Myrto Dragona-Monachou–Academician, Professor of Philosophy
Myrto Dragona-Monachou was born in Kalamata on July 6th, 1935. She was admitted 2nd in order of success to the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Athens and 3rd to the Faculty of Law of the same University, where she finally chose to study Philosophy, from where she received her degree in 1959 having already become the mother of one daughter. She completed her postgraduate studies with a scholarship from the Foundation State Scholarships (I.K.Y.) in Greece and at the University of London (University College of London) from where she obtained a doctorate in ancient philosophy.
Initially, she taught in private schools and tutoring schools, while in 1962 she was appointed to public Secondary Education. For one year she taught at the Varvakeio Model School and then moved to the Greek Philosophy Research Centre of the Academy of Athens (K.E.F.) as an editor, working at the same time as a Science Specialist at the University of Crete (1979-1981). During her tenure at K.E.F.E.F., she edited a large number of entries for the Presocratic Lexicon. Myrto Dragona-Monachou was also a member of the Editorial Board of the "Philosophy" magazine, as well as vice-president of the scientific staff of the Academy.
During the years 1974-1978, she also taught Stoic Logic, British moral philosophy and Metaethics at the Philosophical Research Centre (CRC) and the H.E.N. Athens Pre-Socratic philosophy. In 1982, she was elected temporary professor of philosophy at the University of Crete and from 1984-1997 she served in the Department of Philosophical and Social Studies. The following year, she was invited by the Department of Methodology, History and Theory of Science (M.I.Th.E.) of the University of Athens where she taught until 2002. Since then, as an emeritus professor at the University of Athens (and since 2005 as an honoured professor of the University of Crete) taught bioethics for several years in the Bioethics postgraduate programme of the University of Crete and for two semesters moral philosophy and bioethics at the University of Peloponnese in Kalamata.
Myrto Dragona-Monachou was repeatedly the president of the Department of Philosophical and Social Studies (F.K.S.), as well as the director of the Department of Philosophy of the University of Crete. She has also been a founding member and chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Philosophical Society, vice-president of the Association of Scientific Personnel of the Academy of Athens and president of the Association "Theofilos Veikos, for Critical Thinking and Philosophical Education". In 1993, during the 19th World Congress of Philosophy in Moscow, she was elected as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies (F.I.S.P), for a decade (1993-2003), while at the 21st World Congress held in Istanbul in 2003, she was elected vice-president of F.I.S.P. for another five years (2003-2008). She was also a founding member of the Hellenic Society of Medical Ethics and, from 1998-2008, a member of the Hellenic National Bioethics Committee. Also, in 2005, she was appointed a member of the Independent Authority for Medically Assisted Reproduction (I.Y.A.) which she served without pay until 2010.
In 2003, she was awarded the title of honorary member of the Association of Teachers for the Promotion of Philosophy in Education, while in July 2006 the volume of the journal Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Research SKEPSIS was dedicated to her. In March 2008, she was awarded by the Board of Directors of the Pammessenian Union of Athens the silver medal of Ithomata Dios, while in June 2013, Myrto Dragona-Monachos became an honorary member of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Aristotelian Studies (AUTH) of the University of Thessaloniki. Finally, in January 2015 (as part of the awarding of honour to women scientists) she was awarded the Commander of the Order of the Phoenix by the then President of the Hellenic Republic, Karolos Papoulias.
Through her work, Myrto Dragona-Monachou has managed to bring philosophy closer to modern life and consequently to the dilemmas arising from the new developments in the field of technology and medicine. Her interests range from Ancient Greek Philosophy to Philosophy of Human Rights, Ethics and Bioethics. He has written several books, including: “The Stoic Argument for the Existence and the Providence of the Gods” (1976) “Philosophy and Human Rights” (1986) “Modern Moral Philosophy” (1995), as well as the monograph, “Divine Providence in the Philosophy of the Empire” (ANRW, 1994). Finally, she has more than 200 publications in Greek and foreign journals, in collective volumes, as well as in conference announcements in Greece and abroad.