander by Thomas R. Martin—from the Perseus Project.
  • Athenian Agora Excavations—Site includes an excellent virtual tour.
  • Virtual Tour of the Athenian Acropolis
  • More virtual reality tours of sites in ancient Greece—But at least some of these are big ones, i.e., not ones that’ll download quickly over a modem
  • The Ancient City of Athens—a photographic archive of the archaeological and architectural remains of ancient Athens.
  
  

• Sokrates—The Man and the Sources
  
  
  • The Socratic Problem—A piece by Sanderson Beck on the difficulty of triangulating in on the historical Sokrates, written as a preface to Beck’s own extensive online discussion of Sokrates in his site on Confucius and Socrates: The Teaching of Wisdom.
  • Life of Socrates.—By Sanderson Beck.
  • Aristophanes—A sketch by Sanderson Beck; part of a larger piece on Greek Theater.
  • Xenophon—An article from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  • Plato—A page on the life of Plato at the Exploring Plato’s Dialogues Web site, an excellent on-line resource for the beginning student of Plato.
  • Socrates—A thumbnail sketch clearly in the Platonic tradition, from Washington State University’s World Civilizations site.
  • The Ethics of Socrates, Xenophon, and Plato—Another piece by Sanderson Beck, this one an attempt to sort out at least some of the differences between Sokrates, Xenophon, and Plato.
  • Socrates Had It Coming—A vigorous contemporary statement of the case against Sokrates, from Martin Lindstedt’s site, Patrick Henry On-Line: Your One-Stop Shopping for Sedition (!) site.
  • Sokratease: The Game of Dialectic—a simulation game invented right here at UNC that can help you learn how to use (and also how to cope with!) the Sokratic dialectic.
  
  
• Aristophanes and Old Comedy
  
  
  • A series of pages from a course on Greek and Roman Comedy taught by Roger Dunkle at Brooklyn College:
    • Introduction
    • The Great Dionysia (1)
    • The Great Dionysia (2)
    • Theater of Dionysos (1)
    • Theater of Dionysos (2)
    • Origins of Comedy
    • Comedy in Performance (including a scene probably from the Clouds).
  • Introduction to Old Comedy—also by Roger Dunkle, from the Brooklyn College Core Curriculum Site.
  • Aristophanes’ Clouds—A study guide by Roger Dunkle from the Brooklyn College Core Curriculum Site.
  • Aristophanes and Greek Old Comedy—By John Porter at the University of Saskatchewan.
  • Aristophanes’ Clouds—By John Porter at the University of Saskatchewan.
  
  
• Background on Ancient Greek Philosophy
  
  
  • Greek Philosophy—A good introductory description from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  • More on the Presocratics—From a discussion of Sophocles’ Oedipus and the Greek Enlightenment by John Porter at the University of Saskatchewan.
  • Early Greek Philosophy—The 3rd edition (1920) of a classic text on the Presocratics by John Burnet—from the Exploring Plato’s Dialogues site (see below).
  • The Sophists—a good general account of the Sophists—from the Brooklyn College Core Curriculum site.
  • More on the Sophists—From the already-referenced discussion of Sophocles’ Oedipus and the Greek Enlightenment by John Porter at the University of Saskatchewan.
  
  
• General Sites on the Middle Ages
  
  
  • The European Middle Ages—From Washington State University’s World Civilizations site.
  • NetSERF: The Internet Connection for Medieval Resources—one of the best general sites on the Middle Ages.
  • The Labyrinth—Another great general site on Medieval Resources.
  • ORB: The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies—Yet another very useful general site.
  • The Internet Medieval Sourcebook—A repository of primary texts maintained by Paul Halsall of the Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies.
  
  

• Sites with Information Relevant to the Study of Francis, Clare, Bonaventure, and Ugolino
  
  
  • Sites containing material on the medieval universities and the University of Paris:
    • A discussion of Medieval Universities from a piece in the Saturday Review of Literatureby Jacques Barzun.
    • Another site with general information on the Medieval Universities—this time, excerpted from Carlton Munro, The Middle Ages, 395-1272(New York: The Century Company, 1921).
    • The article on University in the on-line Encyclopedia Britannica—the first five paragraphs are on the origins of the univeristy, with links to more detailed discussions, including one with information on the University of Paris.
    • The origins of the University of Paris—from The Cambridge History of English and American Literature.
  • Source materials on 13th and 14th Century Scholasticism (including source materials on the University of Paris and 13th century theology—from the Internet Medieval Sourcebook.
  • Source materials on Empire and Papacy in the Middle Ages, prefaced by a useful, brief introductory.
  • Source materials on Medieval Political Thought (including some early enough to be illuminating for our period: the 13th century)—from the Internet Medieval Sourcebook.
  • A site with information on the most important of the Christian Religious Orders—includes links to pages with more information in particular on the Franciscans, the Dominicans, and the Benedictines.
  • A somewhat whimsical page on Friars, with an emphasis on Francis and the Franciscans.
  • An even more whimsical page featuring a different Brother Juniper cartoon every day.
  • Source materials on the Mendicant Orders—primarily the Franciscans and the Dominicans—from the Internet Medieval Sourcebook.
  • Source materials on the Social History of the Middle Ages—from the Internet Medieval Sourcebook. The section of the IMS on Christian Spirituality in the Middle Ages also contains materials relevant to the subject of popular belief—i.e., the beliefs of "ordinary" folks.
  • Materials and links relevant to the struggle between the Spirituals and Conventuals within the Franciscan Order in the 13th century:
    • The General Introduction (in .pdf [Adobe Acrobat] format) to Vol. 2 of Francis of Assisi: Early Documents—The Founder(New York: New City Press, 2000)—contains a good bit of information about the split between the Sprituals and the Conventuals and about Joachim di Fiore, Bonaventure, and the 13th century "lives" of Francis, including Bonaventure’s.
    • The article on Joachim di Fiore from Volume VIII of The Catholic Encyclopedia, on line at New Advent.
  • Two sites on the historical impact and the continuing relevance of Francis and the Franciscan movement:
    • "The Evangelization of the Americas: St. Francis as Conquistador." An article by William J. Cork (1992) on how "the Franciscan order, founded by a man known for peace, compassion and humility, became, in America, a missionary order willing to use the state tools of coercion and power to bring people into the kingdom of God"
    • "Francis: Saint for a New Millenium." An article by Pat McCloskey, O.F.M., on the positive influences of Francis inside and outside the Catholic church.
  
  

• Francis of Assisi
  
  
  • A brief biographical sketch with some interesting links—From American University.
  • The Life and Times of St. Francis of Assisi—By Pope Pius XI, excerpted from Rite Expiatis (April 13, 1926 A.D.), nn. 6-34.
  • The article by Paschal Robinson on Francis from Volume VI of The Catholic Encyclopedia, on line at New Advent.
  • St. Francis of Assisi—from the Saints and Angels page at Catholic Online.
  • The Franciscan Experience—a site with a good deal of information on Francis, Clare, and the History of the Franciscan Movement—maintained by the Franciscan Cyberspot.
  • The Writings of St. Francis of Assisi—An annotated English translation in HTML format, published in 2000 by the Franciscan Archive. (Six works not yet available.) Also available in Adobe Acrobat format (553k), published in 1999, and complete [i.e., the items missing in the HTML version are in the .pdf version.]
  • Discussion of the Writings of Francis of Assisi—a five-page treatment at the Franciscan Experience site.
  • The Franciscan Archive—A WWW Resource on St. Francis and Franciscanism. A wealth of materials can be accessed by way of the links in red at the top of the second page.
  • The Franciscan Web Page at the Washington Theological Union.
  • An on-line Tour of Assisi at the Franciscan Web Page.
  
  

• Clare of Assisi
  
  
  • A brief life—From American University.
  • Who Is Clare of Assisi?—Taken from an address by John Paul II, on line at A Spiritual Adventure: A Journey with St. Clare, the Web site of the Poor Clare Monastery of Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
  • The article by Paschal Robinson on Clare from Volume IV of The Catholic Encyclopedia, on line at New Advent.
  • St. Clare—from the Saints and Angels page at Catholic Online.
  • The Franciscan Experience—a site with a good deal of information on Francis, Clare, and the History of the Franciscan Movement—maintained by the Franciscan Cyberspot.
  • Discussion of the Writings of Clare of Assisi—a three-page treatment at the Franciscan Experience site.
  • The Poor Clares—Another site from American University.
  • An on-line Tour of Assisi at the Franciscan Web Page.
  
  
• Bonaventure of Bagnoregio
  
  
  • St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio—A site at the Franciscan Archive containing a good number of resources including biographies, articles, writings (including English translations of three works, among them, the Itinerarium mentis in Deum(The Soul’s Journey into God) and some art.
  • Bonaventure—Another site containing the biography by Paschal Robinson: the Jacques Maritain Center at the University of Notre Dame.
  • St. Bonaventure—from the Saints and Angels page at Catholic Online.
  • Bonaventure of Bagnoregio—A brief biographical sketch and complete list of works, at the Franciscan Authors: 13th to 18th Centuries site.
  • A useful article on Pseudo-Dionysius in the 12 Century Latin West at ORB: The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies. (The Pseudo-Dionysius had a great influence on Bonaventure.)
  
  
• General Sites on Ancient China
  
  
  • Two good introductory pages from a site on the History of China at the University of Maryland on the Ancient Dynasties:
    • Ancient Dynasties—From prehistory to the Zhou Period.
    • Ancient Dynasties II—The Hundred Schools of Thought
  • Guide to Ancient China on the Web.
  • Ancient China—From Washington State University’s World Civilizations site.
  
  

• Laozi and the Dao De Jing
  
  
  • A sketch of Laozi by Sanderson Beck; part of a larger page on Daoism and Mozi.
  • Daoism in Brief: Lao Zi and the Dao De Jing—A breezy but useful introductory site.
  • Laozi—A very nice piece by Alan Chan of the National University of Singapore on Laozi—the man and the book; at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  • Laozi: A Classical Daoist Philosopher or Mystic?—A fairly challenging piece, by Chad Hansen of Hong Kong University, on the subject of the intent of the author(s) of the Dao De Jing.
  • Lao Tzu: Father of Taoism—The page on Laozi at the Taoism and the Philosophy of Tai Chi Chuan Web site.
  • Laozi Debate—An Archaeology article by Spencer P.M. Harrington on the implications of the 1993 discovery of a version of the Dao De Jing dating to the 4th century B.C.E., the earliest manuscript discovered to date.
  • Tao Te Ching—The Stephen Mitchell translation, Brooklyn College.
  • Tao Te Ching—A presentation of the translation by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English by a site the design of which makes the on-line reading of this version very enjoyable.
  • Dao De Jing—Original in Chinese—Together with fourteen complete English translations (including Stephen Mitchell’s) and one German translation! Note: three or four chapters of the Chinese version are clickable, and clicking on any of those yields a sound file so you can hear the original in Mandarin Chinese.
  • Dao De Jing—Again in Chinese, this time at Zhongwen.com, an astounding site at which it’s possible to get all sorts of information about each character on any given page by clicking on it.
  • The Mawangdui Version—A very old text of the Daodejing that was buried with the Marchioness of Tai in 168 B.C.E. and discovered in 1973.
  • The Guodian Version—A piece by Andrea Shen about an even older text of portions of the Daodejing discovered in 1993 in a tomb that dates back to the 4th Century B.C.E. in Guodian, China.
  • Comments on the Tao Te Ching—A site containing comments on the text along with samples of the original text accompanied by corresponding English terms—i.e., "word-for-word" renditions of the type with which Stephen Mitchell says he worked in producing his translation. Maintained by Kelley L. Ross of the Los Angeles Valley College Department of Philosophy.
  
  
• Zhuangzi—The Man and His Book
  
  
  • Chuang Tzu: The Next Voice—The page on Zhuangzi at the Taoism and the Philosophy of Tai Chi Chuan Web site.
  • A brief treatment of Zhuangzi by Sanderson Beck; part of a larger page on Daoism and Mozi.
  • Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi): A Philosophical Analysis—A work in progress by Chad Hansen, Hong Kong University. "Not for citation or reproduction."
  • Zhuangzi—An article on the man and the book by Alan Fox, University of Delaware.
  • "Reflex and Reflectivity: Wuwei in the Zhuangzi"—Also by Alan Fox, University of Delaware.
  
  
• Daoism
  
  
  • Daoism—A good introductory treament from the Chinese Philosophy page at The Dragon’s Breath.
  • Taoist Studies in the World Wide Web—Essays, conferences and exhibitions, texts, reference works, and more.
  • Daoism—The list of links at the Internet Guide for China Studies.
  • The Daoism Depot.
  • The Taoism Information Page at the World Wide Web Virtual Library.
  • Taoism and the Arts of China—From the Art Institute of Chicago.
  • Taoist Art—A single painting, worth the visit all by itself.
  • Taoism and the Philosophy of Tai Chi Chuan—A site containing a fairly full introduction to the history of Daoism.
  
  
• Chinese Philosophy
  
  
  • Chinese Philosophy Page—Maintained by Steven A. Brown.
  • Chad Hansen’s Chinese Philosophy Pages: Daoist-Oriented Interpretations—From the University of Hong Kong.
  
  
• General Sites on China
  
  
  • The China WWW Virtual Library: Internet Guide for China Studies. From the Institute for Chinese Studies at Heidelberg University.
  • China the Beautiful—Classical Chinese art, calligraphy, poetry, history, literature, painting, and philosophy.
  • Chinese Culture—A class Web site for a course on Chinese Culture that’s a part of the Brooklyn College Core.
  • The Chinese Language and Writing—a site maintained by Paul Halsall at Brooklyn College, with links to a Pinyin/Wade Giles Equivalency Table and pages on The Chinese Language and Pronunciation and Chinese Logographic Writing
  • Pinyin—Another site on the Pinyin system for transliterating Mandarin, with more information on the pronunciation of the vowels.
  
  
• Zen (Ch’an) Buddhism
  
  
  • The Migrations of Buddhism —An article written by Lionel Landry for the Asia Society’s Focus on Asian Studies Vol. II, No. 1, Asian Religions, pp. 20, Fall 1982. Copyright AskAsia, 1996.
  • Buddhism and Zen (Ch’an) Buddhism—A useful account by Chad Hansen of the Philosophy Department at the University of Hong Kong on the internal (pious) and external (historical) accounts of the origin and development of Ch’an Buddhism in China, as well as an interesting characterization of Ch’an (Zen) as Buddhist atheism. Well worth a look.
  • The Gateless Passage—A site that’s just getting started, but that promises to be a major resource for Chinese Buddhism.
  • Bodhidharma—The man credited with bringing Ch’an Buddhism to China. A biographical sketch and quotations.
  • Ch’an Buddhism—A good introductory treament from the Chinese Philosophy page at The Dragon’s Breath.
  • Ch’(Zen) Buddhism in China: Its History and Method —A nice piece by Hu Shih published in Philosophy East and West V. 3, No. 1 (January, 1953) pp. 3-24. From the Buddhist Digital Library and Museum at the National Taiwan University Library. Quoted in Chad Hansen’s “Buddhism and Zen Buddhism.”
  • Chuang-Tzu And The Chinese Ancestry of Ch’an Buddhism—An article by Livia Knaul originally published in the Journal of Chinese Philosophy in 1986. From the Buddhist Digital Library and Museum at the National Taiwan University Library.
  • The Nature of Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism—An article by Chen-Chi Chang originally published in Philosophy East and West in 1957. From the Buddhist Digital Library and Museum at the National Taiwan University Library.
  • Zen Buddhism—A page on the Introduction of Ch’an Buddhism into Japan.
  • Zen—With links to pages and sites on Japanese garden design, the tea ceremony, and more.
  • Zen Stories to Tell Your Neighbors—Many Zen stories.