Purdue professor studies
pre-Socratic philosophy
By Anna Herkamp
Summer
Reporter
A Purdue professor has accepted two fellowships
to continue her pre-Socratic studies next year.
Patricia Curd, professor of philosophy, will hold
a fellowship from July 2001 to June 2002 with the John Simon Guggenheim
Foundation.
From August to December 2001, she will hold the
National Humanities Center Fellowship and from January to December 2002,
she will hold the National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for
University Teachers.
Next fall will be the beginning of her sabbatical
in which she will begin the latter two fellowships. In the fall, she
will be at the National Humanities Center, in Research Triangle Park,
N.C. The next semester she will be in the United Kingdom at the University
of Cambridge.
Curd has published numerous papers, written one
book and edited a couple of books about pre-Socratic philosophy. Her
studies revolve around a classic figure named Anaxagoras of Clazomenae.
"Anaxagoras is a crucial figure in the period of
Greek philosophy between Parmenides and Plato," she said.
Anaxagoras was reportedly the first of the early
Greek philosophers to settle in Athens, and therefore it has become
clear to experts that his views were an important influence on Plato,
she said.
Early philosophers' work is difficult to interpret
because so little of it remains intact.
Most of this material exists only from what other
people have quoted over the centuries, she said. "We have no complete
manuscript or text of any of the pre-Socratics."
Anaxagoras' work presents problems related to metaphysics
and epistemology — which are interesting alone — but also
present ideas about the issues facing Plato as he developed the theory
of the Forms, she said.
Curd said she is convinced that a "coherent and
systematic account of Anaxagoras' views is possible."
She said the first step is to prepare an annotated
translation of all the fragments and the testimonia. Testimonia refers
to the reports of other philosophers of the work of the pre-Socratic
philosophers.
"The second step is to accompany the translated
material with an essay that argues for a systematic account of Anaxagoras'
thought as it can be gleaned from the surviving fragments and testimonia,"
she said.
She said the essay would set Anaxagoras' theory
in context of Greek thought after Parmenides. "It will show how Anaxagoras
reacted to problems left over from Parmenides, who established criteria
for the metaphysically basic entities in a successful account of the
nature of what there really is, denying the reality of change but also
allowing for the possibility of rational cosmology."
But, Anaxagoras' work also requires study and it
should be evaluated in relation to the post-Parmenidean philosophers,
she said.
Curd graduated with a bachelor's degree from the
College of William and Mary with honors in 1972. She got a master's
in moral and social philosophy from the University of Exeter in 1973.
She received her Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1982.
Curd first taught at Hillsdale College from 1979
to 1984. In 1984 she began teaching at Purdue. She is a full professor
and chair of the interdisciplinary program in classical studies.
Rodney Bertolet, head of the philosophy department,
said fellowships such as Curd's are good for the department because
of the prestige of the possible publications which could come from them.
"(Curd) is a wonderful asset to the department.
She is one of the top people on pre-Socratic philosophy in the country
and the world," said Bertolet.
A small group of people are experts in her field
and the job requires her to be not only a classics expert, but also
highly skilled enough to read ancient Greek, he said.
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