Events
| Title | Date & Time | Location | Description | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ''What 'You' and 'I' Mean to Each Other'' Stephen Wechsler University of Texas at Austin | September 3, 2008 3:00 PM | Parlin | ||
| ''Plato, Timaeus 29b-d: The Epistemological Section of the Proem in Timaeus’ Speech'' Alexander Mourelatos University of Texas at Austin | September 8, 2008 3:30 PM | WAG 316 | Abstract The presentation tracks M. F. Burnyeat's analysis of the passage at issue in Rhizai, 2 (2005), 143-65, a widely discussed and influential article, the chief points of which will be summarized in the colloquium. (Copy of Burnyeat's article is on reserve at the Brogan Reading Room.) While I agree with many details of Burnyeat's analysis—and in particular that the key term eikôs mythos is misleadingly translated "probable account"—I take issue with, and I seek to qualify, two of Burnyeat's theses: that the cosmological mythos of the Timaeus is "far from . . . the metaphysical downgrading of the sensible world in the central books of the Republic"; and that the methodological reticence evident in Plato's formulation of the standard of the eikôs mythos has nothing in common with the cautiousness of "modern empiricist philosophy of science." My own analysis shows that Plato studiously avoids setting the standard of the eikôs mythos any higher than "no worse than any alternative." A significant parallel for Plato's adoption of a reticent standard for the eikôs mythos is found in the methodological stance of multiplicity-in-explanation. Dominant in, and characteristic of, the ancient tradition of meteorology, the stance also has pre-Platonic antecedents, notably in the natural philosophy of Xenophanes. | Euthyphrones |
| Atlas Shrugged Undergraduate Reading Group Organizational meeting | September 9, 2008 4:00 PM | WAG 316 | ||
| ''Terrorism and Intending Evil'' Frances Kamm Harvard University | September 11, 2008 3:30 PM-5:30 PM | TNH 2.111 | Commentator: Derek Jinks | Law and Philosophy Program |
| ''Aristotle on Political Participation'' Harry Platanakis Birkbeck College, London | September 15, 2008 3:30 PM | WAG 316 | Abstract In Politics III, Aristotle puts forward two distinct criteria: political capacity and contribution to the polis. This paper explores the relation of the two criteria and the fundamental rôle of political capacity within the context of political distribution. It is also suggested that the Aristotelian model is egalitarian, since all politically capable individuals, regardless of the degree of political capacity they possess, are awarded citizenship. | Euthyphrones |
| ''Do You Want to Bet Your Children's Health on Post-Market Harm Principles?'' Carl Cranor University of California at Riverside | September 18, 2008 3:30 PM-5:30 PM | TNH 2.111 | | Law and Philosophy Program |
Jennifer Lackey Northwestern University | September 19, 2008 3:30 PM | WAG 316 | ||
Mary Pickering San Jose State University | September 26, 2008 3:30 PM | WAG 316 |