Sponsored by the International Society of Neoplatonic Studies
Organizers: John F. Finamore (University of Iowa) and Svetla Slaveva-Griffin (Florida State University)
Platonists have bequeathed to posterity many commentaries on the individual works of Plato, Aristotle, and Epictetus. These commentaries were often connected with the Platonist’s teaching duties and allowed him full scope not only to comment on the texts in front of him but also to promote his own philosophical positions and argue against rivals past and present. The commentary thereby became a covert method of making one’s own philosophy.
We welcome papers on the role of the commentary in establishing and promoting philosophical doctrine in late antiquity. Topics might include how the scholastic tendency itself evolves into creating independent philosophical positions or how the author’s criticisms of other philosophers hones his own positions. One might also consider the role of commenting on textual matters (lexeis) in creating idiosyncratic philosophical positions or the use skopoi (“aims”) for focusing the philosophical points to be covered in the commentary.
Abstracts of 500-800 words, double-spaced, for papers requiring 15-20 minutes of presentation time should be sent electronically to John Finamore at mailto:john-finamore@uiowa.edu. The member's name should appear only on the cover letter, not on the abstract. All abstracts must be received no later than February 16, 2015. Abstracts will be judged anonymously. The panel organizers will subsequently contact those who have written abstracts with the reviewers’ comments and recommendation.