SCS-60: Classical East and West: Case studies in philosophy and medicine to discuss methods, aims, and results of comparative research

Organizers

Benjamin Porteous, Harvard University; Didier Natalizi Baldi, Harvard University

Description

Re-evaluating and re-framing the notion of the Classics appears as a central concern of contemporary scholarship. Re-consideration of the Greco-Roman world within a wider Mediterranean environment is rapidly growing in popularity. So are critical approaches to the very constitutive framework of Classical research, which promise to bring rich intellectual exchange to our field. In this Seminar we investigate the role of comparative research in the Classical world broadly construed: presenters structure philologically rigorous comparisons between works of philosophy and medicine in the Greco-Roman and Classical Chinese traditions. In so doing, we hope to inspire a wider discussion about comparison: what can be gained by a juxtaposed contrastive analysis of works coming from two different thought worlds? How can this inform specific research about specific texts and authors? Can it offer deeper insight into the human condition?

Our presenters begin with a careful reading of their chosen works, allowing for abstraction to comparable intellectual structures. We thus hope to provide a solid basis for analyzing texts within a framework makes similarities salient while highlighting divergence. We, therefore, hope to contribute to the establishment of a global vision of the Classical Antiquities, a method placing premodern texts from across the world in dialogue with each other on an equal footing, helping in the construction of a common language. At the same time, we maintain that a contrastive comparison with different traditions, challenging pre-existing conception of Greco-Roman texts and bringing with it fresh insights and methodologies, promises to enrich our understanding of Mediterranean antiquity.

PDF Handouts

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