Letter from the President
Dear colleagues,
Please accept my best wishes for the new academic year. I am writing to bring you up to date about important changes in the structure and scope of the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy (SAGP), which were initiated in January 2020 and have now been completed. The Board of Directors has made these changes in response to the growing interest in Ancient Philosophy both nationally and internationally, and in reaction to the major challenges that we are all facing around the world. Recent developments in technology have made it possible to broaden the scope of SAGP, increase its membership, and make its activities accessible to scholars in Ancient Philosophy working in many different countries and spread over five continents. SAGP has always been a forum free of bias and prejudice and continues in that tradition.
SAGP has a new website. The website gives easy access to information about the history, structure, and activities of the Society and, very importantly, makes possible the electronic payment of membership dues (which remain very modest). We are confident that this will increase significantly the number of active members and secure the benefit of their regular input and participation in the events of the Society.
SAGP now operates under a new set of Bylaws, which regulate the function of the Society, specify new constituencies, and reflect the international and outward-looking character of the Society as well as its ambitions for further inclusiveness and expansion.
A second representative of the constituency for the East Coast of the US has been added to the Board of Directors. Three more members have been elected to the Board representing, respectively, Central and South America, Continental Europe, and the United Kingdom. We hope that, as the scope of the Society’s activities increases, more constituencies will be added to represent other parts of the world.
In accordance with its long tradition of especially welcoming and encouraging junior scholars, SAGP now organizes Zoom sessions in which scholars, especially scholars in early stages of their career, present their research and get valuable feedback, often from senior specialists who have done substantial work on the topic of the presentation. For the conception and success of these Zoom meetings (and for much else) SAGP owes a debt of gratitude to Tony Preus, who has been Secretary of the Society for approximately four decades.
While the Zoom meetings are mostly devoted to the presentation of work-in-progress, the SAGP annual conference, as well as the SAGP sessions at the conferences of the American Philosophical Association and the Society of Classical Studies, constitute academic platforms where scholars present polished pieces of research. Papers for the SAGP annual conference are selected by review of submitted abstracts, while the selection of papers for the meetings of the APA and the SCS is carried out according to the rules of those Associations, namely by blind refereeing. Looking forward, in view of the expansion of SAGP’s geographical reach, the Board of Directors is eager to consider proposals for a second annual conference of the Society to take place in countries outside the US.
SAGP has instituted an Annual Award for the best paper submitted for the meetings of the APA and the SCS and presented at one of these meetings. The committee that adjudicates this Award will be drawn from the Board of Directors and will select the winner and a runner-up. Results of the annual competition will be communicated broadly to the community of scholars in our discipline.
Some of us remember, and many of us may have heard, that SAGP in its early decades was the pre- eminent locus for presenting distinguished work in Ancient Philosophy in North America, so much so that even the most senior scholars could not expect to be invited more than once or twice in their career to give the SAGP lecture at the meetings of the APA. That lecture was an important and well-attended event. In continuity with that tradition and to raise the profile of SAGP even higher within the two disciplines that have promoted the study of Ancient Philosophy around the world, Philosophy and Classical Studies, the Board of Directors decided to take one more significant step forward. I am pleased to announce The SAGP Distinguished Lectureship. The SAGP Distinguished Lecturer will be chosen annually by the Board of Directors in recognition of very substantial contributions to scholarship in our field. Hence this lectureship will be a high professional distinction in its own right, an honour bestowed upon a scholar by their peers under the auspices of SAGP. The lecture may be on any topic or area of Ancient Philosophy and will be delivered on a highly accessible virtual platform, such as Zoom. It will be followed by comments from three or four specialists and a general discussion between the speaker and the commentators. This high-level annual event will be widely publicized for enjoyment in real time and, after the end of the lecture, the whole event will be posted as a podcast on our website.
These activities are in harmony with the tradition of SAGP and aim to make increasingly more prominent its presence in the forefront of our field. But the most valuable asset for the Society is the participation of its members. I wish to encourage and indeed urge all members to renew your subscription to SAGP so as to have access to all activities of the Society and the high-quality scholarship that it fosters. Also, I wish to address an invitation to scholars in Ancient Philosophy who are not current members of the Society to join our ranks. SAGP is an institution with a distinguished past and a very promising future. It deserves our enthusiasm and loyalty and it needs your active support.
With all best wishes,
Voula Tsouna, President