In a time of attention crisis, we find ourselves increasingly vulnerable to all kinds of distractions—or to patterns of attention perceived to be not good. But what distinguishes good attention from mere distraction? Zihao Guo’s doctoral thesis shows how Plato and Aristotle, at a time when “attention” had not yet been properly conceptualised, already offer unfamiliar yet profound answers to this question.
Working primarily with well-known and central passages from Plato’s dialogues (e.g. Republic, Phaedo, Symposium) and Aristotle’s treatises (e.g. Nicomachean Ethics), the thesis demonstrates that both authors understand good attention as a manifestation and an integral part of a rational and virtuous form of agency. They also agree that the performance of good attention is closely connected to one’s self-knowledge as such an agent, and that both the attention and the knowledge in question are best cultivated through good interaction with others—namely, interaction with friends and lovers for the sake of virtue and true happiness.
In addition, the thesis examines how, according to Plato, one exercises one’s attention under artistic inspiration, and how good attention is generally directed towards what is beautiful, true, and good through a teleological structure of reality. It also analyses how, according to Aristotle, attention functions in practical deliberation, and how forms of non-good attention may sometimes make one forget oneself and lose self-control.
Zihao Guo succesfully defended his thesis on February 6, 2026.
Trial lecture
Designated topic: Plato's Theory of Knowledge in the Republic.
Zihao Guo succesfully defended his thesis on February 6, 2026
Evaluation committee
- Professor Katerina Ierodiakonou, University of Athens and University of Geneva (first opponent)
- Professor Pauliina Remes, Uppsala University (second opponent)
- Professor Franco Trivigno, University of Oslo (committee administrator)
Chair of the defence
- Senior Lecturer Eirik Welo, University of Oslo
Supervisors
- Thomas Kjeller Johansen, University of Oslo