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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Plato’s "Symposium" offers a particularly vivid expression of Plato’s conviction that fixity—unvarying permanence of possession—is preferable to variation and alteration, even where that alteration is cumulative and progressive. In one way, this preference should be understood as a reflection of Plato's overarching commitment to a process of becoming divine, or likening oneself to god (ὁμοίωσις θειῷ) through intellection. In another way, though, his preference for fixity is surprising, and a bit unsettling, at least in so far as it tends to manifest itself in what appears to be an unduly instrumental attitude towards the worth of others. We find in the "Symposium," however, a plausible resolution of this tension. The lecture deals with the uncomfortable question of the way in which Plato evidently disparages lower objects of love as merely instrumental to ever higher objects in the context of his assent towards beauty.
Christopher Shields is currently Professor of Classical Philosophy and Tutorial Fellow at the Lady Margaret Hall college in the University of Oxford. Before joining LMH, he had been a Professor of Classics and Philosophy at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has also held Visiting Professorships at Cornell, Yale, and Stanford. Prof. Shields specialises in Classical Philosophy, especially Plato and Aristotle, but has wide-ranging interests in the History of Philosophy, especially of the Medieval period, and in contemporary Metaphysics and Philosophy of Mind.
Information on participating / attending:
Eine Anmeldung ist nicht erforderlich.
Die Teilnahme ist kostenlos.
Date:
02/03/2014 19:30 - 02/03/2014 21:00
Event venue:
Bard College Berlin Main Auditorium
Platanenstr. 98a
13156 Berlin
Berlin
Germany
Target group:
all interested persons
Email address:
Relevance:
local
Subject areas:
Philosophy / ethics
Types of events:
Presentation / colloquium / lecture
Entry:
01/28/2014
Sender/author:
Irina Stelea
Department:
Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Event is free:
yes
Language of the text:
English
URL of this event: http://idw-online.de/en/event46184
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