Classics Commons^™

The Meno, Recollection, And The Role Of Hypothesis, Joseph A. Novak

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The aim of this paper is to present Plato's doctrine within a perspective that will both explain why Plato found himself prompted to formulate it, as well as explore some enduring insights exhibited in its applications. First, the paper will argue that Plato was prompted to adopt the doctrine given the difficulties that had arisen from the employment of the Socratic elenchus. Second, it will argue that hypothesis, already implicit in the elenchic method, will begin to be developed into a more complex and refined method that Plato sees necessary for the whole learning process. The retention of a hypothesis …

Freeing Freedom From Illusion, B. Kamran Swanson

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Sagp Newsletter 2005.3 (April), Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Program of the Society with the Central Division, April 2005

Aristotle, Epistemic Exemplars, And Virtue Epistemology, Scott Rubarth

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Is contemporary virtue epistemology in fact a revival of Aristotle’s theory of intellectual virtues and an appeal to Aristotelian epistemology? In this paper I will examine Linda Zagzebski's theory of virtue epistemology, the most explicitly Aristotelian version of the agent-based epistemologies. The objective of this analysis is threefold: (1) To examine to what extent Zagzebski's virtue epistemology is genuinely Aristotelian, particularly in the use of moral and epistemic exemplars. (2) To draw attention to some significant concerns regarding the use of exemplars, such as the famous phronimos, in both moral and epistemic evaluation. And finally, (3) to offer a critique …

Plato On Episteme And Propositional Knowledge, Denis Vlahovic

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Epistêmê cannot just be a matter of knowing a logos. Knowledge, it appears, is demonstrated not in the knowledge of any particular logos, but in the ability to defend a logos against refutation. It is precisely the latter ability that is characteristic of epistêmê. This ability, furthermore, cannot be imparted by means of a logos. For, no logos suffices to endow its possessor with the ability to defend it (i.e., the logos) against refutation.

Given that Plato appears to have believed that no knowledge of a logos—no matter how elaborate the logos—is sufficient for epistêmê, one can see why he …

Sagp Newsletter 2005.2 (Pacific), Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Roth On Rosenstein, 'Rome At War: Farms, Families And Death In The Middle Republic', Jonathan P. Roth

Faculty Publications, History

No abstract provided.

Aristotle On Consciousness, Phil Corkum

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Aristotle sometimes draws analogies between perceiving and thinking. One analogy, for example, concerns the relation holding between faculties and their objects. If thinking is like perceiving, then as the faculty of perception is to the object perceived, so too the faculty of thought is to the intelligible object. Of course, there are also disanalogies between perception and thought. For example, where perception requires external stimulation by sensible substances, thought does not generally require external stimulation. How far then might we push the analogy? In this essay, I’ll argue that the role of the agent intellect in thought is analogous to …

Aristotle's Formal Language, Mary Mulhern

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

A formal language was invented by Aristotle and used by him in his lectures. This formal language consisted of Greek capital letters used as placeholders, arrayed in the schemata of the three figures recognized as authentically Aristotle’s. In these arrays, arcs under the placeholder letters indicate how the terms are linked in the premisses and conclusion and are read as some inflection of ΰπάρχειν, used by Aristotle as a second- order expression to convey the relation that the terms—not the designata of the terms-of a syllogism have to one another. It is further possible that Aristotle elaborated the three- term …

Ratiocination And Socrates' Daimonion: A Practical Solution, Anthony K. Jensen

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Socrates's commitment to 'follow the argument wherever it leads' seems to be at odds with his notorious 'divine sign' or daimonion. It appears in several dialogues as a divine force that Socrates cannot help but to obey, even in some cases where no negative consequences would seem to have otherwise obtained. This paper explores the meaning of the daimonion in the religious and cultural contexts of early Greece, concluding that the scope of the daimonion is restricted to Socrates' practical activities rather than his theoretical engagements.

Summary Report For The 2005 Season, Mark Schuler

Excavation Reports

In 2005, excavation focused on areas surrounding the domus of the Northeast Church complex and on conservation of the nave mosaic. This report will address in turn work done in:

• A. The northern chambers
• B. The south vaulted chamber
• C. Chambers west of the portico
• D. The cisterns of the Northeast Church complex
• E. Conservation work

Projecting The Passion: The Invention Of The 'Judeo-Christian Tradition' In The Roman/Biblical Genre Of Postwar American Film, Don Michael Burrows

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

This paper traces the changes in the American view of the relationship between Jews and Christians from the First World War to the present as reflected in motion pictures from the earliest of the biblical epics to Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ. It demonstrates that the "Judea-Christian tradition " as it has developed since the Second World War is a political theme that functioned first as anti-fascist propaganda and then as anticommunist propaganda that portrayed Jews and Christians as good and free in contrast to Nazis and communists; and it shows what an effective medium the movies were in …

Roman Depiction Of The Aethiops Type In Literature And Artwork, Evin Demirel

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

No abstract provided.

La Música En Los Cultos Dionisiacos, Adriana Renero

Publications and Research

Para penetrar en el mundo musical griego es preciso alejarnos de nuestras categorías estéticas habituales y pensar en modos, ritmos y armonías diferentes. Al mismo tiempo, es indispensable advertir que en la sociedad griega arcaica la música ocupaba un lugar fundamental, pues mantenía estrechos vínculos con la medicina, la astronomía, la religión, la filosofía, la poesía y la pedagogía, entre otras disciplinas. Lo anterior responde a que la música era considerada un arte peculiar y ambiguo dotado de “poderes especiales” porque actuaba como fuerza capaz de precipitar al hombre a la locura, al mismo tiempo que la curaba, o bien, …

Should The ‘Elgin Marbles’ Be Returned To Greece?, Nancy Sultan

Scholarship

The Greek temple to the goddess Athena, Parthenos ( Maiden) -the Parthenon-is one of the most revered historic monuments in the world. It was built between 447-432 B.C.E. on the rock of the Acropolis in Athens, where it still stands, a holy ruin. For nearly 2,500 years the Parthenon has embodied the ancient Greek ideas of justice, reedom, and intellectual and artistic excellence that marked the height of the political power of Athens in the fifth century. It has endured centuries of earthquakes, military operations, weather, pollution, and looting. Fragments of monumental sculpture from the Parthenon and other buildings on …

Fergus Millar: Rome, The Greek World, And The East. Volume 2. Government, Society And Culture In The Roman Empire (Book Review), Walter Stevenson

Classical Studies Faculty Publications

In Fergus Millar's discussion of his teacher, Ronald Syme, he states, "we can afford to take his stature as a historian as a presupposition and should not shirk the duty of asking what his work has been, what we have learnt from it" (p. 399). Likewise, now that Millar's papers have been intelligently collected into two volumes, the second of which roughly covers the first four centuries of our era, we attempt to ascertain the significance of one of the most influential ancient historians of the last forty years.

Rüdiger Kinsky (Ed.), Diorthoseis. Beiträge Zur Geschichte Des Hellenismus Und Zum Nachleben Alexanders Des Grossen. Bza, 183 (Book Review), Walter Stevenson

Classical Studies Faculty Publications

This volume presents five elaborations on lectures given at a seminar for Gerhard Wirth's 75th birthday (December, 2001). Kinsky explains in his terse introduction that the papers are dedicated to revising standard views of Alexander's reception and the history of Hellenism. In this spirit, the title "Diorthoseis" refers to a continuous process of reconstructing ancient history and periodically revising these reconstructions by reassessing all evidence. The breadth of this description fits the essays, but whatever is lost in focus is made up for in clearly formulated issues and engaging syntheses.

To Hou Heneka And Continuous Change, Christopher Mirus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Beginning with Aristotle’s statement in Physics II.2 that motion must be continuous to be for the sake of an end, I argue that properly understood, continuity is actually a sufficient condition for the goal- directedness of any motion in Aristotle’s teleology. I establish this conclusion first for the simple motions discussed in Physics V-VI, and then for complex changes such as the generation and development of a living thing. In both steps of the argument, the notion of καθ’ αυτό agency serves as a key link between continuity and goal-directedness. The understanding of Aristotle’s teleology that emerges from the consideration …

Sagp Newsletter 2004.1 (December), Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Programs of the Society with the Eastern Division (December 2004) and with the American Philological Association (December 2005)

The Wolf And The Lion: Synesius’ Egyptian Sources, Jacqueline Long

Classical Studies: Faculty Publications and Other Works

One of the few established facts of Synesius' early career is that he pursued the higher education available at Alexandria. The lifelong friendships he formed there suggest the importance this period always retained for him. Less attractively, perhaps, so does the intellectual smugness displayed in collegiate sniffs at rival Athens (Ep. 56[54].136) or in apt interpolations of the classics he read aloud to friends (Dion 62A-D ). It is no surprise that, as Cyrene's ambassador to the court of Arcadius, Synesius sought an intellectual approach to his city's practical advantage. He wooed one official, Paeonius, with the gift of a …

Stoics On The Differentiation Of Character, Margarete Graver

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

I will show that Stoic writers were perfectly capable of distinguishing among character-types also according to secondary differentia that can be exhibited independently of one another and in greater or lesser degree. Just as one may observe variations in the sea floor without disregarding the fact that all of it is equally underwater, so Stoic theory defines traits of character which differentiate one individual from another even where all concerned have the same overall moral standing. Such secondary characteristics are identified even among the virtuous; more numerous, however, and also more philosophically interesting, are the character traits of the nonvirtuous— …

Egoism And Eudaimonia - Maximization In The Nicomachean Ethics, Erik J. Wielenberg

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

I argue that Aristotle holds the following principle:

(AE) An ethically virtuous person always chooses a course of action that he believes promotes his own eudaimonia at least as much as any other course of action he could have chosen.

The claim that Aristotle holds such a principle conflicts with Richard Kraut’s interpretation of Aristotle’s view presented in Kraut’s important book Aristotle on the Human Good. I am inclined to count (AE) as a brand of egoism, primarily on the grounds that it implies that sacrificing one’s own eudaimonia for the sake of the eudaimonia of others is incompatible with …

Sagp Newsletter 2004.3 (April), Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

SAGP at the Central Division, April 2004

Theory And Practice In Plato's Theaetetus: The Question Of Knowledge And The Primacy Of Dialectic, Tushar Irani

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Most studies of the Theaetetus concentrate on Plato’s examination of Protagoras’s ‘Man is the Measure’ doctrine— and rightly so. The bulk of the dialogue is after all devoted to an exhaustive critique of this doctrine and its consequences, and in order to understand Plato’s views it is surely crucial to determine what position he sets up in contrast to his own. Commentators differ, however, when it comes to the finer points of Protagoras’s position— particularly concerning the validity of Plato’s infamous self-refutation argument against the Measure Doctrine at 171A6-C7—and its relation to Heraclitean flux. After some preliminaries on the overall …

A Quarrel Between The Ancients And The Moderns: Aristotle's Realism And Modern Skepticism, Michael Bowler

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

For Aristotle, the object as perceived and the subject as perceiving can only be understood with respect to the activity of perception itself and the unity it brings about between the perceived object and perceiving subject. This is a complex unity that requires further analysis and refinement. This unity is the ground of Aristotle’s “realism” with regard to perception. However, if this unity is dissolved into an external, synthetic connection between two dissimilar things only one of which we have access to, then it is at best problematic and perhaps impossible for us to discover anything about the other. This …

Politics Book Iii On 'He Ariste Politeia', Denis Vlahovic

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The thesis of this paper is that, contrary to the common reading of Book III of the Politics, the constitution identified by Aristotle as best in this book is the ideal constitution of Book VII. I present my argument for this thesis in the first part of the paper, where I examine Aristotle’s statements about the best polis, the most important of which is Aristotle’s final word on the matter, at the end of Book III. In the second part of the paper, I examine and criticize the most comprehensive argument for the common reading of Book III, presented in …

Sagp Newsletter 2004.2 (March), Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Programs of the Society with the Pacific and Central Divisions, April 2004

Aristotle And Chrysippus On The Psychology Of Human Action: Criteria For Resposibility, Priscilla Sakezles

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Aristotle believes we are responsible for all our voluntary actions; the Stoics hold us responsible for what comes about "through us," that is, whatever is causes by our impulse and assent. The terminology is different, but i conclude that the Stoic and Aristotelian classes of what one is responsible for are coextensive, and their criteria defining responsible actions are nearly identical (where impulse provides the internal origin of the action and assent provides the awareness of what is being done). The only significant difference is that Aristotle claims such actions are in our power to do or not to do …

Aristotle And Theophrastus On The Emotions, William W. Fortenbaugh

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Fortenbaugh here revisits his 1975 study, Aristotle on Emotion, incorporating the contributions of Theophrastus to the Peripatetic synthesis of analyses of the emotions. He modifies earlier views, adding new analyses and illustrative material, replying to criticisms of his positions.

A.P.

Hybristes Ei: Socrates, Alcibiades, And Agathon, Elizabeth Belfiore

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Alcibiades’ portrait of Socrates can be better understood in light of the philosopher’s complementary, but less studied, interactions with Agathon. Like Alcibiades, Agathon attributes to Socrates a superior wisdom that he seeks to acquire by touch (175c7-d2; cf. 218c7-d5), and, like Alcibiades, Agathon accuses Socrates of hybris after failing in this attempt (175e7). There are indications, however, that Agathon is better able to benefit from his association with Socrates than is Alcibiades. After a brief discussion of the Greek concepts of hybris and disdain (section 2), this paper focuses on Socrates’ interactions with these two men. I argue that Socrates …