The Department of Philosophy Research Seminars (DPRS) offer a friendly environment for researchers to present their work in progress. The seminars are intended for current and recent postgraduates, doctoral students and academics researching within or bordering the field of philosophy.
The speaker for the next DPRS session is Dr Jurgen Gatt. The seminar is entitled ‘I confess, I am innocent’: Suneidetic Knowledge in Antiphon.
Date: Wednesday 10 January
Time: 17:30 - 18:30
Venue: Faculty of Theology (Humanities A), Room 316 B, Msida Campus
Jurgen Gatt graduated from Medicine in 2005. After two years of working as a doctor, he re-entered university as an undergraduate to study classics. In 2009, he continued his studies with a thought masters at the University College London, where his thesis focused on the Socratic elenchus. After graduating in 2010, he started a joint Classics and the History and Philosophy of Science PhD at UCL, which he hopes to finish later this year. His current research focuses on notions of evidence in late 5th century prose and, more specifically, on the epistemology of testimony and testimonial evidence in early rhetoric and historiography. He is currently a Visiting Assistant Lecturer at the University of Malta, where he lectures on Homer, Plato and Herodotus, and a Casual Lecturer at Junior College, where he teaches Intermediate level ‘Classical Studies’.
Abstract
The aim of this talk is two-fold. Firstly, it attempts to reconstruct the intellectual climate of the 5th century BC with respect to a philosophically important, and dense, notion. Secondly, it is my hope that the talk shall also serve as a case-study of the methodology which may be used in the study of ancient texts.
In this talk, I will analyse Antiphon’s use of the verb συνειδέναι [syneidenai] in the hopes of reconstructing a proto-epistemology of ‘suneidetic knowledge’ which may be broadly defined as ‘knowledge that person P is responsible for action X’. Often, however, ‘suneidetic knowledge’ is self-reflexive and refers to the criminal’s ‘guilty self-knowledge’ that follows, seemingly automatically, upon the commission of a crime. I also analyse the various, seemingly contradictory, ways in which this concept is employed in Antiphon’s forensic to show that its use is predicated on a small number of philosophically cogent assumptions.
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DPRS seminars consists of a 40-50 minute talk followed by a discussion session. The main ideas behind these seminars are to inspire a culture of academic debate, to provide a forum for postgraduate and doctoral students, and to showcase philosophical research being done within the humanities. For more information, join the Department of Philosophy Research Seminars group on Facebook or visit the website.