Idea Of Providence Research Articles

Eine vergessene Ausgabe von Ciceros De natura deorum

Abstract This article wants to recall a hitherto unnoticed edition of Cicero’s De Natura Deorum, which the classical philologist Matthäus Dresser (1536–1615) published with an extensive commentary. This edition, however, represents a remarkable peculiarity within the reception history of Cicero’s text, since Dresser neither claims to be a philologist, interested in textual criticism, nor a neutral historian of the philosophy of religion. Rather, as an apologetically oriented Protestant in times of confessional conflict, he is concerned with the argumentative validity of the different answers to the questions discussed in Cicero’s text: Do gods exist? What qualities do they have? What activities do they display? And which relevance do these answers have for Christian monotheism? Hence, we may speak of a selective commentary, first and foremost interested in the truth or falsehood of the various answers to these main questions, in order to set contemporary readers (especially scholars and students) on the right track and to save them from severe religious errors. Dresser aims to achieve his goal by adding to the text not only extensive Annotationes, but also an introductory Argumentum to each of the three Ciceronian books of De Natura Deorum. He also gives two Disputationes (in the form of theses) at the end of each book, which provide a résumé and further guidance on interpretation. Thus he firmly rejects the atomism of Epicureanism and its denial of Providence, as explained in the first book. Dresser has to take a differentiated view of the views of Stoicism as presented in the second book: Besides many beneficial doctrines, this school of philosophers also holds fatalistic and pantheistic views which have to be rejected as dangerous to the Christian faith. As the sceptic Cotta radically rebukes the religious views of Epicureanism in the third book, but also attacks in large part Stoic theism and its idea of providence, which is also dear to Dresser’s heart, he is forced to oppose academic scepticism. This gives rise to a “theodicy” avant la lettre by Dresser, since Cottas denial of providence had also argued with the existence of evil in God’s creation. The Epicurean conceptions of God are thus not an option. Those of Stoicism are acceptable if purged of dangerous elements. Scepticism in its radical academic form must be eliminated by argument. In this article, these features of Dresser’s Annotationes and Disputationes are described and analysed in detail. Important parts of his commentaries are quoted in the author’s translation. Completely translated are the Disputationes 1 and 2 to Book III, dealing with the sceptical ’epoché’ or retention of judgement. Thus, the contribution not only represents a unique example of the reception of Cicero’s De Natura Deorum in the age of confessionalism, but also gives an insight into the reception of the three Hellenistic schools of philosophy in the early modern period in general, especially that of scepticism.

Бродский и Клио: профиль скептической философии истории

In the wake of mounting disasters of the last century, poets and philosophers de­veloped the notion of the total arbitrariness of history. In the wording of Karl Löwith, “the skeptic and the believer have a common cause against the easy reading of history and its meaning. Their wisdom, like all wisdom consists not the least in disillusion and resignation, in freedom from illusions and presump­tions”. The Hegelian claim that history has an ultimate meaning, or final pur­pose, or goal was vehemently rejected, as well as Plato’s utopia of a “just city”. In his essays and poems, Brodsky postulates the randomness of history. He bor­rowed the notion of randomness from the book by Lev Shestov “The Apotheosis of Groundlessness”. Shestov promoted the idea of mental nomadism, or freedom from causal thinking and scientism. For Brodsky, being a nomad mentally meant to escape from both rationalist interpretation of history and the theological idea of Providence. He believed that rationalism’s greatest casualty was individual­ism. Besides, the doctrine of historical determinism and the notion of Provi­dence’s general benevolence translated itself into a patient waiting for a Storm Trooper. Seeing problems with such patient waiting in place, such as deportation of Jews to death camps, Brodsky suggested that it would be much better to be­come a nomad. Brodsky developed his ideas against the foil of the Bible, the Re­public of Plato and Hamlet by Shakespeare. He described nomadism as Israel’s Exodus from Egypt and the expulsion of poets from Plato’s Just City.

Поиск оснований русского Просвещения у П.Я. Чаадаева и И.В. Киреевского: к истории «Записки» П.Я. Чаадаева А.Х. Бен­кендорфу

This article analyses Pyotr Chaadayev’s “Note” (1832), a message addressed to Alexan­der von Benkendorf, who served as head of the secret police under Nikolas I. “The Note” is essentially a letter that supports Ivan Kireevsky’s article entitled “The 19th Century”, which Kireevsky published in his magazine – “The European” – and which provoked the secret police to close the magazine right after the publication of the article in 1832. “The Note” is a somewhat enigmatic text because it was signed with Kireevsky’s name, which for a long time made researchers believe that it reflected Kireevsky’s position. However, in the 1930s, researchers proved that the actual author of “The Note” was Pyotr Chaadayev, and that “The Note” contained his thoughts. “The Note” shows that it was the July Revolution of 1830 that temporarily undermined Chaa­dayev’s belief in Europe and made Chaadayev shift from the negative philosophy of Russian history and the Eurocentrism of his “Philosophical Letters” (1829–1830) to­wards the idea of Russia’s historical mission, despite Russia’s backwardness. This back­wardness was later presented in the text “Apology of a Madman” (1837) as the idea of Providence guiding Russia through history. The present article argues that in the early 1830s, Kireevsky did not share Chaadayev’s belief in Providence. “The Note” reads as a very ambivalent text because Chaadayev used it to both vindicate Kireevsky’s article, and to set forth his own philosophy of history. In the present paper, the author separates these two types of arguments and concepts which were tightly interwoven in “The Note”, but were in fact reflections of two different, although unstable and somewhat overlap­ping, positions of two philosophers.

History, Power, and the Providential Order in the Neo-Latin Drama „Theodoricus” by Nicolaus Vernulaeus

This paper aims at presenting the way in which Nicolaus Vernulaeus 1583–1649 combines in his Neo-Latin drama Theodoricus. Rex Italiae Theodoric, the King of Italy history and current public affairs with the philosophico-theological view of the Divine governance over the world. The title character is juxtaposed with other chief men in the late Roman state: Boethius, Symmachus, and John. The author of the article considers the role of history in this play and the way in which the idea of Providence is engaged in the description of one episode taken from antiquity. In Vernulaeus’ text ancient history becomes an implicit costume which serves as ethical enhancement of its viewer or reader, by means such as making allusions to the current political situation.

Providencia y cosmopolitismo. Elementos estoicos en la filosofía política de Kant

This paper aims to show in the first instance that the notion of providence that Kant uses in works such as Perpetual Peace and Ideas for a universal History with a cosmopolitan Purpose corresponds in some central aspects to the Stoic idea of providence. Secondly, it will be argued that it is in this context in which it is possible to assess the Kantian notion of cosmopolitanism correctly. Finally, this paper suggests that this way of philosophically confronting the problems of history and politics provides an answer to the systematicity constraint, which according to Kant is required by reason itself. indeed, this very idea of system is linked to a good extent to Stoic philosophy.

FAITH, SACRIFICE, AND THE EARTH'S GLORY IN TERRENCE MALICK'S THE TREE OF LIFE

:Terrence Malick's film The Tree of Life revisits many of the questions regarding a Christian theodicy. How, for example, can one reconcile the idea of providence or believe in the meaning of human suffering when life itself is subject to and even dependent on chance and violence? In order to sustain faith in providence in such a universe, Malick suggests that one must be willing to absorb the insults of accident and sacrifice the human drive to control and master one's own destiny. In his invocation of Job, his allusions to Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, and his debt to Kierkegaard, Malick suggests that the recompense for this sacrifice is an intensification of appreciation for existence itself and for the spiritual value of biological and geological processes. In this way, the film offers an insightful ecotheology that makes earth more central to a Christian ethos.

Mungo Park en Afrique, ou l'explorateur exploré

Denise Brahimi : Mungo Park in Africa of the explorer explored. Mongo Park, a twenty-four year old Scotsman, was sent by the African Association to explore part of West African, from the Gambia to the Niger. He set off in 1795 for a journey of two and a half years and in 1799 published his account, which contains precise information on the places he passed through. He was sustained by concern for his mission and by the idea of providence, despite the dangers — which led to his death during his second journey, in 1805. His impartial judgements and his method of analysing the behaviour he saw are typical of the Enlightenment. What is new is his acceptance of the fact that the people visited had the same desire for knowledge in return, and his willingness to reciprocate.

Providence as Mystery, Providence as Revelation: Puritan and Anglican Modifications of John Calvin's Doctrine of Providence

Acceptance of providence, the belief that an ultimate being determines the course of events, has always created problems for moralists and advocates of free will, and for obivous reasons. If any events has been foreordained, how can hemans be free? If all is determined, why should humans try to do what is right? Aside from the philosophical questions raised by a belief in provedence, however, scholars such as the distinguished economists Jacob Viner have begun to examine the doctrine of providence from the point of view of its broad ideological and social impact. Though Professor Viner modestly claimed that his study of providence was simply an intellectual history pursued for its own sake, he demonstrated many of the doctrine's implications for early modern thought and social structures. Similar emphasis on the significance of the early modern idea of providence is also found in Keith Thomas'Religion and the Decline of Magic.

The Role of Providence in History

Serious historical inquiry is inevitably at odds with the idea of providence in history. To such inquiry providence is an unnecessary and frustrating hypothesis. For somewhat different reasons, including embarrassment about triumphalism and presumption in the past, modem theologians rarely speak of providence. Nevertheless, what men have made of providence has had a considerable role in making and viewing history. Here then my concern is with the ways of men to God.