First Principles, Cause, and Explanation in Ancient Philosophy

University of Cambridge, Faculty of Classics,

Friday 12th - Saturday 13th April, 2013

Programme:

Friday, 12^th

10:00-13:30: Registration 

14:00-15:15: Konstantinos Kravaritis (University of Edinburgh), 'The Metaphysics of Names, Explanation, and Understanding in Plato's Cratylus' 

Response by Naoya Iwata (University of Cambridge) 

15:15-16:30: Alexandra Newton (Universitaet Leipzig), 'Zeta 17 as an Illustration of Aristotle’s Theory of Predication in the Metaphysics'

Response by Carlo Rossi (University of Cambridge)

16:30-17:00   Coffee Break

Keynote Paper 1

17:00-18:30: Jim Hankinson (University of Texas at Austin), 'Posits and Principles: the Ancients on Analysis and Explanation'

19:00-  Dinner

Saturday, 13^th

9:30-10:45: Tim Crowley (University College Dublin), 'The Matter of the Elements'

Response by Benjamin Harriman (University of Cambridge)

10:45-12:00: Andreas Lammer (Ludwig Maximilian University Munich), 'Method and Principle in the Tradition of Physics I'

Response by Siyi Chen (University of Cambridge)

12:00-13:30   Lunch

13:30-14:45: Bryan Reece (University of Toronto), 'Diogenes of Apollonia on First Principles, Cause, and Explanation'

Response by Rhodes Pinto (University of Cambridge) 

14:45-16:00: Sukaina Hirji (Princeton University), 'Demonstration and Causation in Posterior Analytics A 4'

Response by Tamer Nawar (University of Cambridge)

16:00-16:30    Coffee Break

Keynote Paper 2

16:30-18:00: Ravi Sharma (Clark University): 'αἰτία and ὑπόθεσις in Plato's Phaedo (96-102)