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In memoriam Anne G. Wesinger

It was with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Anne Gabrièle Wersinger in January 2024. A. G. Wersinger studied literature and philosophy (in preparatory classes and at the Université de Strasbourg), was awarded first place in the Agrégation de philosophie (1979), and taught in secondary schools (1979-1994), before becoming a lecturer at the Université Paris 1 from 1994 to 2006, and then full Professor at the Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne and a member of the Centre Jean Pépin, CNRS. Always on the lookout for the subtleties of the text, A. G. Wersinger’s research has explored the full complexity of the Platonic dialogues, paying attention to the variety of ways in which dialectical operations were carried out in the dialogues. In her dissertation, L’usage des amphibologies dans les dialogues de Platon: essai sur l'interprétation pré-philosophique de la différence, defended under the supervision of Pierre Aubenque in 1992, [...]

aristippus2024-04-08T22:58:23+00:00Categories: Just published, Uncategorized|

The 4th Asia Regional Meeting of the International Plato Society “Plato and Gods” 11-13 September 2024, Nagoya University, Japan

According to a middle Platonist, Alcinous, the aim of life is to become as godlike as possible, a theme that Plato addresses in various ways. Indeed, in Republic X, it is said that those who live a life of justice become like god as far as possible for a human being. Famously, in the Theaetetus, Plato argues that to escape from earth is to become like god so far as possible, and this likeness is to be just and pious with wisdom. The concept of godlikeness appears to be intricately connected not just to Plato's ethics, but also to his epistemological views. In Republic VI, philosophers are depicted as gazing upon and imitating the Forms, thus attaining a divine state. Similarly, in the Phaedrus, the philosopher's soul is portrayed as following the divine circular motions, beholding the Forms. Do these descriptions represent various approaches to explaining the same philosophical concept, [...]

aristippus2024-04-08T22:58:54+00:00Categories: Announcements, IPS Newsletter, Just published, Regional meetings|

In Memoriam Giovanni Casertano (1941-2023)

Giovanni Casertano was a founding member of the IPS, was born in Santa Maria Capua Vetere on 6 March 1941. A pupil of Giuseppe Martano, the first holder of the History of Ancient Philosophy chair at the University of Naples, he was full professor of History of Ancient Philosophy at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Naples from 1980 to 2009. A member of the College of Honorary Citizens of the ancient city of Elea and Doctor honoris causa at the University of Brasilia, a refined scholar of the pre-Socratics, the Sophists and, above all, of his beloved Plato, he taught generations of students to think katà philosophian. With Gabriele Giannantoni, Mario Vegetti and Giovanni Cerri, as well as with many other scholars, both Italian and foreign, now deceased, he collaborated in the construction of the best international philosophical historiography on antiquity. Among his many important books, we [...]

aristippus2024-04-08T22:59:44+00:00Categories: Announcements, IPS Newsletter, Just published, Other Announcements|

Plato Journal, Volume 23 (2022)

The International Plato Society's journal, Plato Journal, has released its 23rd volume for 2022, available now at impactum-journals.uc.pt/platojournal. (See here for the full PDF.) Articles by Lucas Alvarez, Athanasia Giasoumi, Michael Wiitala, Manlio Fossati, Noburu Notomi, Bernard Suzanne, and Brennan McDavid, with book reviews by Livio Rossetti, Maicon Reus Engler, and Laura Marongiu. Plato Journal is available free access on line and printed on demand by Coimbra University Press. Are you interested in submitting to Plato Journal? Please, see the About the Journal page for the journal's section policies, as well as the Submissions page.

Jonathan Greig2022-03-29T18:34:51+00:00Categories: Just published, Other Announcements|

New Publication: Séparation et relation chez Platon et chez Plotin

Séparation et relation chez Platon et chez Plotin By Michel Fattal. 2022. 100 pp. 12.00 EUR softcover. ISBN: 978-2-343-25507-1. Paris: L'Harmattan. (Ouverture Philosophique) French/Français: L'originalité de la philosophie de Platon et de Plotin est de situer l'origine de toutes choses dans un principe supérieur au monde physique et matériel. Cette décision philosophique, qui ne va pas de soi, visant à placer la cause de toutes choses dans un principe transcendant et immatériel, est concomitante d'un autre choix philosophique consistant à « séparer » la cause de son effet, le haut du bas, l'intelligible du sensible, l'invisible du visible, l'incorporel du corporel. De telles « séparations » poseront à Platon et à Plotin le problème de l'unité du monde et des « relations » que ces deux niveaux différents peuvent ou doivent malgré tout entretenir afin d'éviter toute forme de dérive dualiste et de vision pessimiste du monde. Cet ouvrage propose [...]

Jonathan Greig2022-02-24T12:12:11+00:00Categories: Just published, Other Announcements|

Plato Journal, Volume 22 (2021)

The International Plato Society's journal, Plato Journal, has released its 22nd volume for 2021, available now at impactum-journals.uc.pt/platojournal. (See here for the full PDF.) Introduction by Richard Perry, with dossiers from Michael Augustín, Renato Matoso, Xin Liu, George Rudebusch, Thomas Tuozzo, and Roslyn Weiss, and a book review by Francisco Lisi. Articles by Marco Donato, Jens Kristian Larsen, Rasmus Sevelsted, Jan Szaif, Jonathan Lavilla de Lera, Javier Aguirre Santos, and Stephen Oppong Peprah. Plato Journal is available free access on line and printed on demand by Coimbra University Press. Are you interested in submitting to Plato Journal? Please, see the About the Journal page for the journal's section policies, as well as the Submissions page.

Jonathan Greig2021-10-26T10:00:54+00:00Categories: Just published, Other Announcements|

New Publication: Models of Desire in Graeco-Arabic Philosophy—From Plotinus to Ibn Ṭufayl

Models of Desire in Graeco-Arabic Philosophy: From Plotinus to Ibn Ṭufayl By Bethany Somma. 2021. xii, 271 pp. 120.00 EUR / 144.00 USD, hardcover/PDF. ISBN: 978-90-04-46083-6 [hardcover]/978-90-04-46084-3 [PDF]. Leiden: Brill. (Studies in Platonism, Neoplatonism, and the Platonic Tradition 27) This study argues that late ancient Greek and medieval Islamic philosophers interpret human desire along two frameworks in reaction to Aristotle’s philosophy. The investigation of the model dichotomy unfolds historically from the philosophy of Plotinus through the Graeco-Arabic translation movement in 8th-10th century Baghdad to 12th century al-Andalus with the philosophy of Ibn Bāǧǧa and Ibn Ṭufayl. Diverging on desire’s inherent or non-inherent relation to the desiring subject, the two models reveal that the desire’s role can orient opposed accounts of human perfection: logically-structured demonstrative knowledge versus an ineffable witnessing of the truth. Understanding desire along these models, philosophers incorporated supra-rational aspects into philosophical accounts of the human being.

Jonathan Greig2021-05-07T13:39:22+00:00Categories: Just published, Other Announcements|

New Publication: “Plato in Poland, 1800–1950”

Plato in Poland, 1800–1950 By Tomasz Mróz 2021. Baden-Baden: Academia Verlag. 480 pp. 99.00 EUR. ISBN: 978-3-89665-946-0 (hardcover). [English description] The book attempts to make the Polish reception of Plato available to non-Polish readers. The years 1800-1950 cover essential phaenomena in modern Polish philosophy, for they encompass periods of reception of Western philosophical trends and the development of the Lvov-Warsaw school, neo-Messianism and neo-Scholasticism. The book discusses how each of these phaenomena contributed to interpreting Plato. The material is divided into three main parts focused on various types of reception. [German description] Das vorliegende Buch unternimmt den Versuch, die polnische Platon-Rezeption einem breiten Publikum zugänglich zu machen. Die Jahre 1800–1950 umfassen die Schwerpunkte der Geschichte der polnischen Philosophie: Die Rezeption westlicher philosophischer Strömungen, die Entwicklung der Lemberg-Warschauer Schule, des Neo-Messianismus und der Neo-Scholastik. Das Buch erörtert, wie diese Phänomene in der modernen polnischen Philosophie zur Interpretation von Platon beigetragen haben. See [...]

Jonathan Greig2021-05-03T13:51:47+00:00Categories: Just published, Other Announcements|

New Publication: “Montrer l’âme: Lecture du Phèdre de Platon” (French)

Montrer l'âme: Lecture du Phèdre de Platon By Anca Vasiliu 2021. Paris: Sorbonne Université Presses. 486 pp. 18.00 EUR. ISBN: 979-10-231-0669-5 (softcover). [English description] Like the Phaedrus, this study is presented as an open book. By scrutinizing the details down to the very transience of the impressions produced, and at the same time descending into the deepest waters of Plato's sources, we get as close as possible to the heart of the dialogue, while preserving its secret intimacy and facing at our own risk the fascination it exerts. This book pursues an idea, but is careful not to make it the key to the Phaedrus. The dialogue places Socrates in the role of the best that a singular soul can give: to show himself through his speech by being one with it to prevent the animate from going astray and to avoid the danger of forgetting. Socrates thus shows the way [...]

Jonathan Greig2021-05-03T13:34:07+00:00Categories: Just published, Other Announcements|

New Publication: Plato’s Conception of Justice and the Question of Human Dignity

Plato’s Conception of Justice and the Question of Human Dignity By Marek Piechowiak 2021. Second edition. Berlin: Peter Lang Academic Publishers. 328 pp. 57.00 EUR/47.00 GBP/68.95 USD. ISBN: 978-3-631-84524-0 (hardcover), 978-3-631-84841-8 (e-book: EPUB format), 978-3-631-84544-8 (e-book: PDF format) This book is the first comprehensive study of Plato’s conception of justice. The universality of human rights and human dignity—recognized as the source of the former—are among the crucial philosophical problems in modern-day legal orders and in contemporary culture in general. If dignity is genuinely universal, then human beings also possessed it in ancient times. Plato not only perceived human dignity, but a recognition of dignity is also visible in his conception of justice, which forms the core of his philosophy. Plato’s Republic is consistently interpreted in the book as a treatise on justice, relating to the individual and not the state. The famous myth of the cave is a story about education [...]

Jonathan Greig2021-05-03T13:13:20+00:00Categories: Just published, Other Announcements|