Empeiria Project

Practical Experience and Expertise in Antiquity

The purpose of this project is to study the role of experience (empeiria) in the generation of expert knowledge within the practical, ethical and political thought of Greco-Roman antiquity, with special attention to the work of Aristotle, its antecedents in Plato and the Hippocratic medical tradition, and its impact on the debates between empirical and theoretical physicians from the third century A.D. onwards reflected, above all, in the work of Galen.

Despite its importance, and despite the fact that the notion of empeiria has received extensive attention in studies in ancient epistemology, its role in ethics and politics, as well as in the development of professional expertise, has been little studied. Our project aims primarily to fill that gap. The transformative power of experience is an increasingly popular topic in contemporary moral and political epistemology, with possibilities for great impact as it addresses how to protect ourselves from ideological manipulation and bring our ways of seeing the world closer to social realities. Ancient Greek philosophers placed practical experience at the center of their critique of ideology, and in our project, we propose to examine and recover some of these discussions both for their historical and conceptual importance.

The aim of the project is, therefore, to bring together the specialties of the two PIs (an expert on the ethical and political work of Aristotle and an expert on Plato and the medical-philosophical writings of traditional Greek philosophers) to lead a group of top researchers, generating knowledge and producing scientific contributions on the concept of practical experience in Plato, Aristotle and the medical thinkers of Greek antiquity. Our aim is to highlight the practical dimension of experience in these texts, to advance knowledge of the genealogy of the concept of practical experience, and to contribute material that helps to underline both the fluid lateral connections between classical philosophical thought and medical thought and the relevance of ancient Greek ideas for contemporary thought, bringing ancient philosophical debates into connection with other disciplines and with contemporary debates.

Project Founded by the Spanish Ministry of Education: PID2024-159832NB-I00

Members of the Research Team:

Marta Jimenez (IP1), Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Jorge Cano (IP2), Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Javier Aguirre, Universidad del País Vasco/ Euskal Herriko Universitatea

Tamer Nawar, Universitat de Barcelona

Miguel Martí Sánchez, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria

Members of the Working Group:

Chloe Balla, University Of Crete

Elena Cagnoli-Fiecconi, University College London

Mariska E. Leunissen, University Of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Patricia Marechal, University of California, San Diego

Marion Pollaert, Centre Jean Pépin (Umr 8230), CNRS, Paris

Marie-Noelle Ribas, Université De Bretagne Occidentale

Mark John Schiefsky, Harvard University

Cristina Viano, Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)

Recent and Future Activities: