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<p class="MsoNormal">The Philosophy Department at Fudan University invites you to a talk by
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Dimitris Vardoulakis<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On the Ancient Origins of Materialism<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">16 June 2022<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">7pm Shanghai time<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Zoom Meeting ID: 850 7213 0584 <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Password: 220616<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Abstract:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After Marx’s doctorate on atomism, ancient physics has appeared as the basis of historical materialism. But historical materialism is primarily concerned with praxis, not with natural philosophy. Marx does not address the practical philosophy
of the atomists, especially Epicurus, other than in a few sporadic comments in his notebooks. In this paper, I will suggest that if we consider the relation between ethics and ontology in epicureanism, we will find a core similarity with the politics of historical
materialism. Specifically, the epicurean conception of phronesis (or practical judgment) entails social agonism, echoing key Marxist concepts such as the class struggle. I will show how epicurean phronesis is a radical political concept in comparison to how
phronesis is understood in the other major Greek schools of philosophy, such as the Platonists, the Aristotelians and the Stoics.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This paper is a continuation of the argument about the epicurean providence of radical materialism in early modernity that I have developed in relation to Spinoza (Spinoza, the Epicurean, 2020), as well as of unacknowledged origins of continental
philosophy in materialism (The Ruse of Techne: Heidegger’s Magical Materialism, forthcoming).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">- - - - - - - - -<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Dimitris Vardoulakis<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Western Sydney University<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">School of Humanities and Communication Arts<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Bankstown Campus, 1.1.70<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Locked Bag 1797<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Penrith, NSW 2751<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">AUSTRALIA<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-AU"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">tel: </span><a href="tel:+61%202%209772%206808"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:windowtext;mso-fareast-language:EN-AU;text-decoration:none">+61 2 9772 6808</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-AU"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">Chair of the Australasian Society for Continental Philosophy:
</span><a href="https://ascp.org.au/"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#0563C1;mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">https://ascp.org.au/</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-AU"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://philpeople.org/profiles/dimitris-vardoulakis"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#0563C1;mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">https://philpeople.org/profiles/dimitris-vardoulakis</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-AU"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.edinburghuniversitypress.com/series-incitements"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#0563C1;mso-fareast-language:EN-AU">www.edinburghuniversitypress.com/series-incitements</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-AU"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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