Utrecht University
Olympiodorus of Alexandria
Exegete, teacher, philosopher
Description and organization
Olympiodorus of Alexandria, who is often considered to have been the last leading, non-Christian philosopher of classical antiquity, has also been termed ‘the first classicist’ (Tarrant, 1997). His place in the history of thought brings into focus issues of doctrinal difference and toleration, of the value of philosophical tradition, and of pedagogical concern for those coming of age in uncertain times. But there is more to Olympiodorus than the times in which he lived. His commentaries on Plato’s First Alcibiades, Gorgias and Phaedo, and on Aristotle’s Categories and Meteorology are now becoming better known and explored. Recent scholarship has also reopened the question of Olympiodorus’ philosophical calibre. There is reason enough, then, to try to present an all-round picture of Olympiodorus, as this conference intends to do.
Programme
Thursday December 14th
9.30-10.00 Coffee and Registration
10.00-10.15 Opening
10.15-11.00 Danielle Layne (Gonzaga) – The Virtue of Double Ignorance in Olympiodorus
11.00-11.15 Break
11.15-12.00 Albert Joosse (Utrecht) – Knowing Oneself in Olympiodorus
12.00-12.45 Pauliina Remes (Uppsala) – Olympiodorus on the Human Being
12.45-14.00 Lunch
14.00-14.45 Maria Chriti (Thessaloniki/CHS) – Olympiodorus of Alexandria on ‘Composition’ in Language and Thinking after Ammonius of Hermeias and John Philoponus
14.45-15.30 Bettina Bohle (Bochum) – Olympiodorus and Hermeias on the Platonic Theory of Rhetoric
15.30-16.00 Break
16.00-16.45 François Renaud (Moncton) – Reconciling Philosophy with Poetry: Olympiodorus’ Interpretation of the Gorgias Myth
16.45-17.30 Anne Sheppard (Royal Holloway) – Olympiodorus on Drama
Friday December 15th
9.30-10.15 Cristina Viano (Paris, CNRS) – Olympiodore, le commentaire des Météorologiques et l’alchimie gréco-alexandrine
10.15-10.30 Break
10.30-11.15 Simon Fortier (Liège) – Olympiodorus and the Teaching of Transmigration
11.15-12.00 Péter Lautner (Budapest) – Olympiodorus’ Notion of aesthêsis and its Context
12.00-13.30 Lunch
13.30-14.15 Sonsoles Costero Quiroga (Madrid) – Scala virtutum in Proclus and Olympiodorus. Two Different Views about Grades of Knowledge in Late Neoplatonism
14.15-15.00 Michael Griffin (UBC) – Olympiodorus on the Scale of Virtues
15.00-15.15 Break
15.15-16.00 Harold Tarrant (Newcastle, Australia) – Special Kinds of Platonic Discourse: Does Olympiodorus Have a New Approach?
16.00-16.30 Closing discussion
All welcome. Please register by December 1st via olympiodorus2017@gmail.com
This conference is made possible by financial support from the Dutch Research Council (NWO), through the VENI project ‘Socratic Educations’.
Contact
olympiodorus2017@gmail.com
(Text by the organizers)
Link