Ancient Philosophy

Free Will in the Republic

by Jonathan Hecht

Conference length draft; I would be indebted to any who email me comments.

I provide a comparative analysis of Augustine's account of genuine freedom of the will and Plato's just man. Given the... more I provide a comparative analysis of Augustine's account of genuine freedom of the will and Plato's just man. Given the overwhelming similarities, I conclude, contra common opinion, that a proto account of free will is present in the Republic.

The Stoic Anomaly: An Inquiry into Some Possible Semitic Components in Stoic Logic and Physics (Spanish)

by Carlos Segovia

"La anomalía estoica: En torno a los posibles componentes semíticos de la lógica y la física estoicas," Paideia 89 (2010) 295-307.

1. Introducción
2. La anomalía lingüístico-temporal (sobre la relativa indistinción del presente y el futuro en... more 1. Introducción
2. La anomalía lingüístico-temporal (sobre la relativa indistinción del presente y el futuro en el estoicismo)
3. La anomalía ontológica (sobre la supresión del verbo "ser" en la física estoica)
4. La anomalía lógica (sobre la supresión de la cópula verbal en la lógica estoica)
5. A modo de conclusión

DISCUSSIONS ON THE ETERNITY OF THE WORLD IN ANTIQUITY AND IN CONTEMPORARY COSMOLOGY PART II, FROM THE CHURCH FATHERS TO ISLAM

by Michael Chase

Talk given at the annual Tekhne workshop in Berdsk, Novosibirsk, Russia, May 2012

Iconographie: Posidonios d’Apamée, Parménide d’Élée, Platon, Plotin

by Joern Lang

published in: R. Goulet (Hrsg.), Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques V. de Paccius à Rutilius Rufus (2011) 160 f.; 841–845; 1068–1070; 1499–1501.

Umkehr der Zeit. Tanz, Lebensalter und die zweitbeste Verfassung in Platons Nomoi

by Manuel Schölles

in: D. Koch / I. Männlein-Robert / N. Weidtmann (ed.), Platon und die Mousiké, Antike-Studien Band 2, Tübingen 2012, 136–154.

Dancing Naked with Socrates

by Christopher Long

This article offers an interpretation of Plato's Menexenus in which the figure of Socrates emerges as critical of both... more This article offers an interpretation of Plato's Menexenus in which the figure of Socrates emerges as critical of both the Periclean and Aspasian vision of politics. By speaking in the voice of Aspasia in the Menexenus, Socrates is able to draw out the limitations of the Periclean politics of freedom without straightforwardly identifying himself with the Aspasian politics of care. By distancing himself from both positions, Socrates elucidates the limitations of each: The Periclean vision of politics is grounded in a conception of self-sufficiency that leads to imperialism, the Aspasian in the dangerous myth of autochthony. Socrates' playful dialogue with Menexenus, and Menexenus' incapacity to appreciate the ambiguity and nuance of the Socratic position, lend new insight into the meaning and nature of philosophical citizenship. Socrates, as the philosopher citizen, distances himself from two main ideological visions of politics in such a way that a new conception of politics emerges, one grounded as much in justice as in freedom.

Saving the Things Said

by Christopher Long

By taking seriously the extent to which Aristotle understands the things said (ta legemona) by his predecessors as... more By taking seriously the extent to which Aristotle understands the things said (ta legemona) by his predecessors as genuine phenomena that express something of the truth about beings, this essay challenges the orthodox understanding of Aristotle’s approach to the history of philosophy as merely a thinly veiled attempt to legitimize the authority of his own philosophical ideas. Drawing on both the continental phenomenological approach to Aristotle and the Anglo-American analytic and pragmatic recognition of the important role an orientation toward ta phainomena play in Aristotle’s method, this article turns to two specific texts—the Physics and the Parts of Animals—to articulate how Aristotle’s engagement with his historical predecessors is itself an integral moment of his philosophical investigation into the being of natural beings. John Herman Randall and Hans Georg-Gadamer provide the conceptual vocabulary through which Aristotle’s engagement with his predecessors can be best understood; for each in his own way expresses the view that genuine philosophy opens new possibilities for the future by critically engaging the past. The essay concludes by suggesting at once the limitations of Aristotle’s approach to his predecessors and the continuing importance of his recognition that philosophy cannot be pursued in isolation from its history.

Socrates and the Politics of Music

by Christopher Long

At least since the appearance of Aristotle's Politics, Plato's Republic has been read as arguing for a politics of... more At least since the appearance of Aristotle's Politics, Plato's Republic has been read as arguing for a politics of unity in which difference is understood as a threat to the polis. By focusing on the musical imagery of the Republic, and specifically on its compositional organization around three "preludes," this essay seeks an understanding of Socratic politics that moves beyond the hypothesis of unity. In the first "prelude," Thrasymachus and his insistence that justice is the self-interest of the stronger threatens to subject the harmony of the community to the tyrannical whims of the individual. In the second, the perfected justice of Adeimantus's city threatens to destroy the erotic rhythm of difference that is the very condition for the possibility of the polis. It is only in the song of dialectic, which itself is called a "prelude," that the tension between the rhythm of plurality and the rational homophony of unity is dynamically tuned in such a way that both the anarchic politics of self-interest and the totalitarian politics of rationalized oppression are equally muted. This conception of politics is embodied in the relationship that emerges between Glaucon and Socrates. Ultimately, the true political community is established here, between rational, erotic individuals seeking justice in concrete, living dialogue.

Robert Filmer, John Milton, William Prynne und die aristotelische Theorie der Monarchie

by Ulf Scharrer

in: M. Baumbach (ed.), Tradita et Inventa. Beiträge zur Rezeption der Antike, Heidelberg 2000, p. 203-216

Frauen und Geschlechterrollen in der Sicht der hellenistischen Stoa

by Ulf Scharrer

in: Christoph Ulf / Robert Rollinger (eds.), Geschlechter - Frauen - Fremde Ethnien. In antiker Ethnographie, Theorie und Realität, Innsbruck e.a. 2002, p. 119-172

Root of all evil: the conception of evil in Plutarch's De Iside et Osiride

by Ivan Faiferri

In a passage of the tenth book of the Laws (896a-897b), Plato seems to state the existence of "not less than... more In a passage of the tenth book of the Laws (896a-897b), Plato seems to state the existence of "not less than two" souls: the former good, ordered and rational, the latter cause of all that is evil, disordered, irrational.
Few Platonist accepted this hypothesis as true, structuring their philosophy on a dualistic metaphysics. Among them, Plutarch is one of the most authoritative, and the one whose works are better preserved.
His heterodox interpretation allows him to combine the divine perfection with human freedom.
In this way, he can give an account of the reality closer both to the everyday experience and to the traditional religion, showing also in this case his inclination to present a philosophy suitable for his times.

Aristotle's Conception of Truth: An Alternative View

by Blake Hestir

Forthcoming in the *Journal of the History of Philosophy*

The prevailing view among scholars is that Aristotle’s remarks on truth at Metaphysics Γ 7, 1011b26–27 express a... more The prevailing view among scholars is that Aristotle’s remarks on truth at Metaphysics Γ 7, 1011b26–27 express a correspondence conception of truth. However, although Aristotle thinks that truth depends on the world, his conception of truth does not require that either (a) there be some truthmaker such as a fact or a state of affairs that obtains to which truthbearers correspond, or (b) there be a some universal dependence relation that holds between truths and ontological entities. Aristotle’s conception of truth is more minimal. I focus on Aristotle’s semantic views and their relation to his ontology and psychology.

A "Conception" of Truth in Plato's Sophist

by Blake Hestir

Journal of the History of Philosophy 41.1 (2003), 1-24.

Filosofi(a) e politica (?) Breve storia di un rapporto controverso

by Giacomo Pezzano

Published in “Koiné”, XVI, 1-3, 2009, pp. 56-90

Didymus the Blind and the Metaphysics of Participation

by Kellen Plaxco

Studia Patristica. Louvain: Peeters. (Forthcoming)

Earlier modern scholarship has tended to date Didymus the Blind’s doctrinal contributions toward the end of the fourth... more Earlier modern scholarship has tended to date Didymus the Blind’s doctrinal contributions toward the end of the fourth century. More recently, some scholars have begun to question the assumption that Didymus’ thought must be derivative and consequently later than the thought of those figures commonly thought to be more influential (e.g., Athanasius and Basil). This has resulted in a significantly earlier dating for Didymus’ On the Holy Spirit (c. 360/5). A concommitant project with rediscovering the genius of Didymus is to read him as significantly more philosophically subtle than might previously have been assumed. In service of exploring the potential of Didymus’ originality and contribution to late fourth-century doctrinal debates, this paper develops recent scholarship on Didymus’ philosophical resources by proffering a fresh analysis of On the Holy Spirit, especially by continuing to entertain the question of Didymus’ most proximate philosophical resources. Didymus argues in §50-56 of On the Holy Spirit that the Spirit is capabilis, and, “because of this, uncreated” (§54). His conclusion in §56 explains §54 by claiming that a substance’s being capabilis entails its being inconuertabilis, and its being inconuertabilis entails its being aeternum. And if the Holy Spirit is a participable, immutable, and eternal substance, then the Holy Spirit cannot be identified with created substances such as angels. The metaphysics of participation forms a significant basis of Didymus’ discourse. The key technical term (capabilis) in Didymus’ argument is traceable to μέθεξις and cognates, which introduces to a reading of Didymus’ theology the notion of participability and suggests a Platonic context; his terminology is close to that of Proclus—but Didymus predates Proclus by half a century. This paper therefore explores intriguing resonances in Porphyry and Iamblichus to ascertain whether Didymus has indeed been reading the Platonists carefully or may be drawing on a philosophical commonplace otherwise available to him.

Nauseating Flux: Iris Murdoch on Sartre and Heraclitus

by David Robjant

forthcoming, The European Journal of Philosophy
Article first published online: 17 APR 2012

I observe Iris Murdoch’s distinctive use of the word ‘flux’ in discussion of Sartre’s Nausea and show that her usage... more I observe Iris Murdoch’s distinctive use of the word ‘flux’ in discussion of Sartre’s Nausea and show that her usage is persuasive and revolutionary, first as Sartre exegesis, second as Heraclitus exegesis, and throughout as a contribution to the philosophy of language. Murdoch’s usage of ‘flux’ frames a comparison of Sartre’s Roquentin with other figures who have had similarly flowing experience but without nausea. Roquentin's plight is shown to be ‘a philosopher's plight’ precipitated by a defective theory of descriptive success. I then show how the Heraclitean fragments would support Murdoch’s treatment of flux and on close analysis contradict the established view exemplified in the work of Wittgenstein and Jonathan Barnes. Flux is not a variety of change, and the river image ‘cannot be analysed into non-metaphorical components without a loss of substance’.

Hellenismo- Elapheboli

by Daphne Varenya

The Salvific Function of Memory in Archaic Poetry, in the Orphic Gold Tablets and in Plato: Which Continuity, Which Break?

by Alexis Pinchard

Talk to be held at the Cagliari Conference of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies (June 20-24 2012).

According to this paper, the Athenian Neoplatonic idea that there was a deep accordance between Orpheus, Pythagoras... more According to this paper, the Athenian Neoplatonic idea that there was a deep accordance between Orpheus, Pythagoras and Plato about the method and the definition of soul salvation (see Syrianus) is not fully erroneous. It just has to be put in a dynamical perspective instead of a static one. Authentic Orphism may indeed be defined as the cultural process — neither a fixed doctrine nor an organized church —  that leads from the positive valuation of an external memory concerning epic or theogonic old paterns, working as a condition of the kleos aphthiton for heroes and poets, toward the positive valuation of the internal memory which is conceived off as bringing philosopher’s soul in touch with eternal realities. Orphism does not deny the authority of Homeric or Hesiodic tradition, which makes immortal the names of heroes, but Orphism gradually transfers it inside the soul and thus discovers a new level of immortality, which concerns the ego and is independent from the remaining part of human society, just like the common immortality of soul demonstrated by Plato in the Phaedo does paradoxically not prevent certain souls being more subject to death than other ones (see for example the end of the Timaeus, 90c)! In certain “Orphic” gold tablets, Mnemosyne is not invocated in order to keep alive an oral tradition through succesive generations but for an individual soul to re-assume its own divine origin. This soteriological interpretation of the role payed by memory is confirmed by the cyclical sequence bios thanatos bios found in the Olbia bones fragments (OF 463.1 Bernabé). Such a mental power makes the soul able to escape an ever-lasting re-birth and re-death cycle, just like the anamnèsis in Plato does, athough the divine part of soul is identified only with rationality in Plato, and no longer with any vitalizing spirit correlated with body. The life of soul, according to Plato, is overall an adequate relationship to itself, which is called intellection (nous). But Orphism has already overcome the idea that the sole material ritual could work as a sufficient mean for salvation. Moreover, there is no historical family tradition in Orphism unlike in the Homeric tradition. There are no Orphēidai like the Homēridai of Chios. Lineage in the Orphic tradition is only ritual and is only a matter of initiation. One self’s connection with Orpheus depends on will and on undertaking of a re-birth ritual, not on blood. The whole humanity is potentially in connection with Orpheus just like the Orphic Zeus contains everything and is contained by everything. For example, Pythagoras was re-enacting Orpheus although he was not Orpheus’ natural son (see Gregory Nagy’s Homer the Preclassic, E§116). In the same way, Plato asserts that every human being has seen the Ideas and can remember them by practicing dialectics. Finally, in Orphism, the self-identification of the rhapsode with the mythical proto-poet occurs during the whole life, and not only during the oral performance. This is why there is a real Orphic “way of life” (vegetarian food, nonviolence, saying truth; see Plato, Leges, 782 c-d), and not only an Orphic way of singing. Moreover, since the Orphic poems were written quite early and thus became protected against oral variation, the initiate couldn’t identify himself with Orpheus as a creative poet. The very process of improvisation during an oral performance was forbidden to him. Therefore the ritual and ethic behavior, or the rationalizing interpretation of Orphic poems just like in the Derveni Papyrus, became the only way of re-enacting Orpheus. On one hand Orpheus’ powerful living voice was admitted as definitely remoted in the past, but on the other hand the inner and spiritual life became the most important factor of continuity in the Orphic tradition.
So Orphism might be the analogy-generating tradition in which Plato found the first connection between different kinds of memory and different levels of immortality (see especially Diotima’s speech during the Symposium, 208c-d, 212a). Such a connection was the condition for dialectics, so that it coul not be the result a dialectics. Of course, following Plato himself, modern scholars have accepted this hierarchy as a distinctive feature through which one could isolate Plato from other salvation traditions in Greek culture, as if to conceive off the genuine immortality as an instantaneous return to our metaphysical origin were the special innovation of philosophy. But, as we said, Plato might have just continued the process inaugurated by Orphism, and this process might also be not later than the Homeric poetry. Indeed, on the basis of many data excerpted from comparative poetics dealing with Indian and Iranian sacred poetry, we may assume that such a growing complexity of immortality and memory was a permanent trend in some ancient cultures, synchronically organized rather than diachronically, just like the Neoplaonic thinkers believed.

The Ethical Experience of Nature: Aristotle and the Roots of Ecological Phenomenology

by Dylan Van Der Schyff

I demonstrate here how Aristotle’s teleological conception of nature has been largely misunderstood in the scientific... more I demonstrate here how Aristotle’s teleological conception of nature has been largely misunderstood in the scientific age and I consider what his view might offer us with regard to the environmental challenges we face in the 21st century. I suggest that in terms of coming to an ethical understanding of the creatures and things that constitute the ecosystem, Aristotle offers a welcome alternative to the rather instrumental conception of the natural world and low estimation of subjective experience our contemporary techno-scientific culture espouses. Among other things, I consider how his conception of orexis and eudaimonia (happiness or, as I prefer here, “the flourishing life”) might be extended to include the eco-system itself, thus allowing us to better understand the moral meaning of nature. I conclude with a look at the way in which modern phenomenology re-addresses the fundamental Greek concern with ontology, meaning and human authenticity. I consider the ways in which phenomenology reasserts the value of direct human experience that was so important to Aristotle; and I consider how this view, and that of Deep ecology, may help us to experience nature - and all of Being for that matter - in a more authentic, meaningful and altogether ethical light.

The Ancestral Origin of Stećaks

by Nenad M. Djurdjević

A Study by Nenad M. Djurdjević

So far orthodox scholarship of the stećak monolithic stones has attempted to situate the architectural, artistic and... more So far orthodox scholarship of the stećak monolithic stones has attempted to situate the architectural, artistic and religious phenomenon of these monuments in only three different contexts: Orthodox Christianity and Catholicism (Bosnian Church), the heretic Bogomil doctrine, and remnants of pagan beliefs of unknown origin. According to academic scholarship, the historical origin of stećaks has been proposed exclusively as mediaeval.

The intent of this paper is to demonstrate that the architectural, artistic and religious expressions of the stećaks are deeply rooted in a millennia-old tradition belonging to the Old European culture. This will lead us to the identification of the “True Spirit” of these sacred stone monuments, allowing us to rejoin them with their ancestral origin.