The 22nd Norfolk Cambridge Society Public Lecture will be the second of three NCS public lectures delivered by powerful women in the 2024/25 academic year, which we have designated "NCS FEMALE LEADERSHIP YEAR". Initially this lecture was to be delivered by Dr Gillian Tett, who is now unable to do so due to other commitments. We are therefore very grateful to Professor Catherine Rowett, former Member of the European Parliament, Professor of Philosophy at the University of East Anglia and now Green Party councillor on Norfolk County Council, who has agreed at very short notice to deliver our 22nd lecture. Her subject will be "Forgotten Truths - Powerful Lessons for Today from Ancient Greek Philosophy".

Some people may take the view that texts from Ancient Greek philosophy (roughly the 6th century BC to the 6th Century AD) can hardly be relevant today. Surely those then alive knew far less than we do now about how the world works? In this eye-opening lecture, Professor Rowett will show that nothing could be further from the truth. She will argue that, far from Alfred North Whitehead’s famous saying that the European philosophical tradition is just a series of footnotes to Plato, modern philosophy has forgotten everything that Plato knew. Instead, as we have become obsessed with the mistaken notion that we understand economics and how to achieve happiness, we have learned only how to destroy much that makes for a good society and a healthy planet. Most importantly, she will address a selection of themes concerning property, belonging, social and planetary well-being, work, leisure, and rewards— to help us rethink assumptions that some may believe are not, or should not be, open to question.

Professor Rowett is both a distinguished academic and a respected national and local politician. She obtained her BA, MA and PhD from the University of Cambridge and has held research fellowships at both Cambridge and Oxford universities. She has also held university positions at Swansea, Liverpool and UEA. In 2019 she was elected to the European Parliament for the 2019-24 parliament, as the first ever Green Party MEP for the East of England. (Unfortunately this came to an early end in 2020 due to Brexit!) In 2023 she was elected to Norfolk County Council as the Green Party councillor for West Depwade. She has written seven books and many articles and chapters across topics in both ancient and modern philosophy and in patristic theology.