Ancient Greeks drew advice from oracles, dreams, entrails, the movements of birds, sneezes, and myriad other sources for divination. Classicists typically study such phenomena as examples of occult religion, or for their use as a social mechanism for managing dissent and forging consensus. Ancient philosophical accounts by contrast go a longer way toward considering them seriously, on their own terms. They take them as an invitation into developing speculative accounts of non-standard cognitive capacities, akin to what we would call intuition. Plato and Aristotle will serve as case studies to launch a broader consideration of intuition in cognitive history.

Peter Struck is the Lucy Shoe Meritt Scholar in Residence at the American Academy in Rome in the spring 2016 and professor of classics at the University of Pennsylvania.

The lecture will be held in English. You can watch this event live at http://livestream.com/aarome.