Alex Long is Professor of Classics at the University of St Andrews. He is the author of Conversation and Self-Sufficiency in Plato (2013) and Death and Immortality in Ancient Philosophy (2019), and, with David Sedley, translated Plato’s Meno and Phaedo for the series Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy. His most recent book is a collection co-edited with Barbara Sattler, Parmenides: New Perspectives (2025). He is currently finishing a monograph on naturalism in Plato’s political thought.
In Plato’s Phaedo Socrates has a method of hypotheses, not, as is usually supposed, a method of hypothesis. The passage illustrates a principled way of taking a position on many questions and so satisfying the wide-ranging curiosity shown by Socrates’ predecessors, the Presocratics. In calling his positions his ‘hypotheses’ Socrates is not indicating a lack of certainty about them. The paper defends this interpretation with reference to other uses of the relevant expressions in the dialogues, and argues that it helps us resolve long-standing problems about the passage.
Our meetings usually take place in Senate House, University of London, Malet St, London WC1E 7HU. See top of page for specific location.
The Society’s philosophy talks take place every fortnight on Mondays throughout the academic year. Each talk starts at 18:15 and lasts for 45 minutes. The remainder of the time is dedicated to discussion, which ends at 19:45
All of the Society’s philosophy talks are catered with fairtrade teas, coffees, and biscuits.
In line with the Society’s mission to make philosophy readily available to the general public, all talks are free and membership is not required.
Following over a century of tradition, draft papers for all the talks are available in advance. Please note that draft papers can only be cited with the authors permission (see below for final publication and subscription details). The draft paper for a talk is available approximately one week prior to its schedule delivery.
For the past 146 years, the Proceedings has featured widely respected papers delivered by a range of prominent philosophers, such as Alfred North Whitehead, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Bertrand Russell, A.J. Ayer, P.F. Strawson, Karl Popper, Elizabeth Anscombe, Bernard Williams, Hubert Dreyfus, Alexander Nehamas, and Onora O’Neill. Final drafts of the papers — including discussion notes and exemplary graduate papers — are published in the Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society.
The venue at Senate House is wheelchair accessible and there are disabled toilet facilities on the ground floor. If you require a disabled parking space or a hearing loop, please contact our Managing Editor, Malcolm Keating (managingeditor@aristoteliansociety.org.uk), in advance so that we can reserve these for you. Service animals are also welcome.
