OIKOS research group Ancient Philosophy and Science

Kathryn Morgan (UCLA) will give a lecture entitled "Socrates' comic atopia"

Abstract: This paper explores Socratic atopia (his quality of being “strange” or “out of place”) in the Phaedo and Gorgias, and the connections of this atopia with the world of Old Comedy.  I suggest that Socrates shares with comedy a genius for uncovering and thematizing the incongruous, and that this incongruity is an important aspect of his philosophical lifestyle.  A reading of the opening and closing sequences of the Phaedo reveals the role played by Socratic and philosophic atopia in creating argumentative incongruity and potentially comic disjunction. The Gorgias revisits questions of perspective and atopia in terms of the containment of tragedy and in a mode that again recalls comedy.  While laughter in the Phaedo is gentle and cooperative, the humor of the Gorgias is closer to mockery and invective.

The lecture will be followed by drinks. All are welcome!