Upcoming event. UCD Philosophy Society 50th inaugural lecture
UCD Philosophy Society this year celebrates its 50th anniversary with a number of special
events. The 50th inaugural lecture will be given by Alexander Nehamas of Princeton
University on Wednesday 13 April at 6pm in Newman, Theatre 1.
His lecture, appropriate for the occasion, is on the theme of friendship: ‘Metaphors in Real
Life: “I Love You for Yourself”’.
Alexander Nehamas is professor of both philosophy and comparative literature at Princeton
University. He has published and lectured widely on topics spanning classical philosophy,
philosophy of art, literary theory, friendship, popular culture and television. His latest book,
On Friendship, will be published this month.
Born in Athens, Nehamas pursued graduate studies in the USA, and has taught at Princeton
since 1990. He is unique in being equally expert in diverse periods of philosophy. With a
command of Ancient and Modern Greek, English, Latin, French, German, Italian, and
Spanish, his interests also span diverse fields and genres of literature.
Translator of a number of Plato’s works, Nehamas is recognised internationally as a leading
expert in Platonism. Emphasizing the practical value of philosophy in Ancient Greece and
Rome, he questions the transformation of philosophy from a way of living into a purely
academic discipline. His early work was on Platonic metaphysics and aesthetics as well as the
philosophy of Socrates, but he gained a wider audience with his 1985 book Nietzsche: Life as
Literature, in which he argued that Nietzsche thought of life and the world on the model of a
literary text.
The titles of his earlier books give an indication of Nehamas’ continued concern to turn
philosophy into an activity of personal meaning and practise.
“Because It Was He, Because It Was I”: Six Essays on Friendship (2015)
Only a Promise of Happiness: The Place of Beauty in a World of Art (Princeton UP, 2007)
The Art of Living: Socratic Reflections from Plato to Foucault (University of Californian
Press, 2000)
Virtues of Authenticity: Essays on Plato and Socrates (Princeton UP, 1999)
Nietzsche: Life as Literature (Harvard UP, 1985)