Ancient Political Philosophy, in Boston

Through the efforts of Thornton Lockwood (a Dissoi Blogoi reader and commentator), it would appear that the Northeastern Political Association annual meeting has now become a major venue for work in ancient philosophy. If you doubt that, consider the program. (I give only the ancient panels, not the medieval.) I gather all of these have been organized by Lockwood; and I, for one, am impressed.


CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT
Ancient and Medieval Political Philosophy Panels
Northeastern Political Science Association Annual Meeting
November 9-11, 2006, Omni Parker Hotel, Boston MA
Conference Website
For further information, contact Thornton Lockwood (lockwood@fordham.edu)

Thursday, November 9

9:00-10:30 am

Panel f7: Plutarch’s Political Thought
Chair/Discussant: John Colman, Ashland University

Numa: Philosopher King?
John Colman, Ashland University

The Role of Ambition in the Destruction and Preservation of Regimes in Plutarch’s Lives
Justin D. Lyons, Ashland University

The “Becoming” of a Tyrant: Plutarch’s Julius Caesar
Matthew Brownfield, University of Dallas

10:45-12:15

panel f8: Plato and the Political technê
Chair: Mary Mulhern, Brookside Institute
Discussant: Coleen Zoller, Susquehanna University

Socrates’ Political Technê and Socratic Irony
Jeffrey S. Turner, Bucknell University

Statesmanship and the Craft Analogy in Plato’s Republic and Statesman
Mark Moes, Grand Valley State University

Plato’s Republic and the Architecture of Corruption, How to Recycle the Bad and the Corrupt?
Vladimir Suchan, University of Maine at Fort Kent

Plato’s Arguments Against Tyranny and Tyrannical Life: Republic VIII and IX
Antonis Coumoundouros, Warren Wilson College

2:00-3:30

panel f9: Plato’s Republic, Past and Present
Chair: Jason Giannetti, Framingham State College
Discussant: Franco Trivigno, Boston University

The Hermetic Ideal vs. the Politically Engaged Philosopher
Catherine McKeen, SUNY College at Brockport

Xenophon's Critique of Plato's Socrates
Gary D. Glenn, University of Northern Illinois

Socrates on Wealth and Virtue
Keith Whitaker and William Corliss, Boston College


panel f18: Ancient and modern comparisons
Chair: Erik Dempsey, Boston College
Discussant: Amy Shuster, Princeton University

Ancient Foundation for Modern Offices
Alexandra Elizabeth Hoerl, Rutgers University

Mr. Cheney, Meet Mr. Agathocles: Torture, Terrorism and Machiavelli’s “Economy of Violence”
Greg Weiner, Georgetown University

The Megalopsuchos and the Übermensch: A Comparison of Aristotle’s and Nietzsche’s Conceptions of the Great Man
James Fetter, University of Notre Dame

3:45-5:15

panel f10: Politics in Plato’s Dialogues
Chair: James Wood, Boston University
Discussant: Antonis Coumoundouros, Warren Wilson College

Teaching by Example: Plato on Fear and Courage
Ioannis D. Evrigenis, Tufts University

Socratic Justice and the Question of Civil Disobedience
Jason Giannetti, Framingham State College

Philosophy as Training for Death in Plato’s Phaedo
Coleen Zoller, Susquehanna University

Minding Your Own Business in Thucydides and Plato
Joyce M. Mullan, University of Wisconsin - Madison


panel f19: Athens, Persia, and Rome
Chair: Dustin A. Gish, Ohio University
Discussant: B.J. Dobski, Assumption College

Sallust’s Politics of Revolution
Raymond Mercado, University of San Diego,

Protagoras’ Great Speech: Myth, Meaning, and Misunderstanding
Andrew Shortridge, Monash University

Tensions between Retributive Justice and Republican Virtue in the Cyropaedia
Arthur Shuster, University of Texas at Austin

Friday, November 10

7:45-9:15 am

panel f6: Ancient ideas through modern eyes
Chair: J.J. Mulhern, University of Pennsylvania
Discussant: Jacob Howland, University of Tulsa

Nascent Federalism in Homer’s Iliad: The Rhetoric of “Pre-Political” Sovereignty
Dustin A. Gish, Ohio University

Nietzsche’s Renaissance: Thucydides History and Greek Tragedy as Sources for a New Politics
Paul Kirkland, College of the Holy Cross

Absolute Beginners: Kierkegaardian Thoughts on Renewing a Socratic Perspective
Denise Schaeffer, College of the Holy Cross

Free Speech and Noble Lies: Indirect Discourse in Plato and Kierkegaard
Christopher A. Dustin, College of the Holy Cross


panel f17: Justice, evil, and politics in Plato’s thought
Chair: Joshua Shmikler, Boston College
Discussant: Jennifer Ingle, University of South Florida

Recuperating the Political Counsel of Plato’s Republic
Amy Shuster, Princeton University

Persuasion and Justice in Plato’s Crito
Christopher Moore, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

The Concept of Due Measure in Late Plato
Thomas M. Kerch, Georgetown University

Plato Finds Evil in the Cosmos…with a Little Help from Zoroaster
Daniel Betti, Texas A&M University

9:30-11:00 am

panel f1: Rhetoric in Action (Presented by the Society for Greek Political Thought)
Chair: Gary D. Glenn, University of Northern Illinois
Discussant: B.J. Dobski, Assumption College

Rhetorical Appeals in Xenophon’s Education of Cyrus
Laurence Nee, St. John’s College (Santa Fe)

Xenophon as Teacher of Political Realism
Eric Buzzetti, Concordia University

Isocratean Rhetorical Education and Aristotelian Virtue
Tarik Wareh, Union College


PANEL F20: ROUNDTABLE: The Socratic Paradox and its Enemies, by Roslyn Weiss (University of Chicago Press)
Chair: Alan Udoff, St. Francis College
First Commentator: Gerald Mara, Georgetown University
Second Commentator: Catherine Zuckert, University of Notre Dame
Authorial Response: Roslyn Weiss, Lehigh University

11:15-12:45

panel f2: The Political Animal Speaks: Aristotle and the Politics of Logos (Presented by the Society for Greek Political Thought)
Chair: D. Brendan Nagle, University of Southern California
Discussant: Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill, St. John’s College (Annapolis)

The Body Politic: The Aristotelian Enthymeme and Human Association
Scott Crider, University of Dallas

On “Nature” as a Guide in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics
Kathryn Sensen, Harvard University

Political Musings: Translations and Readings of the Poetics
Steve Shumaker, Baptist Bible College

2:30-4:00

panel f3: Irreconcilable Differences (?) in Plato and Xenophon (Presented by the Society for Greek Political Thought)
Chair: Waller R. Newell, Carleton College
Discussant: Laurence Nee, St. John’s College (Santa Fe)

The Necessity of Philotimia for Political Rule: Plato and Xenophon on Ambition
Heidi Northwood, Nazareth College

Socrates’ Theory of Form: Plato versus Xenophon
Robert Roecklein, Pennylvania StateUniversity-Erie/The Behrend College

Virtue and Vice: Socrates in Xenophon and Plato
Alexander Alderman, Baylor University

4:15-5:45

panel f21: Roundtable: The Household as the Foundation of Aristotle’s Polis, by D. Brendan Nagle (Cambridge University Press)
Chair: Thornton Lockwood, Fordham University
First Commentator: Bernard Yack, Brandeis University
Second Commentator: P.L.P. Simpson, City University of New York
Authorial Response: D. Brendan Nagle, University of Southern California

Saturday, November 11

9:00-10:30 am

panel f4: The Philosopher and the City: A Millennium of Reflection and Rejoinder
Chair: David DiPasquale, Boston College
Discussant: Christopher Colmo, Dominican University

Ibn Bâjjah, Ibn Khaldûn, and the Public Role of the Philosopher
Rima Pavalko, University of Maryland

Logic and Political Philosophy in Alfarabi’s Paraphrase of Aristotle’s Categories
Terence J. Kleven, Central College

Alexander Kojève, the Philosopher and Society
Gary M. Kelly, Hetta Institute for International Development


panel f11: Problems in Plato’s Republic
Chair: Heidi Northwood, Nazareth College
Discussant: Marina McCoy, Boston College

Why Republic V is Not Very Funny
Joanne Waugh and Jennifer Ingle, University of South Florida

A Happy City of Unhappy People; an Unhappy Soul of Unhappy Parts
Roslyn Weiss, Lehigh University

Plato’s Two Criticisms of Democracy
John P. Anton, University of South Florida

10:45-12:15

panel f12: Aristotle’s Political Thought
Chair: John Wallach, Hunter College and CUNY - The Graduate Center
Discussant: Steve Skultety, University of Mississippi

Dependency in Aristotle
J.J. Mulhern, University of Pennsylvania

Aristotle on Politics and Philosophy
Geert van Cleemput, Independent Scholar

Statecraft over Legislation in the Political Science of Aristotle
Clifford Angell Bates, Jr., Uniwersytet Warszawski

Exploring Aristotelian Justice
Anne Hewitt, City University of New York

12:30-2:00

panel f13: Regimes in Aristotle’s Politics
Chair/Discussant: P.L.P. Simpson, City University of New York

Being a Good Ruler in a Deviant Community: Aristotle’s Theory of the Polity
Elena Irrera, University of Warwick, UK

Polity and Middle Regimes in Politics IV
Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill, St. John’s College (Annapolis)

Ernest Barker and Aristotle’s Political Thought: A Centenary Perspective
Quentin P. Taylor, Rogers State University

The Role of Conflict in Aristotle's Ideal City
Steve Skultety, University of Mississippi



panel f22: Roundtable: Plato’s Republic: A Study, by Stanley Rosen (Yale University Press)
Chair: Marina McCoy, Boston College
First Commentator: Jacob Howland, University of Tulsa
Second Commentator: Jill Gordon, Colby College
Authorial Response: Stanley Rosen, Boston University


panel f23: ROUNDTABLE: Breaking with Athens: Alfarabi as Founder, by Christopher A. Colmo (Lexington Books)
Chair: Miriam Galston, George Washington University Law School
First Commentator: Terence J. Kleven, Central College
Second Commentator: David DiPasquale, Boston College
Authorial Response: Christopher Colmo, Dominican University

2:15-3:45

panel f14: Enduring problems in ancient and modern thought
Chair: Thornton Lockwood, Fordham University
Discussant: Joanne Waugh, University of South Florida,

Democracy and Virtue in Plato and Aristotle—Theoretical Origins of a Political Paradox
John Wallach, Hunter College and CUNY - The Graduate Center

An Arendtian View of Ancient Legacies
Bat-Ami Bar On, Binghamton University

Socrates’ Conception of Justice: Beyond Aristotle and Rawls
Christos Evangeliou, Towson University

Freedom and Slavery in Stoicism
Eleni Tsalla, Xavier University