Activating Antiquities: Receptions of Ancient Philosophy

How do we engage with ancient philosophy? What modalities, frameworks, and narratives do we deem most appropriate? Can we think ‘the ancient’ without thinking through those who have handed it down to us? From Plato’s appropriation of Homer n the Socratic dialogues, through Arabic projects of uniting Greek thought with theology, to incorporations of Kabbalah in German Idealism, philosophers have defined themselves against the ancient and redefined the ancient in return.

The aim of this conference is to reconsider the afterlives of antiquity as a philosophical problem: the various modes in which philosophy, throughout its rich history, has considered texts and ideas ‘ancient’ and the ways such a designation was interpreted, contested, and developed. We are seeking work that sheds light on forgotten lineages, critically examines canonical receptions, and asks in new ways what counts as ancient philosophy – what it has been, and what it is for us.

We understand ‘ancient philosophy’ broadly, spanning not only the traditional construction of the ‘Greco-Roman’ world, but also traditions of ancient thought from across and beyond the Mediterranean, e.g. ancient Chinese philosophy, Indigenous philosophy, etc. We welcome submissions from graduate students in philosophy working in any tradition as well as in adjacent fields.

The conference will take place at The New School for Social Research, April 1-3, 2027. Presentations will be 20 minutes in length. Keynote addresses will be delivered by Brooke Holmes (Princeton University), Christia Mercer (Columbia University), and an NSSR faculty panel.

We welcome submissions of 500-word extended abstracts prepared for blind review through this google form:

https://forms.gle/6rWdUWz1HfeXqMoy6

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected]