Gregory Vlastos

Classicist and Philosopher Class of 1990
location icon Location
Berkeley, California
age iconAge
83 at time of award
age iconDate Deceased
October 12, 1991

About Gregory's Work

Gregory Vlastos was a scholar and teacher of ancient Greek philosophy.

His research and writings illuminated many different issues and arguments on knowledge and metaphysics, ethics and politics, and psychology and the nature of the mind. Vlastos specialized in the study of Socrates and the pre-Socratics.  He was the author of Platonic Studies (1973), Plato’s Universe (1975) and Socrates, Ironist and Moral Philosopher (1991), and the editor of Plato I: Metaphysics and Epistemology (1971), Plato II: Ethics, Politics, and Philosophy of Art and Religion (1971), and The Philosophy of Socrates (1971). His Socratic Studies (1993) and Studies in Greek Philosophy, (Vols. I, II, 1995) were published posthumously.

Biography

Vlastos was the Mills Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley (1976-87). Prior to this appointment, he held teaching positions at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Cornell University, and Princeton University. He was the recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships (1950, 1959), a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the American Philosophical Society. He was also one of the co-founders of the National Humanities Center in North Carolina.

Vlastos received a B.A. (1925) from Robert College, a B.D. (1929) from the Chicago Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. (1931) from Harvard University. 

Last updated January 1, 2005

Published on August 1, 1990

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