Aristotle and a World of Wonder

Dr. Gomez-Lobo facilitated a discussion of questions such as: Why does Aristotle refer to general ontology and theology as first philosophy? What are Aristotle’s views on cause and explanation? What are Aristotle’s conceptions of the academic disciplines?

Nancy Sherman, Georgetown University (April 12, 2002)

Dr. Sherman facilitated a discussion of questions such as: How does Aristotle’s ethics fill out the landscape missing in utilitarianism and Kantian ethics? Does Aristotle teach us how to teach character? What does luck have to do with virtue? What is the relationship between morality and the emotions?

Click here to read a bio of Dr. Sherman

Alasdair MacIntyre, University of Notre Dame (May 3, 2002)

Dr. MacIntyre facilitated a discussion of questions such as: What is the relationship between politics, philosophy, and the common good? Is the nature of a diverse, heterogeneous society likes ours such that it is no longer possible to appeal to moral criteria in a way that had been possible in other times and places? In particular, is the ethos of "the distinctively modern and modernized world" unsatisfactory when confronted by the variety of moral beliefs and practices that characterize a multicultural society?

Supplemental readings for this talk included:

Cooper, John. "Political Animals and Civic Friendship" in his collected essays entitled Reason and Emotion (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1999).

Depew, David. "Politics, Music and Contemplation in Aristotle's Ideal State," in A Companion to Aristotle's Politics, D. Keyt and F.D. Miller, Jr., eds., (Blackwell, Oxford, 1991).

Click here to see Dr. MacIntyre's faculty page at Notre Dame

Katharine Park, Harvard University (August 20, 2002)

Dr. Park spoke on the Aristotelian Tradition in the Middle Ages, specifically vis-a-vis the work of Nicole Oresme relating to wonder.

Supplemental readings for this talk included:

Oresme, Nicole. "De causis mirabilium," in Nicole Oresme and the Marvels of Nature: A Study of His De causis mirabilium with Critical Edition, Translation, and Commentary, Bert Hansen, editor. (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies), Prologue and Chapter Three.

Daston, Lorraine and Katharine Park. Wonders and the Order of Nature 1150-1750 (Zone Books, New York, 1998). Chapters One and Three.

Click here to see Dr. Park's web page at Harvard

Thomas B. Farrell, Northwestern University (September 27, 2002)

Dr. Farrell will discuss the Rhetoric, an often unappreciated and misunderstood work, which remains useful to this day. Its tenets have been adopted and adapted by contemporary scholars such as Stephen Toulmin in his nature of argument and Kenneth Burke in his dramatistic theory of rhetoric, as well as psychologists investigating the nature of persuasion. Comparing Aristotle’s treatment of rhetoric and the moral principles in his Nicomachean Ethics will add value to the study of both works. Aristotle noted that "Rightfully employed, [rhetorical devices] work the greatest blessings; and wrongly employed, they work the greatest harm." In a world in which political campaigning, product advertising, image building, and religious proselytizing compete for our attention, the more we know about the strategies and consequences of rhetoric, the more discriminating we can be as readers and listeners.

Click here to read a short bio of Dr. Farrell on Northwestern's page (scroll down on the page to find his name).

James Lennox, University of Pittsburgh (October 25, 2002)

Dr. Lennox's talk, broadly, will deal with and show in concrete detail what Aristotle means when he says, in Parts of Animals I.5, that "We must avoid a childish distaste for examining the less valued animals. For in all natural things there is something wonderful" and "Even in the study of animals unattractive to the senses, the nature that fashioned them offers immeasurable pleasures to those who can learn the causes and are naturally lovers of wisdom." This is poetry, certainly, but a detailed study of his zoology shows that he MEANS it.

Click here to read Dr. Lennox's bio on the History and Philosophy of Science Faculty Page at Pitt

Gregory Nagy, Harvard University (November 15, 2002)

Dr. Nagy, director of Harvard's Center for Hellenic Studies, will facilitate a discussion of questions such as: Why did Aristotle’s Poetics gain an extraordinary hold over our modern standards for dramatic literature? Why does Aristotle focus his discussion of poetics on the notion of "imitation" or mimesis? How can we interpret Aristotle’s definition of tragedy, his account of the "tragic hero," and his theory of the "unity" of tragedy?

Click here to see Dr. Nagy's page at Harvard