Friendship and Action in Conversation with the Ancient Greeks

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel brings ancient Greek philosophical considerations on friendship and what resides “beyond being” to contemporary questions of political disorder. Namely, the panelists will consider the contemporary “crisis of loneliness” as a symptom of the deeper civilizational problem of being “lost in the cosmos.” Panelists will consider the thinking of Plato and Aristotle on the possibility of self-love and friendship, and its relationship with human being’s participation in the cosmos.

Sub Unit

• Partner Associations / Eric Voegelin Society

Individual Presentations

• Being, Cosmos, and Community in Plato - Thomas J. McPartland, Kentucky State University

• Friendship beyond Being in Plato’s "Republic" - John F. von Heyking, University of Lethbridge

• True Statesmanship: Aristotle on the Science, Art, and Character of Rule - Michael Promisel, Catholic University of America

• Aesthetic Determinism: Contemporary Mythopoeic Political Thought - William S. Miller, Marymount University

Chair

• John F. von Heyking University of Lethbridge

Discussants

• Steven McGuire American Council of Trustees and Alumni

• Carol B Cooper University of Houston