Seminar outline: Book 6 of Nicomachean Ethics is the only systematic treatment of the virtue of phronesis that has survived from antiquity. This is significant as phronesis is the primary ethical and political virtue in the system of virtues that we find, not only in Aristotle, but also Plato and Epicurus. I will offer a reading of phronesis in book 6 of Nicomachean Ethics that situates Aristotle’s position in relation to Plato and Epicurus and, more importantly, shows how the virtue of phronesis can be used to talk about politics today.
Readings: Book 6 of the Nicomachean Ethics (if you like, please contact Magdalena Zolkos at magdalena.a.zolkos@jyu.fi for copy)
Bio: Dimitris Vardoulakis was the inaugural chair of Philosophy at Western Sydney University. Some of his books include Freedom from the Free Will: On Kafka’s Laughter (2016); Spinoza, the Epicurean: Authority and Utility in Materialism (2020); The Ruse of Techne: Heidegger’s Magical Materialism (2024); and The Agonistic Condition: Materialism and Democracy (2025). He is the co-editor of the book series “Incitements” (Edinburgh University Press) and the journal Philosophy, Politics and Critique. He is currently Vice President of the Council of the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS) and has served as chair of the Australasian Society for Continental Philosophy (ASCP).
