Honours Co-ordinator
Postgraduate Co-ordinator
Contact
Office 5N4, Arts Building
Email sean.mcconnell@otago.ac.nz
Academic qualifications
- 2010: PhD, University of Cambridge
- 2007: MPhil, University of Cambridge
- 2005: BA(Hons), University of Otago
Background and research interests
Sean completed first his MPhil and then his PhD at the University of Cambridge.
His current research focuses on ancient philosophy, in particular Graeco-Roman philosophy in the first century BC and the interface of philosophy and politics at Rome during the decline and fall of the Roman republic. A major interest is how ethical and political theory, appropriated from the Greek philosophical tradition, is put into practice and developed by figures such as Lucretius, Cato, Varro, and Cicero in the light of Roman cultural and socio-political circumstances.
Teaching
2023
- CLAS 238 Fantasies, Phobias and Families in Graeco-Roman Myth
- CLAS 345 Tales of Troy: from Homer to Hollywood
- GREK 212 Intermediate Greek Authors
- GREK 328 Advanced Greek Authors 1
- LATN 212 Intermediate Latin Authors
- LATN 329 Advanced Latin Authors 2
- LATN 464 A Topic in Latin Literature
Has also taught
- CLAS 340 Love, Death and the Good Life: Socrates and Plato
- CLAS 440 Advanced Studies in Socrates and Plato
- GREK 111 Introductory Greek 1
Areas of research supervision
- Cicero
- Classical philosophy
- Lucretius
- Plato
Publications
McConnell, S. (2014). Philosophical life in Cicero's letters. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 260p.
Authored Book - Research
Gilbert, N., Graver, M., & McConnell, S. (Eds.). (2023). Power and persuasion in Cicero's philosophy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 268p. doi: 10.1017/9781009170352
Edited Book - Research
McConnell, S. (2023). Cicero and the Cynics. In R. Woolf (Ed.), Cicero's De Officiis: A critical guide. (pp. 182-200). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781009049375
Chapter in Book - Research
McConnell, S. (2023). The model of voting in Cicero's best state. Polis, 40, 304-328. doi: 10.1163/20512996-12340410
Journal - Research Article
McConnell, S. (2023). The problem of Aristippus at Cicero, De officiis 1.148. Mnemosyne, 76, 121-135. doi: 10.1163/1568525X-bja10086
Journal - Research Article
Gilbert, N., Graver, M., & McConnell, S. (2023). Introduction. In N. Gilbert, M. Graver & S. McConnell (Eds.), Power and persuasion in Cicero's philosophy. (pp. 1-11). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781009170352.001
Chapter in Book - Research
McConnell, S. (2023). Cicero and the Cynics. In R. Woolf (Ed.), Cicero's De Officiis: A critical guide. (pp. 182-200). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781009049375
Chapter in Book - Research
McConnell, S. (2023). Old men in Cicero's political philosophy. In N. Gilbert, M. Graver & S. McConnell (Eds.), Power and persuasion in Cicero's philosophy. (pp. 218-240). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781009170352.013
Chapter in Book - Research
Gilbert, N., & McConnell, S. (2021). Cicero's philosophical works. In R. Scodel (Ed.), Oxford bibliographies: Classics. Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/obo/9780195389661-0361
Chapter in Book - Research
McConnell, S. (2021). Cicero and the golden age tradition. In P. Destrée, J. Opsomer & G. Roskam (Eds.), Utopias in ancient thought. (pp. 213-230). Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter. doi: 10.1515/9783110733129-012
Chapter in Book - Research
McConnell, S. (2021). Cicero on the emotions and the soul. In J. W. Atkins & T. Bénatouïl (Eds.), The Cambridge companion to Cicero's philosophy. (pp. 150-165). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781108241649.012
Chapter in Book - Research
McConnell, S. (2019). Cicero and Socrates. In C. Moore (Ed.), Brill's companion to the reception of Socrates. (pp. 347-366). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Academic.
Chapter in Book - Research
McConnell, S. (2012). Cicero and Dicaearchus. In B. Inwood (Ed.), Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy (Vol. XLII). (pp. 307-349). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199644384.003.0008
Chapter in Book - Research
McConnell, S. (2023). The model of voting in Cicero's best state. Polis, 40, 304-328. doi: 10.1163/20512996-12340410
Journal - Research Article
McConnell, S. (2023). The problem of Aristippus at Cicero, De officiis 1.148. Mnemosyne, 76, 121-135. doi: 10.1163/1568525X-bja10086
Journal - Research Article
McConnell, S. (2022). Philosophical role-playing in Cicero's letters to Paetus, 46 BC. Antichthon, 56, 121-139. doi: 10.1017/ann.2022.1
Journal - Research Article
McConnell, S. (2019). Why is Latin spectrum a bad translation of Epicurus' EIΔΩΛON? Cicero and Cassius on a point of philosophical translation. Mnemosyne, 72(1), 154-162. doi: 10.1163/1568525x-12342572
Journal - Research Article
McConnell, S. (2018). Lucretius on the nature of parental love. Antichthon, 52, 72-89. doi: 10.1017/ann.2018.1
Journal - Research Article
McConnell, S. (2017). Magnitudo animi and cosmic politics in Cicero's De re publica. Classical Journal, 113(1), 45-70. doi: 10.5184/classicalj.113.1.0045
Journal - Research Article
McConnell, S. (2017). Demetrius of Laconia and the debate between the Stoics and the Epicureans on the nature of parental love. Classical Quarterly, 67(1), 149-162. doi: 10.1017/S0009838817000313
Journal - Research Article
McConnell, S. (2017). The Epicurean virtue of μεγαλοψυχία. Classical Philology, 112, 175-199. doi: 10.1086/691539
Journal - Research Article
McConnell, S. (2015). Epicurean education and the rhetoric of concern. Acta Classica, LVIII, 111-145. doi: 10.15731/AClass.058.05
Journal - Research Article
McConnell, S. (2015). Plato’s critique of Antisthenes on pleasure and the good life (Philebus 44a–53c). Ancient Philosophy, 35(2), 329-349. doi: 10.5840/ancientphil201535225
Journal - Research Article
McConnell, S. (2012). Lucretius and civil strife. Phoenix, 66(1/2), 97-121. doi: 10.7834/phoenix.66.1-2.0097
Journal - Research Article
McConnell, S. (2010). Epicureans on kingship. Cambridge Classical Journal, 56, 178-198. doi: 10.1017/S1750270500000312
Journal - Research Article
McConnell, S. (2008). How Kant might explain ugliness. British Journal of Aesthetics, 48(2), 205-228. doi: 10.1093/aesthj/ayn006
Journal - Research Article