Presentation Abstracts:
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Ann Bergren (UCLA), "Animate Chora Form:
The Architecture of Greg Lynn and Elena Manferdini"
I'll speak primarily as an architect and expand upon the point made in my "Architecture Gender Philosophy" that the Derrida-Eisenman exploration of the possibilities for architecture in the "chora" of the Timaeus missed, for various reasons, the aspect of that "chora" that might best have stimulated Eisenman's architectural goal: that is, the "pre-architectural chora" and her/its characteristics.
I think that the architectural potential in the "pre-architectural chora" of the Timaeus can be illustrated by examples from two contemporary design practices: in architecture, the work described by him as "animate form" by Greg Lynn (http://www.glform.com/) and in fashion and product design by Elena Manferdini (http://www.ateliermanferdini.com/).
Sean Carroll (CalTech), "From Eternity to Here: Time and Change in an Eternal Universe"
Change is a major theme of the Timaeus, and much has changed since Plato's time in the way we understand the natural world. Modern physics and cosmology have equipped us with tools that allow us to tackle the deep questions of how the universe could possibly exist without a demiurge to get it going. We don't yet know all the answers, but insights from quantum mechanics, general relativity, and thermodynamics enable us to at least tell a plausible story of how change and evolution are possible in an eternal universe.
Katerina Ierodiakonou (U. Athens),"Basic and Mixed Colors in Plato's Timaeus"
Modern physicists and painters both talk about basic and mixed colors, but their lists of basic colors are very different. For although they all regard basic colors as those from which mixed colors can be produced, while they themselves are not the product of mixture, the choice they make of which colors are to count as basic very much depends on the way they understand colors; namely, whether they understand them respectively as light waves or as pigments. Ancient philosophers, too, give different lists of basic colors. For instance, Empedocles postulates white and black as the only basic colors, whereas Plato lists four basic colors, namely white, black, red and bright. The question which I raise in my paper is what motivates these philosophers to choose the basic colors they do; especially in Plato's case, who undeniably is influenced in many respects by Empedocles, it is interesting to investigate what makes him introduce four, rather than two, basic colors, and in particular why he chooses these four. To try to answer this question, I look into the different way Empedocles and Plato conceive of the nature of color, their different notions of mixture, but also consider the possible influence of other disciplines, such as painting or medicine.
Anthony Leggett (UIUC), "Plato's Timaeus: Some Resonances in Modern Physics and Cosmology"
I will attempt to discuss the question: How far do the questions about the physical world, and man's place in it, which are raised in Plato's Timaeus, and the answers given to them, find a resonance in modern physics and cosmology? I will particularly emphasize the dichotomy between eternal law and contingent fact, and the role of human perception in our construction of the physical universe.
Mitchell Miller (Vassar College), "The Unwritten Teachings in the Philebus, in the Timaeus?"
In the discovery of how Socrates' account of the god-given method of dialectic at Philebus 16c-18d fits together with his account of the four kinds at 23c-27d, one also discovers what is at once an exhibition and an interpretation of the "unwritten teachings" Aristotle credits to Plato in Metaphysics A6. Do we also find these teachings, thus interpreted, in the Timaeus? I will lay out lines of exploration of Timaeus' accounts of the constitution of the elements and of the kinds of animals that suggest that the "unwritten teachings" provide the orienting insight for these accounts, and I will consider the implications of this for the status of the receptacle and the Demiurge.
Alexander Nehamas (Princeton), "'Only in the Contemplation of Beauty is Human Life Worth Living' (Symposium 211d)"
Although this lecture is centered around Socrates' famous speech on eros (love) in Plato's Symposium, its purpose is not primarily exegetical. My purpose is to examine three ideas in that speech and consider their importance for a contemporary approach to the idea of beauty. These are, first, the view that eros is a desire for the possession of beauty; second, the transformation of that into the view that eros is a desire for 'giving birth' in the presence of beauty; and third, Plato's insistence that eros is constantly driving lovers forward toward placing the beautiful object of their love in a continually broader context. I hope – without doing violence to the text of the Symposium – to interpret these ideas so as to show that they are plausible independently of Plato's metaphysics, that – so interpreted – they bear some remarkable similarities to Nietzsche's views on beauty and that they illuminate the importance of beauty as a value in the general economy of life.
Anthony Vidler (The Cooper Union), "The Atlantis Complex: Derrida and the Lost Origins of Architecture"
Together the story of Atlantis and Pre-Athens have provided a subject for debate, both among Plato scholars was Plato a historian or a mythologist, and why, apparently for the first time, did he introduce descriptions of "real" cities? and architects and planners from the late Medieval period to the present what was real site of Atlantis? Might we discover it, and in what way do Plato's descriptions stimulate us to design either (1) nostalgic "restorations" of Atlantian architecture, or (2) develop new utopias, some science-based (Bacon), some literally retro (Leon Krier)? Building on the arguments of Pierre Vidal-Naquet (L'Atlantide) and Jean-Franois Pradeau with respect to the original texts of the Timaeus and the Critias and on interpretations or "original space" or "chora" from Derrida to Sallis, this talk will discuss the apparently endless search for authoritative origins in architecture, in antiquity and the present.
Matthias Vorwerk (Catholic U. America) , "Maker or Father? Plotinus on the Demiurge"
An interesting example of Plotinus' attempt to systematize Platonic doctrine can be found in his exegesis of a famous passage in the Timaeus (28c3-5) where Plato writes: "To find the Maker and Father of this All is difficult, and to communicate him to all after having found him is impossible." The context of the quote seems to show that it is the divine craftsman, the Demiurge, who is named Father and Maker of the universe. However, Plotinus throughout the Enneads carefully distinguishes between the Father, whom he identifies with the One or the Good, and the Maker or Demiurge, whom he identifies with Intellect. The Platonic phrase "Maker and Father" never occurs in the Enneads. In fact, in V.1.8 Plotinus systematically dissects what seems to be a hendiadys with the help of an enigmatic quote from the 6th Platonic letter (323d4), which mentions "the Father of the Cause." The Cause, Plotinus explains, is Intellect, i.e. the Demiurge that made the Soul. Hence, Father and Maker/Demiurge are two separate entities.
This paper will analyze the use Plotinus makes of Plato's famous words in the Timaeus and consider possible implications for our understanding of the dialogue.