In-Person
In this session, the presenter discusses some central ideas of the Hellenic tradition—such as logos, paideia (or, education), truth, examined life, and the good—with the aim to highlight their diachronic character in shaping humanistic thought. The presenter argues that the way these concepts are understood and studied in Plato and Aristotle offers a useful framework for analyzing contemporary contexts and problems, specifically by acknowledging the universality of reason and the potential of education to improve human life. The lecturer also addresses some apparent challenges in Hellenic Studies in the U.S. and shows them to be based on naive understandings and, to a certain degree misappropriations, of the Hellenic ideas.