It is a commonly held belief that the law is unable to keep up with the fierce technological development and innovation that denote our times. The current essay attempts to show that this characteristic of the law should not necessarily be considered a disadvantage. Using the Biblical concept of the katechon, we argue that the law fulfills a katechontic function vis-a-vis technological progress. That is to say, its retarding effect might create positive spillovers that open spaces for debate, discussion, contestation, (...) resistance, and reconstruction. (shrink)

Through the case of the Helix_T wind turbine project, this article sets out to argue two points: first, on a theoretical level, that Commons-based peer production, in conjunction with the emerging technological capabilities of three-dimensional printing, can also produce promising hardware, globally designed and locally produced. Second, the Commons-oriented wind turbine examined here is also meant to practically contribute to the quest for novel solutions to the timely problem of the need for renewable sources of energy, more in the sense (...) of a development process than as a ready-to-apply solution. We demonstrate that it is possible for someone with partial initial knowledge to initiate a similar, complex project based on an interesting idea, and to succeed in implementing it through collaboration with Commons-oriented communities, while using peer-produced products and tools. Given the trends and trajectories both of the current information-based paradigm and the problems of the predominant industrial modes of production with all the collateral damage they entail, this may be considered a positive message indeed. (shrink)

Cardinal Bessarion (1408–1472), in the second chapter of the first book of his influential work In calumniatorem Platonis, attempted to reply to Georgios Trapezuntios’ (1396–1474) criticism against Plato in the Comparatio Philosophorum Platonis et Aristotelis. Bessarion investigates why the Athenian philosopher maintained, in several dialogues, that the sacred truths should not be communicated to the general public and argued in favor of the value of oral transmission of knowledge, largely based on his theory about the cognitive processes. Recently, Fr. (...) Bessarion Kouotsis has argued that Cardinal Bessarion’s reasoning draws primarily on the “Disciplina Arcani”, i.e., the rule of secrecy, which was an established practice of the Early Christian Church, aimed at protecting and preserving the core elements of the religion from outsiders. While I find Kouotsis’ approach interesting and thought-provoking—for instance, the idea that Bessarion’s argumentation was likely influenced by Eastern Christian views on the rule of secrecy—I intend, first of all, to discuss why Bessarion did not explicitly mention it. Moreover, I would like to argue that Bessarion’s good knowledge of the long Platonic tradition and Eastern mysticism, encompassing both pagan and Christian elements, should also be considered a significant source. Furthermore, I would like to question Kouotsis’ implicit argument that Bessarion’s views were dominated by his training in Orthodox theology and discuss the possibility that Pletho’s (1355–1454) teaching was the obvious influence for Bessarion’s defense of secrecy. After all, we should bear in mind that Anastos has already pointed out Pletho’s reverence for the rule of secrecy. Finally, I would like to support that Bessarion, in the specific text, focused predominantly on the epistemological and cognitive aspects of oral teaching, resorting to the rule of secrecy only to enhance his views. (shrink)

Philosophers as diverse as Socrates, Plato, Spinoza, and Rawls have sometimes argued that ethics can be an exact discipline whose propositions can match the exactness we associate with mathematics. Yet for Aristotle, knowledge of ethical matters is essentially inexact, and his perceptive criticisms of the Socratic-Platonic ideal of ethical knowledge and its metaphysical presuppositions remain of enduring interest to contemporary moral theorists. Georgios Anagnostopoulos offers the most systematic and comprehensive critical examination to date of Aristotle's views on the exactness (...) of ethics. Combining rigorous philosophical argument and close analysis of the philosopher's treatises on human conduct, he gives form to Aristotle's belief that knowledge of matters of conduct, not unlike knowledge of most natural phenomena, can never be free of certain kinds of inexactness. He concludes that according to Aristotle, ethics constitutes a mode of knowledge that is neither totally nondemonstrative on account of its inexactness nor free of the important epistemological difficulties common to all nonmathematical disciplines. (shrink)

This Handbook contains forty essays by an international team of experts on the antecedents, the content, and the reception of the Dionysian corpus, a body of writings falsely ascribed to Dionysius the Areopagite, a convert of St Paul, but actually written about 500 AD. The first section contains discussions of the genesis of the corpus, its Christian antecedents, and its Neoplatonic influences. In the second section, studies on the Syriac reception, the relation of the Syriac to the original Greek, and (...) the editing of the Greek by John of Scythopolis are followed by contributions on the use of the corpus in such Byzantine authors as Maximus the Confessor, John of Damascus, Theodore the Studite, Niketas Stethatos, Gregory Palamas, and Gemistus Pletho. In the third section attention turns to the Western tradition, represented first by the translators John Scotus Eriugena, John Sarracenus, and Robert Grosseteste and then by such readers as the Victorines, the early Franciscans, Albert the Great, Aquinas, Bonaventure, Dante, the English mystics, Nicholas of Cusa, and Marsilio Ficino. The contributors to the final section survey the effect on Western readers of Lorenzo Valla's proof of the inauthenticity of the corpus and the subsequent exposure of its dependence on Proclus by Koch and Stiglmayr. The authors studied in this section include Erasmus, Luther and his followers, Vladimir Lossky, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and Jacques Derrida, as well as modern thinkers of the Greek Church. Essays on Dionysius as a mystic and a political theologian conclude the volume. (shrink)

This paper presents a hypothesis on how the prevalence of the Aegean Bronze Age worship of the Greek god Poseidon could be attributed to an early attempt to give a deterministic answer to the problem of wave generation at sea. The inhabitants of the Aegean shores, during the Bronze Age, were seafarers. First, the Cycladic civilization comprised a network of island to island maritime trade, while the Minoan civilization, centered on Crete, reached Cyprus and Egypt. By the time of the (...) Mycenean civilization, maritime routes had been established and flourished all over the Aegean and the Near East. Long-distance seafaring, however, was not without risk during these early days of the seagoing craft. Sailors were exposed to the wind and the waves for large amounts of time. Indeed, they needed to master both with their ships in order to make it to distant shores and return back alive. Wave motion, namely the propagation of disturbances at the sea surface, is today a well-studied field of fluid mechanics. While wind blowing over the sea surface constitutes the primary source of wave generation, waves propagate at a speed that is independent of the wind speed. Thus, the relationship between wind and wave conditions is not immediately evident to an observer at sea. The hypothesis of this paper is that early seafarers, could have initially attributed the sea motion to the "Earth-shaker" Poseidon, an unpredictable deity that generated waves through the shaking of the earth. In a time when the world was little explored, he lived perhaps underneath the sea surface or far beyond the horizon, but the waves he produced traveled all the way to the Aegean shores, upon which they broke. Later on, as more experience and observations were gathered at sea, the exclusive generation of waves by the wind was eventually understood. Gradually, the reign of the world passed from the hands of the chthonic (from below) Poseidon to those of the ouranic (from above) Zeus. He became the prime mover responsible for the motion of both the sky and the sea. (shrink)

Η βιβλιογραφία της δημόσιας διοίκησης παρουσιάζει έναν θεωρητικό δυϊσμό αναφορικά με τους βρόχους θετικής ανατροφοδότησης, αντιμετωπίζοντάς τους είτε ως οιονεί ντετερμινιστικές παγίδες (όπως η εξάρτηση από τη διαδρομή) είτε ως εύπλαστα στρατηγικά εργαλεία. Προκειμένου να επιλυθεί αυτή η εκκρεμής ένταση το παρόν άρθρο διεξάγει μια Συστηματική Βιβλιογραφική Ανασκόπηση 98 μελετών. Προτείνουμε τον «συστημικό εγγραμματισμό στην ανατροφοδότηση», ένα νέο εννοιολογικό πλαίσιο που ορίζει τη διοικητική ικανότητα αναγνώρισης, διάγνωσης και παρέμβασης στη δυναμική της ανατροφοδότησης. Η ανάπτυξη αυτής της ικανότητας καθορίζει εάν οι (...) δημόσιοι οργανισμοί υπόκεινται παθητικά σε αυτούς τους βρόχους ή εάν μπορούν να τους αξιοποιήσουν ενεργά. Συνεπώς το πλαίσιο προσφέρει μια θεωρητική επίλυση στην κυρίαρχη διχοτομία, θέτοντας τις εννοιολογικές βάσεις για τη μετατροπή των βρόχων ανατροφοδότησης από συστημικές παγίδες σε ισχυρά στρατηγικά εργαλεία. (shrink)

The impact of Platonism in shaping the Abrahamic traditions is yet to be fully explored. The papers in this volume examine the influence of Plato and his commentators in the conception and articulation of theological issues in late antique and medieval Christianity, but also in Islamic and Jewish traditions. The contributions are arranged chronologically and address key authors and themes in the reception of Platonic thought from the third to the sixteenth century. Neoplatonic debates on the Demiurgic Intellect, imagination, and (...) contemplation informed Christian ideas about our ability to grasp God. Gregory of Nyssa played a key role in the reception of Platonic ideas about the nature of God in Christian and Jewish thinkers, while Neoplatonic schools continued to inculcate Platonic ideals in Christian leaders and intellectuals to the fifth century. Later Platonists, like Hermias, Porphyry, and Philoponus, subtly but creatively reworked Platonic theses to harmonize Plato’s and Aristotle’s philosophies, while paving the way for Psellus’ theory of spiritual illumination. Plotinus and Proclus offer examples of the uneasy and even polemical reception of Neoplatonic concepts both in eastern and western Christianity, including medieval Georgia. The influence of Platonic themes in Islamic thought and Jewish mysticism is traced back to the Qu’ran and John Damascene. Plato’s reception by Eriugena and Thomas Aquinas is also re-examined. Finally, the concept of the Platonic city in Medieval Islamic culture and Christian Florence is considered. By revealing the historical trajectories of Platonic themes across the Abrahamic traditions, the volume aims to serve as foundational resource for Long Platonism. (shrink)

This study of the interpretations of Aristotle's "Categories" in the thirteenth century provides an introduction to some main themes of medieval philosophical ...

Confucius associates the good and the beautiful. Li (translated variously as “ritual propriety,” “ritual,” “etiquette,” or “propriety”) embodies the entire spectrum of interaction with humans, nature, and even material objects. I argue that Confucius attempts to introduce an ethical ontology, not of “what,” but of “the way.” The “way” of reality becomes known with the deliberate participation to the Dao. In other words, through interaction. The way people co-exist demonstrates the rationality of the associations of living and functioning together. Li, (...) as an aesthetic-moral principle, embodies the entire spectrum of one’s interaction with humans, nature, and even material objects. Li is a constitutive element of Confucian ethics and politics, highlighting the importance of beauty, and not only goodness, in human action. The worthiness of human action is judged both aesthetically and morally. Moreover, I hold that Confucius’ ethical ontology is not an ontology of “whatness” but of “howness,” according to the Dao, since Confucius primary concern was not to define the Dao, but to restore the Dao of the ancient sage-kings. The morality of the action is dependent on the way it is performed, according to the mandates of the Dao. (shrink)

Heidegger’s reading of Plato is variable and multifaceted, giving way to different and, at times, opposing interpretations of Plato’s work. To give an example that is relevant to the following pape...

This book provides a thorough study of Mill's thought and writing on nationhood, nationalism and patriotism, whilst placing them firmly within his socio-cultural context.

This paper reflects on the role of philosophy in the school environment, paying special attention to the promise of intergenerational dialogue carried forward by philosophy programmes associated with Lipman’s Philosophy for Children (P4C) curriculum and its current transformation into Philosophy with Children (PwC). There are two basic ideas that constitute the guiding thread of my reflections. Firstly, that philosophical interventions of that kind challenge adult-centric views of education and philosophy. Secondly, that such initiatives carry with them the promise of acknowledging (...) children as equal participants in the process of philosophical questioning and meaning creation. In the first part of the paper, I argue for the importance of understanding the act of philosophizing with children as a disruption of adult-centrism. First, I reflect on a narrow future-directedness that seems to characterize the temporality of school. I suggest that P4wC interventions interrupt such a future-directedness inviting the students to immerse themselves into a dilated ‘now’ of multiple possibilities. Then, I reflect on the ways in which P4wC interventions challenge the assumption that philosophy is an adult preoccupation. Special attention is paid to the work of scholars who challenge our restrictive assumptions about what qualifies as philosophical thinking. In the second part of my paper, I turn to the work of Merleau-Ponty with the aim of sketching out some requirements for the possibility of a dialogue between childhood and adulthood. I suggest that Merleau-Ponty’s reflections on childhood and expressive speech are invaluable in the context of P4wC because they invite us 1) to appreciate the alterity of children without reducing them to inferior ‘others’ and 2) to remain alert to the expressivity of children’s speech. (shrink)

Georgios Mantzarides; Globalization and Universality: Chimera and Truth, Christian bioethics: Non-Ecumenical Studies in Medical Morality, Volume 8, Issue 2, 1 J.

In first order logic, it is known that you can define a topology so that the countable models of some theory $T$ form a Polish Space. In this paper we use the Baldwin–Boney Relational Presentation Theorem (from [3]) to generalize this result to the models of an Abstract Elementary Class (AEC). More specifically, we define a topology on the models of an AEC of size $\lambda \geq \kappa $, where $\kappa $ is the L$\ddot{o}$wenheim–Skolem number and $\lambda $ has to (...) satisfy a set-theoretic assumption and prove that these models form a Generalized Polish Space. (shrink)

Although the two worlds, Arabic and Byzantine, were in proximity for many centuries, the influence of Arabic philosophy on the Byzantine intellectual tradition has not been studied thoroughly. Recent studies have substantiated the influence of the Arabic and Persian thought over Byzantine science. However, in the field of philosophy, research is still at an early stage and the impact of Arabic thought on Byzantine and vice versa has not been examined widely and in depth. Direct references to philosophers in the (...) Islamic world are rare and, apart from occasional studies, there is not an organised, in-depth account of the influence the Arabic philosophy exercised on Byzantine scholars. The present study is a wider, complete, and renewed presentation of the initial conclusions of my research, which aims to bring out and evaluate the perception of Arabic philosophy by the Byzantine intelligentsia during the 14th and 15th centuries. As exemplary cases Ι have chosen Georgios Gemistos Pletho (c.1360-1454) and Georgios Scholarios (c.1400-1472), whose rivalry defined Byzantine philosophy of the 15th century to a considerable degree. (shrink)

Volume 28, Issue 3, July 2020, Page 313-316.

Georgios Pentzaropoulos continues his investigation undertaken in 'Generating Stable Knowledge via Reduction in Entropy' (Philosophy Pathways Issue 167, 28 November 2011) looking at knowledge not as something we 'possess' -- the knowledge contained in a book, for example -- but rather as an active, or interactive process of increasing understanding through the judicious sifting and processing of raw information. As Macmurray argued in his Gifford Lectures, 'All knowledge is for the sake of action.' Instead of seeking to define some (...) abstract notion of knowledge in a vacuum, what philosophers should be getting to grips with is the notion of actionable knowledge. - Geoffrey Klempner, Editor. (shrink)

Michael Apostolis (c. 1422–1478),¹ the Greek scholar and prolific author of the fifteenth century, studied in Constantinople under John Argyropoulos (1395/1405–1487)² and taught at Katholikon Museion (Xenon). After the fall of Constantinople, Apostolis shared his time between Crete, Constantinople and Venice, where he improved his Latin. He became Bessarion’s (1408–1472) protégé only briefly, because the latter did not like the polemic overtone of his treatises and came quickly to dismiss his views on the preponderance of Platonic over Aristotelian philosophy. After (...) losing Bessarion’s favor Apostolis returned to Crete, where he worked as a copyist. In addition he established a school.³ In several letters sent to his friends and colleagues he complained about his poverty and the difficulties he faced.⁴ Apostolis appreciated the Platonic philosophical tradition, particularly the philosophy of Georgios Gemistos Pletho (c. 1360–1454). Apostolis’ religious views seemed to be influenced by Pletho’s polytheism, despite his claim that he was nothing but Christian, namely a supporter of the Union of Orthodox and Catholic Church.⁵ Apostolis took part in the dispute between Platonists and Aristotelians that embroiled also the Greek speaking philosophical community throughout the fifteenth century.⁶ Apostolis wrote in favor of Plato with enthusiasm and in a polemic tone. Specifically, he confronted Theodoros Gaza⁷ (1398–1475), a well-known scholar, translator and author of the treatise Adversus Plethonem pro Aristotele,⁸ who was also Bessarion’s protégé. In his Ad Theodori Gazae pro Aristotele de substantia adversus Plethonem obiectiones⁹, Apostolis turned to Bessarion in order to gain his favor and support. (shrink)

More than two hundred years after his birth, and 150 years after the publication of his most famous essay On Liberty, John Stuart Mill remains one of the towering intellectual figures of the Western tradition. This book combines an up-to-date assessment of the philosophical legacy of Millâes arguments, his complex version of liberalism and his account of the relationship between character and ethical and political commitment. Bringing together key international and interdisciplinary scholars, including Martha Nussbaum and Peter Singer, this book (...) combines the latest insights of Mill scholarship with a long-term appraisal of the ways in which Millâes work has been received and interpreted from the time of his death in 1873 to today. The book offers compelling insights into Millâes posthumous fate and reputation; his youthful political and intellectual activism; his views on the formation of character; the development of his thought on logic; his differences from his father and Bentham; his astonishingly prescient, environmentally sensitive and âe~greenâe thought; his relation to virtue ethics; his conception of higher pleasures and its relation to his understanding of justice; his feminist thought and its place in contemporary debates and feminist discourses; his defence of free speech and its fundamental significance for his liberalism; and his continued contemporary relevance on a number of major issues. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Politics, Political Theory, Philosophy, History, English, Psychology, and also Cultural Studies, Empire studies, nationalism and ethnicity studies. (shrink)

Cardinal Bessarion (1408–1472), in the second chapter of the first book of his influential work In calumniatorem Platonis, attempted to reply to Georgios Trapezuntios’ (1396–1474) criticism against Plato in the Comparatio Philosophorum Platonis et Aristotelis. Bessarion investigates why the Athenian philosopher maintained, in several dialogues, that the sacred truths should not be communicated to the general public and argued in favor of the value of oral transmission of knowledge, largely based on his theory about the cognitive processes. Recently, Fr. (...) Bessarion Kouotsis has argued that Cardinal Bessarion’s reasoning draws primarily on the “Disciplina Arcani”, i.e., the rule of secrecy, which was an established practice of the Early Christian Church, aimed at protecting and preserving the core elements of the religion from outsiders. While I find Kouotsis’ approach interesting and thought-provoking—for instance, the idea that Bessarion’s argumentation was likely influenced by Eastern Christian views on the rule of secrecy—I intend, first of all, to discuss why Bessarion did not explicitly mention it. Moreover, I would like to argue that Bessarion’s good knowledge of the long Platonic tradition and Eastern mysticism, encompassing both pagan and Christian elements, should also be considered a significant source. Furthermore, I would like to question Kouotsis’ implicit argument that Bessarion’s views were dominated by his training in Orthodox theology and discuss the possibility that Pletho’s (1355–1454) teaching was the obvious influence for Bessarion’s defense of secrecy. After all, we should bear in mind that Anastos has already pointed out Pletho’s reverence for the rule of secrecy. Finally, I would like to support that Bessarion, in the specific text, focused predominantly on the epistemological and cognitive aspects of oral teaching, resorting to the rule of secrecy only to enhance his views. (shrink)

The article examines J. S. Mill's views on the significance of the racial factor in the formation of what he called . Mill's views are placed in the context of his time and are assessed in the light of the theories concerning these issues that were predominant in the nineteenth century. It is shown that Mill made strenuous efforts to discredit the deterministic implications of racial theories and to promote the idea that human effort and education could alter beyond recognition (...) what were supposed to be the racially inherited characteristics of various human groups. Finally, Mill's attitude towards race is used as a case-study through which a contribution can be made to broader debates on how to categorize him. (shrink)

George Pachymeres’ Commentary on the second part of the Platonic dialogue Parmenides is from a codicological point of view a continuation of the lost part of Proclus’ Commentary, but it can be characterized in its essence as an autonomous exegetical effort by the polymath and Aristotelian philosopher that aims to deal with the demanding text of the Parmenidean hypotheses by codifying this argumentative system of Platonic dialectic. The purely logical identity of his interpretation, which is far from being influenced by (...) the Neoplatonists’ metaphysical and theological approaches, is manifest through the logical system of the “24 arguments” that he borrows though from Proclus’ interpretation and tries to apply ad hoc to the Platonic system of hypotheses, following it as closely as he can. This article maps the landscape of Pachymeres’ hermeneutical effort, i.e., it tries to structure in a clear and complete scheme the skeleton of his methodological approach on the whole of Parmenides’ arguments, by seeking to establish the appropriate correspondences with Proclus’ logical system of the “24 dialectical modes” and by following step by step the course of the Byzantine commentator’s reasoning strategy, especially his ingenious adjustments between Plato’s demanding text and Proclus’ schematization-model. To what extent, then, would the skeleton of the system of hypotheses that Pachymeres reconstructs from the Proclean schemes be perfect or sufficiently robust? This problem is the starting point of the present study. (shrink)

This paper explores the lived experience of a young woman, Maria Papadopoyloy (alias), who endured and eventually exited a toxic romantic relationship. Drawing from Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of illusio, we propose the notion of toxic illusio, a condition in which the cultural and emotional investment in toxicity becomes pre-reflectively naturalized. Through a qualitative case study based on a narrative interview, and a multidisciplinary framework encompassing sociology, psychology, and cultural theory, we analyze how symbolic violence, aestheticization, and the need for existential (...) meaning contribute to the normalization of toxic love. While Bourdieu describes illusio as a neutral precondition for social games, our study argues that when intensified by aesthetic ideologies and media representations, illusio may become a mechanism of emotional entrapment. We argue for the de-aestheticization of toxic love, proposing that “winning the toxic game” involves breaking from its seductive symbolic logic and reclaiming a reflexive, autonomous sense of self. (shrink)

In this paper, I seek to shed light on some main interpretative aspects of George Pachymeres’ Commentary on Plato’s Parmenides. This Commentary –the only Byzantine Commentary on a platonic work ever to have been hitherto discovered– displays a unique specificity, since it marks a decisive turning point in the traditional interpretation of dialogues of Plato as an authority in terms of metaphysics or of philosophy in general. Not only does the Byzantine scholar limit himself to giving a logical exegesis of (...) the arguments of a dialogue which already bears the imprint of the Neoplatonists’ theological interpretations, but he also assumes the role of an active and impartial judge of its logical scope. This innovation, of great historical value, lies in the Aristotelian reading-interpretation of a Platonic dialogue, specifically of Parmenides’ dialectical arguments. Thus, I intend to analyze Pachymeres’ numerous references in specific Aristotelian doctrines that are spread throughout all of Pachymeres’ ad hoc scholia on Parmenides’ arguments and serve as both supplementary and corrective exegetic premises within his analysis, by giving a new perspective through the citation and the transcription of similar commentaries drawn from his edited and his unedited philosophical works, as well as to demonstrate, through a thorough investigation of Pachymeres’ unedited works mainly on Aristotle’s Organon, the key-role that Aristotle’s theory on dialectic plays in Pachymeres’ thought and specifically the dialectical value that the scholiast accords to the Platonic dialogue. My main concern is to prove, in the end, that Pachymeres’ usage of Aristotle for commenting on Plato’s text is a form of exercise, a way to train his students in proper philosophical non-fallacious argumentation. (shrink)

Book review: Alexander Lee, Humanism and Empire, The Imperial Ideal in Fourteenth-Century Italy. By Georgios Steiris, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece.

Der älteste griechischsprachige Kommentar zur Schrift De partibus animalium des Aristoteles wurde 1904 unter dem Namen des Michael von Ephesos in der Reihe Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca ediert. Im vorliegenden Band werden zwei voneinander unabhängige Redaktionen dieses Kommentars herausgegeben: Eine jüngere Redaktion ist Georgios Pachymeres zuzuschreiben; die ältere Redaktion ist anonym überliefert. Beide Bearbeitungen streben nach einer Aktualisierung des Kommentars und ergänzen Erläuterungen zum zweiten Buch von De partibus animalium – mit solchem Erfolg, dass für diese Teile die Redaktion (...) des Pachymeres als Text Michaels ediert wurde. In der Einleitung werden die Quellen und die Textgeschichte der beiden Redaktionen analysiert und das Umfeld der byzantinischen Gelehrten beleuchtet, die den Gehalt und die Methoden der aristotelischen Wissenschaft vom Lebendigen propagierten und weiterentwickelten. (shrink)

Cet ouvrage se propose de confronter les problématiques relatives à la falsafa et à la religion islamique dans leur approche du corps. Le corps a toujours été marginalisé au profit de la notion de l'âme. Pendant que les penseurs ont été intéressés par l'étude de l'âme, le corps a toujours été leur point de départ. Son statut éthique et ontologique doit être réexaminé en refusant de se limiter aux dualismes classiques corps/âme ou matérialisme/spiritualisme qui masquent par leur dimension formelle ou (...) réductrice l'enjeu politique et existentiel de la question ainsi que ses implications théoriques et pratiques. Deux grandes perspectives apparaissent dans le développement de la falsafa lorsqu'elle problématise la question du corps. La première porte sur le fondement psychologique du lien existant entre l'âme et le corps et ses conséquences quant à la détermination de leur valeur réciproque. La deuxième est métaphysique et s'inscrit dans une visée eschatologique impliquant une conception de l'au-delà et du jugement dernier. Comment penser le corps d'un point de vue philosophique pour qu'il ne soit pas incompatible avec l'islam? Pour répondre à cette question, nous étudions les textes fondateurs de la falsafa spécialement ceux de Al-F r b, Ibn S n, Al-Ghaz l et Mull Sadr tout en les comparant aux textes coraniques. Georgio Rahal enseigne l'islamologie, l'histoire médiévale de l'islam, l'arabe littéraire et la philosophie arabe à l'Institut Catholique de Toulouse. (shrink)

Those who work with topics related to Modern Greek identity usually start discussing these issues by quoting the famous Georgios Gemistos Pletho (c.1360-1454): we, over whom you rule and hold sway, are Hellenes by genos (γένος), as is witnessed by our language and ancestral education. Although Woodhouse thought of Pletho as the last of the Hellenes, others prefer to denounce him the last of the Byzantines and the first and foremost Modern Greek. During the 14th and 15th centuries, a (...) number of influential intellectuals in the Eastern Roman Empire preferred the term Hellene (Ἓλλην) to identify themselves, instead of the formal Roman (Ρωμαῖος) and the common Greek (Γραικός). According to the prevalent view of modern scholarship, the shift should not be interpreted only as a statement of proto-national identity, but also as the outcome of growing archaism. As Vryonis pointed out, the historian Critoboulos used to call the Balkan nations with their archaic names: Byzantines became “Hellenes,” Albanians became “Illyrians,” etc. Chalkokondyles followed in the same path. Furthermore, in order to lament the decline of their Empire, byzantine intellectuals tended to compare their sad present to the glory of ancient Greece. Besides archaism, proto-nationalism and Hellenism, I suggest that a careful reading of the sources would lead us to reappraise the ways 15th century intellectuals perceived identity. Whilst I do not accept Vakalopoulos’ views on diachronic Hellenic identity, I support that, in the 15th century, Byzantine scholars attempted to create an identity based on cultural and historical continuity and otherness. Moreover, Laiou’s definition of Greek identity as a resultant of language, history, tradition and interests does not cover the case of 15th century Byzantine philosophers, since the latter strived to enrich and enlarge Greek identity with additional elements. It is worth noting that those philosophers who fled to Italy deliberately chose to describe themselves as Greeks (Greci/Γραικοί) or Hellenes (Ἓλληνες) and not as Romans (Ρωμιοί/Ρωμαῖοι), according to the Byzantine official terminology. During the 15th century a major shift occurred in the Byzantine intelligentsia and its prominent members revisited matters of identity. In this paper, I attempt to scrutinize the ways Byzantine philosophers of the 15th century, who lived in the territories of the Byzantine Empire and in Italy, perceived identity and otherness. In my research, I include not only Greek, but also Latin sources, since their works is written in both languages. (shrink)

Summary The article analyses the extensive and passionate responses that the American Civil War and the issues it raised elicited from John Stuart Mill. While it attempts to offer a brief but comprehensive overall account of Mill's influential involvement in debates on the Civil War both in Britain and in America, it focuses particularly on Mill's defence of racial equality for the American ?negroes? both during the war and in the course of debates on reconstruction after the war. Mill's concerted (...) efforts to contribute to the improvement of Anglo-American relations and to influence both British public opinion and how that opinion was viewed from America are also analysed. Detailed attention is paid to Mill's strong views on reconstruction, which have not received the attention they deserve. A number of Mill's views and ?crotchets? were tested in the debates on reconstruction, and, whenever he had to choose between conflicting principles, his uncompromising hatred of slavery and racial inequality took priority over any other considerations (even ones as important as educational qualifications for voters, and free trade). (shrink)

This paper seeks to make a contribution to addiction research by introducing some key phenomenological concepts and discussing how they can illuminate the lived experience of people with addiction. We begin by briefly sketching the historical and philosophical background of phenomenology, highlighting its focus on subjective experience and its clinical relevance. In the second part of the paper we introduce some fundamental aspects of lived experience, for example, temporality, affectivity, embodiment and intersubjectivity, and explore alterations in these aspects that occur (...) during addiction. We also discuss how an awareness of the socio-cultural dimension of such alterations has the potential of improving clinical encounters. In the third part of the paper, we focus on three articles on addiction published in Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology in 2024. We explore how phenomenology can add nuance to some of the ideas discussed in these pieces. Our key message is that phenomenological concepts and a critical phenomenological attitude can make a crucial contribution to current research initiatives. (shrink)

Yet, that the Cratylus is of philosophical significance seems to me to be an assumption we can safely make. Plato rarely discusses other than philosophical problems--and even these other discussions are raised and carried on in the context of philosophical questions. Moreover, he could hardly be expected to write a whole dialogue of no philosophical concern and significance. To understand what the philosophical significance of the Cratylus is in general, and for Plato's thought in particular, we must be clear about (...) the question Plato is trying to answer and the answer he gives to this question. That is, we must be clear about the question of the Cratylus: What is the correctness of names? and the two answers to the question Plato considers: convention, and natural correctness. (shrink)

This paper is an introduction to the dossier on “the present and the future of doing philosophy with children”, which itself drew inspiration from a conference on the same topic that was held in University College Dublin on the 24th of June 2022. While the conference aimed at building a case for the importance of engaging pre-college students in philosophical thinking, it also aspired to function as a forum where the participants can critically reflect on the practice of doing philosophy (...) with children. The participants were asked to reflect on 1) the ways in which philosophy prepares children to engage with an increasingly complex world; 2) the future challenges of the P4wC movement; 3) the ways in which and the extent to which P4wC practice contributes to the decolonization of childhood discourses; 4) the ways in which and the extent to which the philosophy with children initiative addresses issues of epistemic injustice and educational and social inequalities. Building on the discussions that took place during and after the conference, the authors in this dossier interrogate the hierarchical opposition between child and adult, and cast a critical gaze on adultist assumptions that prevent Philosophy for/with Children initiatives from achieving their full potential. (shrink)

This paper seeks to explore the way Giovanni Pico della Mirandola treated the Orphics and the Pythagoreans in his Conclusiones nongentae, his early and most ambitious work, so that he formulates his own philosophy. I do not intend to present and analyze the sum of Pico’s references to Orphics and Pythagoreans, since such an attempt is beyond the scope of this paper. Rather, I aim to highlight certain Pico’s aphorisms that allow readers to understand and evaluate his syncretic method and (...) his goals. In addition, I attempt to trace Pico’s sources and evaluate his proper knowledge, understanding and treatment of the Orphics and the Pythagoreans. Pico resorts to the Orphics and the Pythagoreans because he wants to give a practical and applied dimension to his philosophy. He attempted the revival of the original wisdom that underlies the traditions he combined. He was not a fan of the Aristotelian θεωρίης ἢνεκεν. Philosophy does not aim at proper knowledge, but is the key for the manipulation of the cosmos, physically and metaphysically speaking. Pico probably thinks of himself as the modern Orpheus: he does not intend to reveal the paths which cross the sensible and the intelligible, but he aspires to tread them. (shrink)

The essay pursues Deleuze's reading of Foucault in order to elicit a fourfold of anarchival virtualities that trouble and destabilise the constitution of every archive. This thematisation of the anarchival is critical in an age that orders life relentlessly, arranging and controlling its every aspect and principally its material-informational conditions as a biological phenomenon. The essay thus affords a new understanding of the Anthropocene as the age of bioarchives. Through a close examination of plant archives such as the Svalbard Global (...) Seed Vault and animal archives, such as the Frozen Ark, the essay explicates the speculative logic that governs the discursive statements of bioarchives as well as limits of their aspirations. At the intersection of power, knowledge and memory, Deleuze's reading of Foucault accordingly enables not only a critical engagement with the way the present attempts to preserve past life in order to govern its future but opens a space to imagine a future anarchive of life. (shrink)

al-Fārābi was well aware that ecumenism can easily convert to tyranny if a certain city–state attempts to impose its laws outside its territory. State legislation depends on specific cultural and historical factors which deprives it from being universal because culture and history could not unite different nations in an ecumenical state. Legislation has to be built on universal premises, e.g. on philosophy, so as to serve the needs of a global state. Philosophy is the bond which unites humans and communities, (...) while religion and legislation are disruptive factors. Despite the fact that in our days there are different philosophies, philosophy encourages dialogue, not hatred. As a result, al-Fārābi was right when he founded his ecumenical state on philosophy. Consequently, philosophers ought to persuade the citizens through rational arguments, dialectic, symbols and religion so as to accept the existence of an ecumenical state. The goal of this state is the supreme good, understood as the theoretical living. Al-Fārābi’s ecumenism is a means for the perfection of human beings and societies and not simply for the augmentation of wealth, as it is seen today. Al-Fārābi dreams of an anthropocentric ecumenical state. I support that this should be the form of modern ecumenism. While modern scholars have strong objections to the governing of philosophers, we should agree that philosophy is the appropriate universal language. The persistence on power and other divisive factors, such as religion or tradition, is doomed to fail. (shrink)

This paper aims at critically discussing Alexander Wendt’s attempt to provide a quantum approach to the study of society and international politics in order to resolve the mind–body problem. Some of the considerations this paper raises concern issues of methodology while others of content. As to methodology, it has been argued that Wendt fails, in general, to offer precise arguments in support of his claims. More precisely, Wendt’s arguments fall frequently short in terms of cogency due to violations of well-known (...) criteria that should govern the deployment of the pertinent argument forms. As to content, Wendt, knowingly or not, remains too eclectic both as to physical theories and as to metaphysical assumptions. The paper argues that one can detect several misconceptions in Wendt’s work, pertaining to theories of physics as well as to their philosophical interpretations. In order to illustrate the complete detachment of Wendt’s speculations from the scientific methodology and the frontier of science, the paper presents specific examples of emergent behaviour from the physics of complex systems. The paper insists on the need for a clear core and orientation. Otherwise, there are neither heuristic guidelines for the advancement of the programme nor criteria that could distinguish success from failure. (shrink)

In Proclus’ Commentary on the First Alcibiades, we encounter a conception of dialectic that can be interpreted in terms of the philosopher’s reception of Socratic and Platonic ideas while at the same time being compatible with the relevant Aristotelian conception. We will try to show that this is the case to the extent that dialectic is ascribed a propaedeutic function, aimed both at promoting the search for truth and at practicing and developing persuasive skills that could prove beneficial in theoretical (...) disputes. On this basis, it can become clear that dialectic is related to Proclus’ conception of the soul because it necessarily integrates specific characteristics of partial philosophical disciplines, while, on the other hand, it requires the active participation of the soul as a whole. This means concretely that through the practice of dialectic, the inner differentiation of the soul emerges as a necessary dimension of its coherent unity. (shrink)

Excerpt: In this essay I explore the nature of the necessity of historical development in Nietzsche’s genealogy of Judeo-Christian moral values. I argue that the progression of moral stages in Nietzsche’s study is ordered in such a way that the failure of each stage is logically and structurally necessary, that each failure structures the resultant system or paradigm, but that the historical manifestation of moral paradigms coinciding with predicted or projected theoretical structures is contingent upon a multitude of other historical (...) factors. Therefore, the systematic internal failures of moral stages allow for, but do not cause, successive events. (shrink)

History doesn't have to mean only an effort to know the past. It can be instead, according to Kierkegaard, a willful and personal choice regarding the creation of the future. Kierkegaard offers us an amazing new approach to the problem of what is history and who makes it."--Publishers website.

Marsilio Ficino is well known for his efforts to expand the philosophical canon of his time. He exhibited great interest in Platonism and Neoplatonism, but also endeavoured to recover understudied philosophical traditions of the ancient world. In his Theologia platonica de immortalitate animorum, he commented on the Presocratics. Ficino thought of the Presocratics as authorities and possessors of undisputed wisdom. This article seeks to explore the way in which Ficino treated the philosophy of Heraclitus in the Theologia platonica in order (...) to formulate his own philosophical ideas. (shrink)

In this article, it is argued that Ammianus’ first Roman digression (14.6) should be interpreted as elucidating the political and philosophical mindset of the surrounding narrative to which it is tightly connected. This argumentative scope of the digression is activated through intra- and inter-textual references and allusions, especially to earlier Roman historiography. The latter orientate the reader to situate the often trivial behaviors discussed in the digression within a broader philosophical and historical framework, and to associate them with specific practices (...) of Gallus and Constantius in the account immediately preceding and following the digression. Through these narrative devices, Ammianus affirms the mutual interaction between the mores of the principes in the main account and those of the nobiles and the lower classes in the digression. Through this case study it is thus demonstrated that the placement and content of digressions are much more carefully chosen than usually supposed, while also highlighting the important role of intra- and intertextuality in connecting the digression with the main narrative. (shrink)

The Contribution of Byzantine Scholars to Renaissance Aristotelianism It is widely known that the Byzantine scholars who fled to Italy during the fifteenth century contributed to Renaissance philosophy. They brought with them manuscripts and produced editions and translations of Greek philosophical texts. Despite the common view that their works were seminal for the development of Renaissance Platonism, a closer examination of the texts and their activity proves that they were mainly interested in Aristotelian philosophy. The vast majority of them did (...) not support Renaissance Platonism. On the contrary they defended both the Scholastic and Byzantine Aristotelianism. I argue that their stance was not the outcome of dogmatic reasons; in other words, a projection of the heated debate between Hesychasm and Thomism in late Byzantium. Rather, they realized that the Latin philosophical community actually ignored the rich commentary tradition of Late Antiquity, which had reinterpreted the Aristotelian corpus. As a result they offered to the Latin audience a different Aristotle, capable of overcoming the predominant Scholastic one, which was heavily attached to Averroism. (shrink)