For a while now I have been putting together a small book exhibition that will take place at the Bodleian Library in May and June this year. Details now online here. The exhibition is called 'Stoicism and its Legacy', with just a dozen or so items weighted towards 16th century Neostoicism. The oldest item is the Bodleian's famous 11th century MS of Epictetus, which is the archetype for all other surviving copies. There will also be a copy of The Moral Philosophie of the Stoicks by Thomas James (his translation of Guillaume Du Vair), who was Thomas Bodley's first librarian, plus various editions of Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius.

I shall also be giving a public lecture on 5th June to accompany the display; details here.

I am co-organizing a one day workshop on Renaissance Philosophy with Michael Engel (Cambridge) that will take place on the 14th June at Senate House in London. Here is the blurb we wrote for it:

Renaissance philosophy is a fascinating yet neglected period in the history of philosophy. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the rise of Humanism and the rediscovery of ancient texts led to new ways of doing philosophy. At the same time the period saw the culmination of the medieval scholastic tradition, with the works of Aristotle and his commentators printed for the first time and an unprecedented number of new commentaries being written. These contrasting tendencies of continuity and change mark the period that bridges the gap between Medieval and Early Modern philosophy. The aim of this workshop is to explore and assess the place of Renaissance philosophy within the Western philosophical tradition.

Further details can be found at http://renaissance-philosophy.blogspot.co.uk/

I have quite a few talks coming up soon. Here's a quick round up:

• On 7th March I am talking at Wolfson College, Oxford about the Hornik Collection of early printed books in the library there.[Details]
• On 13th March I am talking about Stoicism and Psychotherapy to the Maudsley Philosophy Group in London. [Details]
  
• On 19th March I reprise the same talk for the 'History and Philosophy of Medicine' seminar the University of Bristol. [Details]
• On 29th May I am talking about Marcus Aurelius at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. [Details]
• On 5th June I am giving a public talk about Stoicism and its Legacy at the Bodleian Library. [Details]
  
• On 14th June I am talking at a workshop on Renaissance Philosophy at Senate House, University of London that I am co-organizing. [Details]
  

This term I am co-running a seminar on Stoicism and Early Modern Philosophy that will take place at King's on Mondays 2.00-4.00. Full details at http://earlymodernstoicism.blogspot.co.uk/

I shall be leading the first two sessions, both on Justus Lipsius. I shall also be leading sessions on Cudworth and Shaftesbury later in the term.

I recently organized a small exhibition of sixteenth century books at Wolfson College, Oxford, in conjunction with a conference devoted to the ancient commentators on Aristotle. The books were all editions of ancient philosophical texts and included a number of first printed editions of Aristotelian commentaries. I also produced a short text about the books on display that I hope will be published shortly.

A few weeks ago I attended a very interesting workshop on Stoicism and its modern uses at the University of Exeter, focusing on Stoicism and modern psychotherapy. A short film has been made documenting the event, in which you can see (tho' not hear) me in action! See also the associated blog, Stoicism and its Modern Uses.

A few years ago I was asked to give a short talk to students on something connected to my 'art of living' research. I hastily jotted down some thoughts on Plato's Apology. A little later I read the same talk as a Royal Institute of Philosophy lecture at another university. This piece has now been accepted for publication in the journal Philosophy and Literature, and you can read a pre-print here.

I have created a new website, www.medievalphilosophy.org.uk, in my new role as webmaster for an informal society for medieval philosophy in the UK. The idea for a series of regular meetings was proposed by John Marenbon and Anna Marmodoro and an inaugural meeting was held at The British Academy in June. The hope is to meet once a term and the next meeting is scheduled for November, at The Warburg Institute. Full details at the website.

For anyone curious about the image on the website, it is a photograph of a leaf from a fifteenth century edition of Thomas Aquinas, in which Thomas quotes Boethius who is expressing a very Neoplatonic sentiment (Natura enim, ut Boetius dicit, a perfectis sumit initium). This seemed to capture nicely a number of things at once: continuity with ancient philosophy, continuity into the beginnings of the modern period, Boethius, a seminal figure, and a text from Aquinas, probably the most widely known medieval philosopher. Further information here.

I now have a staff page at Birkbeck: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/philosophy/our-staff/academics/dr-john-sellars

My second article on Cudworth and Stoicism has just been published, called 'Stoics Against Stoics in Cudworth’s A Treatise of Freewill'. You can find it in the British Journal for the History of Philosophy 20/5 (2012), 935-52, and online at DOI:10.1080/09608788.2012.718870.

Here's the abstract: "In his A Treatise of Freewill, Ralph Cudworth argues against Stoic determinism by drawing on what he takes to be other concepts found in Stoicism, notably the claim that some things are ‘up to us’ and that these things are the product of our choice. These concepts are central to the late Stoic Epictetus and it appears at first glance as if Cudworth is opposing late Stoic voluntarism against early Stoic determinism. This paper argues that in fact, despite his claim to be drawing on Stoic doctrine, Cudworth uses these terms with a meaning first articulated only later, by the Peripatetic commentator Alexander of Aphrodisias."