CARE AND INDIFFERENCE IN ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY

CARE AND INDIFFERENCE IN ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY

University of St Andrews, School of Classics, S03, 5-6 May 2026.  

The conference will investigate the notions of care and indifference in Ancient Philosophy, broadly construed, from Plato to post-Hellenistic Philosophical traditions. Papers will address a wide range of topics, with particular attention to how the notions of care and indifference shaped ethical, theological, cosmological, and political thought in the ancient Greco-Roman world.    

PROGRAMME

5 May

• 14.00-14.15: Introductions
• 14.15-14.45: Flora Nelson (Oxford) Caring about the Cicadas: Plato’s Phaedrus 258e6-259d9
• 14.45-15.15: František Špinka (Munich) Like Athletes Preparing for a Competition: Aristotle’s Notion of epimeleia and ameleia in the NE
• 15.30-16.00: Cristiana Sessini (Oxford) Divine Justice and Human Evil. How Plato’s God Cares for Individuals and the Universe
• 16.00-16.30: Simonas Baliukonis (Vilnius) Care as a strategy of homoiōsis theōi: assimilation to the unidentified gods of the Phaedo
• 16.45-17.45: (Keynote) Shaul Tor (KCL) Aristotle on the most god-loved human being: an open-ended suggestion
• 18.30 onwards : Dinner  

6 May

• 10.00-10.30: Matteo Ferrari (Pisa) Ignoring Deities, Fearing Humans: The Lucianic Play on Divine Presence between Stoicism and Epicureanism
• 10.30-11.00: Fani Goutsiou (Durham) Medea’s Ethical Mistake and Stoic Indifference
• 11.15-12.15: (Keynote) Frisbee Sheffield (Cambridge) Plato and the Ethics of Care
• 13.30-14.00: David Lepidi (St Andrews) Caring for the Vegetal World? Aristotle and Theophrastus on Plant Life and Human-Plant Relations
• 14.00-14.30: Janset Cetinkaya (Nottingham) Aristotle on Maternal Care
• 14.30-14.45: Closing Remarks    

REGISTRATION

Please email [email protected] by 20 April if you plan to attend, noting any dietary/access requirements. Please note that the dinner at the end of day 1 will be at your own expense.  

This event is organized with the generous support of The Aristotelian Society, of the Department of Philosophy and of the School of Classics at the University of St Andrews.