Antičko shvatanje veze između matematike i muzike

Author(s): Stajka Rajić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 2/2019

From the earliest periods of human civilization, mathematics and music have been developed through and within nature. By studying these fields as a science (mathematics) and an art (music), great thinkers, philosophers, and mathematicians have identified significant connections and relationships between them. The degree to which mathematics explains and contributes to the development of musical rules and musical theory suggests that the two are intertwined and contribute to their mutual development. Starting with Ancient Greece and the positions of significant scientists and artists from that period, this article will move through history to explicate the close connection between music and mathematics.

Ununevad distsipliinid: sõnakunst kui mõttkunst. Filosoofia valdkondade poeetika ja retoorika sünnist Kreekas jaedaspikestmisest mujalgi

Author(s): Janika Päll / Language(s): Estonian Issue: 1-2/2021

The article discusses the emergence and development of poetics and rhetoric as a complementary pair of disciplines bound to the arts of speech, with a particular focus on antiquity and on the theory defining poetry and prose and their relationship. It emphasizes the often unrecognized role of Gorgias’ “Encomium of Helen” in the formation of Plato’s and Aristotle’s views on “poiesis” and their studies of the effect of words used artistically. Ever since Gorgias, arts theories keep emphasizing the same moments – change of opinions, incitement and alleviation of passions –when describing how the heard word can affect one’s soul, despite the differences in genres and contexts, whether observed in poetry, politics, science, or magic. The article points out the tendency, begun by Gorgias, to approach different word-based ’arts’ in a complementary way, highlighting separately Aristotle’s theory and the practice of liberal arts in medieval education and the rediscovery of classical rhetoric in the early modern period. Plato-inspired criticism of rhetoric and poetry (particularly tragedy) is contrasted with Aristotle’s pragmatic approach underlining the role of logic (which became central in the Middle Ages), as well as by emphasising the importance of the sublime and divine in poetry and prose (Cicero, Horace, Longinus) and by justification of rhetoric as a means of moral education, based on Isocrates and reappearing not only in Cicero and Horace but also in Plutarch, let alone the relevant 17th-century writings from the Academia Gustaviana (Tartu) and the Reval Gymnasium (Tallinn), as well as in the treatises, inspired by Cicero and Horace, written by Karl Morgenstern, founder of Classical Philology at the Imperial University of Tartu. In addition, some possibilities are pointed out which are opened up by Aristotle’s “Rhetoric” and the treatise “On literary composition” by Dionysius of Halicarnassus for studying the relationships between poetry and prose (in particular for considering lyric poetry and ’free verse’).

Ex Occidente Lux. От феноменология на мита към геополитика и онтология et vice versa в късното творчество на д-р Янко Янев

Author(s): Kosta Benchev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2021

Janko Janeff’s book Southeast Europe and the German Spirit (1938) is analyzed through the lens of a fundamental Thracian-Dionysian- Orphic myth, i.e. the birth of being or of light from non-being/nothing/ darkness. It is shown how its geopolitical and ontological/theologicalconsequences are to be drawn accordingly to that purely phenomenological premise concerning the supposed Indo-European Renaissance on the OldContinent as per the views expressed by the author.

De catharsis-ul aristotelic la „catharsis-ul negativ”

Author(s): Virgil Şoptereanu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2012

Автор настоящей статьи – От аристотелевского катарсиса до «негативного катарсиса» - задался целью проследить процесс постепенного «выветривания» традиционного понимания концепта «аристотелевский катарсис», как очищение от «страстей» «посредством страдания и страха» (Аристотель), понимание, которое со временем оформилось в классическом искусстве как одно из необходимых условий его существования. Определив основные механизмы катартического действия, которыми являются, по мнению автора, смех, вымысел и игра, автор статьи показывает на примере художественных произведений, взятых из классической литературы, затем из творчества Д. Хармса, представителя позднего русского авангарда, и, наконец, из творчества русских постмодернистов, что в числе других эстетических концептов, выработанных классическим искусством, и традиционное понятие катарсиса, испытав на себе воздействие нового Zeitgeist-а эпохи постмодерна, становится нефункциональным. Оно вырождается в то, что русские критики называют «негативный» или «постмодернистский» катарсис.

Sophistry, Rhetoric and Politics

Author(s): Lina Vidauskytė / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2022

The article aims to shed light on the connection between rhetoric and politics, and its dissemination in the sophistic and philosophical tradition. The argumentation is based on the conceptions of two contemporary philosophers Barbara Cassin and Hans Blumenberg, who appear as the protagonists of positions according to which rhetoric takes up a significant place in political life. Since Plato, the sophists were treated as other pre-Socratics, as demagogs, who do not hold the truth but spread a false opinion. The philosophers share a conviction that speech immediately expresses reality, and they also prohibited following the way of non-Being (Parmenides). The sophists (Gorgias, Protagoras) shared the position that speech expresses only itself, but not reality. Two opposite (but related) ways of thinking are best seen in M. Heidegger’s and H. Arendt’s philosophies. Keeping in mind the main theme, Blumenberg’s philosophical position includes logos as the mean of distancing, the art of politics is determined by the ability to delay decisions and soften conflicts by rhetorical means, while Cassins’ logology is understood as the ontology.

Antropologia adhortacji Familiaris consortio

Author(s): Jarosław Merecki / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2022

The author starts from the statement, that contrary to the ancient and medieval thought, the modern thought considered conflict as the original and natural state of human coexistence (Hobbes, Marx, Sartre). In the biblical anthropology, which constitutes a point of reference for John Paul II in his exhortation Familiaris Consortio, the original truth of man is not expressed in the model of conflict, but on the contrary, conflict arises as a result of the betrayal of the original truth, which is the unity of man and woman. In the biblical vision of human relationships, therefore, the starting situation, the experience in which the primordial truth of man is expressed, is not a relationship of conflict, but a man-woman relationship in which two persons affirm their humanity not by submitting the other to their own will, but by the gift of themselves that they make to one another. In the anthropology of the exhortation Familiaris Consortio, marriage and family are the privileged place where human beings experience belonging and gift.

Prawda podstawową wartością w nauce

Author(s): Eunice Hempolińska-Nowik / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2021

The author argues that truth is the basic value in all sciences including psychology. Respecting this value requires understanding different theories of truth, including the Aristotelian classical theory, Russell’s correspondence theory, and Tarski’s semantic theory. This is further presented and discussed in the first part of the article. In the second part, the author discusses different epistemological approaches to the correspondence between perceptual experience and reality and identifies the one favouring understanding in the science of psychology. The author further discusses and emphasises the dangers of confusing beliefs and truth in science. In the next part of the article the consequences and dangers of relativizing truth and of multiplying its subjective types are discussed. The author then refers to an approach which proposes a break with ideals in the assessment of the adequacy of assertions made by social sciences. The author outlines the difference between the concepts of idea and ideal and their roles in psychology. Finally, the author discusses and opposes irrationalism in science, outlining the importance of safeguarding the value of truth in order to achieve the goals set by psychology.

Nietzsche and Ancient Greek, Oral Culture: A glimpse of his philosophy through the anachronistic lens of some 20th Century classicists

Author(s): Craig Stuart Lanza / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

In 1869, Fredrich Nietzsche was not a philosopher in any professional capacity. He was an exceptionally talented young philologist at the University of Basel in Switzerland who had not yet ruined his promising career identifying himself with Richard Wagner and publishing The Birth of Tragedy. In May of 1869, he had only just met Richard Wagner and Wagner’s wife, Cosmina. In those years, Nietzsche’s career revolved around his reading knowledge of numerous, ancient languages which included several Indo-European ones (Latin, Ancient Greek, and Sanskrit) as well as Hebrew. He concerned himself professionally with the ancients; cultivating a refined understanding of the common characteristics of Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Western Civilization, including its sentiments, thought, and arts. In sum, for years of his life, Philology was his métier and he was, by most accounts, exceptionally good at it.

Топоси на незнанието в диалектиките на Платон и Николай от Куза

Author(s): Vladimir Pachemanov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 28/2022

The following text is an attempt to trace the relationship between the dialectics of Plato and Nicholas of Cusa with their specific understanding of the importance of the process in which something becomes unknown. In Plato, we find the aforementioned elements in the dialogues in which Socrates helps explicate confusions and incompatibilities in the “certain” and “undoubtable” beliefs of the people with which he communicates and discusses, and for Nicholas of Cusa – in the specific impossibility to understand the nature of God and the importance of a proper conceptualization of this impossibility and “beyondness”. We argue that this process of “becoming-unknown” is a key feature of their respective philosophies and, more specifically, in their dialectical endeavours. This processuality of knowledge through the unknown (and sometimes unknowable) is a certain staple of dialectics which can be seen as one of its essential features in the philosophical tradition. It strives to show the positivity in the negativity in which the unknown presents itself – thus negating the idea of a clear-cut difference between positivity and negativity, but rather demonstrating them as complementary to one another, as crucial moments of the same process. We make an analysis of the ways in which their dialectics are similar and the aspects in which they differ, presenting a line of change within the “nature” of the dialectic. This can serve as an example of its transformations within the historical context of the age in which it is conceptualized or used, forming a certain philosophical tradition that leads to Hegel and beyond.

Platonism and Cosmology in Early American Puritan Philosophy

Author(s): Yaroslav Sobolievskyi,Liubov Sobolievska / Language(s): English Issue: 29/2022

In the history of early American philosophy, in its earliest period of Puritanism, there were unique thinkers whose philosophical mindset formed original views on the nature of man and the cosmos. Since antiquity, the history of philosophy has been determined by the degree of relevance of Plato’s teachings. In medieval universities, and later in the universities of the Renaissance, Neoplatonism, in various modifications, had a great influence. The first settlers in the North American colonies were educated people, some having graduated from English colleges; they knew ancient literature and philosophy very well, had read the texts available at that time, and talked about their God-chosen mission through the prism of Biblical history. The purpose of this article is to determine the influence of Platonism with its cosmological doctrine of the creation of the world and of the eternal and unchanging ideas as the prototypes of things in the Puritan philosophy of New England in the 17th century. The syncretic unity of Aristotelianism and Platonism, thanks to the teachings of Peter Ramus, became popular in New England. As a result of the study of primary sources and texts of Puritan thinkers, a search was made for references to Plato or his teachings. In the books of some Puritan philosophers, such as Williams, Ward, Hooker, and others, there are ideas similar to those of Plato. It can be assumed that they were familiar with Plato’s dialogues or with the texts of his commentators. One of the earliest references to Plato in the texts of Puritan thinkers is found in Bradford’s journal ‘Of Plymouth Plantation’ (1651). Also worth mentioning are Stone, Cotton, Mather, Wise and others. All of them were, to varying degrees, familiar with the political, metaphysical, and cosmological teachings of ancient authors. Of the cosmological treatises of Plato, the Timaeus was especially popular, where the process of the creation of the world by the demiurge was described. Space exploration, contrary to popular belief, was present in New England, albeit on a small scale. In addition to philosophy, in colonial America, astronomical observations were made of celestial bodies, stars, the Moon, and comets. During the era of Puritanism in the history of early American philosophy, Platonism was an important philosophical current, and it was to become even more prominent in the following eras.

Kvintilijanovi principi odgoja i obrazovanja rimskih govornika

Author(s): Tamara Mazur / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 6/2022

Social values, as well as the state of society at a certain time, are optimally reflected in the contents and methods of education of new generations. When it comes to Roman education, Marcus Fabius Quintilian belongs to those who placed the social ideal at the center of education and subordinated everything else to it. In the 1st centuryA. D., he distinguished himself asa teacher of rhetoric and by theorizing about the education of orators and, also, by giving examples for practice. He accepted the task that was somehow imposed on him - to write a work based on many years of experience - how to raise a perfect orator. The Institutio Oratoria is a completely preserved work that determines the stages and methods of mastering the art of oratory from the earliest age of a child. As far as it is known, it is the only preserved systematic ancient pedagogical reflection. This paperwork tries to concisely present the principles that Quintilian considered fundamental in education, which resulted in a perfect Roman orator. The presentation of principles was done by analyzing historical sources and comparing them with contemporary pedagogical concepts.

Marko Pranjić, Na iskonima europskoga odgoja: Telemah kao odgajanik

Author(s): Tamara Mazur / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 6/2022

Review of: Marko Pranjić, Na iskonima europskoga odgoja: Telemah kao odgajanik, Matica hrvatska, Zagreb, 2013, 438 str.

ODGOJNE SMJERNICE IZ ANTIKE KAO POTICAJI ZA SUVREMENI ODGOJ

Author(s): Luna Marija Bogadi,Aleksandra Golubović / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 21/2022

Upbringing is a complex life process of building and developing a human being following his/her characteristics. For the process of upbringing to culminate in the formation of intellectually and morally complete and independent people, the question has always arisen as to what it is that makes it effective. The main intention of this paper is to present and analyze fundamental educational guidelines devised and posited by famous philosophers of antiquity –Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle who focused on achieving personal autonomy, without neglecting the fundamental characteristics of socially acceptable frameworks of morality. The paper will present the development of fundamental educational ideas in antiquity, with special emphasis on building the authentic individual and the citizen as one of the main instruments of upbringing both in the past and today.

Riturile educaționale și inițiatice hinduse. Cazul particular al ritului de trecere Upanayana

Author(s): Hilda Hedvig Varga / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2021

The paper focuses on the topic of educational and adolescence rites in Hinduism, to which the most important rite of this interval of human existence is added: initiation. The educational rites ‒ Vidyārambha (learning of the alphabet), Vedārambha (beginning of Vedic studies) ‒ highlight the time when the individual is at the onset of his growth. The rite of adolescence Keśānta/Godāna (first shaving) represents the celebration of the transformation of the body in this complex process of becoming. Initiation (Upanayana) is, by far, the most intricate rite of passage, which marries the religious sphere with the social and moral one: it opens the gate towards philosophical and theoretical knowledge, it bestows upon the initiated the privilege of moving forward to the next existential stage – that of head of a family (gṛhastha) – through the second birth (dvija), and prepares him for living in a community in which he needs to contribute. Thus, man sets off into the unknown accomplished in every aspect of life, assuming, with responsibility, his active role in the society whose member he is. His becoming ends once the rite of returning home (Samāvartana) is performed, after which the individual is free to rejoin his community, gathering all the fruits and benefits of the knowledge acquired during initiation.

Martinas Heideggeris: Aristotelio teorijos ikisąvokinė ištaka

Author(s): Nerijus Stasiulis / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 112/2022

This is the second part of a three-part text that looks at how Heidegger, in the earlier period of his thought (i.e. roughly prior to Being and Time), formulated an access to the pre-conceptual origin of theory, and how this enabled an access to and a rethinking of the Greek – and thus of the whole of Western – origin of philosophy/theory. This part of the text deals with the pre-conceptual origin of Aristotle's philosophical concepts, which is revealed by reading Aristotle through the method of Heidegger's phenomenology, or phenomenological hermeneutics. It is at this pre-conceptual level that the fundamental structure of Aristotle's philosophy and, at the same time, of Greek thinking, on the one hand, and Western thinking, on the other, appears, and, in a broad brush stroke, its two possibilities are revealed: the one which ignores the ecstatic time or the one which is the ecstatic time.

Политията като трагедия

Author(s): Christo Ch. Todorov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 12/2022

This paper offers an interpretation of a passage in Book VII of Plato's Laws (817b1- 817d8), where the political constitution of the fictional polis Magnesia is called the “truest tragedy”. The author argues that this statement is metaphorical and analyses the conceptual and dramaturgical premises for understanding the metaphor.

THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN ARISTOTLE’S POLITICS

Author(s): Zoran Dimić / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

Aristotle analyzed the problem of education in the seventh and eighth books of Politics. Most researchers interpret his thoughts on education as “the education of the youth”. Some authors try to convince us of the significance of contemplation and the problem of the best possible way of life in analyzing Aristotle’s education theory. We would like to regard the problem of education in another frame. The role of education is exceptionally significant, judging from the central theme of Politics – the political practice of human beings. Therefore, the critical question we want to ask here is – what is the reason for creating a polis? Only when we understand Aristotle’s answer to this question will we know why education plays such an essential role in a polis. Aristotle avoids definitively prescribing and ordering what music children and citizens should listen to. He leaves open the critical question about “how children and citizens should be educated”. Disagreeing on the proper way of education is the very essence of education. No ready-made best way to be educated has to be applied in every case. The best way is only the one that is the outcome of the particular dispute. Just as citizens, while in power, have to think about those who are subordinate because they replace each other, when thinking about the aim of education, they have to think about each other. Outside of that process, there is no ideal form of education, the application of which would improve the political community.

Божествен разум

Author(s): Georgi Fotev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2023

Medea: Greek Myth and Peculiar Identity

Author(s): Tamara Plećaš,Ana Đorđević / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

This paper will primarily focus on the philosophical depictions of Medea’s character and actions. The following identities will be examined: gender (which roles defined a woman in antiquity and are these definitions still relevant today), political (what does it mean to be a foreigner and not belong to a particular political community), and psychological (do passions inevitably lead to a split in the psyche or, on the contrary, constitute it). These will serve as frames that outline Medea’s exceptional (in)humanness in the Greco¬Roman society.

Философът–басилевс

Author(s): Zhivko Zhekov / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 1/2017

The government of Antigonus II Gonatas in Macedonia was a turning point in its historical development in the era of Hellenism. He was able to lead the country out of the decades-long internal crisis and to recover its international prestige. It reverted back to hegemony in the Balkans and restored its status of one of the most powerful states in the Eastern Mediterranean. This process was not an easy one and lasted nearly four decades in which he actively used his undoubted talent of a statesman and politician, but also managed to win love and respect for Macedonia due to his moderate and responsible government. His moderation and loyalty towards his countrymen was largely the result of the philosophical education he had received in his youth. Antigonus II Gonatas was the true founder of the Antigonid dynasty, not his father or his grandfather. His government was characterized by great success and terrible failures, but in spite of the suffered defeats and setbacks he never gave up the fulfilment of his main goal – the stabilization and consolidation of the Macedonian state, which was his greatest contribution to Macedonia. It was basileus who despite the distrust of his compatriots managed to pull his country out of the permanent crisis and to turn it into one of the leading Hellenistic states. The last twenty years of his rule despite a number of setbacks in the foreign policy were extremely successful in domestic policy. During these years, he was able to stabilize the military-administrative organization of his homeland. His successors received a strong and stable country, which at the end of the 3rd – the beginning of the 2nd c. BC was even perceived by some contemporaries as the most powerful Hellenistic state. This rise of Ancient Macedonia would have been impossible without the consistent and purposeful policy of Antigonus II Gonatas, which led to inner consolidation and might.