Rice conference to celebrate Aristotle’s 2,400th birthday

MEDIA ADVISORY

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Jeff Falk
713-348-6775
jfalk@rice.edu

Rice conference to celebrate Aristotle’s 2,400th birthday

HOUSTON – (Feb. 15, 2016) – After more than 2 millennia, the famed Greek philosopher Aristotle is ready to celebrate the big 2-4-0-0 in 2016. The 39th annual Workshop in Ancient Philosophy will be held at Rice University Feb. 19-20 for “An Aristotle Birthday Party.”

Credit: thinkstockphotos.com/Rice University

Hosted by Rice’s Program in Classical Studies, Department of Philosophy and dean of the School of Humanities, the scholarly ancient philosophy conference will draw leading experts on Aristotle from across the United States, Canada and England. All presentations will take place in the Founder’s Room in Lovett Hall, 6100 Main St. The conference is closed to the public but media are welcome to attend.

David Charles, professor of classics and philosophy at Yale University, will give the keynote address, “What is Aristotle’s Version of Hylomorphism?” at 5:15 p.m. Feb. 19. Hylomorphism is a philosophical theory developed by Aristotle that conceives being as a compound of matter and form.

Aristotle was born circa 384 B.C. in Stagira, a small town on the northern coast of Greece. Together with Socrates and Plato, he laid much of the groundwork for western philosophy. A prodigious researcher and writer, Aristotle produced a great body of work, of which approximately 31 treatises survive. His writings span a wide range of disciplines, from logic, metaphysics and philosophy of mind through ethics, political theory aesthetics and rhetoric. His thought has been enormously influential in the centuries since his death, and its impact continues to be felt today in fields as diverse as moral and political philosophy, rhetoric and communications, literary studies, and metaphysics and the philosophy of science.

Members of the media who want to cover the conference must RSVP to Jeff Falk, associate director of national media relations at Rice, at 713-348-6775 or jfalk@rice.edu.

Media are advised to park in the Founder’s Court Visitor Lot near Lovett Hall. For a map of Rice’s campus, go to www.rice.edu/maps/maps.html.

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