Plato and the power of Images

Plato is well known both for the harsh condemnations of images and image-making poets that appear in his dialogues, and for the vivid and intense imagery that he himself uses in his matchless prose. How then does Plato handle the power of images? The uses of imagery include allegories, metaphors, analogies, models, and even vivid writing styles that capture characters in dialogue – perhaps even ideas of images and image-making not directly connected with writing, since the question of why Plato uses vivid images in his writings is obviously connected with how he understands images and the way the mind handles them.

In conjunction with the Tri-College Working Group in Ancient Philosophy, Radcliffe Edmonds from Bryn Mawr College, Gerd Van Riel from KU Leuven and Pierre Destrée of Université Catholique de Louvain have arranged a joint-conference, entitled: “Plato and the Power of Images”, in order to focus on the way Plato both worries about and at the same time makes use of the power inherent in imagistic writing. The first part of this double colloquium was held at Bryn Mawr College on October 11-12, 2013. The second part will take place in Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, on February 13-14, 2014. Scholars from around the world will meet and discuss the issues involved with Plato and his handling of the power of images.

CONFERENCE PROGRAM

Thursday 13/02/14, Leuven (Kardinaal Mercierzaal, Institute of Philosophy, Kardinaal Mercierplein 2, 3000 Leuven)

10:00 - 10:15      Welcome & introduction

10:15 - 11:00      Grace Ledbetter, The Rhetoric of Plato’s Cave

11:00 - 11:45      Kathryn Morgan, The Art of the Helmsman and the Uses of Comparison

11:45 - 12:15      Coffee break

12:15 - 13:00      Alex Long, Images and the Subordination of Socrates in Republic 6

13:00 - 14:30      Lunch

14:30 - 15:15      Douglas Cairns, The Tripartite Soul as Metaphor

15:15 - 16:00      Penelope Murray, Poetry and the Image of the Tyrant in Plato’s Republic

16:00 - 16:30      Coffee break

16:30                     Public Lecture Andrew Ford, Backgrounds to Plato’s Iconology

Friday 14/02/14, Louvain-la-Neuve (Salle Jean Ladrière, Collège Mercier, Place Cardinal Mercier 14, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve)

11:00 - 11:45      Zacharoula Petraki, Viewing the invisible: Plato’s use of pictorial arts

11:45 - 12:30      Susan Sauvé Meyer, Plato and the Evaluation of Images

12:30 - 13:15      David Wolfsdorf, Mis-apparent Pleasure: Philebus 41a7-42c3

13:15 - 14:30      Lunch

14:30 - 15:15      Olivier Renaut, Political Images of the Soul

15:15 - 16:00      Radcliffe G. Edmonds III, Putting Him on a Pedestal: (Re)Collection and the Use of Images in Plato’s Phaedrus

16:00                     Drink

For more information (abstracts and practical details), see the website http://repository.brynmawr.edu/plato/, and/or contact Erika Gielen ([email protected]).

If needed, we would be glad to assist you in finding good accommodation, close to the conference venue in Leuven. We have reserved several rooms at the Hotel Binnenhof Leuven (http://www.hotelbinnenhof.be/index.php?lang=en), for 3 nights (Wednesday February 12th till Saturday morning February 15th). If you would like to stay there, please let us know as soon as possible, so we can inform the hotel. Also, if by chance you only need 2 nights, or an extra night, because your flight or train back is on Sunday, let us know. If for some reason you would like to stay in another hotel, we can provide a list of hotels in and around Leuven.