About Professor Roche

Professor Roche (PhD University of California, Davis), joined the faculty at Memphis in 1985. His teaching and research interests include Greek and Roman Philosophy, History of Moral Philosophy, and Ethical Theory. His essays have appeared in such collections and journals as The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Aristote. Traductions et Études, Phronesis, Ancient Philosophy, Journal of the History of Philosophy, Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy, The Philosophical Review, and Mind. His recent undergraduate courses include Aristotle's Politics, Plato and Aristotle on the Soul, The Presocratics, and Stoic Ethics. Recent PhD Seminars include Ancient and Modern Conceptions of Well-Being, Aristotle's Metaphysics, Plato's Later Metaphysics and Epistemology: Theatetus, Sophist, Statesman, and Plato's Political Philosophy.

Professor Roche is currently completing a book entitled Aristotle's Nicomachean Conception of Happiness. He is also completing, or has under review, various essays, including "The Alleged Distinction Between Makariotēs and Eudaimonia in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics: Happiness, the Goods of Fortune, and Solon's Maxim," "The Ugly, the Lonely, and the Lowly: Reply to Professor Cashen on Aristotle's Discussions of Eudaimonia and Ta Ektos Agatha," and "Agathoi and Kalokagathoi in Aristotle's Eudemian Ethics."

Selected Publications

Books

Ancient Ethics and Political Philosophy (editor) The Southern Journal of Philosophy Spindel Conference Supplement 43 (2005).

Articles published

• "The Private Moral Life of Aristotle's Philosopher: A Defense of a Non-Intellectualist Interpretation of Nicomachean Ethics 10.7-8." In Contemplation in Aristotle's Ethics (a volume of the series Aristote. Traductions et Études), Pierre Destrée and M. Zingano, eds. Leuven: Peeters (2014) 207-239.
• "Happiness and the External Goods." In The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, ed. Ronald Polansky. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2014) 34-63.
• "Happiness and Agency in the Stoics and Aristotle: Commentary on Russell." In Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy, XXIV, John J. Cleary and Gary M. Gurtler, S.J., eds. Leiden/Boston: Brill (2009) 112-125.
• "The Ultimate End of Action: A Critique of Richard Kraut's Aristotle on the Human Good," in M. Sim, ed., Crossroads of Norm and Nature: Essays on Aristotle's Ethics and Metaphysics, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. (1995) 115-138.
• "In Defense of an Alternative View of the Foundation of Aristotle's Moral Theory," Phronesis 37 (1992) 46-84.
• "Ergon and Eudaimonia in Nicomachean Ethics I: Reconsidering the Intellectualist Interpretation," Journal of the History of Philosophy 26 (1988) 175-194.

Book reviews

• Anthony Kenny, Aristotle on the Perfect Life, in Mind 103 (1994) 202-208.
• Richard Kraut, Aristotle on the Human Good, in The Philosophical Review, 101 (1992) 629-633.

Invited Presentations

• "Embodied Virtue in the Phaedo: Reply to Douglass Reed," APA Central Division Meeting, St. Louis, February 20, 2015.
• "Audience Psychology and Censorship in Plato's Republic: Reply to Professor Jansen," University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida: Fourteenth Annual Ancient Philosophy Society Meeting, April 25, 2014.
• "Aristotle's 'Good' Spartans" (with Daniel Larkin), Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois: Twenty-second Annual Philosophical Collaborations Conference, March 20, 2014.
• "Aristotle on Courage," Ave Maria University, Ave Maria, Florida: Workshop on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics iii.6-12, February 27 – March 2, 2014.
• "Aristotle on Pleasure," Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, February 14-15, 2013.
• "Aristotle on Happiness and Ta Ektos Agatha," for Classics Week, Mississippi State University, October, 12, 2012.
• "The Private Moral Life of Aristotle's Philosopher: A Defense of a Non-Intellectualist Interpretation of Nicomachean Ethics 10. 7-8," for the Philosophy and Religion Forum, University of Mississippi, October 10, 2008.
• "The Sufficiency Debate Between the Stoics and the Aristotelians: Comments on Russell," for the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy, College of the Holy Cross, November 2007.
• "Politics and Philosophy in Aristotle's Moral Philosophy and Politics: Towards a Solution to Two Puzzles in Aristotle's Moral/Political Thought," for the XI International Symposium of Philosophy (The Political Theories of Plato and Aristotle), Pyrgos, Greece, 2000.