Ancient Thought Research Articles

ATHANASE JOJA – OUTSTANDING PERSONALITY OF THE ROMANIAN CULTURE

"Concerned with philosophy, history and logic alike, Athanase Joja has written a treatise on logic which is the fundamental landmark of the current logic research. The second half of the twentieth century is marked by the appearance of its four volumes of logic. The volumes include a history of logic, problems of systematic logic and logic of science, which reveals his logical vision, but also his philosophical one. He manages to develop a complex theory of the history of logic, capitalizing on the conceptions of classical and modern philosophers, through a proper hierarchy and interpretation, corresponding to an integrative conception. He gives ample space to some complex, vast and difficult-to-match problems. He has been questioning himself constantly and he sought pertinent answers to problems of logic, epistemology and ontology, in order to capture some generally valid truths. The history of ancient thought, Greek philosophy and especially Aristotelian thought were analysed, systematized and discussed in his own manner, a fact which led Constantin Noica to contribute to the publication of two of his History of Ancient Thought volumes. About him, Ion Ianoși stated that through his texts he proves a certain aesthetic sensitivity and receptivity to artistic values. The present study, based on a careful documentation, aims to configure an image as close as possible to the reality of the great thinker Athanase Joja. Particularly critical of his own writings, he provoked a relatively low cognitive interest in his research; this explains the fact that his work is insufficiently known and valued. However, the 21st century has begun with a globally manifest desire to capitalize on and reinterpret the knowledge of the forerunners. In this regard, we note the fact that his life and work were evoked, in 2004, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth. In the public life, he played an important role in promoting scientific values and contributed to the establishment of prestigious international scientific publications and events, which would capitalize on the results of Romanian scientific research. We consider that any attention paid to Athanase Joja’s work is an approach that is part of the global cultural trends of the 21st century."

Ancient Thoughts and Electric Buildings

Ancient Thoughts and Electric Buildings

Uma “exploração arqueológica” da ideia de vazio como recipiente a partir de Aristóteles, Physica 4.6 213a15-19

Even though rejecting the notion of void, Aristotle considers it a crucial theme in his discussion about motion. That becomes evident when we find four chapters of Physics 4 dedicated to the discussion and refutation of the void. In this paper, I set on an exploratory search for the reasons that moved Aristotle to discuss the idea of void as a container (ἀγγεῖον) in Phys. 4.6 213a15-19, unearthing a series of terms and notions used by previous thinkers that may have led Aristotle to formulate such conception. Special attention is given to Democritus, who, with his theory of atoms and void, is clearly the main target of Aristotle’s criticism of the void. I conclude that the notion of void as a container is not at all strange to ancient thinkers, and that its reconstitution by Aristotle is everything but trivial and simplistic, inasmuch as the Democritean notion of void he intends to refute is everything but trivial and simplistic.

Feeling of love in Batticaloa folk songs

Literatures have been studied orally before taking written form. History makes it clear that such songs were written during the Sanskrit period. These oral literatures shed light on the life and history of a country and its flaws and serve as a mirror that reveals the cultures, customs, and ancient thoughts of the people. Although the study of folk songs on the world stage has been in vogue for a long time, it came into practice in Tamil Nadu in the 19th century and then came into the study. However, it has not been advanced as a separate discipline in the University of Sri Lanka to date. Instead, the study of folk songs is being carried out in collaboration with the Tamil Department.In the case of Batticaloa Tamil Nadu, the close connection between India and Sri Lanka due to migration, migration and migration from ancient times can be seen from the identification of Tamils as the first and last king of Sri Lanka.Therefore, it is possible to realize that folk songs are widespread among the people of Batticaloa as there was not only Tamil Nadu connection but also Indian national connection. The songs are arranged in the form of Ritual, Rain and Famine, Lullaby, Game, love, Marriage, Family, Community, Relationship and Career, Obpari, Swing, Satire, Mother Songs.These songs explore love songs, present the feeling of love found in them, show how they fit in with the general characteristics found in the literature of Sangala Agathi and reveal aspects of the Batticaloa socio-cultural hierarchy. The gist of the song is not to give a direct meaning, but to explain its essence. They are classified as motherly songs, Fatherly songs, Leader songs, Leader songs, Friend songs, and General songs.

A Devil under the Guise of a Good Conscience

Buried within Fyodor Dostoevsky's works are glimpses of corrupt individuals who rise to the fore every now and then. Without these occasional revelations, not many would notice how diabolical an ordinary person really is. Although Dostoevsky does generalize that human nature can be quite vile, a character like the mysterious visitor from The Brothers Karamazov displays that nature without striving to be extraordinary as Dostoevsky's other prolific characters. Something troubling still lurks within this mundane type. Relying on moral dilemmas presented by ancient thinkers will help this project expose and elaborate on the unsavouriness behind the activities and dispositions of Dostoevsky's minute character. With the mysterious visitor as the prime focus, we discover how an individual distorts one's personal development and decent relations with other humane beings.

From the Castrated Subject to the Human Way: A Lacanian Reinterpretation of Ancient Chinese Thought

Lacan studied ancient Chinese classics assiduously, including Daodejing and Mencius during 1969–73 when his own thought was reaching maturity. Lacan's idiosyncratic interpretation of Mencius is often regarded as a simple misreading. This essay defends Lacan's reading of Mencius by treating it as a psychoanalytic reading. It further develops a reinterpretation of ancient Chinese thought by revisiting primarily two major disputes – Mencius versus Xunzi, Confucianism versus Daoism – through a Lacanian interpretative method. The research findings reveal the possible latent side of ancient Chinese thought that has substantially formed what Lacan called ‘the Chinese unconscious’.

Aristotelian understanding of the women`s (in)perfection

The article makes a detailed analysis of the understanding of women in the philosophical works of Corpus Aristotelicum. It is established that the specificity of the view of this ancient thinker on the problem of research is due to the fact that he considers it in the whole body of his philosophical works, reflecting on it in logical, ethical-aesthetic and socio-philosophical aspects. It has been found that the key issue around which Stagirite reflects on women is the concept of «domination». In the context of reflections on domination, he emphasizes that in the ontological context, women are not inferior to men, but in marital and family relations, a woman must obey a man. At the same time, it is proved that Aristotle speaks only briefly about the possible need for education and upbringing of women, and mentions it not for the benefit and self-development of women, but only to avoid all sorts of chaos and disorder in a particular society. However, he notes that a woman can hold a high position if she has a good reputation and authority among citizens who pursue politics. It is argued that the ancient thinker emphasizes that there are a number of issues, namely those concerning children, in which women clearly understand each other better, and emphasizes that they should deal with them and resolve disputes under their guidance. It is interesting that in the context of this issue, Aristotle mentions there is an image of a Delphic knife [Polit.1252b1–7], because he used in various aspects - military, domestic and sacred. As we can see, this ancient philosopher continues Plato's opinion that it is impossible to «spray» on certain goals and objectives, because, mainly, it leads to mistakes, tragedies, etc. Everyone, including women, must do their job, which is given to them by nature. This does not diminish this or that personality, but on the contrary makes it unique and inimitable among all creations.

Indian Cultural Nationalism – Defining New Contours (Desha-shastra)

Nation and nationalism are one of the most discussed terms in modern academics and popular media. India has embraced the people, practices, cuisines, customs, faiths, rituals, religions from different parts of the world. And it is an ever growing accommodative spirit of India and its nationalism. Not ‘only, rather’ but ‘also’ is the Indian approach. It has withstood cultural colonialism in one thousand years. The cantors of India have changed with time but have not given up on culture. Therefore a serious study of Indian view of nationalism as expressed by its ancient seers and modern thinkers is the need of the hour. The paper has three sections: 1. Definition of Cultural Nationalism in Indian approach; 2. Some main concepts of Indian Cultural Nationalism and 3. Indian Cultural Nationalism in the contemporary time Received 9th December 2020; Revised 15th March 2021; Accepted 28th March 2021

ПРИНЦИП КРАСОТЫ В НАУЧНОМ ПОЗНАНИИ: СОЦИОКУЛЬТУРНЫЙ ВАРИАНТ ГНОСЕОЛОГИЧЕСКОГО ПОДХОДА

The article addresses the problem of the genesis of the beauty principle in scientific cognition from the standpoint of the gnoseological approach supplemented by some conceptual generalizations from the fields of social epistemology and sociology of thinking. The relevance of this approach is due to the critical attitude to gnoseology as a general theory and methodology of science on the part of non-classical epistemology, the history of science and scientific theories of the middle range. An external factor that actualizes the current internal scientific situation is the prolongation of integration processes typical for postmodern culture associated with the search for points of contact between science and art. The article shows that despite the addition of the principle of beauty to the heuristic tools of modern exemplary science, there is an unresolved problem of the genetic relationship between aesthetics and science. This connection was best demonstrated in detail by the example of the similarity and difference between mathematics and music initiated in antique culture and reflecting the love of symmetry and harmony inherent in the Greek worldview. On the other hand, the differences in the perception of works of science and art which are obvious to ordinary consciousness required ancient thinkers to introduce concepts and principles that synthesize different aspects of the manifestations of the useful, true, and beautiful. In this connection, the binary mythopoetic cosmos-chaos opposition, which is found in its direct form in archaic and natural-philosophical cosmologies, is proposed as the historically first form that integrates the complex and contradictory content of the beauty principle. The results of the study lead to the conclusion that only natural philosophical models of the cosmos make a fundamental distinction between the “chaos” of opinions about phenomena and the “cosmos” of the true knowledge about their speculative entities. It is this worldview scheme of a single, conceptually ordered, and therefore truly beautiful world that served as an ideal model for classical European science.

ROMAN IUSTITIA NATURALIS AND MODERN POSITIVIST JUSTICE

The modern definition of “justice” is too narrow compared with the famous Roman classical notion of iustitia (synonym for justness), presented as the constant will “granting everyone his”. Ancient thinkers coupled the concept of justice with natural law, which, unfortunately, modern legal theory has almost lost. The study notes that the “justice” concept appeared in Ancient Greece during the VI – II centuries BC in the philosophy of Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics. Plato already contrasted such an understanding of justice as the will to “give each his own” with the will based on the power of the strong. In the first century BC, Cicero stated that justice is emerging from natural law, based not on fear and strength but on the natural principles of love, friend-ship, trust and consent that unite people. Since these principles do not apply equally at diverse levels (in the family, between friends, between trade partners, between fellow citizens, between foreigners, etc.), these principles do not operate in the same way, then the main task of justice is honestly (honeste) allocate to each his own. The Roman lawyer and philosopher argues that human laws that reject iustitia naturalis lead to lawlessness and the collapse of society. Object-ing to Carneades, who argued that natural justice is stupidity, and real civil justice is based on protecting the benefit, utility (utilitas) of the strongest, Cicero argues that without mutual love, trust and friendship, the general benefit of society as a whole, based on the fundamental concept of honesty (honestum), suffers. The Roman classical jurists and Justinian compilers adopt-ed these principles in the famous definition of iustitia. Unfortunately, modern positivism, in its extreme manifestation of “pure law”, has abandoned the ideas of “natural justice”, separating the principles of morality based on nature, that is, customary law, as a centuries-old practice of regulating relations in society, has significantly weakened the principles of natural unity of people in societies of all levels, including the international human community.

Augustine's De Catechizandis rudibus and the scholarship of teaching and learning

ABSTRACT The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is a new discipline, with seeds sown by educational theorists of the early twentieth century and blossoming in the 1990s. As an inherently interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary field focusing on higher education, SoTL interrogates a range of subjects, encompasses a variety of genres, and uses a swath of methodologies. What is lacking in the literature and its application, however, is sustained engagement with the great pedagogical thinkers of the past. Using the methods of textual analysis, this article explores the pedagogical advice of Augustine of Hippo in his De catechizandis rudibus, categorizing Augustine's major themes in alignment with four key topics of SoTL: instructor disposition, learning environment, presentation of material, and knowing students. These convergences suggest that ancient thinkers are vastly underused sources of pedagogical knowledge and a possible entry point for educational developers working with faculty unfamiliar with or resistant to SoTL.

Drafted into a Foreign War?

AbstractThis paper examines the central criticisms that come, broadly, from the modern, ‘analytic’ tradition, of Pierre Hadot’s idea of ancient philosophy as a way of life.: Firstly, ancient philosophy just did not orcould nothave involved anything like the ‘spiritual practices’ or ‘technologies of the self’, aiming at curing subjects’ unnecessary desires or bettering their lives, contra Hadot and Foucaultet al.Secondly, any such metaphilosophical account of putative ‘philosophy’ must unacceptably downplay the role of ‘serious philosophical reasoning’ or ‘rigorous argument’ in philosophy. Thirdly, claims that ancient philosophy aimed at securing wisdom by a variety of means including but not restricted to rational inquiry are accordingly false also ashistoricalclaims about the ancient philosophers. Fourthly, to the extent that we must (despite (3)) admit that some ancient thinkers did engage in or recommend extra-cognitive forms of transformative practice, these thinkers were not true or ‘mainline’ philosophers. I contend that the historical claims (3) and (4) are highly contestable, risking erroneously projecting a later modern conception of philosophy back onto the past. Of the theoretical or metaphilosophical claims (1) and (2), I argue that the second claim, as framed here, points to real, hard questions that surround the conception(s) of philosophy as a way of life.

LEONI AND HAYEK ON NOMOS AND PHYSIS

Nel 1949, mettendo a disposizione degli studenti pavesi di Giurisprudenza delle Dispense dal titolo Il pensieroantico, Bruno Leoni non immaginava che stava contribuendo a porre le basi per una riformulazionedi quella che nello stesso anno Friedrich A. von Hayek aveva chiamato la tradizione del “true individualism” tracciando così una nuova storia delle origini e dello sviluppo della tradizione liberale. infatti, dopoaver descritto l’origine dei concetti di nomos e di physis nella filosofia greca, in quelle DispenseLeoni intende la soluzione epicurea e la sua dottrina del contratto come un qualcosa di “eccezionale importanza per lo sviluppo della speculazione intorno al diritto ed allo Stato nell’età moderna”. Accennato all’importanza che negli stessi anni Ludwig von Mises e Leo Strauss attribuiranno all’epicureismo nella nascita della ‘modernità, il saggio analizza la tesi leoniana sul rapporto tra nomos e physis e, illustratane l’affinità con la tesi di Carl Menger sulla nascita “irriflessa” delle principali istituzioni sociali e del diritto, mostra il modo in cui tale rapporto ha influenzato Hayek e come si rifletta nella di lui (e di Michael Oakeshott) dicotomia tra i modelli istituzionali ‘nomocratici’ e quelli ‘teleocratici’. Un breve cenno, nel finale, al modo in cui tracce della dottrina epicurea del contratto possono essere ravvisate nella teoria dello “scambio di pretese” che Leoni pone all’origine del diritto.

ПРОБЛЕМИ ДЕРЖАВНОГО УСТРОЮ ТА ДЕРЖАВНОГО УПРАВЛІННЯ В ПОЛІТИКО-ПРАВОВІЙ СПАДЩИНІ ПЛАТОНА

The purpose of this article is, based on the diverse political and legal heritage of the famous ancient Greek thinker and public figure Plato, domestic and foreign philosophical and political science literature, to reveal the methodological and conceptual approaches of the scientist to deep, creative understanding and solution of theoretical and practical problems of the state system and public administration and to show its significance for the development of modern effective models and forms of state formation in Ukraine. For two and a half thousand years, which separate us from the life and fruitful work of the great philosopher of ancient Greece, political science and the science of public administration have made significant adjustments to the Platonic model of the state, however, the urgent issues of the socio-political development of the Greek polis-states, the essence and meaning of which Plato pondered, are important, first of all, in the theoretical-methodological and ideological sense for modern researchers. The study used a set of logical methods (analysis, synthesis, inductive method), as well as general scientific approaches such as historical- genetic, dialectical, systemic-structural, biographical. The article provides a constructive and critical analysis of philosophical and political works of Plato, domestic and foreign socio-humanitarian literature on this issue, reveals the essence, components and features of the political concept of state system and public administration, which was formulated and comprehensively substantiated by the ancient Greek thinker. Its historical role, methodological and ideological significance for the modern state-building process in Ukraine are convincingly shown.

How Did We End Up With Donald Trump?

How Did We End Up With Donald Trump? John McMillian (bio) Christopher Caldwell, Age of Entitlement: America Since the Sixties. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2020. 342 pp. Bibliography and index. $28.00 Hillary Clinton was likely in an upbeat mood on September 9, 2016. Earlier that day, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur had pledged $20 million to Democratic groups backing her presidential candidacy. Later that evening, she spoke at an LGBT fundraiser in Manhattan, before a large crowd that had just been warmed up by Barbra Streisand. Naturally, Clinton's remarks were recorded.1 When she quipped that you could fit "half" of Donald Trump's supporters into a "basket of deplorables," her supporters responded with laughter, cheers, and applause. Clinton was seemingly so pleased by the crowd's laudations that she extemporized her next sentence, which also was about Trump supporters: "They're racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic—you name it."2 Trump pounced on her statement via Twitter, and Clinton apologized the next day. But her gaffe was not soon forgotten. It did not help Clinton's cause when a group of celebrated left-of-center columnists amplified her remarks. Armed with polling and research data, Ta-Nehisi Coates (The Atlantic), Jamelle Bouie (Slate), Charles Blow (the New York Times), Jonathan Chait (New York), and German Lopez (Vox) argued that Clinton had no reason to apologize. A few of them went further. If Clinton had erred at all, they said, it was only because she had downplayed the portion of Trump supporters who were, indeed, hateful bigots.3 There was no gainsaying that the GOP had taken a dark turn. The 2016 presidential campaign should have made clear that Trump was not fit for the Oval Office. He was vain, vicious, and vulgar. No one had ever seen a candidate so childish, so eager to put his base motives and epic resentments on proud display. Trump was picking at the sores of a wounded nation, and he seemed delighted to do so. Still, the situation required deeper understanding. Scholars, analysts, and political professionals weighed in on the big questions of the day: What foul forces were feeding Trumpism? What knowledge from the past could shed light on our current problems? In June of 2016, the Chronicle of Higher Education published a syllabus for a course titled, "Trump 101."4 This was a collaborative [End Page 310] project involving twenty accomplished scholars from a range of disciplines, but most of them were historians. The syllabus's authors left no doubt that they regarded Trumpism as a baleful phenomenon. Among the classic works they recommended were Theodor Adorno's (et al.'s) The Authoritarian Personality (1950), Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), and Richard Hofstadter's Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (1966). Harvey Mansfield, the conservative political philosopher, urged readers to turn attention to such ancient thinkers as Plato, Thucydides, and Aristotle, who warned that when demagogues attain power in democracies, the demagogue is not chiefly to blame; the blame rests with those who elect him. None of the arguments or ideas embedded in the "Trump 101" syllabus are controversial in academic circles. Still, "Trump 101" was not well received. The problem, according to 349 humanities scholars who signed an open letter that appeared on the African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS) website, was that the syllabus did not recommend any works by "scholars of color" or "LGBTQ people." That was true. Although numerous books on the syllabus examined the perniciousness of racism and ethnocentrism, those books were written by white authors. The oversight led the letter's signatories to conclude that Trump 101's authors were "committed to presenting a 'whites only' portrayal of American political history." The letter's 349 signatories took the lack of nonwhite authors on "Trump 101" as evidence that the syllabus was "inappropriate," "highly offensive," "intellectually dishonest," "irresponsible," "racially illiterate," and "an artifact of racism."5 Within a week, two historians who critiqued "Trump 101"—N.D.B. Connolly, of Johns Hopkins University, and Keisha N. Blain, of the University of Pittsburgh—had crowd-sourced an alternative document, "Trump Syllabus 2.0." This new syllabus was five times larger than its predecessor, partly...

Concept of Rule of Law with Regard to Supreme Court Judgment

The rule of law is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as the authority and influence of law in society, especially when viewed as a constraint on individual and institutional behaviour, hence the principle whereby all members of a society (including those in government) are considered equally subject to publicly disclosed legal codes and processes. The term rule of law is closely related to constitutionalism and refers to a political situation, not to any specific legal rule. The rule of law was further popularized in the 19th century by British jurist A. V. Dicey. However, the principle, if not the phrase itself, was recognized by ancient thinkers. Aristotle wrote: It is more proper that law should govern than any one of the citizens. This Research topic defines, the rule of law implies that every person is subject to the law, including people who are lawmakers, law enforcement officials and judges. In this sense, it stands in contrast to tyranny or oligarchy, where the rulers are held above the law. This Research paper emphasis, Lack of the rule of law can be found in both democracies and monarchies, when there is neglect or ignorance of the law. The rule of law is more apt to decay if a government has insufficient corrective mechanisms for restoring it. The clearest way to show what the rule of law means to us in everyday life is to recall what has happened when there is no rule of law. - Dwight D. Eisenhower The bedrock of our democracy is the rule of law and that means we have to have an independent judiciary, judges who can make decisions independent of the political winds that are blowing. - Caroline Kennedy

The Concept of Motion in Ancient Greek Thought: Foundations in Logic, Method, and Mathematics. By Barbara M. Sattler

The Concept of Motion in Ancient Greek Thought: Foundations in Logic, Method, and Mathematics. By Barbara M. Sattler

Angus Fletcher. <em>Wonderworks. The 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the History of Literature</em>

Angus Fletcher. <em>Wonderworks. The 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the History of Literature</em>

ВЕКТОРЫ ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИХ ПЕРЕМЕН В РОССИИ

The article presents and analyzes the political changes announced and anticipated by the mid-20s of the XXI century. The main factors shaping the public demand for change have been systematized. The author substantiates the conclusion that national projects mark the third stage in the evolution of strategic management matrices after a) targeted assignments (Soviet five-year plans) and b) target figures (indicative planning and targets of the globalization era). It is shown that the quintessence of the constitutional reform lies in the proportionate and coordinated participation of the President and the State Duma in forming the federal government, the key link in the executive power in Russia. The assumption is made that political parties in Russia are moving towardcentrism and consensual practice. There is a de jure and de facto imbalance in the realization of the civil rights to work and education. Russia seeks to balance sovereignty with the challenges of globalization, being an active mediator in resolving international conflicts (Syria, Iran, North Korea, Ukraine). It is recommended that the privatization transactions of the 1990s should be legitimized. The author is guided by the warning of the ancient thinkers kairos: “Political transformations should be done not too early, but not too late”.

Philosophy and Eschatology: A Quest for Truth and Meaning

Do philosophy and eschatology have anything in common? In an age when philosophical naturalism is taken as a norm especially among some philosophers of the Anglo-American tradition, does it not seem out of place to put philosophy and eschatology side by side? Is eschatology not merely a utopic thinking? These are some of the questions that might come to mind when the notion of eschatology is raised within philosophical circles? <i>Prima facie</i>, it seems that philosophy and eschatology are two contradictory disciplines or outlooks on reality since philosophy primarily relies on the critical use of human intelligence and reason whereas eschatology has religious overtones and thus is a theological discipline. This would seem so in an age in which philosophical naturalism is on the rise. However, a critical consideration would show that philosophy and eschatology are not as distant from each other as they might seem from a superficial analysis. If philosophy and eschatology are not mutually exclusive, then where does their convergence lie? Ultimately, both philosophy and eschatology search for truth and meaning in human existence because, ultimately, both philosophy and eschatology examine the entire meaning of human existence or, as it is put in popular parlance, they are concerned with the question of human destiny. So it is not out of place to argue that philosophy ultimately is eschatological thinking. In this paper therefore, it is argued that there is a mutual complementarity between philosophy and eschatology and that the primary locus for an adequate understanding of the intrinsic relation between philosophy and eschatology is the question of the existential meaning of the human person. I will contend that it is because the ancients considered philosophy to be eschatological thinking that some ancient thinkers viewed philosophy as a spiritual exercise and preparation for one’s death. In fact, the understanding of philosophy as eschatological thinking is manifest at least implicitly from the ancient through the mediaeval to the modern era. Furthermore, I argue that it is because of the complementarity between philosophy and eschatology that philosophical theology or philosophy of religion is still relevant till today. Finally, whether eschatology is considered from a Christian point of view or from the viewpoint of African religions, it is must be understood as a search for the meaning of human existence by seeking the connection between two fundamental questions, namely, the question concerning the human person and that concerning God.