Mythos und Mensch
Review of Rudolf Hagelstange’s novel “Spielball der Götter – Aufzeichnungen eines trojanischen Prinzen” (Pawn of the Gods – Notations of a Prince of Troja), published in 1959
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Review of Rudolf Hagelstange’s novel “Spielball der Götter – Aufzeichnungen eines trojanischen Prinzen” (Pawn of the Gods – Notations of a Prince of Troja), published in 1959
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Lysis is the first and the only one among Plato’s writings which concerns the subject of philia as a main aim of the issues being discussed. Friendship in Lysis does not only embrace intensive and elusive desire for love but also all other types of passions that people have towards something or somebody. This dialogue is unique because it initiates a problem of philia, which appears in the following Plato’s writings. But what is more, is the fact that this Greek philosoper uncovers various ideas and opinions as far as philia is concerned. And as a result it becomes an outline of numerous Plato’s inquiries concerning the matter of philia.
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Under the post-war liberal-democratic regimes, the majority principle rules over all, to such a degree that not only the idea of democracy matches that of the rule of majority, but most of all, the rule of majority has succeeded in being considered the sole democratic rule by definition. It is useful to look at attempts to define and accept political positions not on the basis of their correspondence with the common good, but only in the force of acquiring a majority. Therefore, what seems to be the principle guaranteeing democracy may well be the instrument that undermines the democratic system. For example, secessionist movements or even forces that support anti-liberal-democratic positions establish their legitimacy in their rhetoric precisely on the basis of their electoral success, particularly by way of referenda. What we point out in this article is that the majority principle is neither natural nor rooted far back in history. Throughout classical antiquity, deliberative and elective procedures were designed and implemented to meet the needs of the elites who benefited from the same. The principle of the majority as we know it today did not exist in ancient Greece – as opposed to what is customarily believed – nor in other historical experiences of human collectives at least up until the sixteenth century. In this article we choose to discuss two of the historical experiences representative of the development of the majority principle: the case of the Greek Pólis and the case of the Roman Church. The latter will be analysed both by the historical evolution of elective processes and by the importance of doctrinal elaboration of canon law in this respect.
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Classical Chinese thought slowly formed from the 9th century BCE onward through the Spring and Autumn era but reached its pivotal point during the so-called Warring States era (5th to 2nd centuries BCE). According to historical records, during these three hundred years more than four hundred wars of different scales raged across the Chinese world. These wars brought with them their own consequences like famines and abject poverty, terrible inequality and disillusionment. An intellectual history forming in these conditions understandably and inevitably was influenced by these conditions. In this context, the Hong Kong philosopher Yuk Hui presents his thesis of “cosmotechnics”, the view that merely understanding the world is not enough, it is paramount to change it for the betterment of people’s lives. This is the theoretical underpinning of much of classical Chinese thought, according to Yuk Hui, and therefore also for the drive to acquire knowledge. Thus, one unique aspect of classical Chinese thought is its interminable insistence on how man’s every action must have a reason beyond that action itself and any sort of philosophizing that does not lead to practice in changing the environment for the good of the people inhabiting it, is a wasted and useless thought. Therefore, there are a number of words and concepts related to the acquisition of knowledge in Classical and modern Chinese, like “learning” 學, “teaching” 教, “discussion” 論, “argumentation” 辯, and so on, but all these are encompassed within “the way” 道, specifically the “correct way of doing a thing”, i.e.: actual practice, rather than mere thought alone. I aim to present several examples of this from remote Chinese antiquity and classical Chinese thought within the framework of what I term “cosmotechnical joy” stemming from making people’s lives better.
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The paper deals with the issue of excessive shame (verecundia, δυσωπία) presented in the writings of selected Greek and Roman authors.
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In this paper, I argue against Jack Visnjic’s claim (in his recent book “The Invention of Duty”) that the Stoic term καθῆκον conveys the idea of moral duty. First, I examine Visnjic’s explicit argumentation and find it inconclusive. Then, I provide additional objections based on the evidence which Visnjic, in my opinion, either underestimates or completely disregards. Basically, I believe that at least the early Stoics regarded καθήκοντα as morally neutral activities that can become both morally right and wrong depending on the agent’s motivation.
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The motif of the journey is characteristic of Orphicism. Orpheus' journey on the Argo and his descending to Hades, the travel of souls to the afterlife and their celestial journey before their subsequent incarnation. These ideas are vividly represented in the Orphic hymns, the Orphic golden tablets and, perhaps most vividly, in Plato's myths in Phaedo, Phaedrus, Gorgias and the State. In the paper I consider these myths in the context of ancient philosophical literature, the task of which is to provide a coherent interpretation of the very fluid and not entirely unambiguous pictures that the great Athenian philosopher paints in his imagination. First of all, it concerns such questions as the corporeality or incorporeality of souls, the circumstances of their judgment and the conditions of their subsequent incarnation, details of the topography of the “other earth” and, finally, the discussion about the classes of souls, which were developed in subsequent Platonism.
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It is generally accepted that the enigmatic fragment 12 of Parmenides, supplemented by the first part of Aëtius II 7.1, represents an unlikely cosmos which comprises alternating spherical crowns of fire and night, surrounding the earth. A comparison of the fragment and Aëtius’ text shows that the latter adds nothing substantial to the fragment. Thus, fragment 12 can actually represent the structure of the earth, which consists of a core of fire, is surrounded by the layers of the earth’s crust, into which heat is transmitted from within, and on which the goddess of life dwells.
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Usage of the Greek verb ‘to be’ is generally divided into three broad cate- gories—the predicative use, the existential and the veridical—and these usages often inform the way we understand Being in ancient philoso- phy. This article challenges this approach by arguing that Being is not the product of linguistic reflection in Parmenides, Plato and Aristotle; rather, these thinkers treat Being as the ontological and epistemological primary. Though this may overlap with the linguistic senses, it is not the same thing. The article is divided into three sections: the first one raises several basic issues with the predicative interpretation of Being, the second argues that Being is unified and singular in a significant sense and the third brings out the special pre-immanence of Being.
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In his 2013 monograph on Structure and Method in Aristotle’s Meteorologica, Malcolm Wilson has shown both that Aristotle conceived of meteorological phenomena as analogous to the bodily processes of animals, and that for the Stagirite the sublunar world should not be seen as a single body, but rather as composed of many different individuals. However, Wilson did not articulate the relationship between these two theories—that is, he did not answer the following question: how is it possible for the Earth to behave like an animal if it is not a single body? This paper argues that the answer to this question lies in the Aristote- lian statement about the different paschein of the Earth and animals. In fact, in the chapter of Meteorology dedicated to climatic changes (1.14), Aristotle, after comparing such changes to the maturing and ageing of living organisms, states that ‘only, in the case of the bodies of plantsand animals being affected does not occur in each part separately, butit is necessary for the being to mature and decay all at once, whereas in the case of the Earth this occurs in each part separately, due to cooling and warming’ (351a.28-31). In his commentary, Alexander of Aphro- disias reiterates that the difference between the changes of the Earth and those of living organisms concern the way in which these different subjects undergo affections (pathê). The concept of paschein/pathos is thus fundamental to understanding how Aristotle conceives of biologi- cal analogies, which play a key role in his meteorology: as the affections of maturing and corruption show, parallels with organic processes can be found in meteorological phenomena, but always at the level of the individual parts of the Earth. Although the sublunary world can be understood in organic terms, this world is not a ‘cosmic animal’, but rather a multiplicity of ‘regional animals’. To corroborate this thesis, this paper addresses several related questions, including: the mechanics of environmental changes according to Aristotle; the differences between the regions of the Earth; the lexicon used in Meteorology to refer to the transformations of the Earth; the personal notes that Alexander adds to Aristotle’s discussion. Finally, the first modern translation of the relevant section of Alexander’s commentary is also provided here.
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Numenius is an author who straddles the line between Middle Platonism and Neoplatonism. In this contribution, I focus on the differences between the second and the third God, which emerge from analyses of the relevant fragments. Numenius emphasizes, on several occasions, how the second God (i.e., the demiurge) has a dual nature. In this paper, I investigate the role of the demiurge in Numenius and exam- ine in what sense the second and third God are “one.” On the one hand, Numenius seems to be stressing the unity of the second and third levels of reality, but on the other hand, he also appears to be differentiating them. The present analyses concentrate on fragments 19F, 24F, 29T and 30T (respectively 11, 16, 21, and 22 in des Places’ edition). My purpose is to demonstrate that, according to Numenius, the second and the third God are one because they both can be regarded as demiurgic. Thus, Numenius conceives a kind of “double demiurgy,” which preservesthe distinction between the second and the third God, who are distin- guished from an ontological point of view, but who, at the same time, share a demiurgic function. The second God is then the paradigm, whereas the third God is immanent in matter as a ruling principle of the cosmos, which is similar to the World Soul, as he operates on matter in order to make it rationally ordered.
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When commenting on Aristotle Ph. 1.3, 187a1, Simplicius in Ph. 1.3, 146, 29–147,2 establishes an equivalence between the shining «silver egg» (ὤεον ἀργύφεον) of Orpheus (fr. 70 Kern) and the Parmenidean being or, rather, one of the determinations with which Parmenides, in the section of his Poem devoted to the so-called Way of Truth, indi- cates the ἐόν, i.e., «resembling the mass of a well-rounded sphere» (εὐκύκλου σφαίρης ἐναλίγκιον ὄγκωι – DK 28 B 8.43). The equivalence established here is found in the great digression about Parmenides (in Ph. 142, 28–148, 24), where Simplicius puts forward an interpretation of Parmenides that identifies the Parmenidean being-one (τὸ ἓν ὄν) with the intelligible (τὸ νοητόν), which, in another passages of the same commentary, is also qualified with the metaphysical concept of “unified” (τὸ ἡνωμένον) that is taken from Damascius. The aim of the present paper is to trace back the Neo-Platonic assumptions of this identifica- tion. In particular, we will focus on Damascius Pr. 2.55.40, 14–19 and 3.123.160, 1–3 Westerink, since these passages contain insights intothe Orphic theology that is referred to as “usual”, “common” or “rhap- sodic”, as well as a contextual “translation” of various Orphic concepts (e.g. ὤεον ἀργύφεον) in terms of Neo-Platonic metaphysics. The metaphysical transposition of the mythical image of the silver egg goes back, however, to Proclus (in Ti. 1.428, 8–9), who assumes the identity between Plato’s being (“being in the primary sense”, τὸ πρώτως [...] ὄν) and the Orphic egg (ταὐτὸν τό τε Πλάτωνος ὂν καὶ τὸ Ὀρφικὸν ὠόν). One cannot, at the same time, exclude a priori the possibility that the Orphic motif of the silver egg circulated in the Magna Graecia of Parmenides already from at least the 6th century BC. It is possible, as Colli hypothesised, that already Ibycus (who certainly knew Orpheus, fr. 25 Page) betrays a certain knowledge of it in fr. 4.4–5 Page, where we find the expression ἐν ὠέωι ἀργυρέωι. This article demonstrates that Proclus and Damascius embedded the Orphic concept of ὤεον ἀργύφεον into their Neo-Platonic metaphysics by showing its potential for speculative order.
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Deleuze’s understanding of criticism, presented in his work „Nietzsche and Philosophy“, is a systematic method that Deleuze will use many times later. Advocating this thesis, the paper analyzes the problem of simulacrum, which Deleuze sees in Plato’s philosophy, showing how Deleuze’s understanding of critique is present in his perception of Plato. Although the idea of Deleuze’s critique as a method is in this paper largely observed and examined through his understanding of Plato and the simulacrum, the paper also suggests the possibility of a broader understanding of the role of criticism in Deleuze: can critique be understood as a constant methodological approach used by Deleuze? Such a position opens a space within which Difference and Repetition can be read as a great critical project, an Idea, which Deleuze himself partially refers to.
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The basis of classical/traditional (Western) astrology was defined by a unitary – hierarchical and spherical – world view until the 17th. century. This world view, which we now call the „astrological world view,” was based on the Hermetic–Pythagorean–Platonic tradition on which astrology as „applied hermetics,” the science of the Platonic World Soul, was built. The present paper discusses the basic principles of the astrological tradition from a philosophical approach. These principles are inseparable from the creation and functioning of the World which Plato transmitted to us in his dialogue Timaeus.
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This thought piece is taken from two legendary teachings created during the axial age in China and India. It was written to introduce to the Polish agenda of how to introduce young men in transition from pupil to the student of philosophy. The story from China exemplifies the traditional Chinese culture of emphasizing tenacity and hard work to introduce people to understand the phenomenon of life and to show how a man can overcome great obstacles in the world. The story examines a variety of insights into the human disposition of perseverance, audacity, and transformative power of man with determined heart. Where seemingly absurd ideas can be carried out to fruition when people have the collective heart to push even a utopian vision aimed at changing society through symbolic interventions from heaven. The second tale from India is taken from the immortal conversation between the father and his son extracted from the Vedic text of the Upanishad. The tale reminds us of the natural foolish disposition of a young student in his study of life. He learned, the importance of human discovery of that which is permanent and unchanging and eternal. At the end, the young student realized that the trajectory of human pursuit of knowledge is to liberate himself from the drudgery of existence burdened by the sensible world. Such plight of a human pilgrim is aimed at his being taught to rise from the unreal to Real, from untrue to Truth, and from death to Immortality.
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This paper is a discussion of Anaximander of Miletus, born around 610 BCE, is recognized for his work on cosmology, zoogony, and anthropogony—the origins of animals and humans. His biological research, though scantily preserved, suggests that the first creatures emerged in moisture, surrounded by a spiny bark, and later moved to drier land where they survived briefly after the bark cracked. Anaximander's ideas resonate with contemporary science in that fish are considered precursors to humans and terrestrial organisms originated from water. However, unlike Empedocles, he did not incorporate natural selection into his theories. The concept of "breaking of the bark" during the transition from water to land is central to his thought, possibly inspired by observations of aquatic insects like dragonflies or mayflies, which undergo incomplete metamorphosis and emerge on land as adults. Anaximander's student, Anaximenes, further developed the analogy between the world and humans. The philosopher's zoogonic views are not myth or speculation but based on empirical observation, offering a bridge between aquatic and terrestrial life forms.
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The modern philosophical doctrine usually termed “human exceptionalism,” which holds that human beings, because of their perceived intellectual superiority over other animal species, have a moral value that cannot be claimed by other species which entitles humans to use other animals to serve their needs, has its philosophical roots in Greek philosophy, especially in the works of Aristotle and in the Stoic doctrine of oikeiōsis, which holds that human beings share a kinship with other humans but not with other species of inferior intellectual endowments. The doctrine of “human exceptionalism” is used in the twenty-first century to justify the wholesale slaughter worldwide of non-human animals for food, clothing, medical and entertainment purposes. The claims of “human exceptionalism” are countered in the present day by animal rights philosophers and by animal welfarists of various types who argue either that non-human species have a sufficient degree of reason to entitle them to inclusion in the sphere of human moral concern, or that the possession of reason is itself an irrelevant criterion for moral consideration, and that animal suffering must be taken into account in human interactions with other animal species.
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The article is dedicated to the problem of relevance of the Classical Greek understanding of philosophy to contemporary philosophy. A distinction is made between the relevance of the Greek philosophy that has already been realized, or made actual, in the sphere of contemporary philosophy and culture, and the relevance of the Greek philosophy which is yet in need of realization, that is, which has a potential of being realized in the future. The author, mainly focusing on this latter kind of relevance, for it is more interesting from the philosophical point of view and suggests new ways to reinvigorate the contemporary field of philosophical thought, discusses the original Greek understanding of philosophy that can be discerned from the ancient Greek philosophical texts and the original Greek term for philosophy, philosophia. The author presents an analysis of the Greek word philosophia from the etymological and conceptual points of view, disclosing its several layers of meaning. It is argued that the Greek philosophical thinking employs a productive combination of premethodical and methodical thought, deriving from this combination a specific synergy that might also be useful to contemporary philosophy. A point is made that the original Greek notion of philosophy, understood as the love of divine wisdom, presupposes both modesty, stemming from the acknowledgment of one’s absolute ignorance of the most important philosophical answers, and intellectual passion. The author makes a claim that the original close and deep relation between the Greek philosophy and astronomy was instrumental in the original Greek understanding of the philosopher as a theōros of a special kind, that is, as a theoretic viewer of the entire cosmos who focuses on the whole of the cosmos (or reality in general), not on its individual constituents and details. What was expected of the Greek philosopher was the ability to deeply appreciate the beauty, unity, and underlying divine order of the cosmos, not the capacity to acquire the knowledge of concrete information related to it. The attention is drawn to the circumstance that the Greek philosopher’s aesthetic appreciation of the cosmos that took place at the moments of its theoretical contemplation had also a specific ethical aspect to it – an aspect that cannot be simply explained in terms of the Classical Greek virtue ethics and can be rather viewed in terms of the modern approaches to ethics. The relation between the ability to acknowledge one’s ignorance of the most important matters and the capacity to theoretically contemplate and aesthetically appreciate the cosmos in holistic terms is viewed by the author as potentially relevant to those contemporary thinkers who seek to reassert the unique status of philosophy, its special place among other disciplines, and to rethink the radical difference between philosophy and science. After discussing some other aspects of potential relevance of the Greek understanding of philosophy to contemporary philosophy, the author makes a conclusion that the Classical Greek understanding of the nature of philosophy should be viewed not as having to replace, but as being able to complement the current understanding of the nature and mission of philosophy.
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This study aims to reveal what Plato’s conception of education (paideia) is, regardless of the views of Plato’s commentators. Therefore, by directly referring to Plato’s dialogues, the educator, the educated and his views on education will be explained in outline. The article will be limited to Plato’s views on education in the dialogues, not his metaphysical thought as a whole. Plato’s conception of education differs fundamentally from other educational paradigms in that it does not involve merely transferring information to the student or endowing the student with the ability to see. Plato deals with this issue in the seventh chapter of his masterpiece known as Politeia/Republic, while describing the famous Allegory of the Cave. Accordingly, it is stated that the student already has a seeing eye, so the problem is not related to vision, but the main problem is that the student’s point of view is not facing in the right direction. According to Plato, knowledge (episteme) cannot be something acquired later because what is acquired lateris subject to change. However, what is “subject to change” cannot be knowledge of the truth or true knowledge. Therefore, Plato defends the idea that knowledge of truth must be present in the student’s memory. According to Plato, the essence of knowing is remembering (anamnesis) has been revealed accordingly. The presence of the knowledge of the truth in memory is related to the fact that the psyche (soul) possesses an awareness or innate knowledge of the truth prior to its union with a body or its incarnation. However, the human psyche has forgotten that it is aware of the truth in question. Plato describes this situation as amnesia. The whole point is to get out of the amnesia state and return to the situation before birth. Education(paideia) plays the main role in realizing or remembering the knowledge of the truth stored in the memory. Another point that should be emphasized in Plato’s understanding of education is that it is psyche that is educated, not the person. Because, according to Plato, a person or identity corresponds to a character acquired later. In this sense, since the character is also subject to change, it is the psyche that needs to be trained, not the character. In addition, the study will include the views of the Philosophy of Education, which is a sub-branch of Modern Philosophy, is examined especially within the idealist understanding of education and Plato’s views on education are analysed in this context.
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Many academics and researchers who publish scholarly articles on Plato’s philosophy of education claim that the ultimate educational goal for Plato is simply the acquisition of virtues. While such a claim may not be entirely incorrect, it is nevertheless substantially wanting; for although the acquisition of virtue is no doubt paramount, for Plato it primarily serves as a means to another end. In this paper, I aim to show that, for Plato, the final summit of all educational enterprise is not really to become virtuous but rather to attain the state of becoming like God, and that is, homoiōsis theōi.
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