Education: B.A., Brown University; American School of Classical Studies at Athens; Ph.D., Brown University

"I like to investigate the value systems of the ancient world, with attention to how they have shaped our own values and how they contrast with them. The modern age learns from both." - Dirk t. D. Held

Dirk t. D. Held
Elizabeth S. Kruidenier '48 Professor of Classics
Chair of Classics Department

• Classical philosophy

Professor Held's teaching and research concentrate on the relation of the modern world to classical antiquity, paying special attention to philosophy.

His training in ancient philosophy is exemplified in his classes: Plato; Dionysus: Culture and the Irrational; and Greek and Roman Ethics, which covers the ethical thought of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, among others. Held also teaches The Emotions in Classical Literature and Philosophy. In addition he teaches courses in Latin and Greek at all levels from elementary to advanced.

Professor Held was the 2007, and second, recipient of the newly established Helen Brooks Regan Faculty Leadership Award.

Held has been active professionally, publishing articles and reviews and presenting papers at scholarly conferences. Recent works include:

"Curing Charmides' Headache: Hippocratic Themes” Skepsis (2004);

"Contest and Repose: Dialectics of the Greek Ideal in Nietzsche and Winckelmann," in P. Bishop, (ed.) Nietzsche and Antiquity (2004);

"Hidden Truth in Early Greek philosophy"  Skepsis (2003);

"Aesthetic Socratism and Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy" in Proceedings of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas (2003);

review-article "Was Plato a Platonist?" POLIS (2002);

"Nietzsche, Greece, and the European Spirit, in Proceedings of the VIth Congresso Cultura Europea (2002);

"Hellenism and Europe from Modernity to Postmodernity", in Proceedings of the Vth Congresso Cultura Europea, Pamplona (2000);

"Commentary on Lewis: Dogmas of Indivisibility, On the Origins of Ancient Atomism" in J. Cleary and G. Gurtler, edd., Proceedings of The Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy, (1999);

"Ancient Greece, Post-modern Autochthony: Hellenism and the Ideology of 'Europe'" in The New Europe at the Crossroads, ed. U. Beitter (1999); "Hellenism and Modern European Identity", in H Archaia Hellada kai ho Synchronos Kosmos, Ekdosis Panepisthimiou: Patras (1999).

Other published papers include: "Shaping Eurocentrism: The Uses of Greek Antiquity", in J. Colemann & C. Walz (edd.) Greeks and Barbarians: Essays on the Interactions between Greeks and Non-Greeks in Antiquity and the Consequences of Eurocentrism (1997); "Bernard Williams' Shame and Necessity," International Journal of Philosophical Studies 3 (1995); "Recovering the Sophists", a review-article, in POLIS (Society for Greek Political Thought 11 (1994); and "Megalopsychia in Nicomachean Ethics IV", in Ancient Philosophy, 13, 1993.

Reviews written by Professor Held have appeared in Ancient History Bulletin, Ancient Philosophy, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, Canadian Philosophical Reviews, Classical World, New England Classical Journal, and Review of Metaphysics.

Held's presentation of his work at national and international conferences has also been extensive. Recent conference presentations include:
"Antigone on the Neckar: Greek tragedy and Enigmas of the Modern", presented at Interrogating Antigone Conference, Trinity College Dublin 2006;

"From Pictorial Arts to Tragedy: Greece and the Articulation of Modernity", Legacy of Antiquity Conference, University of St. Andrews 2006;

"Socrates, Eros and Truth", Socratic philosophy workshop, University for Malta 2006;

"Humboldt, Hellenism and the University of Berlin" presented to conference Humanities and Expertise, Carnegie-Mellon University, 2005;

"Interpretation and Reason in Plato's Ion", presented to International Symposium of Greek Philosophy, Olympic Center for Philosophy and Culture 2003;

"Hellenism, Travel, and 18th Century Origins of European Identity", presented to Classical Pilgrimages conference, Paul Mellon Center for British Art London, 2003;

"Nietzsche and Aesthetic Socratism" presented to International Society for the Study of European Ideas, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, 2002;

"Reclaiming the Greeks: Nietzsche and 'the good European' ", presented to New Europe at the Crossroads conference, University of Edinburgh, 2001;

"Hellenism, Nationalism and the Ideology of Research at Humboldt's University", presented to International Commission on the History of Universities, Oslo, 2000;

"Ancient Myth and Modernity: Hölderlin, Schelling, and Nietzsche", presented to Bristol Myth Colloquium at the University of Bristol UK,1998.

Professor Held has served on numerous college committees, including terms as Chair of the Advisory Committee on tenure and promotions; the Committee on Faculty Compensation; and the Policy, Planning and Budget Committee. He previously served as Special Assistant to the Provost and as Associate Dean of the Faculty.

Visit the Classics department site.