Rovertos Heller
Post-doctoral researcher
SHORT PROFILE
Rovertos completed his undergraduate studies in Classics at University College London. He then pursued a Master’s degree in Philosophy at the University of Athens with a thesis on the "Stoic Theory of Time and Eternal Recurrence". He proceeded to a funded PhD with the Arts and Humanities Research Council at Royal Holloway University of London under the supervision of Professor Anne Sheppard. During his PhD he undertook a research stay at Utrecht University, a hub for Stoic Studies, where he benefited from the knowledge and expertise of Prof. Dr. Teun Tieleman.
His PhD research on the Stoic theory of pneuma significantly advances our understanding of early Stoicism by elucidating how pneuma functions as both a cohesive and differentiating principle that determines the reciprocity, or lack thereof, between bodies. The manuscript is currently undergoing revision in preparation for further publication with the title Pneuma, the cosmos and its parts, natural philosophy in the early Stoa, with an expected release by the end of 2025 or early 2026.
Alongside his research, Rovertos strongly believes in education and community engagement. He has won several teaching awards from King’s College London, has been nominated for a further inclusivity award, and has transmitted his expertise to diverse audiences from advanced graduates to lay public.
PUBLICATIONS
"Innovators in Thought: The Stoics on Time Perception", Elsevier 37 (2014) 361–85.
"Tensile Motion, Time and Recurrence in Stoic Philosophy", Proceedings of the XXIII World Congress of Philosophy 2/3 (2018) 31–36.
"Lecture 1: That There Is No Need of Giving Many Proofs for One Problem", in L. Gloyn & J. Sellars (eds.), Brill’s Companion to Musonius Rufus (Leiden) (forthcoming).
"Stoic Theory of Mixture and its Connection to Zosimus of Panoplis’ Alchemy" (forthcoming and co-written by A. Rinotas).
ERC PROJECT
Group Minds in Stoicism: Harmony in Diversity
Rovertos will be leveraging his theoretical and methodological background in Stoic studies to shed light on the way group dynamics and social patterns were conceptualised in the Greco-Roman period. His research will bring modern phenomenological theory and Stoicism into dialogue with each other. In doing so he aims to engage with the lesser-known aspects of Stoic philosophy namely those related to their ideas of community, socialisation, affinity and alienation, as well as their innovative theories regarding the mutual interactions between parts and wholes, and the “I” and the “we”.
His study will seek to delve into Stoic theory whilst avoiding, firstly, the oversimplified reductions of the group into a mere aggregation of its individual parts, and, secondly, the metaphysically loaded notion of a supra-individual mind. The first approach misses the dynamic relations that exist between the individuals to account for a genuine unity of parts. The second approach dissolves the “we” into an “I” by ignoring the plurality requirement that allows for difference and diversity within collective intentionality. Interestingly, there are understudied resources in Stoicism that raise and address the same issues in original ways. Stoicism, often lauded for its contributions to individual ethics, also harbours rich, yet underexplored, insights into collective experience, thought, and action.
These insights pave the way for novel understandings of group cognition and social unity, which this project aims to explore through three focused inquiries. Firstly, embodied cognition, whilst the modern literature has favoured readings that highlight representational and propositional perspectives on cognition, an embodied account sets the groundwork for a more in depth understanding of the Stoic approach to sociality including such notions as oikeiosis (the natural affinity towards socialisation), distributed cognition and mutual incorporation. Secondly, the metaphysics of relations, this inquiry studies the nature, structure, and varieties of relational identities, shedding light on how Stoicism conceptualises the interconnections between self and other, individual and community; and finally, in examining the social impact of Stoic philosophy in its time, i.e., how Stoic ideas were woven into the daily lives and societal structures of Greek and Roman communities, emphasising the practical applications of Stoic thought in promoting narratives for the creation of communal bonds and social cohesion.
Last Updated on April 17, 2024