[Usyd_Classics_Events] REMINDER TODAY Oct 23: USYD Classics and Ancient History Special Guest Seminar

[Ben Brown]

***REMINDER***

Dear Friends of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Sydney,

We are delighted to invite you to a special guest presentation on Thursday October 23rd by Professor Gerd Van Riel.


October 23rd (Thursday, 4.15pm UTC+11)
V. Gordon Childe Boardroom (Level 2, Madsen Building)

Special Guest Seminar

Gerd Van Riel (KU Leuven)
“Plato on matter—or not?”

Zoom Link: https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/84488279837

Abstract: The paper argues that attributing a theory of matter to Plato comes down to an anachronistic reading, under the influence of Aristotle. It will reconsider what Plato has to say about “matter” in the Timaeus, in a de-Aristotelianizing approach to the text.

Gerd Van Riel, professor and 2017-2024 dean of the Faculty of Philosophy at KU Leuven (Belgium), studied Classics and Philosophy (PhD in Philosophy, Leuven, 1997). His research focuses on Plato and the Platonic tradition, with monographs on Plato’s Gods (Ashgate, 2013), Pleasure and the Good Life (Brill, 2000), and critical text editions of Damascius’ In Philebum (Paris, 2008) and Proclus’ In Timaeum (Oxford, 2022). Gerd is presently working at USYD, as a Fellow of the Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre (SSSHARC). His fellowship, hosted by Julia Kindt and in collaboration with James Collins II and Emily Hulme, involves the encounters and entanglements between ancient historiography and ancient philosophy, notably focusing on ‘Plato as a Historian’.

Best, Ben
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