International Plato Society

 Plato’s heritage in historical perspective

intellectual transformations and new research strategies

 

Description and organization

The International Plato Society (IPS) is pleased to announce the colloquium “Plato’s heritage in historical perspective: intellectual transformations and new research strategies”, which will take place in St. Petersburg, Russia on the 28th and 30th of August 2018.

The colloquium will serve as a platform for the IPS Executive Committee’s mid-term meeting.

The study of Plato’s heritage is a way of diagnosing modernity – in so far as it is made explicit in philosophical discourse. This is precisely why intellectual transformations and new research strategies are relevant themes for both international and Russian Plato studies.

We propose the following topics for the colloquium:

  1. The history of Plato interpretation as an element of the evolution of European culture. Different periods and tendencies of interpretive programs. Schools of thought and intellectual trends which shaped and determined the study of Plato in the 19th and 20th centuries. The specifics of the study of Plato’s heritage in different disciplinary traditions such as classical philology or the history of philosophy. The role of Plato interpretation in various philosophical projects and the “turns” of European philosophy and culture. Plato in Russia.
  2. Contemporary strategies of studying Plato. The problems of the “Plato’s corpus”: its unity and its role in the context of the Academy, its educational program and the strategies of interaction with the outside, non-academic social world of Plato’s time. The perspectives for and the limits of the chronological approach to Plato’s texts. Problems relating to genre characteristics. The particularities of modern stylometric investigations.
  3. The experience of translating Plato into modern languages and publishing Plato’s texts. Problems of style and terminological accuracy. Commentary as an element of the translation and the publishing of a classical text. Typology of contemporary commentaries, structure and “plot organization” of existing contemporary Plato editions.

Institutions

The colloquium will be supported by the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia and the Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities. All meetings will take place in the historical center of St. Petersburg.

Organizing committee 

Chairman of the organizing committee: Prof. Roman Svetlov (Saint Petersburg State University, Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities), chairman of the “Plato Philosophy Society”.

Co-moderators of the program organizing committee:

  • Lead researcher, Editor-in-Chief of the “Platonic Investigations / Πλατωνικὰ ζητήματα” Irina Protopopova, PhD (Russian State University for the Humanities),
  • Prof. Lev Letyagin (Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia)
  • Prof. Dmitry Shmonin (Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities),
  • Prof. Igor Goncharov (Syktyvkar State University).

Members of the organizing committee:

  • Dmitry Kurdybajlo (Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities)
  • Irina Mochalova (Saint Petersburg State University)
  • Elena Alymova (Saint Petersburg State University)
  • Tatiana Litvin (Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities)

The publication of the colloquium materials

The texts of the colloquium will be published in our periodical “Platonic Investigations/ Πλατωνικὰ ζητήματα”. 

Preliminary colloquium program

  • Day 1 –  two plenary sessions (11.00- 14.00; 15.00- 18.00; 3-4 reports per session), reception.
  • Day 2 – the meeting of the Executive Committee of the Platonic society (11.00- 13.00) and plenary session (13.30- 18.00 – 5-6 reports).
  • Day 3 – Sections sessions (11.00 – 18.00). 18.00 – closing remarks.

Procedure and deadlines

Please, send estimated titles of your papers (we are preparing preliminary program of Conference for institution’s officials in January).

Please send the abstracts (300-500 words, prepared for blind-review) by 1 May 2018 to plato.spb@gmail.com.

Working languages

The working languages of the conference are Russian and English. We propose that the participants send their papers in ahead of time, so that translations can be prepared and then displayed on a separate screen during the presentation.

The study of Plato in Russia

The first systematic translations of Plato’s heritage into Russian have been produced in the 18th century, however separate fragments translated into Old Russian appear in various florilegiums dating back to 12th-16th centuries. The differences in interpretation of Plato in Russia are connected to the different historical periods and the development of modern forms of education and science, particularly following the reforms of Peter the Great. The study of Plato in Russia has always had a philosophical, scientific and cultural importance. There exists a culturally ingrained myth of the “Platonism” of the russian soul, inclined to a contemplative kind of spirituality; a Platonism of a Christian “Byzantine” variety. Even during the Soviet Union the study of Greek antiquity, including Plato, continued even though it acquired a specific character.

Nevertheless, the institutionalization of these studies has only become possible in the 1990s. Since 1993 a yearly conference, “The universe of Plato’s thought”, takes place in St.Petersburg. Since 2012 yearly Plato conferences take place in Moscow.  Both in St.Petersburg and in Moscow, a number of international Plato specialists have participated. In 2014 the “Plato Philosophical Society”, which closely cooperates with the IPS, has been officially registered. One of its main goals is to lay the groundwork for the publication of new Russian translations of Plato, amongst other things by facilitating the uptake of the rich international experience of analyzing and translating Plato. Since 2014 the “Plato Philosophical Society” publish a periodical “Platonic Investigations / Πλατωνικὰ ζητήματα”, a number of influential international Platonists among its authors and members of its Advisory Committee.

Contact

plato.spb@gmail.com

(Text by the organizers)

Link

https://platosociety.org/call-for-papers-platos-heritage-in-historical-perspective-intellectual-transformations-and-new-research-strategies-st-petersburg-august-28th-30th-2018/

Université Paris – Nanterre 

Les émotions chez Platon

 

Description et organisation

Les émotions sont devenues un champ d’exploration important dans les études anciennes, croisant des approches historiques, anthropologiques, littéraires et philosophiques. L’intérêt porté aux émotions dans le corpus philosophique antique est pourtant inégalement réparti, et les études sur la nature, le nombre et les fonctions des émotions chez Platon demeurent encore peu nombreuses, probablement du fait que le modèle platonicien des affections nous est plus difficile à comprendre avec nos catégories contemporaines. Un atelier conjoint organisé par Laura Candiotto (Universtiy Of Edinburgh, Eidyn Center) – et Olivier Renaut (Université Paris-Nanterre, IREPH) est organisé afin d’explorer les approches disponibles sur les émotions dans le corpus platonicien.

Afin de faciliter les accès, les personnes intéressées sont invitées à contacter Olivier RENAUT par email : orenaut@parisnanterre.fr

Contact

Olivier RENAUT

orenaut@parisnanterre.fr

(Texte des organisateurs)

Lien

https://ireph.parisnanterre.fr/actualites/appel-a-communication-les-emotions-chez-platon-emotions-in-plato

La Prière dans la tradition platonicienne, de Platon à Proclus

A. Timotin, Turnhout: Brepolis, 2018
Description
Le présent ouvrage étudie la prière comme catégorie de la pensée religieuse platonicienne, de Platon à la fin de l’Antiquité. The present book studies prayer as a category of Platonic religious thought, from Plato to Late Antiquity. Following a chronological framework (Plato, the pseudo-Platonic Second Alcibiades, Maximus of Tyre, Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Proclus), the book examines the relationship between philosophical reflection on prayer and a series of themes and related topics: the criticism and the interpretation of traditional cults, the conceptualization of religious emotions, the philosophical explanation of how astrology and magic work, the theories of the soul, and the theological description of reality in Late Neoplatonism. The book aims to contribute to shed new light on the relationship between religion and philosophy in Antiquity and, in particular, on the forms of “scientific” religion that appear and develop in the philosophical schools in Late Antiquity. Special attention is paid to the relationship between philosophy, religion, and rhetoric. The rhetorical dimension of prayer is explored in relation to the role of persuasion and emotion in prayer and to the idea that exegetical commentary represents a hymn in prose addressed to the gods. Le présent ouvrage a pour objet la prière comme catégorie de la pensée religieuse platonicienne, de Platon à la fin de l’Antiquité. En suivant un plan chronologique (Platon, le Second Alcibiade pseudo-platonicien, Maxime de Tyr, Plotin, Porphyre, Jamblique, Proclus), il étudie la relation entre la réflexion philosophique sur la prière et une série de thèmes et de questions connexes : la critique et l’interprétation des cultes traditionnels, la conceptualisation des émotions religieuses, l’explication philosophique du fonctionnement de l’astrologie et de la magie, les théories de l’âme et la description théologique du réel dans le néoplatonisme tardif. Cette recherche souhaite contribuer à jeter un éclairage nouveau sur les rapports entre religion et philosophie dans l’Antiquité et, en particulier, sur les formes « scientifiques » de religion qui apparaissent et se développent dans les écoles philosophiques à la fin de l’Antiquité. Une attention particulière est prêtée à la relation entre philosophie, religion et rhétorique. La dimension rhétorique de la prière est explorée en relation avec le rôle de la persuasion et de l’affectivité dans la prière et avec la conception selon laquelle le commentaire exégétique représente un hymne en prose adressé aux dieux.

(Texte de la maison d’édition)

Table de matières

I. Introduction

II. Platon. Prières des impies, prières des sages

  1. Prier selon la loi
  2. Les prières platoniciennes et la tradition religieuse

III. Le Second Alcibiade. À la recherche de la prière idéale

  1. Le Second Alcibiade et la pensée religieuse à l’époque hellénistique
  2. La prière de l’ἄφρων : demander un mal au lieu d’un bien
  3. La prière pour les ἐσθλά du poète anonyme
  4. La prière des Athéniens et la prière des Spartiates

IV. Maxime de Tyr. Prière traditionnelle et prière du philosophe

  1. La critique de la prière traditionnelle
  2. La définition d’une « prière du philosophe »

V. Plotin. Prière « magique » et prière du νοῦς

  1. Prière, providence et responsabilité individuelle
  2. Les prières peuvent-elles contraindre les astres?
  3. Prier et attendre Dieu

VI. Porphyre. Hiérarchie des êtres divins, hiérarchie des prières

  1. La défense de la prière dans le Commentaire sur le Timée
  2. La Lettre à Anébon : prier n’est ni contraindre, ni pâtir
  3. La place de la prière dans la théorie du sacrifice
  4. Prière du sage, prière des théurges

VII. Jamblique. La prière théurgique

  1. Les réponses de Jamblique aux objections de Porphyre
  2. La théorie de la prière de Jamblique
  3. La prière finale de la Réponse à Porphyre (De mysteriis)

VIII. Proclus. La prière cosmique

  1. L’οὐσία de la prière
  2. La τελειότης de la prière
  3. Les causes et les modes de la prière
  4. La pratique de la prière

IX. Conclusions

Bibliographie
1. Sources
2. Littérature secondaire
Index locorum
Index rerum
Index verborum

Lien

http://www.brepols.net/Pages/ShowProduct.aspx?prod_id=IS-9782503574820-1

Colloque en philosophie ancienne et médiévale

Perspectives féminines

Description et organisation

Les perspectives féminines* sur l’Antiquité et le Moyen Âge demeurent peu valorisées.

En effet, il n’échappe à personne, au sein de la communauté universitaire, que femmes et autres populations marginalisées (quelles qu’elles soient) tendent à être sous-représentées lors d’événements académiques. Ce constat est d’autant plus regrettable que les femmes* ne sont absentes ni des départements de philosophie, ni des auditoires qui assistent à ces événements.

Ce colloque propose de mettre en valeur les recherches des femmes* en philosophie ancienne et médiévale. En ouvrant un espace d’échange sur leurs savoirs et leurs questionnements, il a pour but d’améliorer leur visibilité et leur représentation dans le milieu de la recherche.

Les chercheuses* intéressées sont invitées à soumettre des propositions de communication portant sur la question du genre dans l’Antiquité et du Moyen Âge, les femmes* philosophes de cette période, ou encore le traitement du féminin* chez un ou une philosophe en particulier. Il est également possible de proposer une communication sur tout intérêt de recherche touchant les périodes historiques visées.

Le colloque sera l’occasion pour les participantes* d’apprécier la diversité des recherches menées par les femmes* en philosophie, mais aussi d’échanger avec des chercheuses* à différentes étapes de leur carrière lors des discussions et des conférences.

Conférencières invitées : Marguerite Deslauriers, Université McGill – Christina Van Dyke, Calvin College

Programme

Vendredi 16 Mars

9h45 Accueil et introduction

10h Liberté sexuelle et plaisir féminin chez Lucrèce: la politique de la sexualité par Julie Giovacchini (CNRS)

11h Le plaisir libre et le mouvement volontaire chez Lucrèce par Charlotte Tremblay-Lemieux

11h45 La préméditation des maux, un exercice hédoniste ? par Isabelle Chouinard

13h30 Où sont passés les philosophes-reines ? Sur la disposition apparente des gouvernantes dans le Politique de Platon par Annie Larivée

14h Vieillesse, maladie et feminité chez Aristote : la portée d’une analogie par Laetitia Montelis-Laeng

15h30 L’état au livre I de la Rhétorique par Jeanne Allard

Samedi 17 Mars

9h45 Accueil et introduction

10h Les pouvoirs du lieu dialectique chez Aristote par Laurence Godin Tremblay

11h Stoic Theory of Place and the Semantic of Nouns par Marion Durand

11h45 La transformation des notions stoïcienne dans le De Abstinentia de Porphyre : le cas de l’oiskeiosis par Delphine Gingras

13h30 Perspectives néoplatoniciennes sur la legitimité des femmes en philosophie par Mathilde Cambron-Goulet

14h15 Virtues of the Mind, Powers of the Body : Intellectual Humility and Embodiement in Teresa de Avila and Hildegard von Bingen par Kelsey Boor

15h30 Medieval Mystics on Persons: What John Locke didn’t tell you par Christina Van Dyke

Contact

Toute question peut être acheminée à l’adresse suivante : philo.anc.med2018@gmail.com.

Lien

https://perspectivesfeminines2018.wordpress.com/

KU Leuven 

Polemics, Rivalry and Networking in Greco-Roman Antiquity

Description and organization

Disagreement and scholarly dispute are essential to any intellectual development. This holds true for ancient cultures no less than for us today. Greek philosophy has been agonistic from long before the formal constitution of philosophical ‘schools’ in the Hellenistic age. In the classical period, Athens famously served as an intellectual battlefield between Socrates and the sophists, in which a full armory of eristic and elenctic strategies was developed. This confrontation was to become a paradigm for the opposition between rhetorical and philosophical models of education, from Plato and Isocrates to the Second Sophistic and beyond.

The Hellenistic age saw the rise of schools and other, often more informal types of network which committed its members to a core set of doctrines – not only in philosophy (Stoicism, Epicureanism, Skepticism), but also in medicine (dogmatists vs. empiricists), science (mathematical astronomy vs. more philosophical cosmologies), historiography (pragmatic vs. rhetorical and tragic approaches; pro-Roman vs. pro-Carthaginian accounts), grammar (allegoricists vs. literalists), rhetoric (asianism vs. atticism), poetry (epos vs. shorter types of poetry), and theology (traditionalist vs. more liberal approaches). An essential ingredient of this phenomenon is the development of stereotypic depictions of rival schools and fixed patterns of refutations. Many of these depictions and tropes survived the actual debates from which they emerged and the schools against which they were directed, as is apparent from the Platonic and Christian texts from late Antiquity.

In the Hellenistic period, we also witness the emergence of new intellectual centers, like Alexandria, and of increasingly text-based scholarly communities and networks. From the early imperial age onwards, authoritative texts became increasingly important vehicles of wisdom, and written commentaries gradually acquired a central place in philosophical, rhetorical and religious education. Both Christians and pagans adopted polemical strategies in distinguishing between orthodox and heterodox interpretations of their founding texts, thus leading to controversy between authors who often had much more in common than they were ready to admit. In this context, polemical strategies not only served to refute one’s opponents, but also contributed to establishing intra-school identity and intellectual alliances.

The aim of this conference is to study the role that polemical strategies and intellectual controversy have played in the establishment of ancient learned networks, such as philosophical and scientific schools, scholarly and religious communities, literary circles, etc., as well as in the dynamics of intellectual alliances, traditions, and ‘personal’ networks.

Confirmed keynote speakers:

  • Philip van der Eijk (Berlin)
  • Peter Gemeinhardt (Göttingen)
  • Pantelis Golitsis (Thessaloniki)
  • Irmgard Männlein-Robert (Tübingen)
  • John Marincola (Florida State University)

Please submit your proposal via email (lectio@kuleuven.be) by February 28, 2018.

Visit our website (http://lectio.ghum.kuleuven.be/lectio/conferences).

Programme

Wednesday 12 December 2018 | Conference day 1 | Institute of Philosophy

14.30 – 15.30 Registration

15.30 – 15.45 Opening of the Conference Wim DECOCK | Director of Lectio

15.45 – 16.15 Session 1

Chair – Jan Opsomer Marco DONATO (Pisa & Paris), Polemics in the Pseudoplatonica: The Academy’s Agenda and the Renaissance of Socratic Dialogue

16.15 – 16.45 Wim NIJS (Leuven), Graeculus et adsentator: Philodemus’ Defence of Epicurean Friendship and Frank Speech in Roman Society

16.45 – 17.15 |   Chiara MILITELLO (Catania), Replying to Stoics as the Basis of True Aristotelianism: the Significance of Polemics in Alexander of Aphrodisias’ Commentaries and Treatises

17.15 – 18.00 Coffee

18.00 – 19.00 Keynote Lecture 1 | Chair – Gerd Van Riel Irmgard MÄNNLEIN-ROBERT (Tübingen), Subtile Battles or Platonic Exegesis as Polemical Strategy in Porphyry

19.00 Reception | Raadzaal Institute of Philosophy | Kardinaal Mercierplein 2, Leuven

Thursday 13 December 2018 | Conference day 2 | Holland College

Session 2 | Chair – Danny Praet

09.00 – 09.30 András HANDL (Leuven), The Influence of Real-Life Encounters on the Treatment of Heterodox Groups in the Refutatio Omnium Haeresium

09.30 – 10.00 Benjamin DE VOS (Gent), The Homilistic Disputes Between Clement and Appion: the Art of Dissimulation and Irony in a Clash Between Judeo-Christianity and Paganism for the ‘True’ Paideia

10.00 – 10.30 Marina DÍAZ BOURGEAL (Madrid), “Oὐ λέξεων μόνον, ἠθῶν δέ”: Julian on the Christian Teachers and Hellenism

10.30 – 11.00 Coffee

11.00 – 12.00 Keynote Lecture 2 | Chair – Johan Leemans

Peter GEMEINHARDT (Göttingen), “Against the Avarice of the Melitians and the Impiety of the Ariomanites!” Polemics and Networking in the 4th-Century Trinitarian Debates

12.00 – 13.30 Lunch

Middaggesprek | Chair – Bart Pattyn Danny PRAET (Gent) & Jos VERHEYDEN (Leuven), Vurige tongen of te vuur en te zwaard? Het succes van het christendom in het Romeinse Rijk: spontaan of onder dwang

Session 3 | Chair – Bram Demulder

13.30 – 14.00 Bruno MARIEN (Leuven), The Recommendation Activity in Late Antique Epistolographers seen against the Background of Competing Personal Networks: the Example of Libanius and Other Fourth-century Letter Writers

14.00 – 14.30 Other Fourth-century Letter Writers Olivier DEMERRE (Gent), Philostratus’ Life of Hermogenes: Rhetorical Debates and Circles in the Lives of the Sophists

14.30 – 15.00 Han BALTUSSEN (Adelaide), Polemic, Personality and the Iamblichan Lineage in Eunapius’ VPS

15.00 – 15.30 Coffee

Session 4 | Chair – Stefan Schorn

15.30 – 16.00 Eva FALASCHI (Pisa), It is not just a Question of Being the Best. Artistic Rivalry and Polemics Among Greek Artists as Seen in the Imperial Age

16.00 – 16.30 Tiberiu POPA (Indianapolis), Can Historians Handle the Truth?

16.30 – 17.00 Carlos STEEL (Leuven), A Newly Discovered Treatise from the School of Alexandria. A Discussion on the Status of Astrology at the End of the 6th Century

19.30 Conference Dinner | Faculty Club | Groot Begijnhof 14, Leuven

Friday 14 December 2018 | Conference day 3 | Holland College

Session 5 | Chair – Marc-Antoine Gavray

09.00 – 09.30 Irini FOTINI-VILTANIOTI (Leuven), Denouncing the Old Rivalry Between Philology and Philosophy: Porphyry’s Homerica

09.30 – 10.00 Corentin TRESNIE (Brussels & Leuven), Se construire un maître à penser: les Vies de Plotin et Pythagore par Porphyre et Jamblique

10.00 – 11.00 Keynote Lecture 4 | Chair – Pieter d’Hoine Pantelis GOLITSIS (Thessaloniki), Explicit and Implicit Polemics in Late Ancient Commentaries on Aristotle

11.00 – 11.30 Coffee

Session 6 | Chair – Michiel Meeusen

11.30 – 12.00 Thorsten FÖGEN (Durham), Rival or Ally? Competition, Controversy and Polemics in Ancient Technical Discourse

12.00 – 12.30 Argyro LITHARI (Berlin), Platonic Teachings and Astronomers’ Hypotheses in Proclus’ Hypotyposis Astronomicarum Positionum: Between Opposition and Agreement

12.30 – 13.30 Lunch

Keynote Lecture 5 | Chair – Geert Roskam

13.30 – 14.30  Philip VAN DER EIJK (Berlin), Polemics and Rivalry in the Ancient Medical Tradition

14.30 – 15.00 Coffee

Session 7 | Chair – Marijke Crab

15.00 – 15.30 Ute TISCHER (Leipzig), Comparison and Competition: ‘Cicero’, ‘Virgil’, and the Authority of the Interpreter

15.30 – 16.00 Josh SMITH (Baltimore), (Mis)reading the Poet: A Networking Strategy in Ancient Criticism

16.00 Plenary discussion & Conclusion

Contact

Erika.gielen@kuleuven.be

lectio@kuleuven.be.

(Text by the organizers)

Link

http://lectio.ghum.kuleuven.be/lectio/themes/lectio/images/CFP_Polemics.pdf

Spiritual Taxonomies and Ritual Authority

Platonists, Priests, and Gnostics in the Third Century C.E.

Heidi Marx-Wolf, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016

Description

The people of the late ancient Mediterranean world thought about and encountered gods, angels, demons, heroes, and other spirits on a regular basis. These figures were diverse, ambiguous, and unclassified and were not ascribed any clear or stable moral valence. Whether or not they were helpful or harmful under specific circumstances determined if and what virtues were attributed to them. That all changed in the third century C.E., when a handful of Platonist philosophers—Plotinus, Origen, Porphyry, and Iamblichus—began to produce competing systematic discourses that ordered the realm of spirits in moral and ontological terms. In Spiritual Taxonomies and Ritual Authority, Heidi Marx-Wolf recounts how these Platonist philosophers organized the spirit world into hierarchies, or « spiritual taxonomies, » positioning themselves as the high priests of the highest gods in the process. By establishing themselves as experts on sacred, ritual, and doctrinal matters, they were able to fortify their authority, prestige, and reputation. The Platonists were not alone in this enterprise, and it brought them into competition with rivals to their new authority: priests of traditional polytheistic religions and gnostics. Members of these rival groups were also involved in identifying and ordering the realm of spirits and in providing the ritual means for dealing with that realm. Using her lens of spiritual taxonomy to look at these various groups in tandem, Marx-Wolf demonstrates that Platonist philosophers, Christian and non-Christian priests, and gnostics were more interconnected socially, educationally, and intellectually than previously recognized.

(Text from the publisher)

Table of contents

List of Abbreviations

Introduction
Chapter 1. How to Feed a Daemon: Third-Century Philosophers on Blood Sacrifice
Chapter 2. Everything in Its Right Place: Spiritual Taxonomy in Third-Century Platonism
Chapter 3. The Missing Link: Third-Century Platonists and « Gnostics » on Daemons and Other Spirits
Chapter 4. High Priests of the Highest God: Third-Century Platonists as Ritual Experts
Conclusion

Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments

Link

https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15511.html

École Normale Supérieure

Séminaire d’initiation à la philosophique

antique: Platonisme et Néoplatonisme

Le Parménide de Platon

Description et organisation

Il n’est pas nécessaire de rappeler l’importance qu’occupe encore la philosophie de Platon dans les questions intellectuelles de notre temps qu’elles soient scientifiques, politiques ou philosophiques. Ajoutons que la philosophie de Platon n’a jamais cessé jusqu’à la fin de l’antiquité de se renouveler de façon particulièrement inventive sous diverses formes dont la plus célèbre et la plus problématique est sans aucun doute le néoplatonisme qui constitue à la fois la synthèse de plus de huit siècles de philosophie antique, et la matrice de l’histoire de la philosophie médiévale et moderne. Ce séminaire se propose d’étudier, dans une perspective à la fois d’initiation et de recherche, les principaux textes et les notions fondamentales de ce courant philosophique. Il mettra aussi en valeur la richesse de ses transmissions dans les mondes arabe, byzantin ou latin. Cet enseignement est assuré par un collectif de chercheurs et d’enseignants-chercheurs sous la coordination de Luc Brisson, Pierre Caye et Philippe Hoffmann. Le premier semestre 2020-2021 portera sur la République de Platon, et le second semestre aura pour thème l’Amour. On tentera, au premier semestre, de définir le projet et le plan de la République. Puis on s’interrogera sur l’organisation politique, sur l’âme, et notamment sur le thumos. On évoquera la critique des poètes et le rôle du mythe, en se penchant notamment sur le mythe d’Er. Enfin, on abordera la question du Bien. Et on terminera en suivant l’héritage du dialogue chez les Cyniques et les Stoïciens, chez Proclus, chez Averroès et à la Renaissance. Le second semestre portera sur le thème de l’Amour qui joue évidemment le plus grand rôle dans la tradition platonicienne et néoplatonicienne. Les séances porteront sur Parménide et Empédocle, sur le Phèdre de Platon, sur l’Éros néoplatonicien dans la pensée de Shaftesbury, sur l’Éros chaldaïque, sur l’Amour chez Augustin, chez les platoniciens de Perse, mais aussi dans la tradition de la philosophie médiévale et renaissante (Maimonide, Grosseteste, Dante et Ficin). En principe les séances auront lieu en présence réelle. Mais nous sommes prêts à diffuser ces séances sur internet en temps réel ou en différé.

Organisé par Luc Brisson, Pierre Caye et Philippe Hoffmann

Programme

15 janvier 2018 : Carlos Steel, Les interprétations du Parménide de Platon avant Proclus
22 janvier 2018 : Alexandra Michalewski, Formes et qualités dans le Didaskalikos
29 janvier 2018 : Fabienne Jourdan, Numénius et le Parménide de Platon
5 février 2018 : Frédéric Fauquier, Proclus, commentateur du Parménide de Platon
12 février 2018 : Philippe Hoffmann, Damascius, commentateur du Parménide de Platon

Contact

École Normale Supérieure, 45 rue d’Ulm – 75005 Paris

Les séances auront lieu les lundis de 15h à 17h

Salle Pasteur – Pavillon Pasteur

(Texte des organisateurs)

Lien

https://umr8230.cnrs.fr/%C3%A9v%C3%A8nement/seminaire-platonicien-et-neoplatonicien/?instance_id=94

Université du Québec à Montréal

Foreign Influences

Philosophy and the Circulation of Knowledge in Antiquity

Description and organization

How did Greek and Roman philosophers react to “foreign influences,” or “foreigners” (*xenoi*)? Did Greek and Roman philosophy and literature promote a stereotypical notion of the other, or do we always find different approaches to foreignness? Are stereotypes and prejudices the most common features of ancient representations of foreigners? When philosophers strive to expand the body of knowledge of their time, are they open or closed to the input that may come from other populations?

The Greek concept of the “foreigner” (*xenos*) is rather wide-ranging, as is clear from Socrates’ plea to his judges at the beginning of Plato’s *Apology*, that they tolerate his simple language as they would tolerate a foreigner from Ionia speaking the dialect of that region.

Before Socrates’ philosophical activity, the Presocratics, both physiologists and sophists, were all “guests” or foreigners (*xenoi*) in Athens—not citizens. Moreover, before the arrival of philosophers to mainland Greece, Greeks from Attica or the Peloponnese would go abroad to learn and acquire knowledge. According to Herodotus, Solon, one of the Seven Sages, traveled for ten years to Egypt and to the court of Cresus.

Solon went abroad to “philosophize”, i.e. to collect the wisdom of the learned foreigners.

This conference aims at surveying the different representations of foreigners provided by Greek and Roman philosophers. The goal is to establish whether these representations had an impact on the development of ancient philosophy. Selected papers will focus on the foreigners’

contributions to ancient philosophy and will explain how was possible that philosophy, from its origin through its development, was always intertwined with cultural exchanges around the Mediterranean, despite the different languages, the geographical and historical distances and the barrier of citizenship.

The conference will focus on archaic, classical, Hellenistic, and Roman antiquity. We welcome papers on the notion of “xenos” from different perspectives (anthropological, literary, historical and philosophical).

Please send an abstract of 300-450 words and a short CV to : gili.luca [at] uqam.ca.

Deadline for submission: December 20, 2018. Decisions will be made by January 10, 2018. The conference proceedings will be published.

The organizers

Benoît Castelnerac (Université de Sherbrooke)

Luca Gili (Université du Québec à Montréal)

Laetitia Monteils-Laeng (Université de Montréal)

Contact

gili.luca [at] uqam.ca.

(Text by the organizers)

Link

https://classicalstudies.org/scs-news/call-papers-philosophy-and-circulation-knowledge-antiquity

Society for Classical Studies

Allegory, Poetics, and Symbol in Neoplatonic Texts

Description and organization

What is the origin and purport of the idea of the symbol in Neoplatonic poetic theory? What role does allegory play in strategies of Neoplatonic exegesis, either of Plato’s texts or of other canonical or scriptural texts? How do Neoplatonists deploy theories of allegory, analogy, and symbolism to approach traditional texts? 

 

From Plato’s dialogues, to Middle Platonist treatments of those dialogues (e.g., Apuleius’ Golden Ass; Origen’s exegesis of the Phaedrus in the Contra Celsum) to the full-blown Neoplatonic theories of allegory we find in Proclus’ Commentary on the Republic, to later Renaissance uses of symbols and emblems (e.g. Bruno’s imprese in On the Heroic Frenzies), symbolism is a key component of Platonic discourse. What roles do the language of symbol, theories of symbolism, and or other aesthetic approaches to textuality play in the Platonic traditions? How do Neoplatonists apply the category of symbol to registers that are other than literary (as in for example in theurgy)? 

 

Since Sheppard’s 1976 Oxford dissertation, Studies on the 5th and 6th essays of Proclus’ Commentary on the Republic, scholarly interest in Neoplatonic allegory and poetics has increased. Not only is the first volume of the new Cambridge translation of Proclus’ Commentary on the Republic (Edited and translated by Baltzly, Finamore and Miles) about to appear, but now classics volumes such as Lamberton’s Homer the Theologian (Brill 1989) Dawson’s, Allegorical Readers and Cultural Revision in Ancient Alexandria (California 1991) and Struck’s Birth of the Symbol (Princeton 2004)have sponsored an increasingly important field that spans ancient philosophy, poetics, biblical studies, Patristics, and ancient religion. 

 

In this CFP we invite scholars interested in the history, theory, philosophy, and trajectory of symbolism and poetics as they appear in Platonizing texts to submit abstracts of 500–800 words, for papers requiring 15-20 minutes of presentation, electronically to Sara Ahbel-Rappe. The member’s name should appear only on the cover letter, not on the abstract. All abstracts must be received no later than February 24, 2018. Abstracts will be judged anonymously. The panel organizer will subsequently contact those who have written abstracts with the reviewers’ comments and recommendation.

Contact

rappe@umich.edu

(Text by the organizers)

Link

https://classicalstudies.org/annual-meeting/2019/150/call-abstracts-allegory-poetics-and-symbol-neoplatonic-texts

Érotique et Politique chez Platon

Erôs, genre et sexualité dans la cité platonicienne

Luc Brisson & Olivier Renaut (Eds.), Baden-Baden: Academia Verlag, 2017

Description

L’érotique platonicienne est sans doute, avec la théorie des formes intelligibles, une des pierres angulaires de la philosophie des dialogues. Les études récentes sur le genre (gender) et la sexualité dans l’Antiquité ont donné un nouvel éclairage à certains éléments de l’érotique platonicienne, qu’il s’agit dans ce volume d’inscrire spécifiquement dans son contexte à la fois moral et politique. En effet, l’erôs platonicien ne saurait être seulement ce désir intellectualisé que l’on se plaît à retrouver à travers l’expression « amour platonique » ; c’est un désir situé, marquant le corps et l’âme de celui ou celle qui en est affecté, et dont le fonctionnement et les effets doivent être expliqués. Ce volume réunit douze contributions dédiées à l’étude de cette érotique platonicienne en utilisant les méthodes de l’histoire de la philosophie, de l’anthropologie comparée, de la psychanalyse, des études sur le genre et la sexualité dans l’Antiquité. Le volume comporte trois sections : 1) Orientations, 2) Normes, prescriptions, transgressions, et 3) Communauté érotique, communauté politique, afin de rendre compte de la complexité de l’érotique platonicienne et son lien avec la cité telle qu’elle est ou devrait être instituée. Avec les contributions de Carolina Araújo, Ruby Blondell et Sandra Boehringer, Luc Brisson, Claude Calame, Louis-André Dorion, David Halperin, Annick Jaulin, Annie Larivée, Juan Pablo Lucchelli, Paul Ludwig, Olivier Renaut et Klaus Schöpsdau.

(Texte de la maison d’édition)

Table des matières

Introduction

I. Orientations

David Halperin : L’erôs platonicien et ce qu’on appelle « amour »

Juan Pablo Lucchelli : Ce que Platon enseigne à la psychanalyse

Paul Ludwig : Sexual Orientation and the Regime in Plato’s Republic

Louis-André Dorion : Xénophon, Socrate et l’homosexualité

II. Normes, prescriptions, transgressions

Annie Larivée : « Trouble dans le genre » chez Xénophon et Platon

Claude Calame : Les pratiques chorales dans les Lois de Platon : Une éducation à caractère initiatique ?

Klaus Schöpsdau : Les prescriptions sur l’éthique sexuelle dans les Lois (835c1-842a10)

Ruby Blondell Sandra Boehringer : L’autre genre du Symposion : quand Lucien rejoue Platon

III. Communauté érotique, communauté politique

Annick Jaulin : Léo Strauss lecteur du Banquet de Platon

Olivier Renaut : La pédérastie selon Pausanias : un défi pour l’éducation platonicienne

Carolina Araújo : Erôs and communitarianism in Plato’s Symposium

Luc Brisson : La question du mariage chez Platon

Bibliographie

Lien

http://www.vrin.fr/book.php?code=9783896657251