The Reception of Aristotelian Ethics in Latin, Byzantine, Arabic and Hebrew Traditions. From Antiquity to the Middle Ages.

Date:              Thursday 20th - Friday 21st November 2014

(Thursday: 8:30 – 17:00, Friday: 8:30 – ca. 16:00)

Location:        Thursday: University of Bern, Uni-S Schanzeneckstrasse 1, room A -119

                        Friday: University of Bern, Main Building, room 115

Organisation:           Dr. Georgia Tsouni (History of Philosophy, University of Bern)

Almuth Lahmann lic.phil. (Islamic Studies, doctoral student CGS, University of Bern)

Invited experts and participants: Prof. Dr. Dominic O’Meara (Fribourg), Prof. Dr. Steven Harvey (Ramat Gan), Prof. Dr. Christoph Flüeler (Fribourg), Prof. Dr. Frederek Musall (Heidelberg), Dr. Frédérique Woerther (Berlin), Dr. Michele Trizio (Bari) & the chairs of the three participating institutes of the University Bern: Prof. Dr. Anke von Kügelgen (Islamic Studies), Prof. Dr. René Bloch (Jewish Studies), Prof. Dr. Richard King (History of Philosophy).

Keynote-Lecture: Prof. Dr. Peter Adamson (LMU München)

Time:              Thursday, 20th November 2014, 18:30

Location:        University of Bern, Main Building, Hochschulstrasse 4, 3012 Bern / room: 115,  1. OG

Aristotelian ethics exercises a strong influence on modern Western ethical thought, not least through the emergence of virtue ethics as an alternative to the other dominant strands of ethical traditions during the 20th century. In this workshop, we attempt to throw light on the reception of Aristotelian ethics from Antiquity to the Middle Ages in the context of different religious and linguistic traditions: Latin, Byzantine Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew. We wish thereby to study how Aristotelian ethical ideas were translated into and appropriated by other languages and traditions in the aforementioned period. Questions which we wish to address include: Are ethical notions such as virtue and happiness especially sensitive to other e.g. religious connotations when translated into another linguistic medium? What are the specific difficulties interpreters are confronted with when approaching the Aristotelian text and what mechanisms did they find to eschew them? What is the influence of the particular context or genre (e.g. writings of Christian and Islamic theology or rabbinic literature) on the received ideas?

The aim of the workshop is to bring together scholars from different fields (History of Philosophy, Medieval Studies, Islamic and Jewish Studies) and to compare different perspectives on the study of the Aristotelian text.

Georgia Tsouni: [email protected] (Latin and Byzantine Greek traditions)

Almuth Lahmann: [email protected] (Arabic and Hebrew traditions)