Each year the Foundation awards an annual prize for final year students studying at King’s College, London, for the best dissertation on some aspect of Ancient Philosophy. The prize was named after Mary Margaret McCabe, Emerita Professor of Ancient Philosophy at King’s, a leading authority on Plato who has inspired countless students in their study of his works.
The prize was won this year by Erik Van Kesteren. His dissertation, on ‘Women in Plato’s Republic’, focusses on how Plato gets the reader to face the question of the role of women in society generally having regard to their nature and education.
At the prize giving ceremony, which was held in the Council Room at the University on 18 June 2024, the Head of the Classics Department, Dr Will Wootton, presented the prize to Erik who thanked the academic staff at Kings for their generous support. Professor Raphael Woolf then spoke in praise of the exceptional quality of Erik’s paper, his close reading of the primary texts and the insightfulness of his arguments. This was followed by a marvellously erudite and entertaining talk by Mary Margaret McCabe herself, entitled ‘Socrates in Prison’, on the Socratic method and her work in modern UK prisons.
Next year Erik will be do a Masters in Ancient Philosophy at Cambridge. He then he hopes to go on to do a PHD on some aspect of Plato’s philosophy. We wish him well.
