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The present paper aims at a reconsideration of the terminological distinction – postulated by eminent contemporary thinkers such as Alasdair MacIntyre and Bernard Williams – between “ethics” and “morality”. Although this distinction has not been settled as a standard*, there is no doubt that it incited fruitful debates relating to the contemporary issues of moral philosophy as well as the history of ethics. Julia Annas, to take one considerable example, presented a full-fledged criticism of the distinction and touched upon crucial questions**. In the following pages, we shall take the general argument of Annas as our starting-point, and reevaluate it with reference to a particular moment in the history of ideas, in order to shed light on the proposed distinction. To this end, we shall focus on the philosophy of Augustine, more precisely on his De Libero Arbitrio (On Free Choice), with the aim of comprehending the novelty of his contribution to the history of ethics. We shall show how Augustine, through his original usage of the concept of voluntas (will), reorganized the sphere of ethics and redefined the relationship between happiness (beatitudo) and right action. We will thereby illustrate that the ethics / morality distinction is highly illuminating for getting the real sense of this process of redefinition and reorganization, as well as the broader transformation that it triggered in the way human action will be problematized by later generations.
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The paper deals with the proofs of immortality of soul in Plato’s ‘Phaidon’. It is demonstrated here that in the dialogue, Plato attempts to reconstruct theoretical premises of the Socratic imperative ‘first and chiefly care about the greatest improvement of the soul’. The concern with the quality of soul has no warrants of reward in everyday life, therefore, it is necessary to search for such warrants beyond this life, which implies the prerequisite of the immortality of soul. Four proofs of the immortality of soul are distinguished in the dialogue: dialectical, gnoseological, ontological ant axiological. The logical structure and the premises of every proof are reconstructed. The premises are thematized in the context of Greek thinking, and in this way the direct and indirect intentions of every proof are revealed. The popular Antique concept of the soul as a harmony of the parts of body is analyzed as well. It is pointed out that Plato deals with the concept not because of his own conceptual preoccupations but just paying a debt to the popularity of this concept in the Antique world. However, the focus of the paper centers upon the Platonic concept of knowledge. The author maintains that the essential features of the concept of knowledge as anamnesis are predetermined by the sincretic character of the Greek thinking that in its turn anonimizes the subject of knowledge. The paper begins and ends with ethical accents. It is stated here that ‘Phaidon’ could be treated as the first attempt to produce a theoretical foundation of ethical behavior and that therein the postulates of practical reason, as formulated much more later by I. Kant, are already distinguished.
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Bizaran ili neobičan naslov Popperovog osmog poglavlja prvog sveska Otvorenog društva i njegovih neprijatelja, po nekoj prirodnoj analogiji sa Osmom knjigom Platonove Politeieu kojoj se raspravlja o poznatim do tada režimima vladanja, iziskuje i zavređuje pomnu analizu, uostalom kao i svaki tekst o Platonu, naročito ako je pisan kritički; a za cijeli prvi svezak citiranog djela je to moguće reći, već i poslije dubljeg dodira sa radnim podnaslovom Car Platona. Prva teškoća javlja se onog trena kada čitalac spozna bit Popperove namjere u mogućoj formulaciji: Radikalna kritika svakog totalitarizma i zagovor za racionalnu otvorenost. Otvorenost zaokruženog sistema uime zbilje i društvenog života zajednice, neporecivo je filozofijski idealitet, gotovo mentalna vrlina, samo pripisiva rijetkima, a stožerima vlasti i naročito njezinim nosiocima, gotovo nikako. Danas bi argumentum Popperove otvorenosti bila gotovo svaka kriza vlade, naročito ako bi do nje doveli birači. Autentično značenje, primjerice riječi minister-ministar, latinski znači sluga. To znači da je neki ministar u službi svojih birača. Deformacije koje trpe neki ministri u vrijeme obavljanja zaduženja u vlasti, najbolji su pokazatelji otuđenja karaktera pod teretom vlasti, ili dokaz neodrživosti idealiteta paradigme.
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"Philosophy as a system" Review: Ch. Krijnen "Philosophie als System Prinzipientheoretische Untersuchungen zum Systemgedanken bei Hegel, im Neukantianismus und in der Gegenwartsphilosophie, Würzburg 2008
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A debate over the morality of Kosher slaughter [Shechita (Hebrew: שחיטה)] has raged in Poland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Denmark, where the Jewish ritual slaughter was outlawed. The more the debate goes on, the more awareness arises to Shechita as a basic Jewish religious practice. Yet veganism is a Hebrew religious operation too. This article discusses Hebrew vegan belief in terms meaningful to Jews, yet considering its utopian nature, in terms applicable to others as well. Both Shechita and veganism have universal Hebrew claims. Yet both claims are to be studied. Within this vast theme, I will analyze here veganism only, with respect to its utopian role and as a theological structure of one, yet global, community: the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem. They believe themselves to be the descendants of Judah, the fourth son of Jacob Israel. They are Jewish by their cultural nature: they observe Shabbat, Torah and a weekly fast. In 70 A.D. after the Romans destroyed the second temple they escaped and fled southward and westward to various nations in Africa two millennia ago where they were sold as slaves and were enslaved in America. They left America in 1967 led by their spiritual leader Ben Ammi, defined their departure as an exodus from America. Via Liberia – where they became vegans – they arrived in Israel in 1969, established an urban kibbutz, a collective communal living which is located in a desert region. Like most Jews, their diet has tremendous importance, but unlike most Jews they are vegan. The African Hebrews have very specific vegan dietary practices. Their tradition includes teaching and studying a special diet, which is vegetarian, organic and self-produced. They observe Shabbat strictly. On Shabbat, they fast and cleanse. This mirrors their spiritual outlook that eating is a hard labor of which they are obliged to rest from by the Ten Commandments. This article presents a breakthrough idea that fasting on Shabbat indeed reflects an ancient Israelite religious tradition. “Food for Peace” s a metaphor for the theology of the Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem unfolding their messianic utopia through which they believe people may achieve inner peace and even world peace, encompassing decades of powerful hopes, realities and nutritious lifestyle.
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source: Вестник Академии наук СССР, Moscow, Nr. 12/19665. Review by V. A. Malinin of Vol IV of the "History of Philosophy", published in Moscow in 1965
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The starting-point of my essay is conviction of wide-spread crisis of western civilization. The analysis of this crisis was achieved basing on the Horkheimer's theoretical settlements which are leading to show typical of Plato character of western culture. Basing on the example of 'solar myth' presented by Plato in "Politeia", it is shown totalitarian and captivating human-beings paideia model, which is being realized till the present day in the Mediterranean culture region. Dictatorial, anti-humanistic and oppressing elements of Platonism and related to it civilization, are shown from the G. Bataille's settlements point of view. In his project, ones are suspecting the chance of liberation of human-being.
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In his movie version of Kafka's The Trial, Orson Welles accomplished an exemplary anti-obscurantist operation by way of reinterpreting the place and the function of the famous parable on "the door of the Law". In the film, we hear it twice: at the very beginning, it serves as a kind of prologue, read and accompanied by (faked) ancient engravings projected from lantern-slides; then, shortly before the end, it is told to Josef K not by the priest (as in the novel) but by K's lawyer (played by Welles himself) who unexpectedly joins the priest and K in the Cathedral.
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This article presents and compares four different interpretations of the Homeric concept of "self". According to the first, the Homeric man has no concept of himself as a psychic unity, but only as a number of physical and psychical organs (Bruno Snell). The second says that he perceives himself as a complex but unified structure of psychical and physical elements (Norman Austin). According to the next view, the Homeric hero possesses the idea of reason which is able to create a unifying harmony among his various psychic powers and which constitutes the real self of a human being (Arbogast Schmitt). The fourth interpretation holds that the Homeric man identifies himself with his "Leib", which is the seat of all his sensations, feelings and thoughts (Hermann Schmitz).
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When German philosopher Martin Heidegger in the short essay The End of Philosophy and the Task of Thinking reactivated the old-fashioned concept of aletheia and etymologically linked it with the common definitions of truth in the twentieth century, he has provoked heated discussions among philosophers in the last fifty years. It is about the question that is bravely raised in this essay; what is more important - the truth or what the truth makes possible? In other words, Heidegger cast doubt on dominating scientificism and the overwhelming suppression of the critical thinking, which is the character of modern times as the era of "radical" value pluralism. To speak of what makes the truth possible means to consider the positioning of existence in times of technical-technological suppression of man today.
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One of the controversial issues in the development of Heidegger’s thought is the problem of the will. Th e communis opinio is that Heidegger embraced the concept of the will in a non-critical manner at the beginning of the thirties and , in particular, he employed it in his political speeches of 1933–1934. Jacques Derrida for instance speaks about a “massive voluntarism” in relation to Heidegger’s thought in this period. Also Brett Davis discerns a period of “existential voluntarism” in 1930–1934, in which Heidegger takes over a notion of the will in a non-critical manner. In this article, this interpretation is challenged and a stronger interpretation of Heidegger’s concern with the will is developed. Our hypothesis is that Heidegger’s concern with the will at the onset of the thirties is brought about by his confrontation (Auseinandersetzung) with the concept of the will. Based on his lecture courses from 1930 and 1936/37 and his Rectoral Address from 1933, enables us to discern three main characteristics of Heidegger’s destructed concept of the will in the early thirties.
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In the chapter entitled “Muriel Tramis’ »Méwilo« and »Freedom« as the First Postcolonial Games, Filip Jankowski examines two digital games accomplished by Muriel Tramis, a game designer from Martinique. The games picture the situation of African-Caribbean slaves and their descendants in a pioneering manner in terms of the medium used. “Méwilo” (1987) and “Fredom” (1988) were created under the influence of the philosophical thought in Martinique, shaped by the pioneers of postcolonialism such as Aimé Césaire and Frantz Fanon, as well as their critics impersonated by Édouard Glissant and Patrick Chamoiseau. Both games differ in terms of applied convention. “Méwilo”, which is a thorough documentary game, focuses on questioning the following inhabitants of the city of Saint-Pierre, the day before the devastating eruption of the Montagne Pelée volcano in 1902. The opposition between the black inhabitants of Martinique and their metropolitan torturers, although strongly outlined, is subject to problematization in both games. Among the main characters of the Tramis' works are black anti-heroes who imitate the French in their ambivalent attitude to the African-Caribbean community. Hence, they reflect the phenomenon of mimicry described by Homi Bhabha. All things considered, Jankowski argues both games to feature apparent postcolonial themes.
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In this dispute, author defends romanticism era against perception, which is focus on inclination to irrational forms of being and also different kind of forms are connected with mythic contra realistic way of thinking. He uses philosophers as Nietzsche, Schlegel and Novalis and explore treatment in the way of understanding of speculative philosophy and philosophy as a way of life.
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Approaches to the understanding of creativity are divided in relation to the “ontological measure”. Accordingly, the positive approach involves the addition of a new Being to the world through creativity; the negative approach involves the subtraction of the Being from one of the components of the creative process, for the possibility of creativity. It is possible to allocate “the direction” of creativity, in relation to the addition or subtraction through the study of “creator – creation” relations in every conception of creativity. For example, negative creativity is possible only through subtraction of the Being from the position “creator”. The conceptions of Berdyaev and Blanchot are chosen as representative approaches. In addition, the researcher notes that there are more complicated approaches to the understanding of creativity, for example, “neutral” or transformative ones, which are based on the transformation of the existing Being in the world. The anthropological aspect of creativity is revealed through the notion of intentionality. This concept shows equal opportunities of different approaches and concepts in the field of practice of creativity.
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