Ancient Philosophy Commons^™

Did The Ancient Greeks Have A Concept Of Human Rights?, Anthony Preus

Anthony Preus

"Although there is no single word in the classical Greek that captures the sense that modern political thinkers give to the word "rights" as it is used in the phrase "human rights," classical Greek and Roman texts have a good deal to contribute to 21st-century discussions of human rights."

Introduction To The Transaction Edition, The Genesis Of Winspear5s Thought, Anthony Preus

Anthony Preus

No abstract provided.

Aristotle And Michael Of Ephesus On The Movement And Progression Of Animals Translated, With Introduction And Notes [Translation Of Studien Und Materialen Zur Geschichte Der Philosophie], Anthony Preus

Anthony Preus

The translation of Michael of Ephesus, Commentaries on The Movement of Animals and the Progression of Animals, here presented, are the first into a modern language. These are the only surviving Greek commentaries on these treaties.

Science And The Philosophy In Aristotle's Biological Works, Anthony Preus

Anthony Preus

The contents of this book cover observations and theories, science and philosophy in Aristotle's "Generation of Animals," understanding the organic parts, necessity and purpose in the explanation of nature, notes and a bibliography.

The Repercussions Of Having A Body, James Harkness

CIE Essay Writing Contest

No abstract provided.

Sagp Ssips 2016 Program, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Sagp Ssips 2016 Abstracts, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Pharaonic Occultism: The Relationship Of Esotericism And Egyptology, 1875–1930, Kevin Todd Mclaren

Master's Theses

The purpose of this work is to explore the interactions between occultism and scholarly Egyptology from 1875 to 1930. Within this timeframe, numerous esoteric groups formed that centered their ideologies on conceptions of ancient Egyptian knowledge. In order to legitimize their belief systems based on ancient Egyptian wisdom, esotericists attempted to become authoritative figures on Egypt. This process heavily impacted Western intellectualism not only because occult conceptions of Egypt became increasingly popular, but also because esotericists intruded into academia or attempted to overshadow it. In turn, esotericists and Egyptologists both utilized the influx of new information from Egyptological studies to …

Saving Socrates: A New Socratic Portrait, Anthony Lobrace

Honors Theses

In 399 B.C. Socrates was indicted on charges of asebeia, or impiety and corrupting the youth. He was brought before a jury of some 500 Athenians in a type of trial known as agon timetos, or “trial of assessment”. Casting their votes, the vast majority of the jurors found Socrates guilty of the offenses he was accused of. A week later he drank a cup of hemlock and died in his prison cell. In what follows I will draw a new portrait of Socrates. This will be constructed from details found in Aristophanes’ the Clouds, as well as Socratic dialogues. …

Christian-Stoicism: Exploring The Relationship Between Christianity And Stoicism And Constructing A Manual Of Christian-Stoic Wisdom, Trevor Kelly

Master of Arts in Religious Studies (M.A.R.S. Theses)

While the theological assumptions of Christianity and Stoicism may seem disparate, their philosophies are highly compatible. This compatibility is one of the reasons that early Christian authors looked to pagan Stoic authors for support and inspiration. Many Stoic and Christian authors compiled manuals for right living. The historical connections and conceptual similarities between the two schools of thought suggest the viability and value of constructing a combined Christian-Stoic manual of wisdom. Such is the constructive task of this thesis. Passages from Christian and Stoic sources are brought together to illustrate major common themes. The passages are followed by original commentaries …

Virtue, Knowledge, And Goodness, Marlin Ray Sommers

Masters Theses

This thesis consists of three parts. Part one responds to an argument by Jason Baehr that virtues of intellectual character which make their possessor good qua person can also figure as virtues in reliabilist accounts of knowledge. I analyze his argument with special attention to the cases he uses to motivate his claims, and argue that the role which intellectual character virtues play in the acquisition of knowledge is not the role which is relevant to reliabilists accounts of knowledge. More generally, I argue that character intellectual virtues are not good candidates for reliabilist virtues because their telos is not …

America And Athens As Seen Through South Park And Aristophanes, James F. Neyer

Honors Bachelor of Arts

When Dionysius the tyrant wished to be educated on the polity of Athens, Plato was said to have sent him the poetry of Aristophanes. It was through the works of Aristophanes that foreigners could learn how Athens functioned. The works of Aristophanes span 37 years, and won him multiple awards in this time. If Dionysius wished to learn about modern day America, then I think it would be best to give him the corpus of South Park. Over the course of two decades, this series has aired 267 episodes and has been consistently renewed. Though South Park does not …

Challenging Kleos: An Fpda Analysis And Application Of Andromache In The Iliad, Ayana Marie Rowe

Honors Bachelor of Arts

I will argue that through carefully constructed language, Andromache manipulates her status as an ideal, aristocratic woman in order to critique the masculine pursuit of kleos, thereby giving a voice to women like herself who are limited as women in their ability to speak out against the societal norms. I begin my argument by establishing the parameters of an ideal, aristocratic woman in ancient Greece and demonstrating ways in which Andromache fits this characterization. The larger expanse of my thesis is then devoted to my FPDA reading of Andromache’s speeches, and the conclusions drawn from my analyses. My final …

The Seed Of Principate: Annona And Imperial Politics, Joseph B. Ruter Iii

Honors Bachelor of Arts

From my study of the annona, I propose a new perspective on the transition between the Republic and the Principate. Each of the big three imperial historians account for the Principate in terms of personal politics and preferences of the “great man” Augustus (Div. Aug. 28; Rom. His. 52.1; Ann. 1.2). By contrast, I argue that the Principate represents the long-term political result of growing social inequality in Rome. From an equalitarian society of yodel-men farmers and shepherds in the 2^nd BCE, Rome had evolved into an unequal society by the 2^nd CE, …

Innovation & Hoplite Ideology: The Relation Of Martial Equipment To Ideology In Archaic And Classical Greece, William D. Henry

Honors Bachelor of Arts

The evidence which I present in this paper seems to suggest that there is an underlying ideology contributing to how hoplitic warfare is conducted. Further, I would argue that this ideology is more important to understanding and defining a hoplite than the definition given above. This ideology, I will argue even further, contributed to the slow adaption and evolution of the hoplitic panoply by which we now generally define hoplites. Lastly, I will discuss how this ideology changes during the period between the Archaic and Classical periods, and how this change affects the use of equipment. Therefore, there are two …

Girls, Girls, Girls The Prostitute In Roman New Comedy And The Pro Caelio, Nicholas R. Jannazo

Honors Bachelor of Arts

Prostitution is often said to be the oldest profession in the world, having occurred since the ancient times of Greece and Rome. Today’s American society views prostitution as immoral and repulsive, but this has not always been the case. In ancient Rome, Roman men were able to visit a brothel, pay for the company of a prostitute, and leave without being looked down upon or reproached, so long as they did so in moderation. If they frequently visited brothels, though, Roman men were admonished and scolded, as Cato does to a well-known gentleman after seeing him leave a brothel numerous …

"On Γίγνων", Faith D. Mcfadden

Critical Reflections

Abstract for On Γίγνων

This paper will examine C.D.C Reeve’s use of ἀγάλματα as a birth metaphor in the dialogue the Symposium, and compare it to the other birth metaphors as found in the Theaetetus. This paper posits that there is a difference betwixt the ἀγάλματα found in Socrates and the διάνοια with which certain men are found to be pregnant[1]. The relationship of ἀγάλματα and διάνοια are commensurate to the relationship of διάνοια and νοήσις as found in the hierarchy of understanding in the soul in the line metaphor of the Republic.

The paper will …

Sagp Newsletter 2015/16.3 Pacific, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Sagp Newsletter 2015.16.2 Central, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Aristotle's Ideal Regime As Utopia, Steven Thomason

Presentations and Lectures

Although Aristotle’s ideal regime discussed in books seven and eight of his Politics seems much more feasible and less utopian than the regime outlined in Plato’s Republic, a few scholars have questioned its feasiblity in light of the real world demands of politics. Similarly, I argue that carefully considered his ideal regime turns-out not to be feasible or a practical recommendation for politics, but rather a thought experiment like Plato’s Republic meant to show the limitations of what is politically achievable. I do so by comparing his ideal regime to his prior discussions of democracy in the earlier books of …

Preaching Christ Crucified: Origen’S Apologetic Strategy In Contra Celsum, Morgan S. Thompson

Honors Bachelor of Arts

This thesis aims to take part in that discovery by looking away from the popular stories of Christianity’s tumultuous beginnings and towards the interim periods of relative peace between persecutions. Indeed, in following De Ste. Croix’s timeline, there is a noticeable gap between Nero’s persecution in 64 AD and Decius’ in 250 AD. How were Christians interacting with the Roman Empire in those roughly 200 years? While a complete answer to that question is far beyond the scope of this thesis, much insight can still be gained by examining one particular part of the clash between Christians and the Roman …

Martin Luther King Jr. In Dialogue With The Ancient Greeks, Timothy Joseph Ph.D.

Classics Department Faculty Scholarship

To mark the start of Black History Month, a Classicist reflects on the inspiration King drew from ancient Greek culture.

Combat Trauma And Tragic Catharsis: An Aristotelian Account Of Tragedy And Trauma, Edward J. Hoffmann

Honors Bachelor of Arts

This essay argues that the Greeks experienced and understood combat trauma, and that they used tragedy and the catharsis that it effected as a means of restoring the order of souls traumatized in war. Our examination of the horrors of hoplite warfare should leave us with no question that ancient warfare was no more clean, decent, or glorious than modern war. To treat the trauma induced those horrors, the Greeks did indeed practice certain societal mechanisms, which our own society seems to so sadly lack. One of these was Attic tragedy. Certain of the tragedies explicitly speak to military experience, …

A Papyrus Letter About Epicurean Philosophy Books, James Keenan

James G. Keenan

No abstract provided.

Harmony From Confucian, Greek, Liberal, And Global Perspectives, Chenyang Li

Chenyang Li

No abstract provided.

‘If Apprehending Occurs, It Is Not The View’: Sakya Thinkers On The Madhyamaka View Of Freedom From Proliferations, Yaroslav Komarovski

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

This paper addresses several key elements of Sakya thinkers’ approach to Madhyamaka, with the primary focus on their understanding of ultimate reality described as ‘freedom from proliferations’ (spros bral). It first provides a short summary of the general Sakya approach, then addresses works of several early Sakya masters, and finally explores writings of Gowo Rapjampa Sönam Senggé (go bo rab ’byams pa bsod nams seng ge, 1429-1489)— Gorampa (go rams pa) for short—whose position is accepted as representative of the mainstream within the Sakya tradition. Sakya thought in general, and its approach to Madhyamaka in particular, is based largely on …

From The Three Natures To The Two Natures: On A Fluid Approach To The Two Versions Of Other-Emptiness From 15th Century Tibet, Yaroslav Komarovski

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

In recent years there has been a surge of scholarly interest in diverse systems of Buddhist thought and practice that Tibetan thinkers characterize as “other-emptiness” (gzhan stong), contrasting them with systems of “self-emptiness” (rang stong). While the theories of such exponents of other emptiness as Dölpopa Sherap Gyeltsen (dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan, 1292–1361)1 are relatively well known, those of other Tibetan thinkers are only beginning to receive scholarly attention. This paper addresses one such lesser-known other-emptiness theory that was developed by the seminal Tibetan thinker Serdok Penchen Shakya Chokden (gser …

Emerson On Plato: Literary Philosophy, Dialectic, And The Temporality Of Thought, Jesse I. Bailey

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

For Emerson, Plato is the quintessential philosopher. I will argue that, to the extent that Emerson wanted his essays to have philosophical depth, he considered his work to be an extension of the work found in Plato’s dialogues.

The Digital Dionysus: Nietzsche & The Network-Centric Condition

Dan Mellamphy

No abstract provided.