Greek Thought Research Articles

Elements of environmental ethics in Ancient Greek Philosophy

In this article, I consider how ancient Greek philosophical thinking might be approached differently if the environmental ethical import that is salient in it is critically considered. After pointing out how environmental ethics is generally construed in much of the discourse on current philosophical thinking, I spell out some unexplored elements of anthropocentric and non-anthropocentric environmental ethical thinking that are implicit in ancient Greek philosophy. I seek to critically challenge some common notions in Western environmentalism that take environmental ethics as a fairly new discourse of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Ultimately, I suggest that ancient Greek philosophical thinking ought to be judiciously interpreted from an environmental-ethical perspective. Overall, I critically interrogate elements of both anthropocentric and non-anthropocentric environmentalism in ancient Greek thinking, with the intention to examine the contribution of ancient Greek philosophy to environmental ethical thinking.

THE HUMANISTIC ASPECT OF THE KAZAKH RELIGIOUS WORLDVIEW

The peculiarity of the Kazakh worldview is the absence of atheistic consciousness. Kazakhs have always believed in the all-pervading God. This is reflected in words and phrases, the language unit. The phraseology "Watching God" means knowing the creator. According to the Greek thinker Pratogor, man is only a measurement of the whole being not to the earth. The meanings of this axiom, man is the line between being and non-being, known and unknown. Therefore He confirms the existing, denying non-existence. In the Kazakh worldview, this basic axiom reflects the proverb "You know nine, but you do not know ninety-nine." In connection with this thought, the Kazakh about the unspeakable says: "One God knows." This fundamental concept protects the Kazakh people from arrogance, tyranny, sternness, which adheres to the idea "it is called, it is solved, cut off", helps to resist the limits of its capabilities. And it is for this reason that an authoritarian state in the Kazakh society does not exist on the basis of totalitarian thinking. Secondly, for the Kazakh religious worldview for the Creator all nations and nations are equal, they do not differ from each other by a special position or status. At the heart of this principle is the notion that all mankind belongs to Adam and Eve. Kazakh thinker Mashur Yusup believes that this concept is one of the basic conditions for being a Muslim. This opinion is confirmed by the hadith: "All people are born Muslims, and then their parents turn one of these children into Christians, and the other - Jews and others - into pagans. If the religious personality of people is determined for religious reasons, then his religion is not righteous. In our time, many conflicts arise because of religious, racist and linguistic differences. Many warring people can not correctly interpret the foundations and principles of different religions. In his works, the great thinker Abai is based on the hadeeth: "Every reasonable person should believe, and every believer has his own worship." According to Abai, a person must find faith with a clear mind, which is the basis of religion. The main condition of faith is the mind. If a person is not intelligent or mentally retarded from birth, he does not have to be a believer. If a person who does not understand the reason for the faith of his worship is not considered complete. The role of the mind in the knowledge of God, in the existence of man is defined in the Kazakh proverb: "If God punishes a person, deprives him of his mind." The most important feature of understanding the religion of the Kazakh people is their internal content, and not an external form

Douglas Cairns, ed. Tragedy and Archaic Greek Thought

Douglas Cairns, ed. <i>Tragedy and Archaic Greek Thought</i>

O conceito de doxa (opinião) em Aristóteles

A noção de doxa (opinião) será geralmente entendida por pensadores gregos como Platão como contrária ao conhecimento epistêmico, verdadeiro, devido ao fato de expressar ou particularidades ligadas às percepções, que podem ser errôneas, ou a passionalidade dos sujeitos. Aristóteles, através da análise de um tipo de opinião, endoxa, que coincide com o verossímil na maioria das vezes, estabelecerá as espécies de opiniões que sevirão de base para argumentos dialéticos e retóricos.

Nietzsche - "La Naissance de la Philosophie" - 1938

Resumo Refletindo sobre uma recente tradução francesa de um trabalho de juventude de Nietzsche, o autor mostra que o filósofo alemão não estaria preocupado em fazer uma análise lógica minuciosa dos textos dos pensadores pré-socráticos, em articular seus fragmentos numa síntese harmoniosa e tampouco em oferecer uma interpretação original de suas ideias. Para ele, a singularidade de Nietzsche, que tinha uma aptidão única para transpor os temas da metafísica, da moral e da cultura ao plano da subjetividade lírica, seria a de mostrar a admirável aventura dos primeiros pensadores gregos que, emergindo de um mundo caótico, lendário e mitológico, entregaram-se à tarefa de reconstruir a realidade dentro das linhas luminosas da razão.

Embracing Greek philosophical thinking in the fathers of the 2nd - 5th centuries

Christianity adopted Greek language and thought it existed within a Greek cultural milieu and Hellenic historical setting. As a whole, however, the Fathers of the Greek Church did not seek to borrow either the essence or content from ancient Greek thought, for those they possessed in their sacred Scriptures. The Church Fathers put together the best parts of Greek classical antiquity with the best of the teaching of Christian theology. Nevertheless, in this effort Christian revelation did not escape infiltration by Greek thought, and Greek cultural and intellectual influences became interwoven with Christian faith. It was Christianity’s encounter with Hellenism that made the former a cosmopolitan religion. This relationship, not without periodic tensions, prevailed throughout the Byzantine millennium and centuries beyond. Long before modern anthropologists, philosophers, and theologians, these Church fathers confirmed that Greek culture is the outer garment of religion and religion is the heart of culture, and that the two are inseparable. In this manner, the Hellenic heritage of literal texts can be considered a part of our Church’s heritage. Christianity embraced Greek classical heritage while rejecting pagan cults.

The Illiberal Democracy of Ancient Athens

Ancient Athenians introduced democracy, majoritarianism and popular sovereignty. They also introduced populism and rent-seeking. Moreover, Athenians didn’t invent the rule of law. The power of demos was almost unlimited, there were no constitutional guarantees, checks and balances. The laws were subjected to the whims of the majority of citizens or judges. Most importantly, individual rights were not recognized in Athens. The concept of liberty in Ancient Athens was very different from the concept of liberty that prevailed after the Great Revolutions of the late 18th and the early 19th century which led to the contemporary liberal democracies. We will discuss these issues with reference to famous historical episodes and trials. However, we will also see that the liberal ideas of individuality, toleration and the rule of law, appeared in a not-so-embryonic way, in three important works of the period (a tragedy, a comedy and a history book). These ideas were remarkably original but at the same time marginal. They didn’t exert any significant influence on the Athenian democratic institutions.This is the text of a Keynote Lecture at the international conference: “Ancient Greece and the Modern World: The Influence of Greek Thought on Philosophy, Science and Technology” (Ancient Olympia, August 2016).

Los megáricos como sofistas erísticos. La respuesta platónica al ataque de Isócrates contra los socráticos

During the fourth century BC, Greek thinkers discussed about the limits and characteristics of philosophy in order to distinguish it from other practices. In this paper, I will focus on the portrait of sophists as diametrically opposed to philosophers. Specifically, I will discuss the platonic answer to the charge that Isocrates directed against all Socrates’ disciples in the treatises Against the Sophists and Encomium of Helen. I will defend that Plato’s strategy to avoid his critics was to develop, in the Euthydemus and the fifth definition of the Sophist, a character that combines the most significant attributes censured by Isocrates: the eristic sophist. I will argue that this figure does not refer to the Sophists of the fifth century BC., but to the Megaric group. They would have been those who, according to Plato, really deserved the Isocratic attack.

De la paideia griega y términos de la probabilidad

&lt;p class="Standard"&gt;&lt;span lang="ES"&gt;Este artículo contiene tres aspectos del marco teórico de una investigación doctoral en curso acerca de un tema de la didáctica de las matemáticas relacionado con la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de los conceptos básicos de la Teoría de la Probabilidad a nivel universitario. Su propósito es el de fundamentar la tesis de que estos conceptos no fueron definidos formalmente desde alguna teoría específica sino que son producto de un intrincado devenir en la cultura occidental a partir de nociones primordiales que aparecen en los mitos de la Antigua Grecia. El primer aspecto trata la noción de incertidumbre, con la cual los pensadores griegos describían la impredecible voluntad de los dioses y diosas, como las Parcas o Moiras, que personificaron en la diosa Tyche (para los romanos Fortuna), como lo comenta el escritor e historiador alemán Werner Jaeger en su libro de la Paideia Griega. Un segundo aspecto trata el concepto del azar, pero desde dos enfoques distintos: el primer enfoque es el azar visto desde el conocimiento innato; Platón lo denotaba con el término ‘tyche’ ya desmitologizado, como nos lo indica el mismo Jaeger. El segundo enfoque del azar fue desarrollado por Aristóteles desde una perspectiva que podría llamarse “fenomenológica”, con la que intentó articular la incertidumbre con un discurso que parte de la hipótesis llamada ‘causalidad’, término distinto de ‘casualidad’ y del segundo término de la expresión ‘generación espontánea’, atribuyendo la ‘incertidumbre’ a la ignorancia del futuro para respetar el flujo causal. El tercer aspecto de este artículo se refiere a ciertas acepciones y etimologías de vocablos que finalmente se convirtieron en términos técnicos de la moderna Teoría de la Probabilidad, para confirmar la tesis arriba enunciada.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

On the Ancient Idea that Music Shapes Character

Ancient Chinese and Greek thinkers alike were preoccupied with the moral value of music; they distinguished between good and bad music by looking at the music’s effect on moral character. The idea can be understood in terms of two closely related questions. Does music have the power to affect the ethical character of either listener or performer? If it does, is it better (or worse) as music for doing so? I argue that an affirmative answers to both questions are more plausible than it might seem at first.

La prudencia política en Tomás de Aquino

En el artículo se hace un recorrido por la historia de los vocablos –y sus significados–que dan lugar al concepto de prudencia. Desde el mito de Prometeo y la prometheia,pasando por filósofos y pensadores griegos (la fronesis y su adaptación en los romanoscomo providentia), hasta el tratado de la prudencia en Tomás de Aquino, donde seasume como intersección de los dinamismos morales e intelectuales, y fundamentalmentecomo inteligencia práctica, clave de la ética en cuanto dirige la elección e impera laacción en orden a la perfección del ethos humano. De esta forma se llega a la prudenciapolítica en Tomás de Aquino: sus partes integrantes y sus clasificaciones. Se estudiaespecialmente la prudencia gubernativa, con sus especificaciones (prudencia del régimen,legislativa, de justicia y militar) y la prudencia política propiamente dicha o de lossúbditos, en la cual se distingue la de los ciudadanos y la de los grupos restringidos.

Tres perspectivas en materia de justicia: Calicles, el mito de Protágoras y la noble mentira socrática

La reflexión política de Platón, así como la teoría de la justicia que de ella se desprende, escapan de las categorías convencionales que definen las tendencias políticas de la Atenas del siglo V a. C. La imposibilidad de circunscribirlas en el marco de dichas categorías nos enfrenta a una dificultad mayor en relación con la comprensión de la aserción según la cual la justicia es una realidad natural. Al afirmar lo anterior, el filósofo pone en relación de complementariedad dos realidades que, de acuerdo con la mentalidad política de la Grecia antigua, representan los polos opuestos de la antinomia entre la ley positiva y el llamado derecho natural o νόμος κατὰ φύσιν. Por muy paradójico que parezca, el hecho de considerar que la justicia es una realidad natural confiere su orientación y su lógica propia al proyecto político desarrollado en la República platónica. Conforme a dicha orientación, Platón logra instalar un mito fenicio como base de su proyecto político y materializar las lecciones que se desprenden del mismo bajo la forma de una serie de prescripciones destinadas a encaminar la existencia de los miembros de la ciudad ideal en la dirección fijada por la justicia natural.

Analysis philosophical and legal concept of justice in the philosophy of law

One of the issues analyzed in the philosophy of law and these theme is the basis of jurisprudence. The justice, as one of the most important properties of morality and also reflects its superior attributes. According to the philosophers, the concept of justice is divided into several categories and development of these categories based right and laws. The meaning of justice relationship principles of the laws and that do not reflect the meaning of justice, will be available word. The study have been analyzed of ancient Greek thinkers in outlook and subsequently the thoughts of justice and it was concluded at that time, justice in relation to a person the attributes of its superior, it was adopted as the basis of respecting the right of others. If a person shows irresponsibility to others forcing him to remorse sense of justice. Unlike them, Hegel the meaning of justice, the state coordinates. According to him, the principles of justice are linked to the requirements of the state, among the principles “being” and “must being” there is no difference. Justice, regulates the legal rules and regulate them in accordance with the structure. The purpose of justice, there are signs that any person whether you are entitled to in compliance with the law. The person in front of the law and fulfilling the duties required by law, but also holy count its principles and must accept any issue related to law. In the article, by reference to the theory of philosophers and lawyers, studing meaning of justice and meaning of right and also analyzed social aspects.

20 Days of Dream Telepathy

The ‘Natural Philosophy’ of the Atomist Democritus, a Greek thinker from the fifth century BCE, introduced the hypothesis of images or idols (eidola), a kind of emanation from external objects, whi...

Freedom and Destiny in Ancient Greek Thought: Some Footnotes for Contemporary Scientific Research and Education

In the history of thought it has been common to inquire about the relation between personal freedom and necessity. The question of self-determination and self-sufficiency was an essential question for the ancient philosophers and poets in their enquiries about how to live a good life. In this paper we will discuss the ancient Greek interpretation of freedom and its collateral of responsibility. This will bring us to three important questions for scientific research and education: 1) Are scientific deliberation and practical wisdom exclusive skills? 2) Is the will an unneeded faculty of the soul? 3) Is the katharsis a footnote for the lucid and robust contemporary state of mind?

Byzantine Turns in Modern Greek Thought and Historiography, 1767-1874

&lt;p&gt;This article examines representations of Byzantium in Modern Greek historical&lt;br /&gt;thought, from the first translation (1767) of the Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae to&lt;br /&gt;the publication of Konstantinos Paparrigopoulos’ complete Ἱστορία τοῦ Ἑλληνικού Ἔθνους&lt;br /&gt;[History of the Greek nation (1860-1874)]. In doing so, it reassesses conventions, especially&lt;br /&gt;prevalent in English-language works, regarding the range and complexity of endeavors in&lt;br /&gt;this vein. Developments in European thought are used throughout as a vantage point, as&lt;br /&gt;they represent a contingency of great importance for any assessment of Greek attitudes&lt;br /&gt;toward the past. However, these influences did not always point in one direction; a factor&lt;br /&gt;which, in tandem with local generational and ideological divisions, helps to explain the&lt;br /&gt;diverse perspectives on Byzantium in Greek works from the period under review.&lt;/p&gt;

Pythagoras: His Life, Teaching, and Influence

Christoph Riedweg's book is an engaging introduction to the fundamental contributions of Pythagoras to European culture. To penetrate the intricate maze of lore and ascertain what history can tell us about the philosopher, Riedweg not only examines the written record but also considers Pythagoras withing the cultural, intellectual, and spiritual context of his times. The result is a vivid overview of the life and teachings of a crucial Greek thinker and his most important followers.

A MAN AND HIS RIGHTS IN THE CONCEPTS OF ANCIENT REPRESENTATIVES OF PHILOSOPHICAL AND LEGAL THOUGHT

Emergence of the idea of human rights in V— VI centuries BC in ancient policies and emergence of the principle of citizenship became a major step on the way of humanity towards freedom and progress. The idea and practice of freedom and human rights was given to the world by the most famous of all ancient civilizations — Athens in the views of Heraclitus, Democritus, Protagoras, Antiphont, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, etc. Ancient Greek ideas about human rights formed as a part of mythological views that the polis or the citystate and its laws are of divine origin and are based on divine justice. Further development of sociophilosophical and political-legal concepts of human rights in Ancient Greece occurred in search and substantiation, along with the divine origin, of objective natural-legal basis for the existence of the polis, its laws and social existence of people. Natural-legal ideas of ancient Greek thinkers about freedom and equality of all human beings further developed in Ancient Rome, and especially in the philosophical and legal views of the Stoics Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, and Cicero, the ancient Roman thinker, philosopher and orator. In their teaching on human rights, the natural-legal idea of freedom and equality was extended beyond the narrow polis and ethnic framework and was expanded to all members of the humankind as fellow citizens of a single cosmopolitan state. According to the results of the conducted research, the author notes that the ancient thinkers, prominent representatives of philosophical, legal, and political thought of that time laid the foundations of the doctrine of human rights, which was further developed in the medieval beliefs of medieval representatives, especially in the views of the authors of the liberal world outlook of the New times. The English and American Age of Enlightenment, French bourgeoisdemocratic revolution have become a new important milestone and a new stage in theoretical development and practical realization of the centuries-old aspirations of people about their rights, freedom and equality of all people on the Earth.

The Concept of the Triad of Branches of State Power and Issues of its Modernisation

A. Establishment and Development of Theory of Separation of Powers essence and functions of state and its individual agencies (including prosecution agencies) are defined together with other factors and systems of state, with its institutionalization, as state is a social and legal-political formation being main institution belonging to legal sphere. And as we know, an important theoretic 'background' of studying of problems of institutionalization of power is a classic theory of of (4). 1. Origins of Theory in Ancient Times It should be noted that this theory not appear overnight, its origin can be traced to legal and political thought of European antiquity. Thus, ancient Greek thinker Polybius described a mechanism of state structure in Ancient Rome, where power was divided between century and Curiatii comitias, Senate, consuls, praetors and others. Talking about these agencies and officials, Polybius suggested that aim of this division was to set the state into position of uniform fluctuations and balance, like a ship sailing against wind (5). Polybius also suggested that idea of allocation of state functions was well implemented in Ancient Rome: consulate represents monarchy, activity of senate is influenced be presence of aristocracy, and assemblies present democracy. Polybius' ideas circulation of forms of government and on mixed government were widely used for different projects of 'ideal' states, including theory of power separation (6). Aristotle back in Ancient times singled out power institutions similar to modern legislative, executive and judicial branches of power: The state is a complex thing presenting a unity of plurality, consisting of specific different dissimilar parts. Firstly, there is a legislative body (people's assembly), function of which is performed with participation of all freemen. second element is administrative, or governmental, which is represented by magistracy, having its powers. And thirdly, there are judicial authorities which execute justice (7). These ideas of Aristotle based on of functions of state agencies anticipated, according to scientist R.R. Salimnyazeva, ideas of philosophers of new age as to of powers within system of checks and balances (8). However, according to V.S. Nersesyants, Aristotle did not aim to analyse nature of their interaction, methods and forms of regulation of their relations, oppositions, balancing their relations etc., which would be important for of power separation (9). Even though we agree with critics of V.S. Nersesyants, we think that Aristotle's achievement, who back in ancient times separated unified government power and singled out corresponding state authorities, served as a basis for establishment of integral concept of state power. 2. Development of Concept in Modern Age This concept became especially relevant before and during Civil War in England in 17th century and during French Revolution of second half of 18th century. Particularly respected thought leader of 17th-century England was John Locke. His name is associated with development of this concept. However, should be taken into account that some researchers think that this is not a finalized theoretic concept, but a doctrine of hierarchy of powers within a state created through social contract (10), where the legislative power, if necessary, should be supreme, and all other powers represented by some members of society flow from and subordinate to it (11). Regardless of certain level of truth for above-mentioned position, is worth to be noted that John Locke, however he came close to theory of social contract, was first one to develop theory of constitutional parliamentarian monarchy based on idea of of power functions between legislator, executor of law and subjects of external relations (federal power). …

Historical Evolution of Economic Category “State Financial Reserves”

1. Introduction Under the conditions of instability and crisis in the global economy, national governments strive for search and use of various means of preservation of stability of their national economic systems. One of the most popular tools for this is formation of state financial reserves in the period of economic growth, when there is excess of assets of state budget, which could be put into reserve without any damage to realization of planned state programs and under the condition of fulfillment of all state social responsibilities. During the period of recession, accumulated financial resources are directed for supporting the top-priority spheres of economy for preservation of national production and prevention of massive bankruptcy and unemployment. Despite the large interest to state financial reserves, this economic category is not properly studies from evolutional point of view, which hinders effective use of instrumentarium of state financial reserves. This causes the necessity for conduct of additional research in this sphere and determines actuality of this article. 2. Method Up to this time, the modern financial theory viewed the problems of financial reserves primarily at micro-level, in regard to activities of separate economic subjects. This explained small number of domestic publications and studies, devoted to financial reserved at macro-level, i.e., reserves which are usually defined as state reserves. Only over the recent period, the number of scientific research grew substantially--in our opinion, it was caused by the fact that traditional structure of state reserves was supplemented by the Stabilization Reserve, which four years after its creation was divided into the Reserve Fund and the Russian National Wealth Fund (Fund of Future Generations). This gave reasons for more detailed study of theories, tendencies, and conditions which influence formation of diverse state reserves, classification of their types, ways of investment and formation, modeling, and forecasting of their required reserves. Among the researchers that studies the above problems are the following scientists: (Demirmen, 2013), (Zhou, 2009), (Rockoff, 2015), (Morelli et al., 2015), (Vortelinos, 2014), (Hayo et al., 2014), (Carpenter et al., 2014), (Kohn, 2013), (Bassetto & Messer, 2013), etc. At the same time, the task of description of economists' opinions on the nature of reserving from the point of view of their evolution remains topical. It is known that works of A. Smith, K. Marx, F. Engels, T. Hobbs, J. Locke, Antoine de Montchrestien, J. Lauderdale, E. Hansen, R. Maltus, J. Hobson. J. Ackerlof, S.Y. Vitte, etc. contain various approaches to determination of main attributes of reserves and conditions which led to their formation at micro-and macro-levels. 3. Results Our studies show that evolutional environment for generalization of various opinions as to reserving can be conventionally divided into several periods (Fig. 1). Back in III century B.C. in Rome, first bankers were chosen to receive free assets from state treasury as loans, and to borrow from them for social needs--which was the prototype of modern state financial reserves. (Rockoff, 2015). However, first attempts of theoretical realization of economic phenomena and economic structure of society were made by classical Greek thinkers (Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle). Aristotle was the first to analyze regularities of development of society and became the first economist in the history of science. He opposed economy (from [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]-household and [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]--manage) and chrematistics (from Greek: [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]--property). He treated economy as natural husbandry activities related to manufacture of commodities necessary for living, and chrematistics--as an art of accumulating wealth, activities aimed at receiving profit, accumulation of wealth, especially, in the form of money (Morelli et al. …