The department of Political Science is hosting an upcoming workshop on ancient political philosophy featuring a variety of presentations that engage with significant themes in ancient political thought. Topics range from cannibalism in Plato's works to concepts of morality in Socratic philosophy, exploring the intersections of ethical considerations and civic life in ancient texts. The event aims to foster academic dialogue and insights into the relevance of ancient philosophical inquiries within contemporary contexts.
Organizer Myrthe Bartels, who received her PhD in Classics from Leiden University (Netherlands) and has held various fellowships across Europe, is currently a political science post-doc working with Professor Ryan Balot. She shares more about the workshop below:
Tell us about your upcoming workshop on Ancient Political Philosophy.
As a post-doc in the department of Political Science but trained as a classicist and working on ancient philosophy, I wanted to organize an interdisciplinary event to explore questions that straddle the various disciplines that my own research aspires to engage with. In my view, it is immensely stimulating to look beyond the conventional disciplinary boundaries and ancient texts can really accommodate such approaches.
What is the primary goal of the workshop?
The workshop brings together faculty, post-docs and graduate students from three Departments—Political Science, Classics and Philosophy—to share their work in progress. I had considered choosing a common theme, but for various reasons, including that I really wanted to include graduate students in the workshop, it seemed more appropriate to ask people to present their ongoing research.
The works of which philosophers will be featured during the conference?
Most of the presentations will center on Plato’s dialogues, but there are presentations on the Pre-socratic philosopher Heraclitus and on the historian Thucydides as well.
What are you looking forward to most, both professionally and personally?
I'm really looking forward to having many of the people I have met and worked with since I arrived here together in one room to discuss themes that I'm deeply interested in. I'm also very excited about meeting the two external guest speakers, whose published work I admire greatly, not least because they succeed in really relating ancient ideas to modern debates. I'm also really looking forward to receiving feedback on my own project.
What are enjoying most about being a post-doc in the department of Political Science?
There are too many things to mention! Working with Ryan Balot has been terrific and he has been amazing in helping my research take shape. Auditing Clifford Orwin’s POL200 course has been eye-opening and teaching a course to political science students has exceeded all I could have wished for. Practically every conversation I have with people here, from my undergraduate students to graduate students and faculty, teaches me something, and gives me more to think about.
This event is funded by:
- The Department of Political Science;
- The Bloom Fund;
- The Canada Research Chair in Ancient Philosophy;
- The Collaborative Specialization in Ancient Philosophy (CSAMP).