Ancient Philosophy Workshop

Thanks to the generous support of the Classics and Philosophy departments and the Center for the Humanities, Wash U will soon be hosting its second ancient Greek philosophy workshop of 2022-2023.

 

Our guest will be William Altman, who has recently published a series of books proposing that Plato’s works were written with a view to a particular pedagogical order and that they are best interpreted in light of that order and not some proposed chronological order of their date of composition or thematic ordering. This interpretive framework raises anew old and difficult questions about what Plato thought about education, about why and how he wrote, and about how we might best read his works, and we will seek to engage these questions with Altman in two sessions on Friday, October 21.

 

Textual Workshop (best for readers of Greek but not strictly requiring it)

October 21, 1:30-3:30 pm, Busch Laboratory* 159 

Focus texts:  Phaedrus 255a1-257a2, 261d10-265c4

Background texts: Plato, Smp. 180c-185c, and Xenophon, Smp. 8

 

Colloquium: “A New Way of Reading Plato"

October 21, 4:00-6:00 pm, Busch Laboratory* 159

 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Eric Brown (eabrown@wustl.edu). 

 

*Busch Laboratory is a biology building, an annex to Rebstock Hall, immediately to its west, also recognizable as the nearest building to the south of the Barry Flanagan sculpture of a rabbit thinking. It is not to be confused with Busch Hall, which borders the old quadrangle with Brookings, Cupples I, and Ridgley. Biology is graciously sharing this seminar room with us for the afternoon.