-
406The Is/Ought Gap, the Fact/Value Distinction and the Naturalistic FallacyDialogue 34 (4): 727-. 1995.For the last 40 years or so the is/ought gap, the fact/value distinction and the naturalistic fallacy have figured prominently in ethical debates. This longevity, however, has had an adverse side effect. So familiar have they become that they—and their respective rationales—have tended to become blurred. It is the purpose of this paper to explain why they should be kept distinct.
-
123On interpreting Plato's IonPhronesis 49 (2): 169-201. 2004.Plato's "Ion," despite its frail frame and traditionally modest status in the corpus, has given rise to large exegetical claims. Thus some historians of aesthetics, reading it alongside page 205 of the Symposium, have sought to identify in it the seeds of the post-Kantian notion of 'art' as non-technical making, and to trace to it the Romantic conception of the poet as a creative genius. Others have argued that, in the "Ion," Plato has Socrates assume the existence of a technē of poetry. In this…Read more
-
104Aristotle's Philosophy of FriendshipState University of New York Press. 1995.Presents the major issues in Aristotle's writings on Friendship
-
88Art as error: Collingwood's early reading of PlatoBritish Journal of Aesthetics 40 (2): 251-263. 2000.
-
76
-
66Le Principe Du Beau Chez Plotin: Réflexions sur Enneas VI.7.32 et 33Phronesis 45 (1): 38-63. 2000.The status of beauty in Plotinus' metaphysics is unclear: is it a Form in Intellect, the Intelligible Principle itself, or the One? Basing themselves on a number of well-known passages in the "Enneads," and assuming that Plotinus' Forms are similar in function and status to Plato's, many scholars hold that Plotinus theorized beauty as a determinate entity in Intellect. Such assumptions, it is here argued, lead to difficulties over self-predication, the interpretation of Plotinus's rich and varie…Read more
-
56Dual Selfhood and Self-Perfection in the EnneadsEpoché: A Journal for the History of Philosophy 13 (2): 331-345. 2009.Plotinus’s theory of dual selfhood has ethical norms built into it, all of which derive from the ontological superiority of the higher (or undescended) soul in us overthe body-soul compound. The moral life, as it is presented in the Enneads, is a life of self-perfection, devoted to the care of the higher self. Such a conception of morality is prone to strike modern readers as either ‘egoistic’ or unduly austere. If there is no doubt that Plotinus’s ethics is exceptionally austere, it will be arg…Read more
-
55Ὁμοίωσις θεῷ in the Theaetetus and in PlotinusSuzanne Stern-GilletAncient Philosophy 39 (1): 89-117. 2019.
-
47Epicurus and FriendshipDialogue 28 (2): 275-. 1989.Ever since classical times, both Greek and Roman, friendship as a philosophical topic has been on the wane. The only notable exception is Montaigne's essay which, however, owes much to classical treatments. This decline of philosophical interest in friendship is not easy to account for. Alasdair McIntyre's overall thesis in After Virtue seemingly affords him with a ready interpretation. The progressive atomization of society, together with the concurrent growth of individualism that characterize…Read more
-
46An Interview with Kevin CorriganInternational Journal of the Platonic Tradition 12 (1): 103-110. 2018.
-
45Interview with Professor John M. DillonInternational Journal of the Platonic Tradition 12 (2): 197-202. 2018.
-
42Le Principe Du Beau Chez Plotin: Réflexions sur Enneas VI.7.32 et 33Phronesis 45 (1). 2000.The status of beauty in Plotinus' metaphysics is unclear: is it a Form in Intellect, the Intelligible Principle itself, or the One? Basing themselves on a number of well-known passages in the "Enneads," and assuming that Plotinus' Forms are similar in function and status to Plato's, many scholars hold that Plotinus theorized beauty as a determinate entity in Intellect. Such assumptions, it is here argued, lead to difficulties over self-predication, the interpretation of Plotinus's rich and varie…Read more
-
41Plotinus on self: The philosophy of the 'we' (review)Journal of the History of Philosophy 48 (2). 2010.Plotinus's theory of dual selfhood is one of the best-known and most puzzling aspects of his philosophy. Each human being, he held, is both a compound of body and soul and a discarnate member of the hypostasis Intellect. He built evaluative norms into this duality, all of which derive from what he argued to be the ontological superiority of the discarnate element in us over the body-soul compound. This led him, in turn, to claim that the best and happiest human life is a life of self-purificatio…Read more
-
41Interview with Professor Gerard O’DalyInternational Journal of the Platonic Tradition 13 (1): 125-130. 2019.
-
36Hesiod's Proem And Plato's IonClassical Quarterly 64 (1): 25-42. 2014.Plato's Hesiod is a neglected topic, scholars having long regarded Plato's Homer as a more promising field of inquiry. My aim in this chapter is to demonstrate that this particular bias of scholarly attention, although understandable, is unjustified. Of no other dialogue is this truer than of the Ion
-
33Penner (T.), Rowe (C.) Plato's Lysis. Pp. xiv + 366. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Cased, £55, US$95. ISBN: 978-0-521-79130- (review)The Classical Review 58 (1): 64-66. 2008.
-
32An Interview with Professor E.K. EmilssonInternational Journal of the Platonic Tradition 11 (2): 247-252. 2017.
-
28Aristotle’s portrait of the man of great soul in both the Eudemian and the Nicomachean Ethics has long perplexed commentators. Although his portrait of the man of small soul has been all but ignored by commentators, it, too, contains a number of claims that are profoundly counter-intuitive to the modern cast of mind. The paper is an attempt at identifying the nature of the discrepancies between Aristotle’s values and our own, and at placing the ethical claims that he makes on greatness and small…Read more
-
27G.R. Boys-Stones and J.H. Haubold, Plato and Hesiod, Oxford University Press, 2010International Journal of the Platonic Tradition 4 (2): 209-215. 2010.
-
26La théorie Des présuppositions absolues chez R. G. CollingwoodLes Etudes Philosophiques. forthcoming.
-
26Aristotelian aesthetics - zagdoun l'esthétique d'aristote. Pp. 280. Paris: Cnrs éditions, 2011. Paper, €25. Isbn: 978-2-271-07256-6 (review)The Classical Review 64 (2): 405-407. 2014.
-
24Comment on A.-M. Schultz' Socrates and Socrates: 'Looking back to Bring Philosophy Forward'Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium of Ancient Philosophy 30 (1): 142-155. 2015.The paper, although polemical for the most part, also presents a substantive thesis. The polemical part is directed at the claim that the Platonic Socrates held that philosophy as a practice is to be devoted to the care of self and others, and that the expression of emotion is an important aspect of the philosophic life. To undermine that claim, counter-examples from the autobiographical narrative in the Phaedo and the speeches of Diotima and Alcibiades in the Symposium are brought in. Once anal…Read more
-
23Book review: Ennead iv.8: On the Descent of the Soul into Bodies, written by Plotinus (review)International Journal of the Platonic Tradition 8 (2): 234-236. 2014.
-
21Colloquium 5: Consciousness and Introspection in Plotinus and AugustineProceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium of Ancient Philosophy 22 (1): 145-183. 2007.
-
19Consciousness and Introspection in Plotinus and AugustineProceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium of Ancient Philosophy 22 145-174. 2006.
-
18Colloquium 5 Commentary on SchultzProceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium of Ancient Philosophy 30 (1): 142-155. 2015.The paper, although polemical for the most part, also presents a substantive thesis. The polemical part is directed at the claim that the Platonic Socrates held that philosophy as a practice is to be devoted to the care of self and others, and that the expression of emotion is an important aspect of the philosophic life. To undermine that claim, counter-examples from the autobiographical narrative in the Phaedo and the speeches of Diotima and Alcibiades in the Symposium are brought in. Once anal…Read more
Manchester, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Areas of Specialization
Aesthetics |
Normative Ethics |
Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy |
Areas of Interest
Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy |