Yearly Archives: 2024

Conferences

The Collegium Phaenomenologicum Call for Applications

The Collegium Phaenomenologicum convenes for its 47th annual session in Città di Castello, Italy, July 7-25,2025.

The terms by which ancient Greek intellectuals conceived of being born, living, and dying continue to exert profound influence on contemporary efforts to theorize the political valence of life. Collegium 2025 will take three central concepts as its focus, considering the lines and ruptures from genos to generation, from bios to biography, and from nekros to necroresistance, with special interest in Greek tragedy as a powerful site of such intersections. We will be interested in tracing how these concepts have been taken up, transformed, and given new energy through the development of a variety of methods for querying the unquestioned, unearthing what has been buried, and theorizing livable lives.

Theme for 2025

Greek Antiquity Now?

Genos, Bios, Nekros

The Collegium is intended for faculty members and advanced graduate and postdoctoral students in philosophy and related disciplines. The core of the program consists in a series of lecture courses, individual lectures, and intensive text-based seminars. A participants’ conference will be held in conjunction with the Collegium on July 5-6.

Applications: https://collegiumphaenomenologicum.org/applications/

APS, Conferences

Ancient Philosophy Society Call For Papers

The Ancient Philosophy Society for the Study of Ancient Greek and Roman Thought was established to provide a forum for scholarship on ancient Greek and Roman texts and their diverse receptions. Honoring the richness of the American and European philosophical traditions, the Ancient Philosophy Society supports phenomenological, postmodern, Anglo-American, Straussian, Tübingen School, hermeneutic, comparative, psychoanalytic, queer, decolonial, feminist, philosophy of race, and other interpretations of ancient Greek and Roman philosophical and literary works.

Papers on any topic in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy are invited. We are especially interested in papers that focus on noncanonical figures and texts in ancient philosophy, including writings by Pythagorean women, Hellenistic schools, Pre-Socratic fragments, and late antique Neoplatonism. We also welcome papers comparing Hellenistic Judaism and Early Christian texts to ancient pagan thinkers.

The APS values diversity and particularly invites submissions from members of groups underrepresented in philosophy, including women, people of color, LGBTQI individuals, and people with disabilities. The APS will award a Diversity Prize and an Emerging Scholar Prize to papers written by members of groups underrepresented in philosophy and by PhD candidates and recent graduates.

The APS welcomes submissions of complete papers of no more than 3000 words.

https://www.ancientphilosophysociety.org/paper-submission

Please direct all inquiries to Justin Humphreys: justin.humphreys@villanova.edu

DEADLINE

December 20, 2024

Sponsored by:

Villanova University

Books

Teaching Plato in Italian Renaissance Universities

During the Renaissance, the Arts curriculum in universities was based almost exclusively on the teaching of Aristotle. With the revival of Plato, however, professors of philosophy started to deviate from the official syllabus and teach Plato’s dialogues. This collection of essays offers the first comprehensive overview of Platonic teaching in Italian Renaissance universities, from the establishment of a Platonic professorship at the university of Florence-Pisa in the late 15th century to the introduction of Platonic teaching in the schools and universities of Bologna, Padua, Venice, Pavia and Milan in the 16th and 17th centuries. The essays draw from new evidence found in manuscripts and archival material to explore how university professors adapted the format of Plato’s dialogues to suit their audience and defended the idea that Plato could be accommodated to university teaching. They provide significant and fundamental insight into how Platonism spread during the 16th and 17th centuries and how a new interpretation of Plato emerged, distinct from the Neoplatonic tradition revived by Marsilio Ficino.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1 – Maude Vanhaelen, “Teaching Plato in Sixteenth-Century Italy”

Chapter 2 – Simone Fellina, “Teaching Plato in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Florence and Pisa: from Francesco Cattani da Diacceto to Girolamo Bardi”

Chapter 3 – Barbara Bartocci, “Shifting Away from Aristotelianism towards Platonism. Paolo Beni’s Project”

Chapter 4 – Eva Del Soldato, “Plato between Pavia and Milan in the Sixteenth Century”

Bibliography
Index of Names

Books

Foreign Influences: The Circulation of Knowledge in Antiquity

Tasos Grigorakis

The essays collected in this volume focus on the Ancient Greeks’ perception of foreigners and of foreign lands as potential sources of knowledge. They aim at exploring the hypothesis that the most adventurous intellectuals saw foreign lands and foreigners as repositories of knowledge that the Greeks σοφοί had to engage with, in the hope of bringing back home valuables in the form of new ideas.

It is a common place to state that the “Greeks” displayed xenophobia, which is probably best exemplified in the binary and ethnocentric division of humanity in two groups: the Greek world (i.e., the hellenophones) and the others, the Barbarians – those who speak foreign languages. This attitude of insularism and defiance, however, did not hinder the curiosity of Greek and Roman societies towards strangers. Lycurgus, Pythagoras, Democritus, etc.: there is a long list of sages and philosophers who travelled around the world for a significant period of time. The Greeks had a rich and varied relationship with foreign lands and people, which made possible a real circulation of knowledge throughout the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic times; this is also true of the Roman Empire. Each of the articles included in this collective work explore one aspect of the “stranger” as a possible source of knowledge, with contributions mostly focused on Plato, Xenophon, Democritus, Aristotle, Diogenes, Cicero and Galen.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword — Benoît Castelnérac and Laetitia Monteils-Laeng

Remarques sur les emplois stylistiques de ξένος, ξενικός et γλῶττα — André Rehbinder

Democritus, B 299 (D.K.). Alien Wisdom, Geometry, and the Contemporary Prose Landscape — Ilaria Andolfi

Étrangèreté du vrai et politique chez Platon — Étienne Helmer

Cephalus: A Role Model for the Producers in Plato’s Kallipolis — Anna Schriefl

Xenophobia in Utopia: On the Metics in Plato’s Laws — David Merry

Social Science and Universalism in Xenophon’s Oeconomicus IV — Zoli Filotas

Aristotle on the Intellectual Achievements of Foreign Civilizations — Mor Segev

Carthage: Aristotle’s Best (non-Greek) Constitution? — Thornton C. Lockwood, Jr.

Translatio, Imitatio, Aemulatio: Assimilation of Greek Thought in Cicero’s Philosophical Writings — Katarzyna Borkowska

Étrangers ou étranges ? La sagesse des confins et la connaissance du monde dans la littérature grecque des premiers siècles de l’empire — Marine Glénisson

Déterminisme environnemental et influence culturelle : la vision de l’étranger chez Galien — Julien Devinant

Le privilège philosophique de l’étranger — Isabelle Chouinard

Index of Passages

Index of Ancient Names and Places

Uncategorized

The Routledge Handbook of Women and Ancient Greek Philosophy

Edited by Sara Brill, Catherine McKeen, The Routledge Handbook of Women and Ancient Greek Philosophy is an essential reference source for cutting-edge scholarship on women, gender, and philosophy in Greek antiquity. The volume features original research that crosses disciplines, offering readers an accessible guide to new methods, new sources, and new questions in the study of ancient Greek philosophy and its multiple afterlives.

Comprising 40 chapters from a diverse international group of experts, the Handbook considers questions about women and gender in sources from Greek antiquity spanning the period from 7th c. BCE to 2nd c. BCE, and in receptions of Greek antiquity from the Roman Imperial period, through the European Renaissance to the current day. Chapters are organized into five major sections:

I. Early Greek antiquity – including Sappho, Presocratic philosophy, Sophists, and Greek tragedy – 700s–400s BCE
II. Classical Greek antiquity – including Aeschines, Plato, and Xenophon – 400s–300s BCE
III. Late Classical Greek to Hellenistic antiquity – including Cyrenaics, Cynics, the Hippocratic corpus, and Aristotle – 300s–200s BCE
IV. Late Greek antiquity to Roman Imperial period – including Pythagorean women, Stoics, Pyrrhonian Skeptics, and late Platonists – 200s BCE to 700s CE
V. Later receptions – including Shakespeare, the European Renaissance, Anna Julia Cooper, W.E.B. DuBois, Jane Harrison, Sarah Kofman, and Toni Morrison

The Routledge Handbook of Women and Ancient Greek Philosophy is a vital resource for students and scholars in philosophy, Classics, and gender studies who want to gain a deeper understanding of philosophy’s rich past and explore sources and questions beyond the traditional canon. The volume is a valuable resource, as well, for students and scholars from history, humanities, literature, political science, religious studies, rhetorical studies, theatre, and LGBTQ and sexuality studies.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
Sara Brill and Catherine McKeen

Part I: 700-400s BCE
2. The Way Up and Down: Liminal Agency in The Homeric Hymns and Presocratic Philosophy
Jessica Elbert Decker
3. Sappho of Lesbos and the Time of Erosophy
Chelsea C. Harry
4. Sex, Family, and Chthonic Justice: On the Cosmology of the Choephoroi
Kalliopi Nikolopoulou
5. Euripides on Epistemic Injustice? Interpreting the Fragments of Melanippē Sophē and Desmōtis Dorota Dutsch
6. On Not–Believing: A Gorgianic Reading of the Tragic Cassandra
Maria Cecília de Miranda Nogueira Coelho
7. The Correctness of Grammatical Gender in the Sophistic Tradition
Chloe Balla

Part II: 400s-300s BCE
8. Eis gynaikos andra: Aeschines on Women, Eros, and Politics
Francesca Pentassuglio
9. “By Zeus,” Said Theodote: Women as Interlocutors and Performers in Xenophon’s Philosophical Writings
Carol Atack
10. Women in Xenophon’s Socratic Works
David M. Johnson
11. Socrates’ Laughing Bodies: Women and Comedy in Plato’s Phaedo
Sonja Tanner
12. Plato’s Argument for the Inclusion of Women in the Guardian Class: Prospects and Problems
Emily Hulme
13. Women, Spirit, and Authority in Plato and Aristotle
Patricia Marechal
14. Plato on Women and the Private Family
Rachel Singpurwalla
15. Plato’s Scientific Feminism: Collection and Division in Republic V’s “First Wave”
John Proios and Rachana Kamtekar
16. Weaving Politics in Plato’s Statesman
Jill Frank and Sarah Greenberg
17. Socratic Midwifery
Marina Berzins McCoy
18. Divine Names and the Mystery of Diotima
Danielle A. Layne
19. Sex Difference and What it Means to be Human in Timaeus
Jill Gordon
　
Part III: 300s-200s BCE
20. Cyrenaics on Philosophical Education and Gender
Katharine R. O’Reilly
21. Wives or Philosophers? Hipparchia and the Cynic Criticism of Gendered Economics
Malin Grahn-Wilder
22. Diagnosing Aristotle’s Sexism
Charlotte Witt
23. Women in Ancient Medical Texts as Sources of Knowledge in Aristotle
Mariska Leunissen
24. Aristotle’s Hylomorphism Reconsidered Through Aristotle’s Account of Generation
Adriel M. Trott
25. The Role of Females in Aristotle’s Teleology of Reproduction
Ana Laura Edelhoff
26. Aristotle on Women’s Virtues
Sophia Connell
27. What is Wrong with Women. Aristotle’s Paradigm of Gender, and its Anomalies
Giulia Sissa
　
Part IV: 200s BCE-700s CE
28. Pythagorean Women: An Example of Female Philosophical Protreptics
Caterina Pellò
29. Women in the Household and Public Sphere: Two Contrasting Stoic Views
Jula Wildberger
30. Pyrrhonian Skepticism on Gender and Virtue
Christiana Olfert
31. The Reception of Diotima in Later Platonism: Clea, Sosipatra and Asclepigeneia
Crystal Addey
32. The Place of Women in the Neoplatonic Schools
Alexandra Michalewski
33. The School of Hypatia and the Problem of the Gendered Soul
Aistė Čelkytė
　
Part V: Later Receptions
34. The Worth of Women: The Reception of Ancient Debates in the Renaissance
Marguerite Deslauriers
35. Philosopher Queens and a Female Prospero(a): Plato’s Republic and Shakespeare’s Tempest
Arlene W. Saxonhouse
36. “Possessed, Magical, and Dangerous to Handle”: Jane Harrison, Nietzsche, and the Maenad Chorus
Laura McClure
37. Women’s Work: Exploring a Tradition of Inquiry with W. E. B. Du Bois, Anna Julia Cooper, and Aristotle
Harriet Fertik
38. Sarah Kofman: Socratic Lover
Paul Allen Miller
39. Decolonial Ruminations on a Classic: Medea, Sethe, and la Llorona
Andrés Fabián Henao Castro
40. Eros, the Elusive? A Dialogue on Plato’s Symposium, Diotima, and Women in Ancient Philosophy
Mariana Ortega and Danielle A. Layne

APS, Conferences, Resources

Conference Registration and Travel Information

The Registration Link is now live for the 2024 meeting of the Ancient Philosophy Society in Toronto.

Here is some useful travel information for the event:

Transportation from Toronto Airports to Hotel:

-There are two airports servicing the Toronto area:  Pearson International Airport (which is about a half hour’s car ride from downtown Toronto), and Billy Bishop Airport (which is within the city limits).

-To get to the Chelsea Hotel from Pearson Airport, you can take a taxi, airport limo service, or the express train service.  Uber and Lyft cars can also be arranged. 

-The express train costs $12.35 CAD, and takes you to a downtown subway station that is 3 subway stops away and then a short (5-minute) walk to the Chelsea.  The subway is an additional $3.25. 

-Taxi fare from the airport is approximately $65 CAD plus tip, and limo service ranges from $75-120 depending on the company.

-To get to the Chelsea Hotel from Billy Bishop, the best option is to take a taxi or arrange for an Uber or Lyft ride.  Taxi fare is approximately $12 CAD. 

-Detailed information about these various travel options, including accessibility information, can be found below. 

  1. Express Train from Pearson Airport to Downtown Hilton:

Union Pearson Express Train (UP Express):

  • Direct travel from Pearson airport to Union Subway Station
  • From Terminal 1 at Pearson, the UP Express platform can be found at the end of the hall. Follow the train icon above ‘Train to City’ signage. Train is located on level 3, accessible by elevator near door ‘D,’ or escalator by door ‘F.’
  • Weekdays, 5:27 am – 11:27 pm, 30 minute intervals
  • Weekends, 6:27 am – 11:27 pm, 30 minute intervals
  • 25 minute travel time
  • Standard fare, $12.35, purchase tickets: https://www.upexpress.com/Tickets/Fares , or at kiosks

Union Subway Station to Chelsea Hotel (33 Gerard Street West):

5 minute TTC (Subway, Yonge line North to College Station or Dundas Station*) plus a 5 minute walk, or a 7 minute car ride.

*Note, the Chelsea Hotel is about 400 metres (a 6 minute walk) from Oakham House, where the conference is being held.  The closest subway stop to the conference venue is Dundas, whereas the closest stop to the hotel is College.  Only the Dundas Station is wheelchair accessible.   

Accessibility Information:

  • UP Express train is wheelchair accessible.

Accessibility planning via UP Express Website:

https://www.upexpress.com/CustomerSupport/Accessibility

  • Elevators located for subway platform access at both Union and Dundas Station.
  • For TTC Stations, in the event that elevators are out of service, plans will be posted on each elevator.

TTC Accessibility Handbook:

https://www.ttc.ca/accessibility/Easier-access-on-the-TTC/Handbook-for-Accessible-Travel

2.1 Billy Bishop Airport to Mainland

Note:  This airport is on an island just off the downtown Toronto mainland.  One can walk to the mainland via an underground pedestrian tunnel, or via a short ferry boat (free of charge). 

Billy Bishop Ferry:

  • Airport to Billy Bishop Ferry Terminal.
  • Complimentary for pedestrians
  • 90 second travel time.
  • 5:30 am – 12:00 am, approx. 15 minute intervals.

Billy Bishop Pedestrian Tunnel:

  • Located below Billy Bishop Ferry Terminal.
  • Airport to Billy Bishop Ferry Terminal
  • Approx. 6 minute walk, moving walkways added for convenience. 

Billy Bishop Ferry Terminal to Downtown Hilton (145 Richmond St. W):

  • Approx. 12 minute car ride.

Accessibility Information:

  • Billy Bishop ferry is wheelchair accessible.
  • Billy Bishop pedestrian tunnel is wheelchair accessible by elevator.

Accessibility Planning via Billy Bishop Website: https://www.billybishopairport.com/the-airport/accessibility

3. Taxi and Limo Options from Airports:

Taxis are generally on standby at both airports.  Limos can be pre-arranged.  Accessible taxis and limos should be booked in advance.  

Airport Limo Toronto

  • Airport pick up and drop off car service. 
  • 4.8 star customer service review.
  • Available for Pearson and Billy Bishop.
  • Vehicles with accessibility aids are notavailable.
  • Quote for car service: $115 from Pearson.
  • Website: https://www.airportlimotoronto.com/airport-transportation
  • Phone Number: 416 699 2000

Pearson Vision Limousine

  • Airport pick up and drop off car service.
  • Available for Pearson and Billy Bishop.
  • Vehicles with accessibility aids available, though accessible vehicles are limited so it is recommended to book in advance.
  • Quote for car service: Pearson $75, Billy Bishop $60 (same price for accessible and non-accessible vehicles).
  • Website: https://www.pearsonvision.com/AreasServed/wheelchair.html
  • 24 hour Reservation Phone Line: 1 855 661 1577

North American Airport Limousine Service

GTA Cab

  • Airport pick up and drop off car service. 

Dignity Transportation Incorporated

  • Airport pick up and drop off car service. 

Reliable Downtown Cab Companies for Travel Within the City:

Beck Taxi

  • 24 hour service.
  • Standard Vehicle wait time: 5-10 minutes.
  • Accessible Vehicle wait time: 20-30 minutes.
  • No additional charge for accessible vehicles.
  • Website: https://becktaxi.com/pages/about
  • Phone Number: 416 751 5555

Wheelchair Taxi Toronto

Accessibility Information:

TTC Accessibility Information Guide:

https://www.ttc.ca/accessibility/Easier-access-on-the-TTC/Handbook-for-Accessible-Travel

List of Subway Stations Accessible by Elevator:

Line 1 (Yonge-University): Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, Highway 407, Pioneer Village, York University, Finch West, Downsview Park, Sheppard West, Wilson, Lawrence West, Eglinton West, St Clair West, Dupont, St George, Queen’s Park, St Patrick, Osgoode, St Andrew, Union, Queen, Dundas, Wellesley, Bloor-Yonge, St Clair, Davisville, Eglinton, York Mills, Sheppard-Yonge, North York Centre, Finch.

Line 2 (Bloor-Danforth): Kipling, Royal York, Jane, Runnymede, Keele, Dundas West, Dufferin, Ossington, Bathurst, Spadina, St George, Bay, Bloor-Yonge, Broadview, Chester, Pape, Coxwell, Woodbine, Main Street, Victoria Park, Kennedy.

3.2 Streetcars:

  • Streetcars are available going east/west on both Dundas and College Streets. 
  • All streetcars are accessible, ramps located at second door of the vehicle.
  • Note: not all streetcar stops are accessible, see streetcar specific accessibility web page for more information.
  • $3.25 fee, streetcars only accept cash, credit or debit cards, or the TTC’s on “presto” card.  There are machines you can tap with your card when entering. 
  • Full streetcar map: https://www.ttc.ca/routes-and-schedules#/
  • Weekdays + Saturdays: 6:00 am – 2:00 am, Sundays: 8:00 am- 2:00 am
  • If planning to travel by streetcar, we recommend downloading the ‘Rocketman’ app, for live updates about vehicle arrival times.

Accessibility Information:

TTC Accessibility Information Guide:

https://www.ttc.ca/accessibility/Easier-access-on-the-TTC/Handbook-for-Accessible-Travel

Streetcar Specific Accessibility Information:

https://www.ttc.ca/accessibility/Easier-access-on-the-TTC/Riding-the-Streetcar