Virtue as a Source of Happiness is Topic of Potter Lecture

PULLMAN, Wash. — A scholar of ancient philosophy, Julia Annas, will present a speech titled
“Should Virtue Make You Happy?” at Washington State University on Thursday, Oct. 15. Her speech, the
37th annual Potter Memorial Lecture, is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Auditorium.
Annas, who is Regents Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona and a recognized
authority on Plato and Aristotle, believes that we find the ancient claim that virtue makes the virtuous
person happy difficult to accept, not because of our notion of virtue, but because of our modern views of
happiness. Annas is expected to challenge the coherency of these views in her lecture.
Founder and former editor of “Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy,” Annas is currently co-editor of
the “Oxford Aristotle Series.” She taught at St. Hugh’s College, Oxford University, and at Columbia
University before joining the faculty at Arizona. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences and a senior fellow of the Center for Hellenic Studies and has been a Getty Scholar. She was the
Astor Visiting Lecturer at Oxford and the Townsend Lecturer at Cornell University.
On Friday, Oct. 16, Annas will present a Department of Philosophy seminar on Plato’s “Republic.”
She is expected to reexamine her own interpretation of the work as presented in her widely read
“Introduction to Plato’s ‘Republic,'” published in 1981. The seminar is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. in the
Bundy Reading Room in Avery Hall.
The Frank Potter Memorial Lecture is sponsored by the Department of Philosophy. Professor Potter
came to Washington State College in 1912 and, shortly before his retirement in 1949, was instrumental in
founding the Department of Philosophy. Potter and his wife were known for their work with students,
several who became Rhodes Scholars. The Potter Memorial Lectureship was initiated shortly after his
death in 1959 by an anonymous gift from a former student.
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