Michael Frede Memorial lecture

Eyjólfur Kjalar Emilsson, “Idealist, dualist or something else? Plotinus on the status of the sensible world”

British School at Athens, Upper House 52 Souedias Street, Athens, Greece

Michael Frede Annual Michael Frede Memorial Lecture Professor Eyjólfur Kjalar Emilsson (University of Oslo), “Idealist, dualist or something else? Plotinus on the status of the sensible world” Abstract: In this paper I shall discuss Plotinus’ views on causation of and in the sensible sphere—by “the sensible sphere” I mean the physical world around us. The […]

Benjamin Morison, “Δόξα and ἐπιστήμη in Aristotle: some implications for ethical thought”

British School at Athens, Upper House 52 Souedias Street, Athens, Greece

THE MICHAEL FREDE MEMORIAL LECTURE Professor Benjamin Morison (Princeton University), "Δόξα and ἐπιστήμη in Aristotle: some implications for ethical thought" Abstract: According to Aristotle, one part of our soul grasps scientific truths and can achieve ἐπιστήμη concerning them. A different part knows about practical truths, including truths about morality, and has a different kind of […]

Ursula Coope, “Is happiness cumulative over time? An argument from Plotinus”

Professor Ursula Coope (Keble College, Oxford), "Is happiness cumulative over time? An argument from Plotinus" Abstract Is happiness the kind of thing that is cumulative over time? To many modern philosophers it has seemed obvious that the answer is yes. For example, Richard Kraut, in his recent book The Quality of Life, argues that the […]

Lesley Brown, “Self-sufficiency in Aristotle and others: what’s so good about Autarkeia?”

Professor Lesley Brown (University of Oxford), "Self-sufficiency in Aristotle and others: what’s so good about Autarkeia?" Abstract  Self-sufficiency – autarkeia – is a familiar Greek cultural value, and one of the hallmarks of the best life according to Aristotle. But what makes a life self-sufficient? I probe his claim that the life of philosophical reflection […]

Professor Charles Brittain, “Protagorean Hermeneutics”

(Image: Iliad 1.1, excerpt from British Library Add MS 8232, f.184) Professor Charles Brittain (Cornell University), "Protagorean Hermeneutics" Michael Frede Memorial Lecture, in partnership with the Department of the History & Philosophy of Science, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens. Abstract In this paper I argue that Protagoras’ method of poetic interpretation was not eristic. […]