'Ethics and society in the Ancient World' Classical Studies Colloquium and Public Lecture 2015

Public Lecture: Ancient Philosophy and the Contemporary Good

This public lecture is part of the Classical Studies Colloquium 2015 and will be held in Newman House. Please note that you must book for the lecture and the colloquium separately.

The lecture will be given by Angela Hobbs, Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at University of Sheffield on the topic of Ancient Philosophy and the Contemporary Good.

Angela Hobbs was appointed Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield in 2012, a position created for her and the first of its kind in the U.K. Her chief interests are in ancient philosophy and literature, ethics (both theoretical and applied) and political theory, and she has published widely in these areas, including Plato and the Hero (Cambridge University Press). She contributes regularly to radio and TV programmes (including 19 appearances on In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg), newspaper articles and philosophy websites; she lectures and gives talks around the world. She also engages in a variety of public and civic work in the U.K and abroad
She addresses contemporary challenges such as the ethics of war, the ethics of money, how best to promote inter-faith and faith-secular dialogue and the notion of fairness.

Angela is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Chair of the Institute of Art and Ideas Trust, an Honorary Patron of The Philosophy Foundation, one of the Town Philosophers for Malmesbury PhilosophyTown, and is on the Advisory Committee of the Speakers' Corner Trust.

Ethics and Society in the Ancient World Classical Studies Colloquium 2015

Over the course of the day five speakers will explore the relationship between ethics and society in the ancient world using a range of perspectives and sources.

Programme for the day

9.00: Welcome
9:05: Dr William Desmond, Maynooth University, ‘The Aesthetic Democracy: Modern Myths of the Greek Polis’
10:00: Coffee/Tea
10.15: Dr Kieran McGroarty, Maynooth University, ‘Swapping the Swaddling: Supposititious Children in Ancient Greece’
11.15: Dr John Curran, Queen’s University, Belfast, ‘The ius vitae necisque and the politics of killing children’
12:15: Lunch (not provided)
13.15: Dr Donncha O’Rourke, University of Edinburgh, ‘The ethics and politics of Roman love-elegy’
14:15: Coffee/Tea
14.30: Professor Andrew Smith, MRIA, University College Dublin, ‘Beyond Ethics: Civic Virtues in Late Antiquity’