School of Philosophy
Faculty of Philosophy, Pedagogy and Psychology
ACADEMIC CURRICULUM VITAEPANAGIOTIS N. PANTAZAKOSProfessor, Philosophy, National and Kapodistrian University of AthensSchool of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, Panepistimiopoli,Zografou 157 84,Phone: 210-7277537e-mail: papantaz@ppp.uoa.gr LIFE-ACADEMIC BACKGROUND –CAREER
I was born in Athens. After completing compulsory education, I studied Philosophy at the University of Athens, during which time I also completed my military service. During my secondary education and university studies, I attended foreign language courses; I studied English at the British Council and German at Walter Gleiss Institute. During academic year 1990-1991, after taking the relevant postgraduate exams at the Institute of State Grants (I.K.Y.), I was awarded a grant by Chrysovergion Foundation. I subsequently renounced the said grant, as I was elected Special Postgraduate Fellow (Ε.Μ.Υ.) in the faculty of Philosophy, Pedagogy & Psychology of the University of Athens. My appointment as Special Postgraduate Fellow essentially constituted my introduction to the field of philosophical questioning. My collaboration in the educational and research undertakings in the field of philosophy at the University of Athens rendered my service there the equivalent of further education. I participated in the above through the presentation of two papers ( “The Paradox in Philosophy” and “The Argument in Philosophy”) in postgraduate seminars in my field. In addition, during my service at the Philosophical Workshop I was given the opportunity not only to advise students during the writing of their assignments but also the chance to delve into the extensive philosophical bibliography. Between 1992-1995, I contributed to the organization of the Erasmus Student Exchange Programme, which operated between the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the University of Rome ( “La Sapienza” ) and the University of Nottingham in the U.K. At the same time, I undertook the teaching of philosophy (exclusively or in a supporting capacity ) in a range of University faculties and Vocational Training Institutes. From 1989 to 2002, I served as a High School and Lyceum teacher at the private school “ Moraitis”. I also taught Ethics at the National School of Public Administration, as well as at the Postgraduate School for Police Officers. Furthermore, I edited a series of books on philosophy and the proceedings of various conferences on philosophy before their publication. In 1997, I was awarded the title of Doctor of Philosophy with first-class honours by the University of Athens. The topic of my doctoral thesis was “Natural Theology and Natural Law in the Philosophy of Sophists in the 5th century BC”. Ιn brief, in the field of philosophy of the faculty of Philosophy, Pedagogy & Psychology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens I have served as: a) 1991-1997: Special Postgraduate Fellow b) 2003-2007: Lecturer c) 2007-2011: Assistant Professor (non-tenured) d) 2011-2012: Assistant Professor (tenured) e) 2012-2016: Associate Professor f) 2016- present: Professor The above teaching positions were all on the subject of Ethics.
PUBLISHED WORKS
My research and published works begin with my thesis and include a series of books, articles and essays, which are concerned with Moral Philosophy, Philosophy of Law , Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Culture, Political and Social Philosophy, Applied Ethics and Bioethics, Logic and Epistimology etc. My works are a product of my studies and philosophical questioning. Concepts of Moral Philosophy, like Natural Law or Natural Theology are recurrent themes of philosophical meditations that have aroused my interest. These concepts are closely interwoven with the notions of free will, moral goodness and evil, virtue etc. That is the reason they are so appealing from a philosophical point of view; not only are they inherent in a range of historical periods and rule various philosophical movements but they also constitute a systemic entity, as one’s subject matter seems to derive from the examination of the exact previous one’s. This is a brief outline of my philosophical meditations. In this context, I look into a variety of philosophical issues that are either directly or indirectly tied to Moral Philosophy and its history. Besides, we should not overlook the fact that in philosophy the absolute and formalistic categorizations of exact sciences do not apply. It is for this reason that we should not assume that the situation in philosophy is such that communication between its branches is impossible. Besides, we do not study philosophy with a view to being given undisputed and certain answers to our eternal questions. Rather we study it to bring our problems into focus, to be enlightened by this enhanced focus and to rid ourselves of the impasses we occasionally encounter in our lives. Here follows a list of the titles and summaries of my published works, whose purpose is to offer a brief outline of my scientific career to date. BOOKS- MONOGRAPHS
1. “Natural Theology and Natural Law of Sophists in 5th Century BC”, published by Ellinika Grammata, Athens 2006pp. 268 (PhD)The aim of this book is the exploration of Sophism, the main focus being on the meditations of sophists and their influences on both older and modern intellectual thought. The beginnings of Sophism, the moral concerns of sophists , moral relativism and the connection between moral values, Epistimology and Theology are all looked into, among other things. 2. “Instinct and Freedom according to Thomas Hobbes”, Published by Ellinika Grammata, Athens 2006, pp. 454
The ideas of Thomas Hobbes are exceptionally interesting , as most constructive debate on moral issues has been sparked by this philosopher-be it in a positive or negative manner. On that basis, the book in question attempts to look into questions such as: What are the moral beliefs of a philosopher? What does he consider an obligation and what does he see as a duty? What does he say about free will and its relationship to instinct and rationalism? Are his ethics autonomous or heteronomous? How does he perceive the connection of ethics to religion, law and politics? Does he believe in God or not? If so, in what manner? What is his view of civil disobedience and human rights ? In what way is Hobbes’ ethic philosophy related to Hume’s and Kant’s? Do his ideas coincide with authoritarianism and violence or can Hobbes be considered a forerunner of constitutional liberalism? The debate of the aforementioned questions was based primarily on a systematic method and, to a smaller extent, on a historical one. For this reason, the various issues are looked into at depth and from different perspectives and historical references are only made when judged necessary. 3. “ Free will and moral values in Plethonas, Rousseau and Wittgenstein, Published by Ellinika Grammata, Athens 2006,pp. 147
This work is divided into three parts. In the first part, the concept of destiny is examined, as well as the way in which it is related to the philosophy of Georgios Gemistos Plethon. The second part refers to natural law as a source of moral values in Jean Jacques Rousseau and the third part looks at the moral beliefs of Ludwig Wittgenstein in relation to those of defenders of globalization. The moral questioning developed in the said book is not merely moralistic i.e. it is not only connected to moral behaviour, duties and obligations. It is also theoretical in the sense that it attempts to rise to moral goodness and define it philosophically. To that end, the citation of the views of philosophers is never sufficient in itself in order for philosophical substantiation of the issue at hand to be achieved. In all cases, the criticism leveled at the issue being discussed is invariably cited within the context of moral philosophy. The aforementioned aim was achieved in one more way i.e. through the extensive use of the original writings of philosophers so that the reader may perceive the tone, language, idiolect and terminology of each writer in his own personal way and so that he is allowed to judge for himself how apt and to the point the suggested interpretations and counterarguments are. 4. “ Ethics and Democracy, from antiquity to modern day”, Published by Kardamitsa, Athens 2012, pp. 560
The relationship of ethics to politics is a subject that has preoccupied the greatest philosophers from antiquity to this day. Some of them subjugated politics to ethics, envisioning a utopic society i.e. a political construct unaffected by the passage of time. Others subjugated ethics to politics, claiming that correctness should be defined before moral goodness (virtue). A further category, wished to separate ethics from politics, leaving the former to star-gazing, day-dreaming philosophers relishing in intense debates and disputes and the latter to exact scientists, who are averse to renouncing realism, not even for a single moment. When and under what circumstances is it possible to interweave ethics with politics? What did distinguished philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, Rawls and Popper have to say on the matter? At the end of the day, how are democracy and democratic ethos interrelated with utopia, religion, economics and civil disobedience? Are all systems of government democratic or not?
5. “Plethon, on animals and soul” , Published by Kardamitsa. Athens 2012, pp. 157
In the relevant bibliography, Plethon is referred to as the last ancient Greek and the first modern Greek. This makes his works particularly interesting as well as inaccessible. This is because some considered them nation-oriented due to their emphasis on geographical, linguistic and philosophical continuity of Hellenism. Some others saw them as marxist on account of their emphasis on the theocratic and authoritarian character of Byzantium and its prioritization of class struggle over religious faith, individuals or historic facts. Others regarded them as racist because of their reference to pure and half-blood races. A final category, saw them in a combined and selective way, owing to their highlighting the rights of peoples to self-determination and the right to their own individual identity all the while respecting others’ freedoms. 6. “Ethics and Meta-ethics”, Published by Kardamitsa, Athens 2015, pp. 505
For quite a few, there is an unbridgeable gap between ethics and meta-ethics as ethics promotes moral prototypes and defines goodness precisely while meta-ethics entrenches itself in moral neutrality. Is this really the situation between ancient and modern moral philosophy? Are there only differences between ethics and meta-ethics or perhaps should there not be dividing lines at all between the two as one is the continuation of the other? In this book, an attempt is made to explore the relationship of ethics to meta-ethics from an unusual perspective .i.e. not through the return to yesterday’s today but through the reverse process. This means that first, what is considered ethics and what not is determined, after which the past is explored in order to establish if there are communication channels between ancient and modern moral philosophy. 7. “ On Duty, Essays on Systematic Moral Philosophy”, Published by Kardamitsa, Athens 2015, pp. 135
In this book, the relationship between duty and moral debt in the ethics of Kant is explored with a dual goal in mind : 1. To bring to the foreground the significance of Kant’s ethics for the history of ethical philosophy, as Kant is thought to be the greatest modern-day philosophers, even by his rivals 2. To explore the precise meaning of the terms duty and obligation, in order to demonstrate that they differ semantically, despite the fact that they are used interchangeably in everyday language
ESSAYS-PAPERS
1. “The skepticism of Luigi Pirandello” 2. “Mattheos Mundes, the poet of infants” 3. “ Galileo between Plato and Aristotle” 4. “Political Disobedience in the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes” 5. “ The paradox of dreaming and madness: the case of Sophocles Ajax” 6. “ The tragic in Hegel and Sophocles” 7. “ Skepticism and rhetoric in Gorgias the Sophist” 8. “The relationship of power and the Church in the light of philosophy of religion” 9. “On Pre-Socratic philosophical thought” 10.“Pythagorean society: god and ethos” 11.“Compassion and sympathy in Rousseau and Smith” 12.“Joachim and Anna’s reproaches for being childlessness: St Peter Bishop of Argos and the omnipotence of God” 13.“ Ancient Greek political and social philosophy” 14.“ Free reporters: responsibility and democracy in the media” 15.“ The beliefs of Christian Father’s on nature” 16.“Plethons Views on Animals” 17.“Rousseau vs Hobbes: are the selfish and the compassionate servants to the same master? “ 18.“ The birth of moral conscience and the transformative power of education” 19.“Gentle savages exiled to the garden of Eden” 20.“ The garden of Epicurus” 21.“Rousseau and the Greek Aspects of Crisis: nationalism vs political compassion” 22.“ Virtuous and healthy according to Aristotle” 23.“ Alexandros Damoulianos” 24.“ The rational study of ethics” 25.“Democracy, Rights and the Golden Rule of Oligarchy” 26.“Self preservation and Compassion” 27.“From own constitution (οικείωσης) to human rights: timeless modern-day messages of Zenon” 28.“From Mythos to Logos: the Pre-Socratic philosophy according to Evangelos Moutsopoulos” 29.“Terrorism between law and ethics” 30.“Critical Philosophy and Scepticism” 31.“Eros: gateway to philosophy or deadly trap?”
HANDBOOKS-TRANSLATIONS
1.The principles of philosophy (teacher handbook) 2. Wokler R., Rousseau. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2001
BOOK REVIEWS- CONFERENCE RESENTATIONS
1. “Wisdom, Ignorance and Virtue, New essays in Socratic studies” 2. “ Philosophers of the Aegean” 3. “ Plethon:” “ Hellas and Europe” 4. “ Nostalgia: to be and nothing beyond that” 5. “ The philosophy of Greek education” 6. “ Modern Greek philosophy” 7. “ Faust: the philosophy of magic, the magic of philosophy”
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