Is Arcadia Burning?
Myths and Realities
Professor John Gaitanakis
This talk will address both the importance of the myth of Arcadia for the development of western culture and the destruction of Arcadia by fire in the summer of 2007.
John Gaitanakis , UBC Professor Emeritus, taught architectural design at UBC for nearly thirty years, emphasizing the importance of environmental factors in designing housing complexes in urbanized areas with a special emphasis on reclaiming the city from the private automobile.
In the summer of 2007 he witnessed the unfolding of the tragic events in Greece and visited Arcadia shortly after the fires. In his talk he will remind us of the importance of Arcadia’s Myths for the West, and present the various scenario that were put forth to account for the destruction of a large part of continental Greece, including Arcadia.
Monday 28 January 2008
Upper Hall, Hellenic Community Centre
4500 Arbutus Street, Vancouver
Time: 8:00 pm
Socratic Religion
Professor Mark McPherran
SFU Department of Philosophy
Socrates is acknowledged to be the founder of ethics as a disciplinary area of Western Philosophy (and the chief exponent of the notorious Socratic Method). But it is also common for modern readers -- in view of Socrates’ trial and death on a charge of impiety -- to underplay the idea that he was a religious as well as a rational thinker. Our texts, however, indicate that Socrates reshaped and did not reject the religious conventions of his own time in the service of establishing the new enterprise of Philosophy. The direct legacy of that project is the rational theology of Plato, the Stoics, Christianity, and Islam. This talk offers a sketch of religion of Socrates and its influences.
Mark McPherran, Chair of the SFU Dept. of Philosophy, specializes in Ancient Greek Philosophy, Ancient Greek Religion, Philosophy of Religion, and the History of Ethics and is the author of The Religion of Socrates (Pennsylvania State University Press; 1996)
Monday 26 November 2007
Upper Hall, Hellenic Community Centre
4500 Arbutus Street, Vancouver
Time: 8:00 pm
Is Arcadia Burning? 
