Professor of Philosophy Emeritus and Maria Stata Professor of Classical Greek Studies
Personal Website: http://people.bu.edu/roochnik/
Interests: Ancient Philosophy, Greek Literature
Prior to coming to Boston University, David Roochnik was Associate Professor of Philosophy and Classical Studies at the Iowa State University, and during the 1992/93 year Visiting Associate Professor at Williams College. He joined Boston University in the fall of 1995. In 1996, he was awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award by the Undergraduate Philosophy Club. In 1997, Dr. Roochnik was awarded both the Gitner Award for Distinguished Teaching at the College of Arts and Sciences and the Outstanding Teaching Award by the Honors Program in the College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Roochnik is also winner of Boston University’s 1999 Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching. Recipients of this award are chosen after a university-wide competition and assessment. Most recently Dr. Roochnik won the John Donovan Best Paper Award, New England Political Science Association. May, 2004 (for a paper given in May, 2003: “Plato’s Defense Of Diversity.”)
Dr. Roochnik is the author of thirty-five articles on Greek philosophy, Greek literature, rhetoric ancient and modern, post-modernism, and the nature of philosophy. He is the recipient of grants and fellowships from the NEH and the Earhart Foundation. He is also invited to give the inaugeral lecture of the Ancient Philosophy Society in Eugene, Oregon, October 7, 1999.
Books:
Eat, Drink, Think:What Ancient Greece Can Tell Us About Food and Wine. London: Bloomsbury Press, 2020.
Thinking Philosophically: An Introduction to the Great Debates. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2016.
Retrieving Aristotle in an Age of Crisis. State University of New York Press, 2013.
Retrieving the Ancients: An Introduction to Greek Philosophy. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004.
Beautiful City: The Dialectical Character of Plato’s Republic. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2003.
Art and Wisdom: Plato’s Understanding of Techne (Pennsylvania State UP 1996); paperback edition 1998.
The Tragedy of Reason: Toward a Platonic Conception of Logos (Routledge 1991).
Recent Publications Include:
“The Political Pessimism of Plato’s Republic.” American Dialectic 2(2012), pp. 92-116.
(http://www.americandialectic.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/ROOCHNIK-PESSIMISM-IN-PLATO-V2N2.pdf)
“Michael Sandel’s Neo-Aristotelianism.” Boston University Law Review 91(2011), pp. 1405-1416.
“Substantial City: Reflections on Aristotle’s Politics.” Polis 27(2010), pp. 275-291.
“Ronna Burger’s Talmudic Reading of the Nicomachean Ethics.” Epochê 15(2010), pp. 59-78.
“What is Theoria? Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics Book 10.7-8. Classical Philology; 104(2010), pp. 69-81.
“The Useful Uselessness of the Humanities.” Expositions 2.1 (2008), pp. 19-27.
“Aristotle’s Defense of the Theoretical Life: Comments on Politics VII.” Review of Metaphysics 61(2008), pp. 711-735.
“The Useful Uselessness of the Humanities.” Expositions 2.1 (2008), p. 19-27.
“What is Theoria? Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics Book 10.7-8. Classical Philology (forthcoming)
“Aristotle’s Account of the Vicious: A Forgivable Inconsistency,” History of Philosophy Quarterly; 24(2007), pp. 207-220.
“The Deathbed Dream of Reason: Socrates’ Dream in the Phaedo,” Arethusa, 34(2001), 239-258.
“Socrates’ Pedagogical Flexibility: Two Case Studies,” Teaching Philosophy, 24(2001), 29-45.
“Self-Recognition in Plato’s Theaetetus,” Ancient Philosophy, 22(2002), 37-50.
“Residual Ambiguity in Plato’s Statesman,” Journal of the International Plato Society (www.nd.edu/~plato/). Plato 5. On-line: March, 2005.
“Theory in/of Landscape Architecture,” Landforum 5(2000), p.33.
“Socrates’ Pedagogical Flexibility: Two Case Studies,” Teaching Philosophy, 24(2001), 29-45.
A review of “The Beginning of Philosophy,” Hans-Georg Gadamer, in Ancient Philosophy 19(1999) 399-403.
A review of “Form and Good in Plato’s Eleatic Dialogues,” Kenneth Dorter, in International Journal of the Classical Tradition 5:1 (1998).
“Irony and Accessibility,” Political Theory 25 (1997): 869-885. (Review essay of books on Plato by P. Ahrensdorf, L. Craig, and J. Cropsey.)
“Socratic Ignorance as Complex Irony: A Critique of Gregory Vlastos,” Arethusa (1995): 39-52.
“Stanley Fish and the Old Quarrel Between Philosophy and Rhetoric,” Critical Review 5 (1992): 225-246.
“The Serious Play of Plato’s Euthydemus,” Interpretation 18 (1991): 211-232.
“Homeric Speech Acts,” Classical Journal 85 (1990): 289-299.
“Can the Relativist Avoid Refuting Herself?” Philosophy and Literature 14 (1990): 92-98.
“Terence Irwin’s Reading of Plato,” in Platonic Readings, Platonic Writings, ed. Charles Griswold (Routledge, 1988): 183-193.
“The Tragic Philosopher: A Critique of Martha Nussbaum,” Ancient Philosophy 8 (1988): 285-295.
“Plato’s Critique of Postmodernism,” Philosophy and Literature 11 (1987): 282-291.
“The Erotics of Philosophical Discourse,” History of Philosophy Quarterly 4 (1987): 117-129.
“Iliad XXIII: The Tragicomedy of Athletics,” Arete 3 (1986): 159-168.
“Socrates’ Use of the Techne-Analogy,” The Journal of the History of Philosophy 24 (1986): 295-310.
“The Impossibility of Philosophical Dialogue,” Philosophy and Rhetoric 19 (1986): 147-165.
“The First Philosopher (and the Poet),” Classical and Modern Literature 6 (1985): 39-54.
“The Riddle of Plato’s Cleitophon,” Ancient Philosophy 4 (1984): 132-145.
Reprinted Articles Include:
“Socrates’ Use of the Techne-Analogy,” in Essays on the Philosophy of Socrates, ed. Hugh Benson (Oxford, 1992): 185-197.
“The Riddle of the Cleitophon,” in Plato’s Cleitophon: On Socrates and the Modern Mind, ed. M. Kremer (Rowman & Littlefield, 2004).
Chapters in Anthologies:
“The ‘Serious Play’ of Book 7 of Plato’s Laws, Plato’s Laws: Force and Truth in Politics, ed. G. Recco and E. Sanday (Indiana University Press, 2013), pp. 144-154.
“Art (Technê), The Continuum Companion to Plato, ed. G. Press (London: 2012), pp. 137-39.
“Humour,” The Continuum Companion to Plato, ed. G. Press (London: 2012), pp. 108-110.
“Adverbial Play in Plato’s Ion,” Who Are We? Old, New, and Timeless Answers from Core Texts, ed. R. Anderson (University Press of America, 2011), pp. 203-210.
“The Wisdom of Plato’s Phaedo,” Teaching for Wisdom, ed. M. Ferrari and G. Potworowski (Springer, 2009), pp. 179-189.
“The Political Drama of Plato’s Republic,” The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Political Thought, edited by Stephen Salkever (Cambridge University Press, 2009), pp. 156-177.
“Responsible Fictions,” Responsibility, Ed. by Barbara Darling-Smith (Lexington Books, 2007), pp. 15-26.
“Aristotle’s Commonsense Cosmology,” Logos and Eros: Essays Honoring Stanley Rosen, ed. Nalin Ranasinghe (St. Augustine’s Press, 2006), pp. 134-146.
“The Riddle of Plato’s Cleitophon,” Plato’s Cleitophon: Socrates and the Modern Mind, Ed. by Mark Kremer (Lexington Books:2004), pp. 43-58. (Reprint of VII.B.2.)
“Metaphysics and Pronouns in Plato’s Phaedo,” Plato’s Forms: Varieties of Interpretation, edited by W. Welton (Lexington Books: 2002), pp. 137-151.
“Metaphorical Immortality: Some Platonic Reflections,” If I Should Die, Ed. Leroy S Rouner (Notre Dame: 2001), pp. 155-170.
“Metaphysics and Pronouns in Plato’s Phaedo,” Plato’s Forms: Varieties of Interpretation, edited by W. Welton (Lexington Books: 2002), pp. 137-151.
“Aristotle’s Commonsense Cosmology,” Logos and Eros: Essays Honoring Stanley Rosen, ed. Nalin Ranasinghe (St. Augustine’s Press, 2006), pp. 134-146.
“Responsible Fictions,” Responsibility, Ed. by Barbara Darling-Smith (Lexington Books, 2007), pp. 15-26.
Lectures:
“The Wonder of Self-Identity in Plato’s Theaetetus,” Society of Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, Eugene, Oregon, October, 1999 (Inaugural address of the Ancient Philosophy Society).
“Socrates as Teacher,” University of Ottawa, March 23, 2001.
“The Role of Stories in Republic 8 & 9,” Ancient Philosophy Society, Villanova University, April 7, 2001.
“The Role of Stories in Plato’s Republic,” Michigan State University, Nov. 14, 2002.
“Plato’s Defense of Diversity,” University of Michigan, Nov. 15, 2002.
“Aristotle’s Commonsense Cosmology,” Trinity College, March 6, 2003.
“Practical Reasons in Plato’s Republic,” Department of Philosophy, Catholic University, November 7, 2003.
“The Practice of Metaphysics: Aristotle’s Politics VII,” The Metaphysical Society of American, Athens, Georgia, March 2004.
“Eros and Form in Plato’s Republic,” Department of Philosophy, University of Pisa, May 12, 2004
“Residual Ambiguity in Plato’s Statesman,” Notre Dame Ancient Philosophy Workshop, Sept. 18, 2004.
“The Tripartite Soul of Plato’s Republic,” Tulsa University, September, 2004.
“Platonic Forms,” Peiking University, December, 2005.
“The Midwife’s Rhetoric: Reflections on the Theaetetus,” The Arizona Plato Colloquium,
Tuscon, February, 2006.
“Aristophanes’ Speech in Plato’s Symposium,” Skidmore College, April, 2006.
“Philosophy versus Poetry: Stories in Plato’s Republic,” Vassar College, Nov. 8, 2006.
Unpublished Novels:
Health Cares
Sweet Dreams: A Tale of Woe
Dr. Roochnik teaches regularly both in the Department of Philosophy and in the Core Curriculum of the College of Arts and Sciences.