Greco-Roman Philosophy Research Articles

Basil’s Interpretation of Anger in Light of Greco-Roman Philosophy

Basil’s Interpretation of Anger in Light of Greco-Roman Philosophy

Moral Transformation in Greco-Roman Philosophy of Mind, written by Max J. Lee

Moral Transformation in Greco-Roman Philosophy of Mind, written by Max J. Lee

CELIBACY AS SOCIAL COUNTER-CONDUCT PRACTICE IN EARLY CHURCH

This paper argues that the concept of sexual abstinence in early Christianity was not based on biblical proof-texting, but rather resulted from constructive theological efforts in response to the socio-political reality of the time and the early Christians’ aspirations towards women and the marginalized. By exploring the discourse surrounding marriage and sexuality in the Greco-Roman world and its impact on early Christianity, this paper highlights how the teaching on sexual abstinence challenged the imperial philosophy of desire and control. The paper posits that celibacy and sexual abstinence served as a social counter-conduct practice in response to the little appreciation for women’s bodies and the marginalized. In short, the teaching of Christian chastity addressed the elitism that pervasive in Greco-Roman philosophy of marriage and sexuality. Ultimately, the debate about celibacy in early Christianity was about the nature of human solidarity.

Max J. Lee. Moral Transformation in Greco-Roman Philosophy of Mind: Mapping the Moral Milieu of the Apostle Paul and His Diaspora Jewish Contemporaries

Max J. Lee. <i>Moral Transformation in Greco-Roman Philosophy of Mind: Mapping the Moral Milieu of the Apostle Paul and His Diaspora Jewish Contemporaries</i>

Review of Moral Transformation in Greco-Roman Philosophy of Mind: Mapping the Moral Milieu of the Apostle Paul and his Diaspora Jewish Contemporaries, by Max J. Lee

Review of Moral Transformation in Greco-Roman Philosophy of Mind: Mapping the Moral Milieu of the Apostle Paul and his Diaspora Jewish Contemporaries, by Max J. Lee

Which School of Ancient Greco-Roman Philosophy is Most Appropriate for Life in a Time of COVID-19?

The author argues that ancient Skepticism may be most suited to deal with two crises in the Age of COVID-19: both the physical or epidemiological aspects of the pandemic, and the epistemological and ethical crisis of increasing disbelief in the sciences. Following Michel Bitbol, I suggest one way to mitigate this crisis of faith may be for science to become more epistemically modest, renouncing some of its claims to describe reality as it objectively is, and adopting an “intransitive” rather than a “transitive” approach to Nature. This was the attitude adopted by the Greco-Roman medical school of the Empirics, which may also be of assistance in combatting the urgent problem of Fake News. The epistemology of Skepticism and the scientific methodology of the closely related Medical Empiricism shows that an epistemically modest, non-interventionist approach to science is quite compatible with a robust and sophisticated proto-experimental scientific methodology. © 2021, University of Warsaw. All rights reserved.

God, Metaphysics, and the Discourse of Theology

In chapter 4 of his book, God in Himself, Steven Duby grounds theology’s use of metaphysical language and concepts in Scripture’s prior usage of such language and concepts. The following article seeks to fortify Duby’s argument by showing how the discourse of the gospel subversively fulfills the quest of Greco-Roman philosophy and religion to ground divine worship in a proper understanding of the divine nature.

Agency in Greco-Roman philosophy

ABSTRACT Agency, the theme of my life’s work, consists of efficacy, future-minded optimism, and imagination. I here attempt to trace the history of agency in Western thought over the Greco-Roman epoch. The Iliad presents mortals without any agency, the gods having it all; whereas in the Odyssey, humans have considerable agency, and the gods less. Later, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus and the Stoics postulate full-blown human agency. The emphasis on will, responsibility, and choice continues through early Christianity and then is renounced by Augustine in the fourth century, CE, with human agency relegated to being grace, a gift from God. Human progress seems linked to these beliefs, with strong human agency beliefs linked to progress and weak human agency beliefs linked to stagnation.

A Synthetic Proposal about the Corinthian Resurrection Deniers

Abstract Most standard analyses of the identification of the deniers of the resurrection and the nature of their denial in 1 Cor 15:12 evaluate three sets of options: denial of any post-mortem fate, over-realized eschatology, or dualistic anthropology from Greco-Roman philosophy. The author argues that all of these theories are inadequate, and proposes a theory that identifies the Corinthian resurrection deniers as a cross-section of members from upper and lower classes, with varying levels of education, whose denial of the general resurrection emerges from a variety of sources in philosophy and the myths of popular religion.

Religião e sexualidade no Brasil: tecnologias de si e do eu na historicidade discursiva da construção do sujeito brasileiro

The objective is to reflect the theme of sexuality from the discursive/historical construction of its control mechanisms by institutions, especially religious ones. In a linear way, the history of sexuality from antiquity stands out: on the one hand, the East, where sexuality was perceived as spiritual enlightenment, on the other, the West, especially the classical Greco-Roman philosophy, which accepted it, without a moralistic imposition, but pleasure should be ruled. In the Middle Ages, from Christianity, sexuality becomes understood and discursivized as a sin. In this period stands out the influence of the medieval worldview definitively on our sexual morals. Finally, in the history of Brazil, religion has an influence on sexual morality already from the colonization and Jesuit indoctrination to the official positions of the current religions on sexuality, especially the position of the Catholic Church, with Pope Benedict XVI. From this look at discursive historicity, it is also intended to investigate to what extent it is possible to develop a theological understanding that has as its presupposition the approach on the techniques of himself and the technologies of the self undertaken by Michel Foucault in his last phase, especially in his work A hermeneutics of the subject.

The Confucius’ Traces in Current Chinese University Teaching

The study in-depth of The Analects gives us an idea of how the Confucius’ ideas for society were. The Master always advocated bringing social reforms through the education of individuals in society. He wanted to develop an ideal social order through the cultivation of ideal lifestyles and the full development of the personality of the individuals. Through years of experience and the thorough analysis of the behaviour of Chinese teachers and students when teaching and learning it has been shown that the main principles of Confucian teachings are still present in crucial figures such as the teacher, the class monitor and the students; as well as in several factors that determine the teaching such as motivation, the teacher's reprimand, the students’ shyness and the memorization of concepts.Furthermore, it is particularly important to compare the European teacher with the Chinese one, sincethe former is mainly influenced by the Greco-Roman philosophy and the thinkers of the Enlightenment;the latter is tremendously influenced by the ideas of Confucius despite the fact that they were bornmore than 2,500 years ago.

Notas acerca das ressonâncias de um processo de iniciação artística na criação de si

Um conjunto de entrevistas realizadas com ex-alunos da Escola Municipal de Iniciação Artística (São Paulo, SP) constituiu o material de pesquisa da minha tese de doutorado. Ela investiga a atuação da memória como dispositivo de ressignificação e a potência da iniciação artística como campo propício às práticas do cuidado de si – noção que atravessou a cultura e a filosofia greco-romana por um período de longa duração e foi retomada por Foucault nos seus últimos trabalhos. A abordagem cartográfica, referenciada no conceito de cartografia de Deleuze e Guattari oferece a principal orientação metodológica. Compartilhar recortes deste trabalho relacionando-os à temática deste dossiê é o objetivo deste artigo.

Greco-Roman Ethical-Philosophical Influences in Bardaisan’s “Book of the Laws of Countries”

Abstract Bardaisan of Edessa’s Book of the Laws of Countries contains many elements of Greco-Roman ethical philosophy, ranging from loose allusions to fairly clear instances of direct borrowing. The influences from Greco-Roman philosophy are diverse, including Stoicism, Cynicism, Epicureanism, and the nebulously-defined “Middle Platonic” material that drew and innovated from both Platonic and Stoic sources. Specifically, we see in Laws several ethical concepts derived from Greco-Roman philosophy: the ideal human attitude to external forces, particularly the evils of society; the link between divinity, inner moral character, and proper ethics; the innate goodness of human character that can be improved and perfected based on an ideal of nature; and (closely aligned with the first concept) an understanding that moral virtue is determined by one’s individual, free will decisions, implying an innate valuation of the internal at the expense of the external.

Liver, Love Thyself

In ancient Greco-Roman, Chinese, and Persian poetry and philosophy, the liver was considered the source of love, unlike in modern Western poetry, in which the heart has taken precedence. In fact, in the Persian language, calling someone “my liver” (jiggaram) means “my love.” This recent hepatic angiogram serves as a reminder that interventional radiology is often where East meets West, and that love, or its symbols, can be found in the strangest of places. Left hepatic artery digital subtraction angiogram in a 65-year-old man with hepatitis C cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma undergoing chemoembolization demonstrates an unusual angiographic pattern (Figure).

Providence, Creation, and Gnosticism According to the Gnostics

So many aspersions have been cast upon the term “Gnosticism” that even studies about “Gnostics” prefer to avoid it. Did the Gnostics then teach no Gnosticism? The extant works (mostly from Nag Hammadi) which seem to resemble their thought prefer the language of myth to the concise, syllogistic formulations that would help modern scholars define “Gnosticism.” However, Gnostic myths are often glossed with the philosophical terminology of their day, particularly regarding the concept of divine care, or providence (πρόνοια). When set aside contemporary Platonic, Stoic, and early Christian views about providence’s activity in creation, it becomes clear that Gnostic myths express a distinctive view that presupposes a disjunction between the creator of the cosmos and the true God, who expresses Its fundamental kinship with human beings through intervention in the creation of terrestrial humanity—not the terrestrial world. Gnostic texts that emphasize instead the ubiquity of God’s will in creation seem to attempt to hedge or mitigate this perspective, rather than contradict it. From the standpoint of ancient Greco-Roman philosophy, then, we might say that there certainly was a distinctively Gnostic view about divine providence, inviting us to rehabilitate the term “Gnosticism” accordingly.

Between Despondency and the Demon: Diagnosing and Treating Spiritual Disorders in John Chrysostom’s Letter to Stageirios

John Chrysostom’s “Exhortatory treatise to the ascetic Stageirios, being harassed by a demon” challenges its recipient’s diagnosis of his own spiritual disorder. According to Chrysostom, the fundamental problem for Stageirios is not the demon but the athumia (despondency or depression) that results. Furthermore, Chrysostom argues, this despondency is not directly caused, nor even warranted, by the demonic attacks. It is, rather, a product of the monk’s attendance to his doxa (repute), as well as to that of his family. In consequence, the therapy that Chrysostom recommends is not exorcism of the demon but excision of the false beliefs and earthly desires that foster athumia . This study teases apart the psychosomatic disorders variously recognized and dismissed in this letter as diseases of the soul—demonic attacks, epilepsy, athumia —and situates them within the context of contemporaneous medical and philosophical traditions. In so doing, it suggests how Chrysostom both absorbs and subverts the metaphor—traditional within Greco-Roman philosophy, and prevalent in late antique Christianity—of emotions and desires as sicknesses of the soul.

A Pre-Cartesian Self

Long before disputes about Cartesian and post-Cartesian subjectivity, Greco-Roman philosophy—more a way of life than a set of theories—taught and exemplified a central value on care of the soul. The ancients understood this soul primarily as an ethical voice: organizing, orienting and limiting. This contribution suggests that the selfhood sought by psychoanalytic self psychology may resemble this ancient orientation to the good more than it does the Cartesian or post-Cartesian “subjectivities” of more recent philosophizing.

Pleasure: ‘The Choice of Hercules’

In this article I contend that John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism has been widely misunderstood, and hence the importance of his philosophical project has been diminished. This misunderstanding arises primarily from misconceptions regarding Mill’s definition of pleasure. However, these misconceptions may be successfully resolved by reflecting on Mill’s educational roots and his commitment to Greco-Roman philosophy. In particular, I hold that a deeper understanding of Mill’s philosophical progenitors (i.e., Aristotle and Epicurus) would lead us to conclude that for Mill the “pleasures” of the Utilitarian project are in the final analysis nothing other than the “pleasures” of the mind and conscience. Thus, by following Mill’s line of reasoning and adhering to some of the salient points of his work, specifically in Chapter 2 of Utilitarianism, we may reach a richer and more nuanced understanding of his impressive philosophical project.

Foucault and the Subject of Stoic Existence

Foucault is typically seen as having rebelled against the previous generation of French philosophy, which was dominated by existential phenomenology, and by Sartre in particular. However, the relationship between these two generations and between these two philosophers is more complex than one of simple opposition. Through a refracted focus on Foucault’s late work on Greco-Roman philosophy and on the themes of the practice of the care of the self and the freedom associated with that practice, I argue that Foucault—whose philosophy is centered around the problematization of site-specific processes of subjectification— is closer to existentialism than he seems.

Paul's Areopagus Speech of Acts 17:16—34 as Both Critique and Propaganda

Interpretations of Pauls Areopagus discourse in Acts 17:16-34 are often rad ically incongruous. They range from seeing it as a placid pantheistic sermon on natural theology all the way to seeing it as a scathing demonization of Gentile reli gion.1 Interpreters who emphasize the speech's similarities to Greco-Roman phi losophy incline toward the former view, while those attuned to the Jewish context incline toward the latter. Both types have a significant amount of supporting evi dence and are able to provide strong readings for their argument, given that the speech does indeed utilize Hellenistic philosophical concepts and Jewish critiques of idolatry. I suggest, however, that matters are more complex than an either/or interpretation of the Areopagus discourse and that Luke's purposes are more sub tie than either accommodation or critique/resistance would allow.2