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Dr. Vasilis Politis

Position: Associate Professor

Research Interests: Ancient Philosophy, Ethics, Kant, Wittgenstein.

Phone: +353 1 8961214

Email: vpolitis@tcd.ie

Room: 5006

Vasilis Politis has been teaching in the department since 1992. He obtained is B.A. B.Phil and D.Phil from Oxford University Dr. Politis' area of expertise is ancient philosophy (espeically Plato and Aristotle). He is currently working on a major project: the place and function of Aporia in Plato and Aristotle, and why this is central to their accounts of inquiry and their particular searches. Dr. Politis also has a live interest in select topics in contemporary metaphysics (essence, necessity and universals in the work of Kit Fine, Saul Kripke and David Armstrong); in Kant; and in Wittgenstein.
Selected Publications

Books

Aristotle and the Metaphysics (London: Routledge, 2004)

"Politis has done a magnificent job. Politis' clarity, his apt examples and explanations will enable readers to tackle this difficult text more easily...I particularly recommend two stunning chapters (chs. 5 and 6)... This provocative book will be valuable for students and scholars alike."

Mary Louise Gill, Brown University (from review in Mind July 2005)

"This is an excellent book, written with great lucidity and engaging the reader directly with the problems of Aristotle's Metaphysics...The book reads with ease, even at the most difficult stages. I found it positively enjoyable to read."

Mary Margaret McCabe, King's College London

Paul Natorp Plato's Theory of Ideas: An Introduction to Idealism, International Plato Studies Vol. 18 (Academa Verlag, 2004).

Edited by Vasilis Politis
Translated by Vasilis Politis and John Connolly
Postscript by André Laks

Articles

"What do the Arguments in the Protagoras amount to?" Phronesis, 57, (3), 2012 Pp. 1–33.

"What is behind the ti esti question?", in J. Fink Ed. The Development of Dialectic from Plato to Aristotle, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2012, Pp. 232 –260.

"Explanation and Essence in Plato's Phaedo" in D. Charles (Ed.), Definition in Greek Philosophy, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2010, Pp. 62–114;.

"The Place of Aporia in Plato's Charmides", Phronesis 53 (1), 2008, Pp. 1–34.

"The Aporia in the Charmides about Reflexive Knowledge and the Contribution to its Solution in the Sun Analogy in the Republic", in D. Cairns, F.G. Herrmann, T. Penner, Pursuing the Good, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2007, Pp. 231–250.

Last Updated: May 15 2012 17:43:42.