St Andrews Graduate Conference in Ancient Philosophy 2023

Call for Abstracts

The St Andrews Graduate Conference in Ancient Philosophy

The Ideal Citizen

25th-26th September 2023

We are delighted to announce our upcoming graduate conference on The Ideal Citizen in Ancient Philosophy taking place at the University of St Andrews, Scotland on the 25th-26thSeptember 2023.

The keynote lectures will be delivered by Professor Dominic Scott (Oxford) and Professor M.M.McCabe (KCL).

Ancient philosophers have plenty of interesting and important insights on what constitutes the ideal or virtuous citizen, and the role this paradigmatic figure plays in guiding philosophical thought. In his Laws, different examples of citizenship guide Plato’s proposed model of legislation; Aristotle, in his Politics, famously posits that citizenship is characteristic of human nature. For the Stoics, community is a natural consequence of concern for our loved ones, per living in agreement with nature; Hierocles even proposes we extend this concern outwards to other citizens.

Broadly construed, this theme generates many exciting questions for exploration from the ancient perspective: e.g., what is a citizen, let alone the ideal one, and if there is such a standard, is it natural or forged? Moreover; is it practically achievable; and if so, how is this citizen cultivated, publicly and privately? How does the notion of citizenship impact upon other areas of philosophy; how should it?

Naturally, these questions may extend into many philosophical areas, such as political philosophy, philosophy of law, virtue theory, moral psychology, metaphysics, educational theory, etc.; however we welcome and encourage submissions from a wide range of approaches.

We invite graduate students and recent graduates (i.e., those who have completed their PhD after July 2021) to submit abstracts on any topic related toThe Ideal Citizen in ancient philosophy. The final papers, to be completed by mid-September 2023, should be suitable for a presentation of no more than 40 minutes followed by 20 minutes of questions and discussion.

Deadline for submission:

Abstracts are due no later than the 21st July 2023. Candidates will be notified of the outcome by mid-August 2023.

Submission requirements:

Applicants are asked to submit the following to [email protected] with the subject line ‘2023 Submission’, no later than the above deadline.:

-        An abstract, of no more than 500 words, in pdf format. This should be anonymized; i.e., containing no identifying information.

-        A cover letter, either in the body of the email or in a separate attachment, detailing your name, institution, year of study / year of graduation, and the title of your paper.

Organisers:

Darcey Merison (PhD Candidate, St Andrews)

I Xuan Chong (PhD Candidate, St Andrews)

Dr Hannah Laurens (Postdoctoral Fellow / Lecturer, St Andrews / Oxford)

Conference Information:

The conference will take place at the University of St Andrews on the 25th and 26th of September2023 in the Department of Philosophy, Edgecliffe. Travel bursaries of up to £100 will be available for postgraduate speakers. We are happy to arrange childcare for speakers who would not otherwise be able to attend the conference. Attendance is free of charge.

We subscribe to the British Philosophical Association/Society for Women in Philosophy (UK) Good Practice Scheme.

This conference has been made possible through generous funding from The British Society for the History of Philosophy, The Aristotelian Society, the Scots Philosophical Association, and the Department of Philosophy of the University of St. Andrews.

For further details or any other enquiries, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected] .

Further details about the event, including registration details and schedules, will be posted nearer to the time.