Phenomenology and Ancient Greek Philosophy: Reappraisal and Renewal
June 27-29, 2010
Rethymnon, Crete
Greece
The conference will be held at
the Cultural
Centre: Xenia
(str.
ad.: Sofokli Venizelou 16)
Among both phenomenologists and scholars of ancient Greek philosophy,
it is a well-known fact that the originators of 20th century phenomenology,
Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, understand phenomenological
philosophy as having a special relation with the thought that originated
in Greece two and a half thousand years before. This fact, of course,
does not also mean that there is a mutual agreement between these
two groups of philosophers on the legitimacy and the relevance of
the phenomenological understanding of the ancient Greek philosophy.
Time and again, for instance, scholars of ancient Greek philosophy
have openly disagreed with the readings of the Pre-Socratics, Plato,
and Aristotle presented in the works of Heidegger. Nonetheless, he
continuously tried to decipher in ancient Greek philosophical thinking
the most profound sources of the history of the understanding of
Being that still underpin the foundations upon which Europe and the
modern world rest.
Husserl’s phenomenology,
in contrast, offers not so much a sustained interpretation and
retrieval of ancient Greek philosophy but the attempt to establish
a philosophical science by employing the central ancient Greek
philosophical concepts, such as eidos, noesis, noêma, idea, essence, category,
etc., to express the findings of phenomenological research. Additionally,
the last period of his thought is characterized by a historical reflection
on the post First World War and pre Second World War crisis in European
sciences and culture that traces the origin and meaning of European
philosophy to its primal establishment in ancient Greece.
On the other hand, Max Scheler
attempted to establish the existence of an ideal realm of values,
to interpret anew the meaning of the tragic, and establish the
content of a non-formal ethics that seems to maintain a close relation
to Aristotle’s virtue ethics.
And, likewise, Hans-Georg Gadamer, from the beginning to the end
of his philosophical activity, situated his phenomenologically
informed philosophical hermeneutics in terms of the critical engagement
and appropriation of Plato and Aristotle. Jan Patocka, as well,
is known for his endeavor to bring together phenomenological philosophy,
political thinking, and thematics in ancient Greek philosophy.
As a rule, phenomenological scholarship
has attempted to clarify the understanding of ancient Greek philosophy
offered by phenomenology’s
founders. Nevertheless, it seems that the time is ripe for a reappraisal
of the relation between phenomenological philosophy and ancient
Greek Philosophy by a new generation of phenomenologists. In the
critical times that we now live, in a milieu where the calling
for a new life-paradigm keeps growing louder and louder, contemporary
phenomenologists are bound by the responsibility to think critically
on the current situation and its history. This is the task of thinking
and elucidating anew the relationship of phenomenological philosophy
and ancient Greek philosophy. The practical realization of this
task may guide a revitalizing understanding of the current state
of phenomenological philosophy in relation to its ancient Greek
inspirations. It also promises to set this revitalized phenomenological
philosophy at the vanguard of the effort to elaborate the meaning
of emergency characterizing the current situation and to prepare
the ground for its possible overcoming.
Here is the final list of the speakers:
John Sallis (Boston College, USA)
Thomas Szlezák (University of Tübingen, Germany)
Walter Brogan (Villanova University, USA)
Burt Hopkins (Seattle University, USA)
James Risser (Seattle University, USA)
Jakub Capek (Charles University, Czech Rep.)
Tanja Stähler (University of Sussex, UK)
Pavlos Kontos (University of Patras, Greece)
Panagiotis Thanasas (University of Thessalonica, Greece)
Kakolyris Gerasimos (University of Athens, Greece)
Christos Hadjioannou (University of Sussex, UK)
Susi Ferrarello (University of Rome, Italy)
Panos Theodorou (University
of Crete, Greece)
Final Program (.pdf format)
For further information send an
email to Panos Theodorou (pantheo@fks.uoc.gr),
Tel. GR-28310 57191, mob. 6936333750.
