Andreas Avgousti

Hellenisms Past and Present, Local and Global Postdoctoral Fellow (2019/2020)

Profile

Research interests

Ancient Greek and Roman political thought
Late Antique political thought
History of political thought
Democratic theory
Moral psychology
European politics
Political history of Cyprus
International politics

Education

PhD, Political Science, Columbia University
MPhil (with distinction in Philosophy), Political Science, Columbia University
MA, Political Science, Columbia University
MSc (merit), Political Theory, London School of Economics
BSc (first class), London School of Economics

Biography

Andreas Avgousti studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science, earning a BSc in Government and History (2006, with First Class Honours) and an MSc in Political Theory (2007, with Merit); he received his PhD in Political Science from Columbia University (2015, with Distinction in the Philosophy Minor). Avgousti has since served as Lecturer in the Core Curriculum at Columbia University, Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Portland State University, and as the inaugural ‘Hellenisms Past and Present, Local and Global Postdoctoral Fellow’ at the SNF Centre for Hellenic Studies at Simon Fraser University. His research programme is motivated by contemporary democratic concerns regarding opinion in its various forms (viz. reputation, judgment, rumor) and is historically located in ancient Athens and the late antique Greek East. Avgousti just published his first book, Recovering Reputation: Plato and Demotic Power (Oxford UP, 2022), and is developing his next monograph, A Democratic Good from Late Antiquity: Persuasion in John Chrysostom. Avgousti is also involved with the ‘Sciences of Democracy’ project, his first thoughts on which may be found here.

Publications

Monograph

Recovering Reputation: Plato and Demotic Power, Oxford University Press, New York, 2022

Journal articles and book chapters

"The Household in Isocrates’ Political Thought," European Journal of Political Theory, OnlineFirst, pp. 1-19, 2022.
"An Overlooked Form of Demotic Power: Reputation in Plato’s ‘Republic’." History of Political Thought, 39:1, pp.1-15, 2018.
"A Text for the City: Plato’s ‘Menexenus’ and the Legacy of Pericles’." Polity, 50:1, pp.72-100, 2018.
"Plato’s Uneasy Foundings." Diálogos, XLVII:98, pp.85-110, 2015.
"By Uniting it Stands: Poetry and Myth in Plato’s ‘Republic’." Polis, 29:1, pp. 21-41, 2012.
"‘The Indigenous Foreigner: British Policy in Cyprus 1963-1965." In H. Faustmann and E. Solomou (ed.) Independent Cyprus 1960-2010, Selected Readings from the Cyprus Review, University of Nicosia Press, Nicosia, 2011 (originally published in The Cyprus Review, 21:1, pp. 123-144, 2009).

Book reviews

Aldo Schiavone, ‘The Pursuit of Equality in the West’, Bryn Mawr Classical Review (in preparation)
Peter Baldwin, ‘Command and Persuade: Crime, Law, and the State across History’, Bryn Mawr Classical Review (forthcoming)
David Stasavage, ‘The Decline and Rise of Democracy: A Global History from Antiquity to Today’, Democratic Theory, 9:1, 2022, pp.117-120
Andreas N. Michalopoulos et al. (ed.) ‘The Rhetoric of Unity and Division in Ancient Literature’, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 05.02, 2022.
Matthew Landauer, ‘Dangerous Counsel: Accountability and Advice in Ancient Greece’, Perspectives on Politics, 18:4, 2020, pp. 1199-1201.
Thomas L. Pangle, ‘The Socratic Way of Life: Xenophon’s ‘Memorabilia’’, Classical Philology, 114:4, pp.664-670, 2019.
Jonny Thakkar, ‘Plato as Critical Theorist’, Review of Politics, 81:4, pp.691-695, 2019.
Dean Hammer (ed.), ‘A Companion to Greek Democracy and the Roman Republic’, Polis, 35:2, pp.577-581, 2018.
Don Adams, ‘Socrates Mystagogos: Initiation into Inquiry’, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 08.53, 2017.
James Kastely, ‘The Rhetoric of Plato’s ‘Republic’’, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 04.43, 2016.
Nickolas Pappas and Mark Zelcer, ‘Politics and Philosophy in Plato’s ‘Menexenus’’, Polis, 33:1, pp.218-223, 2016.

Selected conference presentations and invited talks

‘Virtue versus Wealth: Two Ancient Proposals for our Plutocratic Times’ at the MPSA 2022 and at the International Society for the History of Rhetoric (ISHR) 2022.
‘Crisis and Response in Ancient Greek Democracy’ at the University of Washington Department of Classics Conference for K-12 Teachers, February 2022.
‘Anarchic, Leaderless, and Boundless: on the Democratic Characteristics of the Virus’ at the Memory and Trauma Through History and Culture Symposium, Simon Fraser University, 2020.
‘Counsels to the Athenian Democracy: on Isocrates’ Cyprian Orations’ at the International Society for the History of Rhetoric 2019, NPSA 2019, APSA 2020, and APT 2020, and MPSA 2021.
‘On the Purported Incompatibility of Philosophy and the City in Plato.’ Presented at the APT 2019.
"Why did Socrates fail to persuade the jury? Or, why Socrates is not a Socratic citizen." Presented at the Classical Association of the Pacific Northwest 2018 and at the APSA 2018.
"Philosophy’s Reputation in Plato’s 'Gorgias' and 'Theaetetus'." Presented at the WPSA 2017 and at the University of Washington Department of Classics Lunchtime Colloquium, Spring 2018.
"Wealth and Character: Cephalus’ Politics of Reputation in 'Republic 1." Presented at the MPSA 2017.
"Reputation in Plato’s 'Republic’." Presented at the APSA and the APT 2016.
"The Place of Reputation in the Political Theory of Plato’s 'Laws'." Presented at the MPSA, the APT and the NPSA 2013 and at the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy 2014.
"The Search for Stability via a Marriage of Nature with Politics: An Understanding of Ciceronian Political Thought." Presented at the MPSA 2011.
"Pre-modern, Modern and Natural Understandings of Man: Plato, Hobbes and Evolutionary Theory’ at Victoria College," Presented at the University of Toronto 2009.

Select awards

2022, Nominated for the Rudolf Wildenmann Prize for outstanding paper presentation at the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) Joint Session on the Sciences of Democracies 2022 (Judgment in the Sciences of Democracies)
2019, Nominated for McWilliams Best Faculty Paper Award at the NPSA 2019 (Isocrates and democracy).
2018-2019, Inclusive Curriculum and Pedagogy Program Award, funded by the Office of Academic Innovation at Portland State University
2015, Finalist for Excellence in Teaching Contemporary Civilization Award
2014, NPSA McWilliams Best Paper Award to a Graduate Student in Political Theory
2012, Teaching Scholar Award to teach in the General Studies Program at Columbia College
2012, Nominated for Best Paper Award to a Graduate Student in Political Theory at the NPSA
2008-2013, Faculty Fellow in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University (scholarship)

SNF Centre for Hellenic Studies