(http://ips.ploutarchos.org/)

Ziel der International Plutarch Society ist die Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung zu Plutarch und seinen Werken und des Austausches zwischen allen an Plutarch interessierten WissenschaftlerInnen. Die IPS ist Herausgeber der Zeitschrift Ploutarchos (http://ips.ploutarchos.org/p/ploutarchos-current-and-past-issues.html) und organisiert alle drei Jahre einen internationalen Kongress.

Plutarch and Emotions

It has been more than twenty years since classical scholars have turned their attention to the study of the emotions of the Greeks and Romans, resorting to an interdisciplinary methodological framework that combines insights from the more traditional fields of literary studies, textual criticism, ancient history, archaeology, papyrology, with the new impulses provided by the neurosciences, social linguistics, communication theories and psychology. Several studies (e.g. A. Chaniotis, Unveiling Emotions 1, 2 and 3, Stuttgart 2012, 2013, 2021; D. Cairns, A Cultural History of the Emotions. 1, In Antiquity, London/New York 2019; D. Konstan, The Emotions of the Ancient Greeks: Studies in Aristotle and Classical Literature, Toronto 2006) led to a better understanding of the ways the Greeks and the Romans expressed their anger, their fear, their love, etc., within various contexts, whether literary, performative or social. Thus, they managed to refine significantly our understanding of the conceptualisation of emotions as well as the importance ascribed to them in different social fields in the ancient world – one may think, for example, of the social and political contexts, in which emotions such as shame or anger should or should not find expression.

So far, only selective attention has been devoted to Plutarch’s corpus, despite its potential for deepening even more our understanding of emotions in the ancient world: the corpus of the surviving works of Plutarch that has come down to us is not only exceptionally voluminous, covering many different literary genres and types of texts, but it also deals with questions resulting from the everlasting conflict between one’s reason and one’s desires and emotions. Plutarch’s reflection about the importance of emotions in forming one’s own character allows for a broad spectrum of approaches, while it offers at the same time a broad field of application, be it from ethics and politics, or the right way to read poetry or the appropriate attitude towards the divine, but also the impact of the control of emotions on social behaviour and their relation to the ideal paideia. The literary characterisation of emotions also proves crucial in determining the interactions between the characters in the dialogues and represents a significant narrative element in Plutarch’s works.

The German Section of the International Plutarch Society (IPS) in co-operation with the Departments of Theology and Ancient History of the University of Hamburg wishes to address the subject of Plutarch and emotions through an international workshop, which is going to be held in Hamburg on 13th-14th September 2023. The present call is directed at scholars of Plutarch regardless of their stage of experience (PhD students and Early Career Researchers are encouraged to submit an abstract), whether focusing on the Lives or the Moralia. However, contributions dealing with emotions which include other authors from Plutarch’s time are also welcome; interdisciplinary approaches (philology, philosophy, ancient history, psychology, social and communication studies) are also encouraged. The aim of the envisaged workshop is to deepen our understanding of Plutarch’s conceptualisation of emotions, their literary functions and the social issues involved.

Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:

(Re-)Conceptualisation of emotions

Functions of emotions in literary/narrative contexts

Paideia, virtue and control of emotions

Emotions and politics (including gender and ethnicity)

Emotions and poetry

Emotions and rhetoric

Emotions and their cognitive and psychological implications

The 30-minute papers will each be followed by 15-minute discussions. 

Papers in German or English are welcome.

If you are interested in participating, please send an abstract of max. 300 words to plutarchemotions.altegeschichte(at)uni-hamburg.de by May 15, 2023.

Keynote speaker will be Professor Douglas Cairns (University of Edinburgh).

The organising committee 

Anna Ginestí Rosell, Justine Diemke, Felix John, Francesco Padovani, Theofanis Tsiampokalos

Arbeitstreffen "Philosophie und Religion" - Plutarch, De Isis et Osiride

Der Arbeitskreis ‚Philosophie und Religion‘ der GanPh unter der Leitung von Dr. Angela Ulacco (Universität Fribourg), Dr. Diego De Brasi (Universität Marburg) sowie PD Dr. Marko J. Fuchs (Universität Bamberg) bietet v.a. Nachwuchswissenschaftler*innen ein Forum, um sich mit dem Verhältnis und wechselseitigen Einfluss von Philosophie, Theologie und Religion in der Antike auseinanderzusetzen und sich damit mit einem Forschungsgebiet zu beschäftigen, das zentral für ein historisch und systematisch angemessenes Verständnis zahlreicher philosophischer Positionen dieser Epoche ist. Thema des dritten Treffens ist Plutarchs Schrift über Isis und Osiris.

12. Internationaler Kongress der IPS

Aktualisierung: aufgrund der Corona Pandemie wird der nächste internationale Kongress der IPS um ein Jahr verschoben. Neuer Termin ist 2. bis 5. Semptember 2021. Den Call for Papers finden Sie hier.

Wenn Sie Mitglied der IPS werden möchten, füllen Sie bitte dieses Formular aus und senden Sie es an uns zurück.