Motion and Soul: The Soul as Principle of Motion in Ancient Philosophy (Princeton)

The workshop will feature a keynote address by M. M. McCabe (King’s College London) and a series of workshop sessions. Each workshop session will consist of a presentation of a pre-circulated paper, ranging from 15 to 30 pages, followed by comments from a discussant and a Q&A session.

We invite submissions on topics related to the soul as a principle of motion in Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy. Possible subjects include (but are not limited to!) the soul in Plato’s Phaedrus (proof of immortality, the myth of the winged chariot, recollection and eros, rhetoric and psychagogia), Laws (soul and self-motion, psychology and legislation, preludes and persuasion, theology and cosmology), Timaeus (cosmic soul and necessity, structure of the human soul, embodiment, eschatology), as well as in Aristotle’s De Anima, De motu animalium, Physics, Parva naturalia and other treatises. Submissions about the reception of these ideas are also welcome, such as in the Hellenistic, Roman, Arab, Byzantine, Medieval, and Renaissance traditions.

This event is made possible by the generous support of the University Center for Human Values, the Princeton Philosophy Department, the Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, the Graduate School, IHUM, the Council of the Humanities, and the Program in Classical Philosophy.