Agora Speaker Series: Anthony Hooper

Abstract

In Aristophanes’ Frogs (118-24), Dionysus inquires of Herakles the quickest path to Hades, to which Herakles responds: ‘hang yourself!’. The question of how to attain immortality seems to admit an analogously succinct response: ‘don’t die!’. After all, it is surely common sense that immortality is exhausted by perpetual personal persistence. But if we bring such logic to an ancient Greek context, the results are likely to surprise. Not only do the Greeks withhold attributions of immortality to entities which exist forever, they extend immortality even to beings for whom death remains an inevitability.

In this paper, I look to the Homeric epics and Plato’s Phaedo to reconstruct a conception of an immortal existence which differs, often radically, from contemporary notions. I argue that, for Homer and Plato, at least, the primary consideration in attributions of immortality is not personal persistence, but rather ‘godlikeness’; to be immortal is understood by reference to an identifiably divine mode of existence. And, as Plato took up and transformed conventional thinking, the relevant consideration in assessing godlikeness came to focus less to the duration of one’s existence, and more to the quality – and especially ethical quality – of this existence.

I conclude that this ancient conception remains implicit in contemporary thought about immortality. And as technological developments enable people to treat perpetual personal persistence as a credible aspiration, Greek reflections raise pressing practical question. Regardless of whether we can live forever, would it be worth it?

Bio

Anthony Hooper specialises in Ancient Philosophy, working particularly on Plato and Pre-Socratic Philosophy. His research focuses particularly on intersections between Greek philosophy, poetry, and religion. Anthony's current major research project is a detailed examination of the presentation of immortality in Plato's Symposium, and deals particularly with concepts of identity, memory, and inspiration. He is strongly committed to collaborative, interdisciplinary research, and is currently engaged in two such projects: Aspects of Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Greece and Plato on Comedy. His wider research interests extend to Modern Philosophy (particularly 18th and 19th Century German philosophy), Classics (with expertise in Homer and Old Comedy), and Religious Studies. He also has a keen interest in Chinese Philosophy, especially Daoism. Anthony completed his PhD in 2015 in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Sydney, and joins us from Durham University, having been employed from 2016-19 as a Junior Research Fellow in the Department of Classics and Ancient History.