[MGSA-L] Princeton Hellenic Studies Workshop: October 19, 2012

Dimitri H. Gondicas gondicas at Princeton.EDU
Fri Oct 12 06:45:52 PDT 2012


PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies

Workshop

Diocles of Carystus on Scientific Explanation

Ravi Sharma
rksharma at princeton.edu <mailto:%20%20%20%20%20%20rksharma at princeton.edu%20%20%20%20%20%20>
Clark University
Stanley J. Seeger Visiting Research Fellow, Hellenic Studies

Respondent: Brooke Holmes, Classics

This workshop will reexamine a well-known fragment by Diocles of Carystus, a medical theorist of the 4th century BCE who was celebrated in antiquity as the “younger Hippocrates” but whose works have not survived intact.  In the fragment, Diocles questions the value of pursuing explanations – αἰτίαι – when investigating the dietary powers of foods.  Werner Jaeger famously argued that Diocles here reveals himself to be a devoted student of Aristotle, one who is intent on applying Aristotelian methodological principles to the study of medicine. Recent scholarship has tended to interpret the fragment much more modestly, as being confined to certain practical problems inherent in dietetic inquiry.  Without wanting to revive the speculative tendencies of Jaeger’s approach, the talk will argue that recent interpretations seriously underestimate the importance of Diocles’ position for the history of science.  In the fragment, Diocles is proposing a novel and empirically oriented approach to theory construction, one that stands in sharp contrast to the rationalism of much fourth-century scientific theory.

Ravi Sharma is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Clark University, where he teaches a range of courses in the history of philosophy, with a focus on ancient Greek thought.  He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the joint Classics-Philosophy graduate program of The University of Texas at Austin, and his research has covered topics in the Presocratics, Plato, Aristotle, and the Greek medical tradition.  At present, he is engaged in a project on the philosophical inspirations of Plato’s Theory of Forms.  Recent publications include: “Diocles of Carystus on Scientific Explanation” (Classical Quarterly, 2012) and “Socrates’ New Aitia: Causal and Metaphysical Explanations in Plato’s Phaedo” (Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, 2009).

Friday, October 19, 2012
1:30 p.m.
Scheide Caldwell House, Room 103


The HELLENIC STUDIES WORKSHOP provides an opportunity for post-doctoral fellows, visiting fellows, and graduate students to present their work-in-progress or recently published research. The aim is to encourage exchange of ideas across disciplines among Classical scholars, Byzantinists, and Modern Greek Studies specialists.

DATES:  Most Fridays, 1:30-3:30 p.m., during the term.  Dates, speakers and titles will be announced in advance via e-mail.

PLACE:  Room 103, Scheide Caldwell House, Princeton University

For further information about current events in Hellenic Studies, please refer to the calendar posted on our website:  http://www.princeton.edu/~hellenic/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://maillists.uci.edu/mailman/public/mgsa-l/attachments/20121012/168be630/attachment.html 


More information about the MGSA-L mailing list