Invited Speakers

Workshop in Ancient Philosophy - TT 2026

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4:30pm, HB Allen Centre (Lecture Theatre)

Verity Harte (Yale/Oxford): 'Outside In: Theorizing Pleasure'

Abstract: The treatment of pleasure by philosophers of Classical Greek Antiquity has got a bad rap. Anscombe thought them “baffled by” pleasure (Intention §40). Platonic and Aristotelian discussions of pleasure do raise several puzzles. However, rather than being a sign of ancient confusion, these puzzles reflect the fact that Plato, Aristotle, and the hedonists with whom they engage, approach pleasure from an unexpected direction. Rather than theorize pleasure from the inside, whether as sensation, feeling, or attitude, they do so, as my title has it, from the outside in. The project of my lecture will be to explain this suggestion and their outside-in approach to pleasure, and to argue that it is worth taking seriously.

Chair: Ursula Coope

 

Giuseppe Cumella (Oxford) : 'The Aim and Argument of Politics 3.4'

Abstract: In this paper, I shall provide a fresh interpretation of Politics 3.4 as a whole. By as a whole, I mean that my interpretation shall consider each of the chapter’s arguments both in its local context and in the wider philosophical context of the text. My approach opposes those who interpret 3.4 piecemeal. I find that Aristotle’s aim is twofold; first, to show that each citizen is an officeholder, but that each is not the same sort of officeholder. Second, to show that the virtue of only one sort of officeholder (whom I call a head officeholder) is the same as the virtue of a good man.

Chair: TBC

 

 

Samuel Baker (University of South Alabama): 'Aristotle, Hesiod, and the Human Ergon: On the ‘Original Public Meaning’ of NE I 7, 1097b28-33' 

Abstract: There is no consensus whatsoever concerning how to interpret the so-called “argument for a human function (ergon)” in Nicomachean Ethics I 7, and a number of prominent commentators regard Aristotle’s reasoning as embarrassingly weak. How might we overcome this interpretive impasse? Inspired by Geertz and Wittgenstein, I propose a different methodology according to which the interpretation of Aristotle’s original audience determines the meaning of the passage. Accordingly, after repunctuating and retranslating the text, I offer evidence that Aristotle’s original audience would have heard these lines as part of a Hesiodic tradition of thinking about work (ergon). From within this tradition, the audience would not only have agreed that a human being naturally has an ergon, but would also have understood that this ergon is kalon and that humans are morally obliged to achieve it—for themselves, for their families, and for the political community. 

Chair: Michele Pecorari

 

Bradford Kim (University of Southampton): 'Aristotle’s Politics on Self-Love'

Abstract: This paper assesses partiality, self-interest, and their relationship in Aristotle’s Politics. Focusing on Book II, I argue that Aristotle endorses partiality and grounds it on self-love. This indicates that concern for others somehow derives from concern for oneself. However, concern for oneself is not dominant; Aristotle here rejects maximal self-love. Moreover, as I argue on the basis of Book III and other texts, Aristotle claims that we should prioritize the interests of others over our own interests. Yet self-love qualifies this prioritization of others, in that we only prioritize others who are specially related to ourselves in the first place. I close by highlighting a problem for the Politics’ proposal that we should prioritize others over ourselves. I argue that this effacement of one’s own interest falls prey to a complaint that Aristotle levels against Plato, of compromising individual happiness, and also gets uncomfortably close to the situation of Aristotle’s ‘natural slaves’, who exist not for their own sake but only for the sake of the other (i.e., the master). Comparisons are made throughout to the Eudemian Ethics and Nicomachean Ethics.

Chair: Luke Jennings

Patricio Fernandez (University of Texas at Austin): 'Aristotle on crafts and epistemic community' 

Abstract: TBA

Chair: TBA

 

Setareh Rezazad (Oxford): 'Title TBA'

Abstract: TBA

Chair: TBA

  • This is a speaker series devoted to discussing work in progress by speakers within and outside Oxford pertaining to the field
  • Seminars take place on Thursdays at 4pm-6pm, in the Schwarzman Centre, Ryle Room (20.339)
  • Convenors: Prof. Ursula Coope, Prof. Marion Durand, Prof. Alexander Bown
  • Members of the Faculty, students, and visitors are welcome
  • If you would like to go out to dinner with the speaker, then please contact the chair of the meeting before Tuesday of that week

 

 

 

Interdisciplinary Research Seminar in the Study of Religions HT 2026

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Time: 4:00-5:30pm

Location: Paul Oster Room, LMH

Ahmed El Wakil (Oxford) “The Prophet Muhammad’s Letter to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius”

Nadir Mohammad (Oxford) “Imām Aḥmad Rażā Khān: Reviver of the 14th Islamic Century”

Time: 4:00-5:30pm

Location: Paul Oster Room, LMH

Sean Williams (King’s College London) “The Buddha’s First Impact on Greek Philosophy”

Edward Voet “Buddhist Magic”

 

Time: 4:00-5:30pm

Location: Paul Oster Room, LMH

Daniel Ruin (Oxford) “Imagination, Mediation and Eschatology in Henry Corbin’s Reception of Buddhism”
Gonzalo Fernandez (Oxford) “An Examination of the Soteriological Role of Yoginīs in Śākta Tantric Śaivism”

Time: 4:00-5:30pm

Location: Paul Oster Room, LMH

Geshe Tenzin Namdak (Oxford) “Relativity of Time in Buddhist Philosophy”

Jahnavi Uppuleti (Oxford) “Madiga Christian Women, Everyday Grief and Lived Religion in South India”