Relativity in Ancient and Contemporary Philosophy

Relations were at the heart of many philosophical views: Protagorean relativism, the Platonic arguments for the Forms, self-knowledge and divisions in the soul; Academic and Aristotelian category schemes; Stoic genera and Pyrrhonian scepticism to name only a few. However, little scholarly work has clarified the role or conception of relations in such positions. How do philosophers think that one thing relates to another? Precisely how do views about relations impact on metaphysics, epistemology, psychology, ethics and political thought?

This conference will bring together experts from across ancient and contemporary philosophy to address the role of relations and relativity.

Relativity in Ancient Philosophy 21th – 22nd April 2016

Durham University

Department of Classics and Ancient History

38 North Bailey

Durham DH1 3EU

All talks in Room 007, known as the Ritson Room.

April 21st 2016

9am-9.30am

Registration and coffee

9.30am- 11.00am

Paolo Fait (Oxford)

Relatives and substantial parts in Categories 7: another look at the aporia.

11.15am- 12.30am

Olivier D'Jeranian (Paris)

The problematic status of the stoic "πρός τι πῶς ἔχον"

Lunch (Buffet)

1.30pm- 3pm           

Elisif Wasmuth (Cambridge)

TBA

3.15pm-5pm

Ugo Zilioli (Durham)

Relativism and correlativity in ancient thought and contemporary physics: Plato’s Theaetetus 152a-157c and Carlo Rovelli’s quantum physics.

Break           

5.30-7pm

Katerina Ierodiakonou (Geneva)

Alexander of Aphrodisias on Perception as a Relative

8pm           

Conference Dinner

April 22nd  2016

9am-9.30am

Coffee

9.30am- 11.00am           

Roger Clark

Context- Relative Pyrrhonism

11.15am- 12.30am           

Michael Withey

Friends and Relations in Aristotle

Lunch (Buffet)

1.30pm- 3pm                       

Lauren Ware

Plato’s Bond of Love: Eros and the Participation Relation

3.15- 5pm

Matthew Duncombe (Durham)

Two Sorts of Relativity in Stoicism: differentiating and constituting.

5.30-7pm                       

Voula Tsouna

Aristotle and Plato on Reflexivity in Perception

Pub visit