Department of Political Science and Public Administration

Post: Assistant Professor

Section: Political Science

Expertise: Political Theory: Greek and Roman Political Thought

Contact information

Office telephone: 210 368 8960

Electronic mail: cplatanakis[at]pspa.uoa[dot]gr

Office address: 6 Themistokleous Street, 3rd floor, office 16

Office hours: 

Curriculum Vitae

Harry Platanakis holds a B.A. (ptychion) from the Department of Philosophy & Social Studies of the University of Crete and an M.Sc. by Research from the Department of Philosophy of the University of Edinburgh. He wrote his doctoral thesis on ‘The Concept of Equality in Aristotle’s Moral & Political Philosophy’ under the supervision of Prof. Malcolm Schofield at the University of Cambridge with a scholarship from Clare College.

He has taught at the Universities of Cambridge (2005-06), University College London (2006-07), Birkbeck (2007-12) Koç University (2012-17) and in various universities abroad as visiting professor and research fellow. He assumed his position as an Assistant Professor of Greek & Roman Political Thought at the Department of Political Science & Public Administration of the University of Athens in 2017.

His research interests in political philosophy are both historical (with emphasis on ancient political thought) and systematic (mainly egalitarianism, democratic theory, political authority and disobedience), while he envisages to reveal contributions of the history of philosophy on contemporary philosophical problems and debates. He has presented his work in academic fora in Europe, the USA and the Far East, while his work has been published in English, Greek and Turkish.

Selected publications

• ‘Rawls on Political Obedience: fair game and natural duty’ in A.Mela & A.Boukouvala (eds) Revisiting the Theory of Justice (Athens: Nissos 2024): 295-316
• ‘Socratic Freedom and Political Obedience’ in A.D.Mavroudis & A.Regkakos (eds) ἔτος ἦλθε περιπλομένων ἐνιαυτῶν ἑκατοστόν: Festschrift for Professor Nikolaos Konomis (Athens: Academy of Athens 2023): 137-149
• ‘Why Individual Responsibility Cannot Justify Sufficiently Differentiations of Outcome’ Axiologika 33 (2023): 149-168
• ‘Aristotelian Leadership: between calculative bureaucracy and emotional tyranny’ Philosophy of Management 21.1 (2022): 105-126
• ‘Against Philoxenia as Associative Obligation and Partial Duty’ in A.Dimitriadi & H.Malamidis (eds) Ευρωπαϊκές αξίες και προσφυγική «κρίση»: η περίπτωση της Ελλάδας (Athens: Nissos 2022): 99-117
• ‘Against the Reductionism of Distributive Justice’ Deukalion 35.1-2 (2021): 128-158
• ‘Aristotelian Penalties: action-centred rectification and character-centred punishment’ History of Political Thought 38.1 (2017): 1-24
• ‘Ancient Political Philosophy’ in G.Karamanolis (ed.) Introduction to Ancient Philosophy (Heraklion: Crete University Press 2017): 419-447
• ‘Aristotle on Political Participation’ in P.M.Kitromilides (ed.) Athenian Legacies: European debates on citizenship (Firenze: Leo S.Olschki 2014): 135-155
• ‘The Influence of Legal Procedures in the Cosmology of Miletus’ in A.K.Çüçen & H.Tepe (eds) The Milesian Philosophers: Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes (Ankara: UNESCO Turkish Commission & Turkish Philosophical Association 2015): 123-137
• ‘The Necessity of Aristotelian Friends’ Cogito 77 (2014): 275-289
• ‘Is a Philosophical Justification of Human Rights Possible?’ Cogito 74 (2013): 80-88
• Greek Philosophy: Aristotle (London: University of London International Programmes 2012)
• ‘Aristotle on the Posthumous Happiness’ Deukalion 28.2 (2011): 35-49
• ‘Cynics’ in M.Bever (ed.) Encyclopedia of Political Theory 1 (London: SAGE 2010): 346-347
• ‘Happiness’ in M.Bever (ed.) Encyclopedia of Political Theory 2 (London: SAGE 2010): 594-597
• ‘Pythagoreanism’ in M.Bever (ed.) Encyclopedia of Political Theory 3 (London: SAGE 2010): 1128-1130
• ‘Towards an Account of Comparability in Aristotle’s Physics VII.4’ Skepsis 17.1-2 special edition in honour of Professor M. Dragona-Monachou: 302-316