Angela Hobbs

The University of Sheffield, Department of Philosophy, Faculty Member

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Professor Angie Hobbs FRSA
Angie Hobbs gained a First Class degree in Classics and a PhD in Ancient Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. After a Research Fellowship at Christ’s College, Cambridge, she moved to the Philosophy Department at the University of Warwick; in 2012 she was appointed Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield, a position created for her. Her chief interests are in ancient philosophy and literature, and ethics and political theory from classical thought to the present, and she has published widely in these areas, including Plato and the Hero (C.U.P). Her most recent publication for the general public is Plato’s Republic: a Ladybird Expert Book, and Why Plato Matters Now will be forthcoming with Bloomsbury in 2025. She contributes regularly to radio and TV programmes and other media. She has spoken at the World Economic Forum at Davos, the Athens Democracy Forum, the Houses of Parliament, the Scottish Parliament and Westminster Abbey and been the guest on Desert Island Discs, Private Passions and Test Match Special.

She was a judge of the Man Booker International Prize 2019 and is on the World Economic Forum Global Future Council 2018-9 for Values, Ethics and Innovation.

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Supervisors: My PhD supervisor was Professor Myles Burnyeat

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Papers by Angela Hobbs

Epilogue: The weaver's art: andreia in the Politicus and Laws

Cambridge University Press eBooks, Oct 12, 2000

Heroes and role models: the Apology, Hippias Major and Hippias Minor

Cambridge University Press eBooks, Oct 12, 2000

Chapter Five. On Christopher Gill On "Particulars, Selves And Individuals In Stoic Philosophy

In his stimulating paper, Christopher Gill explicitly asks us to consider three main questions in... more In his stimulating paper, Christopher Gill explicitly asks us to consider three main questions in connection with two passages (Origen, Against Celsus 7.51 and Cicero, On Duties 1.107-121): (1) Are the two passages, one based on Chrysippus and the other on Panaetius, concerned with moral particularism? (2) Are the two passages concerned with the relation between moral particularism and moral universalism? (3) Is it, in fact, anachronistic to go searching for such things in the texts? To consider these questions, we first need a better understanding of what 'moral particularism' and 'moral universalism' might mean, and for this it will be helpful to give a brief and rough sketch of one popular version of the history of Western ethical thought since the late eighteenth century, a version based on the framework of universalism and particularism. Keywords: Christopher Gill; Cicero; Origen; Stoic Philosophy

Review of The end of dialogue in antiquity by Goldhill, S. (ed.)

Commentary on "Aristotle's Function Argument and the Concept of Mental Illness

Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, Sep 1, 1998

I. Megone's analysis of the concept of mental illness rests on Aristotle's function arg... more

Plato and Psychic Harmony

Philosophical Inquiry, 2007

Following the swerve

The Philosophers’ Magazine, 2012

Callicles (late 5th century BC)

Routledge eBooks, Sep 11, 2018

<jats:p>Callicles, although known only as a character in Plato's Gorgias (the dramatic ... more <jats:p>Callicles, although known only as a character in Plato's Gorgias (the dramatic date of which is somewhere between 430 and 405 bc), was probably an actual historical person. Employing a distinction between nature (physis) and convention (nomos), he argues eloquently that the naturally superior should seize both political power and a greater share of material goods: it is only a convention of the weak majority which labels such behaviour unjust. In private life the superior should indulge their desires freely: excess and licence are true virtue and happiness.</jats:p>

Plato on War*

Oxford University Press eBooks, Dec 13, 2007

Physis and nomos

Routledge eBooks, Sep 11, 2018

In the fifth and fourth centuries bc a vigorous debate arose in Greece centred on the terms physi... more In the fifth and fourth centuries bc a vigorous debate arose in Greece centred on the terms physis (nature) and nomos (law or custom). It became the first ethical debate in Western philosophy. Is justice simply a matter of obeying the laws, or does it have some basis in nature? If the laws conflict with my natural needs and desires, why should I submit to them? Is society itself ‘natural’, and what difference might the answer make to our evaluation of it? Both nomos and physis had their supporters, while some tried to dissolve the antithesis altogether.

Why should I be good? Callicles, Thrasymachus and the egoist challenge

Cambridge University Press eBooks, Oct 12, 2000

The threat of Achilles

Cambridge University Press eBooks, Oct 12, 2000

Who lied? Classical heroism and World War I

Classical Receptions Journal, Oct 1, 2018

Owen's rejection of Horace's dulce et decorum est pro patria mori as 'the old lie' prompts for me... more Owen's rejection of Horace's dulce et decorum est pro patria mori as 'the old lie' prompts for me two questions: i) Who exactly does Owen think lied? And is he justified in thinking this? ii) To what extent does Owen's rejection of Horace's words also amount to a critique of the classical tradition more generally, on the grounds that classical conceptions of war and heroism have proved utterly inadequate to the task of articulating the horrors of twentieth century trench warfare? I argue that Owen's main target is a number of poets, including Jessie Pope and Henry Newbolt, who recruited sanitized receptions of the classics to exhort young men to lay down their lives for their country. However, it is not clear that any of these, or Horace himself, is actually lying.

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Plato and the Hero: Courage, Manliness and the Impersonal Good

The Philosophical Review, 2002

Page 1. Plato and the Hero Courage, Manliness and the Impersonal Good Angela Hobbs Page 2. ... Pa... more

Plato and the Hero

Page 1. Plato and the Hero Courage, Manliness and the Impersonal Good Angela Hobbs Page 2. ... Pa... more

Thrasymachus (late 5th century BC)

Routledge eBooks, Sep 11, 2018

Thrasymachus, a Greek Sophist and orator, is known principally for his role in book 1 of Plato’s ... more Thrasymachus, a Greek Sophist and orator, is known principally for his role in book 1 of Plato’s Republic, in which he argues that justice is simply a social institution created by rulers to further their own interests. It is intended solely for the subjects; the rulers themselves need not practise it. Since justice thus consists in promoting another’s advantage rather than one’s own, injustice is far more profitable. Apart from issues of internal coherence, his claims raise many questions. What, for example, are our true interests? And what are the actual and ideal operations of power?