Seneca and Stoicism

We are pleased to announce the programme for the fourth Royal Holloway Stoicism Workshop, this time devoted to Seneca. 

Seneca is the earliest Stoic for whom we have extensive literary remains and his works constitute the largest single body of ancient Stoic writing. His application and exploration of the practical side of Stoicism is evident in his extensive literary output, which crosses a wide and ambitious range of genres. The richness of his writing has generated a similarly rich range of approaches to his work, producing literary, philosophical and reception scholarship exploring the Senecan corpus.

This event is free and open to all, with no registration necessary. It takes place in Room 2/3 of the Stewart House wing of Senate House, which can be accessed via the main Senate House entrance, up the grand staircase, and turn left. 

Schedule

9.45-10.00 – Arrival and Welcome 

10.00-10.45 – Lizzie Davis (Yale), ‘Personal Problems: “Personae” and practical deliberation in Seneca’s De Beneficiis'

10.45-11.30 – Kai Fang (Chicago), ‘Usus and Materia: Seneca’s Roman Interpretation of Friendship as Indifferents’

11.30-12.00 Tea/Coffee 

12.00-12.45 – Steven Kennedy (Harrow), ‘Seneca’s Fussy Philosophers: The Ethics of Stoic Otium’

12.45-2.00 – Lunch 

2.00-2.45 – Fani Goutsiou (Durham), ‘The Educative Role of Dramatic Visualisation of Passions in Seneca’s Tragedies’

2.45-3.30 – Maximillian Biezenski (Queen’s), ‘Under the Guide of Harm: Seneca’s Theory of Aggression’

3.30-4.00 – Tea/Coffee 

4.00-4.45 – Sarah Byers (Boston), ‘Seneca and Stoic “Freedom from Social Vanity”’ 

4.45-5.30 – Christelle Veillard (Paris), ‘Seneca and the Bonds of Humanity: Cross-readings of De beneficiis and Medea’