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Lecture XV - Pavle Stojanović, May 27, 2024.

5/24/2024

Can a Skeptic Be Pious and Should He Be: Lessons from Ancient Pyrrhonism

One of the chief tenets of the Pyrrhonists, the first philosophers to call themselves skeptics, is suspension of belief on everything, including the matters pertaining to religion. This suspension results from the fact that the skeptic finds that mutually exclusive accounts for and against the existence of gods are equally persuasive, in virtue of which he has no reason to prefer either of the two positions. Once suspension is achieved, ideally ataraxia follows, the mental state in which unnecessary disturbances are thoroughly eliminated, making the skeptic perfectly unconcerned and indifferent. Based on this, one would expect the skeptic to be rather disinterested in taking any kind of position towards piety, or at least to be equally disposed both towards affirming as well as denying the existence of gods, and towards engaging in as well as ignoring the religious observances and rituals. Yet surprisingly, this is not what Sextus Empiricus, one of the most prominent Pyrrhonists and our main source on their views, tells us. Instead, he is quite explicit in describing the skeptic as someone who, as a follower of ‘ordinary life’ and ‘laws and customs’ of his community, will say that gods exist and who will engage in religious practice. My aim will be to explore the reasons why a Pyrrhonean skeptic would take such an approach, and to assess whether he can consistently do so.

Pavle Stojanović is an Assistant Professor (Docent) of Philosophy at the University of Belgrade. His area of research so far has been in the philosophy of the Hellenistic period, in which he has published several papers. This is part of his broader interest in the questions pertaining to human knowledge and its limits.

Meeting ID: 870 2219 2222
Passcode: 297642
Date: May 27, 2024.
Time: 19:00 CEST
Zoom info:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87022192222?pwd=dp94NSEeGwMkfJqqqHec1V4pEQOpcy.1

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Workshop: Science, Faith, and Superstition, May 30th - June 1st, 2024.

5/22/2024

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Workshop Science, Faith and Superstition will be held from May 30th to June 1st at Tempus Hall, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade. This event aims to develop historical challenges to the prevalent understanding of science and religion, wherein religion is often relegated to an insignificant place in our worldview or identified with superstition.

Lectures will be focused on two key historical periods: late Antiquity and the Renaissance through the 17th century. These periods are crucial due to significant shifts in understanding the intersections of the natural, human, and divine. Central questions include how philosophers, doctors, alchemists (proto-chemists), and Church Fathers in early Christianity and early Modernity understood the purpose of studying nature, the nature of faith, and the meaning of superstition.

This workshop is especially geared towards PhD students and early career researchers who wish to broaden their knowledge on these topics.

Schedule, talks and lecturers are provided below:

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Lecture XIV - Milan M. Ćirković, May 22, 2024.

5/18/2024

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Epicurean cosmology and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence

Epicurean atomism is arguably the most modern and liveliest physicalist ontology of the entire pre-Enlightenment history. In particular, his reductionism and his insistence on non-teleological and mechanistic explanations resonate very well with the epistemology and methodology of modern science. Among several aspects of what Collin Robbins justifiably calls the “scientific prescience of Epicureanism”, one which has not been discussed in the literature so far deals with the place of life and mind in their widest cosmic context – that is, with canonical questions of contemporary astrobiology. In this talk, I shall argue that Epicureanism remains an excellent philosophical foundation for our quest for cosmic life and in particular in our search for other minds in the universe. In particular, the controversy surrounding “gods” in the doctrine of Epicurus and his pupils should be resolved in accordance with both his underlying naturalism superposed with subsequently emerging awareness of secular evolution of both physical and biological systems. There are multiple arguments for thinking about Epicurean gods as advanced extraterrestrial intelligences, achieving high degree of control over the physical environment, superhuman moral capacities, and conquering death in purely naturalistic, scientific manner. In the present era of search for extraterrestrial technosignatures, this aspect of the Epicurean thought is likely to become more and more congenial.

Milan M. Ćirković is a senior Research Professor at the Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade, (Serbia). He obtained his PhD at the Dept. of Physics, State University of New York in Stony Brook in 2000 with the thesis in astrophysical cosmology. His primary research interests are in the fields of astrobiology (habitable zones, habitability of galaxies, SETI studies), philosophy of science (futures studies, philosophy of cosmology), and risk analysis (global catastrophes, observation selection effects, epistemology of risk). He co-edited the widely-cited anthology on Global Catastrophic Risks (Oxford University Press, 2008, with Nick Bostrom), wrote four research monographs (the latest being Cosmic Microwave Background: Philosophical and Historical Aspects, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2024, with S. Perović), as well as five popular science/general nonfiction books, and authored about 200 research and professional papers. He is currently working on The Terrors of the Earth: Why We Ought to Leave this Planet – and Soon, to be published in 2025 by Penguin Random House.

Meeting ID: 818 3980 8887
Passcode: 170677
Date: May 22, 2024.
Time: 18:00 CEST
Zoom info:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81839808887?pwd=JRo9nZh1rmZYxsyVtLKcbDVrrcS5Ic.1

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Lecture XIII - Il Akkad, May 9, 2024.

5/6/2024

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Elements of Popular Beliefs in John Moschus - What are the Criteria?

A repository of various and most interesting tale from the very last years of Roman Middle-East, The Spiritual Meadow written by John Moschus and his companion Sophronius is also a valuable account of the beliefs and practices of his age. The question we will address is whether it is possible to discern those which are an expression of a popular religious world-view, and, if so, how to go about it.

Il Akkad is an assistant professor at the Department of Classics at the Philosophical Faculty of Belgrade University. His main research interests are Greek language in Late Antiquity and Late Antique Greek Literature.

Meeting ID: 893 2701 1808
Passcode: 795438
Date: May 9, 2024.
Time: 18:00 CEST
Zoom info:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89327011808?pwd=hsUmPQXXHLpmYcZRTvGYcA8gCkiaWH.1

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