Ancient Philosophy Society

RECEPTIONS: READING THE PAST ACROSS TIME AND SPACE
September 27, 28, and 29, 2013

OPENING TALK
RALPH HEXTER
Distinguished Professor of Classics & Comparative Literature
Provost & Executive Vice Chancellor
UC DAVIS
“EPIC WORLDS”
Friday 6PM

KEYNOTE SPEAKER
WAI CHEE DIMOCK
William Lampson Professor of English & American Studies
YALE UNIVERSITY
“ RECYCLING THE EPIC: GILGAMESH ON THREE
CONTINENTS”

Call for Papers
In keeping with the National Endowment for the Humanities’ new call
for interdisciplinary transcultural projects, this conference will focus on
“intercultural receptions” across time and space. Reading, in the title, is broadly
conceived in the sense of reception of “cultural” forms and genres, including
texts, buildings, art works, rituals, and performances. This year’s conference
will particularly focus on the reception of ancient, medieval, and early modern
texts, whether literary or philosophical, across genres, periods, and geographical
spaces. 250 word abstracts should be submitted to Professor Brenda
Schildgen by May 1, 2013 (email: bdschildgen@ucdavis.edu).

WHERE: UC DAVIS CONFERENCE CENTER (FRIDAY 6PM)
SATURDAY and SUNDAY, UC DAVIS, VOORHIES 126

receptionstudies.ucdavis.edu

Long time APS member, Emma Bianchi, who will be joining the Comparative Literature Department at NYU, called our attention to this conference on Lucretius and Modernity to be held there this October.

Here is the description:

The long shadow cast by Lucretius’s poem falls across the disciplines of philosophy, literary history and criticism, religious studies, classics, political philosophy… Over the past two decades, interest in De rerum natura in each of these fields has grown dramatically, in some cases as hidden Epicurean influences on well-known writers have come to light, in others when the decline of a school or of a particular orthodoxy has left room for a return to Lucretius, and to the Epicurean tradition more broadly—as with the eclipse of normative materialisms in philosophy and politics. Contemporary physics has found in the ancient atomist tradition a strange and evocative mirror; the place of Lucretius’s poetics in the development of modern poetic genres, techniques, and themes has come into sharp focus; political philosophers have identified what Althusser called a “subterranean current” in the materialist tradition, flowing from Epicurus through Spinoza and Marx and to Deleuze, propelled by Lucretius’s great poem.

“Lucretius and Modernity” is the first conference to bring together classicists, philosophers and literary critics from Europe and the United States interested centrally in the work of Lucretius and in the long history of his reception. Clustered about four topics—1. What is modern about Lucretius? 2. What is Lucretian about modernity? 3. How to do things with Lucretius: Physics, Politics, Poetics; and 4. Following Lucretius—the papers presented at “Lucretius and Modernity” will provide the occasion for a reflection across disciplinary borders on the poem’s continuing, growing importance.

For more information, visit the Lucretius and Modernity conference site on the Comp Lit website at NYU.

Given Stephen Greenblatt’s recent essay on Lucretius’s “On The Nature Of Things” in the New Yorker, it seems that Lucretius is in the air.

Burt Hopkins, APS member and chair of the Philosophy Department at Seattle University, has asked that we post a link to a conference on Plato’s Unwritten Teachings that will be of interest to many of you.

Please visit the link below to learn more about the conference:

http://www2.seattleu.edu/artsci/philosophy/Default.aspx?id=21904

The Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue™ (JIRD) is pleased to issue a call for submissions for its inaugural edition. The Journal is a forum for academic, political, and social discussions related to the unique experiences and interactions of different religious traditions. Students, faculty, and alumni from seminaries of all affiliations are welcome to submit an original article.

The Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue™ seeks to increase interchanges between religious communities, starting with clergy and leaders in inter-religious work. Although it aims to become a vehicle for improving relations between groups, the Journal encourages those interested in submitting pieces not to shy away from controversial issues. Prospective authors should feel welcome to address these topics head-on, though in a respectful and informed way.

Click here for the Call for Papers (.doc).

The final conference of the “Year of Antigones” program sponsored by DePaul University will take place on May 15-17, 2008.  Click here for Year of Antigones Program.

According to the Year of Antingones website:

“The Year of Antigones is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, and community-wide series of events focused on the figure of Antigone, the tragic heroine of Sophocles’ play of the same name, and the various historical and contemporary appropriations of this figure. These events are organized by the Department of Philosophy at DePaul University, but will take place at various colleges, universities, theaters, performance spaces, and other venues throughout Chicagoland during the 2007-2008 academic year.”