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 Publications

 

​​Monograph 

 Epicurus on the Self, London/ New York: Routledge, 2017 (paperback 2020​)

Edited Volumes

 Németh, A. and Schmal, D. (eds.) The Self in Ancient and Early Modern Philosophy, London: Bloomsbury; forthcoming (Gold) Open Access in 2025. 

 

 Blank, A. and Németh, A. (eds.) Esteem and the Self in the History of Philosophy, London / New York: Routledge; forthcoming in 2025.​

Hangai, A. and Németh, A. (eds.) Unity and Self-Awareness in Perception: Ancient Receptions of Aristotle’s De Anima 3.2, Leiden: Brill; 2026.

 

Research Papers

 ‘Musonius on exile and free speech’, accepted and forthcoming in Sellars, J. and Gloyn, L. (eds.) The Brill Companion to Musonius Rufus, Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2025.

 ‘Lucretius, the Epicurean’, accepted and forthcoming in Németh, A. and Schmal, D. (eds.) The Self in Ancient and Early Modern Philosophy, London: Bloomsbury, 2025.

‘Death as transitus in Senecan philosophy’ – accepted and forthcoming in Cristina Pimentel, Nuno Simões Rodrigues, Ricardo Duarte (eds.) What more can we say about Seneca?, Berlin, De Gruyter Brill 2025.

‘Diogenes of Oenoanda and the Epicurean Epistle Tradition’ – accepted and forthcoming in Masi, F., Morel, P-M. & Verde, F. (eds.) Epicureanism and Scientific Debates. Antiquity and Late Reception. Vol. 2, Leuven, Leuven University Press, 2024.

 ‘Democritus on the atomic shapes of colours’, accepted and forthcoming in Ierodiakonou, K. and Decaix, V. (eds.) Colour Theories from Democritus to Descartes, London/New York: Routledge, 2024.

‘Seneca and the Narrative Self’, British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 2023, 1-21 (online) / Vol. 31, 2023 – Issue 5, 845-865.

‘The metaphors of conscientia in Seneca’s Epistles’, Mnemosyne, 2022, 1-29 (online) / 2023, No 2, 258-286 (in print).

‘Epicureans on Teleology and Freedom,’ in Arenson, K. (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Hellenistic Philosophy, London/ New York: Routledge, 2020, 224-35.

‘Atoms and Universals in Epicurus’, in Zilioli, U. (ed.) Atomism in Philosophy: A History from Antiquity to the Present, London/ New York: Bloomsbury, 2020, 93-112.

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A bit about me

Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Philosophy, RCH, Hun-Ren (2020-)

Research Fellow at the Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University, (2019) 

Research Fellow at the Department of Philosophy, ELTE (2010-2020)

PhD in Classics, Royal Holloway, University of London (2010)

Award of Excellence – Hungarian Association of Philosophy (2017)

Károly Marót Award – Society of Classical Studies, Hungary (2018)

Work-in-Progress Papers /  Chapters (all peer-viewed) 

‘Seneca and the Temporal Modality of Self-Awareness’ – forthcoming in Hangai, A. & Németh, A. (eds.) 2026.

‘Cicero and the sorites’, work in progress for Montanari, P. (ed.) Meaning and Its Sources in Ancient Texts: Background, Difference, Mind. 
 

‘Self-Esteem and Freedom in Epictetus’, work in progress for Blank, A. and Németh, A. (eds.) Esteem and Self-Esteem, Rewriting the History of Philosophy, London / New York: Routledge.

‘The Epicurean notion of time as limit’ work in progress for the Crete Forum workshop, May 17-18, 2024 The Limits of Nature in Hellenistic and Roman Thought.

‘Democritus on Atomic Shapes’ work in progress, paper given at two different conferences, planned journal publication.

Reviews

Review of Arenson, K., Health and Hedonism in Plato and Epicurus, New York and London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019, Bryn Mawr.

 

Review of Hammerstaedt, J., Morel, P-M., Güremen, R., Diogenes of Oinoanda, Epicureanism and Philosophical Debates, Leuven University Press, 2017, Bryn Mawr.

 

Review of Maso, S. Grasp and Dissent: Cicero and Epicurean Philosophy, Brepols, 2015, Bryn Mawr, 2015.

 

Review of Warren, J. & Sheffield, F. (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Ancient Philosophy, New York and London, 2013, Bryn Mawr, 2014. 

 

Review of M. Schofiled (ed.) Aristotle, Plato, and Pythagoreanism in the First Century BC, Cambridge, 2013. Rhizomata, May, 2014.

MONOGRAPH

Epicurus on the Self reconstructs a part of Epicurean ethics, which only survives on the fragmentary papyrus rolls excavated from an ancient library in Herculaneum, On Nature XXV. The aim of this book is to contribute to a deeper understanding of Epicurus’ moral psychology, ethics and of its robust epistemological framework and to show how the notion of the self emerges in Epicurus’ struggle to express the individual perspective of oneself in the process of one’s holistic self-reflection as an individual psychophysical being. 

Further reviews of the monograph:

– Masi, G. Francesca. “From the Atoms to the Self”, Syzetesis 2021.

– Lautner, Péter. “Németh, Attila, Epicurus on the Self. Issues in Ancient Philosophy.” In: Filozofia, vol. 75/1,2020,65-6.

– Kovács, Attila D. “Epicurus from self-perspective.” Elpis, vol. 22, 2020/1, 141-9. (In Hungarian.) 

– Piergiacomi, Enrico. “Fisica ed etica del «sé» in Epicuro?” Cronache Ercolanesi, 48, 2018, 51-65.

– Hirschi, Solmeng-Jonas. “A. Németh, Epicurus on the Self.” Classical Review 68 / Issue 2, 2018, 374-376. 

– Verde, Francesco. “A. Németh, Epicurus on the Self. London-New York: Routledge, 2017, 226,” Rhizomata – A Journal for Ancient Philosophy and Science, vol. 6 / Issue 2, 2018, 236-244. 

Fashion Headphones

“Németh’s book is an original and valuable contribution to our understanding of Epicureanism, exploring Epicurus’ notion of the self in a comprehensive manner, throwing light on its many different aspects: physical, psychological, epistemic, moral, and spiritual. To my knowledge, this is the only published study to undertake and successfully accomplish such a broad task.” – Voula Tsouna, University of California at Santa Barbara

 

“This monograph represents a very significant body of independent work, re-evaluating in a constructive and supportive spirit some central areas of Epicurean philosophy – notably self-cognition, agent autonomy and friendship – and displaying probable interconnections among those areas that have remained unnoticed or at least under-exploited in the existing scholarship. This is a considerable achievement. ...Chapter 1’s bold reconstruction, from very fragmentary textual material that is rarely made accessible to readers, of an Epicurean theory of self-cognition breaks a good deal of new ground; and the novel approach to Epicurean friendship in chapter 5 is both philosophically and historically attractive. ...What this monograph offers is a major new set of perspectives on current debates, able to reshape, challenge and enrich future discussions.” – David Sedley, University of Cambridge

 

“The topic is a good one and Németh makes some interesting and important new claims, bringing together discussions of Epicurean moral psychology, ethical improvement and moral responsibility in a way that shows the integrated and holistic nature of the Epicurean system. ...Németh makes good use of difficult evidence from Nat. XXV, perhaps for the first time showing what can be done with it beyond the well-worn topic of moral responsibility. ...Németh also has interesting and often novel things to say about some other central questions in Epicureanism, such as the atomic swerve.” – James Warren, University of Cambridge   

 

“Overall, Epicurus On the Self's is an important contribution to scholarship on Epicureanism. It will be essential reading for scholars of Epicurean philosophy of mind and the history of the idea of the self. It will also be useful for those working on Hellenistic psychology and ethics more generally.” – Pamela Zinn, Texas Tech University, Syzetesis 2018

 

“Németh’s Epicurus on the Self offers an original and engaging study of self-constitution, self-knowledge and agency in Epicurus … Epicurus on the Self is a step forward in our understanding of Epicurus’ moral psychology … Németh’s book has a lot to offer and he is a relentlessly astute and honest reader of the texts.” – David Merry, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2018

Select Conference and Seminar Papers

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  • June 8, 2023, Royal Holloway, University of London, Symposium in Honour of Anne Sheppard and Boris Rankov. ‘Lucretius and the Epicurean Self’. (invited speaker)

  • May, 30-31, 2023, Institute of Philosophy, Research Centre for the Humanities, Budapest, Aristotle on Self-Awareness and his Influence, Workshop. ‘Seneca and the Temporal Modality of Self-Awareness’, (speaker & co-organiser)

  • October 17-21, 2022, Centre for Classical Studies of the School of Arts and Humanities of the University of Lisbon, Seneca 2022. Conference. ‘Death: end or transitus?’ 

  • October 13-15, 2022, University of Vienna, Third Central European Graduate Conference in Ancient Philosophy, Response to be given to Nikolina Kamzola (Vienna) to her paper on ‘Epicurus and the Epicureans on the Origins of Language’ (invited speaker)

  •   June 27-July 1, 2022, 7th Biennial International Association for Presocratic Studies Conference, Delphi. ‘Democritus on Atomic Shapes’.

  • May 30-June 1, 2022, University Ca’ Foscari of Venice, Science and ancient debates: a new approach towards Epicureanism. Conference. ‘The Epicurean Epistolary Tradition’ (invited speaker)    

  • February, 16-18, 2022, University College London, London Ancient Science Conference. ‘Democritus on the Atomic Shapes of White and Black’ (invited speaker)

  • October, 21-22, 2021, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Le statut ontologique des couleurs en philosophie ancienne et médiévale. Workshop. “Democritus on colours and colour perception” (invited speaker)

  •    May 9, 2019, Harvard University: ‘The Metaphors of Conscientia in Seneca’s Epistles’ (invited speaker)

  •   May 2, 2019, Princeton University: ‘The Metaphors of Conscientia in Seneca’s Epistles’ (invited speaker)

  •   April 16, 2018 , Lecture at the University of Fribourg: ‘Epicurean Universals’ (invited speaker)

  •   January 17-8, 2018, Conference at Radboud University: ‘The Literary Self in Roman and Modern Thought’  

Further Academic Activities

Co-Founder of the
Forum of Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy

At this Forum, we bring together experienced and younger scholars working on Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy from all around the world. Participants present new research, exchange views and test new approaches in reading philosophical texts from the Hellenistic and Roman period in a spirit of open, mutual collaboration. Our online meetings enjoy large and lively participation, creating a unique platform for all those interested in this fascinating area of study.

       New directions: since the third season of the Forum we have decided to explore some new directions by inviting two speakers simultaneously and discussing their papers in a podium talk. For the fourth season, we are organising an international conference on Crete in 2024, May 17-18, The Limits of Nature in Hellenistic and Roman Thought.

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