Philosophical Texts Research Articles

Cognitive Mechanisms of Graffiti: Compression, Defocusing, and Focusing

This study aims to identify the predominant cognitive mechanisms underlying graffiti. The analysis is based on photographs of over 2000 instances of urban graphic defacement (i.e., graffiti) documented in major cities across Russia, including Yekaterinburg, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Nizhny Novgorod. Utilizing content analysis and expert evaluation methods, the research delineates three key cognitive mechanisms that contribute to the semantic unity of graffiti. The first mechanism, compression, manifests in graphic defacements through linguistic play or the transmission of discursive texts. The second mechanism, defocusing, is linguistically actualized through the technique of absurdity (everyday anchors of illogicality) and the activation of the emotion of surprise. It is noted that surprise elicits various reactions from the audience — such as loss of control, bewilderment, and uncertainty — which subsequently leads to prolonged retention in memory of the meanings embedded in the respective graffiti against a backdrop of vivid and atypical psycho-emotional states. The third mechanism, focusing, is linguistically embodied in philosophical texts.

O vztahu Patočkovy filosofie k filosofii Jaspersově

In the first part, the author sketches the problem of human existence as it appears in the texts of both philosophers. The second part enumerates all Patočka’s texts mentioning Jaspers as well as all of the works by Jaspers that we know Patočka reflected on. The third part traces in more detail Jaspers’ book Philosophical Faith, in which Patočka, in his own words, found “great stimuli”, and shows several links between Patočka’s own philosophy and the book (especially four themes: the relation between philosophy and science; between philosophy and revealed religion; between philosophy and “non-philosophy”; between philosophy and history). The fourth part traces the idea of the origin of the free human act, which was explored by both Patočka and Jaspers. Finally, the article shows that despite similar or even identical lines of thought on certain topics – including a topic as fundamental as human freedom –, the authors offer two fundamentally different visions of reality that could be labelled as “ontology vs. metaphysics” or “the totality of the world vs. extra-worldly transcendence”.

State of the Field Report XV: Contemporary Chinese Studies of the Scholastic-Aristotelian Soul in Late-Ming and Early-Qing China

AbstractThe Jesuit China mission coincided with a sophisticated attempt to place Chinese and Western concepts of human nature in dialogue with Confucianism. The Jesuits believed that they could facilitate evangelization by drawing upon Confucian concepts to explain the soul. In so doing, they and their Chinese collaborators also pioneered a genre of hybrid philosophical texts, which used Aristotelian conceptions of the soul to critique and supplement autochthonous Chinese conceptions of human nature. These texts are not just of significance for Chinese Christian theology, but also anthropology, psychology, and even medicine, given the role played by the soul in both Chinese and Western conceptions of human physiology at the time. Until recently these texts have been little studied except by missiologists who were more interested in their relevance for mission history than for comparative philosophy. Scholarship has perhaps also been hampered by the immense linguistic demands of studying texts that sit between the Chinese and Western intellectual traditions. Recently, however, a number of Chinese scholars have turned their attention to these texts, intrigued by novel philosophical ideas contained therein and their complex relationship to both the Western and Chinese intellectual and religious traditions. Since many of these Chinese-language contributions are published in volumes which are not easily accessible outside of China, they have not enjoyed great visibility in Western-language scholarship. This article will review the major developments in Chinese scholarship and will conclude with suggestions for future research.

Similarities and Divergences in the Philosophical Thought of Plato, Francis Bacon, and René Descartes

The article "Similarities and Divergences in the Philosophical Thought of Plato, Francis Bacon, and René Descartes" explores the similarities and differences in the philosophical currents of these authors, focusing on their influence on modern and contemporary epistemology. It highlights the role of Platonic idealism in contemporary science through a dialectical engagement with Baconian empiricism and Cartesian rationalism. The main objective is to demonstrate the importance of Platonic idealism as an epistemological driver in the evolution of science, emphasizing the interconnections between the philosophical currents discussed. The study is a theoretical review based on a comparative analysis of classical and modern philosophical texts, utilizing a total of 14 references. The research focuses on the similarities and divergences between these philosophical currents throughout history. The most significant findings show that, although there are fundamental differences between idealism, empiricism, and rationalism, these currents converge at key points in the structuring of modern science. In particular, Platonic idealism provides a profound contribution to scientific knowledge, despite having been underestimated by the experimental method. The article concludes that Platonic idealism, along with Baconian empiricism and Cartesian rationalism, has been essential to the evolution of science. These philosophies, though divergent, have created a common foundation that has enabled the development of scientific knowledge.

Embracing mortality: psychological preparation on death in the guidance of stoic philosophy

Humanity's greatest fear is the inevitability of death, the ultimate fate that all strive to evade. This collective dread of mortality stems from its perceived malevolence. Across the ages, from religious rituals promising salvation to scientific efforts to delay death, human attempts to confront mortality vary widely. Yet death remains inescapable, a natural consequence of life. While religious doctrines offer comfort through ideas of an afterlife, and science views death as a biological challenge to be postponed. Conversely, philosophy advocates for an intellectual acceptance of death's inevitability. The Stoic Philosophy, in particular, advocate for the joyful acceptance of death as an integral part of life. This philosophical stance fosters a positive perspective on death, encouraging individuals to live life to its fullest potential. Embracing death with joy entails psychological reassurance and preparatory measures for life's inevitable end. This qualitative study explores psychological preparation for death using primary and secondary data sources. Primary sources include the philosophical texts by Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, specifically "Letters to Lucilius," "On the Shortness of Life," and "Meditations." Secondary data is collected from peer-reviewed journals, books, and reports that contextualize these works within modern psychological frameworks. The primary audience includes individuals preparing for death due to age or illness and those grieving loved ones, offering a pathway to peace and understanding through Stoic wisdom. Moreover, this will be a guidance to those who work with the terminally ill people to get psychological resilience. By embracing death, Stoicism encourages both the dying and the bereaved to find psychological reassurance and encourage all to live a meaningful life in the given time frame.

Metaphor as Method in the Writings of Isaiah Berlin

The conventional approach to Isaiah Berlin's writings has been to treat them discursively, as philosophical texts. While such approaches are insightful, there is more to Berlin's writings than his arguments. Among his literary strategies is a comparative approach that involves the use of metaphors, similes, and analogies. As I will argue, Berlin's use of metaphor constitutes a core component of his work, where his meaning is often suggestive more than precise. Berlin's intention seems to be to exhibit those aspects of experience reflective of uncertainty, where our choices are not determined by necessity. Such an intention ostensibly exhibits his value pluralism, as well as an oft-neglected sensitivity to the forms of language. By resorting to metaphors Berlin accomplishes several things: he shows how the intelligibility of experience is partially imagistic, he illustrates how meaning can be structured comparatively but nondiscursively, and he exemplifies the importance of these things for decision making.

Reconsidering the Textuality of the Heroic Epic Mahabharata: Hermeneutical Possibilities as a Philosophical Text

Reconsidering the Textuality of the Heroic Epic Mahabharata: Hermeneutical Possibilities as a Philosophical Text

Theoretical and methodological orientations and positions of the problem of translation: on the example of philosophical texts

In the article the basics of the affiliation between philosophy and translation in connection with modern developments and changes in philosophy and translation were examined. The authors highlight the main reasons contributing to the deep transformation of humanitarian meanings, which are of particular interest and relevance. The purpose of the study is a philosophical view of the changing factors in the translation problem. The explanation of the concepts of “philosophy and translation” was reviewed. The authors interpret translation as a category of social philosophy. The main growth points for thoughts about the transfer of one of the central concepts of linguistics to the core of a broad interdisciplinary scientific discussion and its elevation to the category of social philosophy were reflected in its changed role and function. The authors also consider translation as an important factor in reviving cultural diversity and stimulating the growth of human creativity. It is concluded that the interpretation of translation as a factor that has a significant impact on a person requires consideration by the social philosophymethods. A methodology for analyzing important sociocultural phenomena, based on the dialectical ideais proposed. The main research method is the double opposition “philosophy—translation”. This approach includes the need to pay close attention to the connections between the whole and its important parts, which increases the relevance of analyzing the connections between them. Within this idea, the key conclusion is that philosophical categories are derived from real relations to science.

Conceptualization of everyday life in philosophy of M. Heidegger and R. Barthes

The article is devoted to the analysis of the concepts of everyday life in the works of M. Heidegger and R. Barthes. Based on textual and comparative analysis, the author offers her own interpretation of the meaning of the concept of "everyday life" in "Being and Time". In the first section of the study, the author examines Dasein and some structures of its existence, the concept of "das Man" as the basis of inauthentic existence, two modes of Dasein's existence and their connection with the meaning of everyday life. Particular attention is paid to Barthes's work "How to Live Together: Novelistic Simulations of Some Everyday Spaces", which is a collection of his lectures, his concept of "idiorrythmie" in connection with the study of the structure of everyday life. Barthes continues the work begun by Heidegger, but tries to establish and reveal the cultural and ideological influence on human everyday life. To accomplish the tasks, the author uses a methodology that is based on the methods of textual and comparative analysis, as well as the problematization of concepts. The main conclusions of the conducted research are, firstly, the identification of three possible meanings of "everyday life" in the work "Being and Time", secondly, the disclosure of the discourse on everyday life in the framework of R. Barthes's philosophical works, thirdly, an attempt to identify the cultural and ideological influence on the grasp of everyday life by man. Thus, it was established that everyday life itself, as an a priori-ontological condition of human existence, is unchangeable, but only the perception of everyday life by man or his way of grasping everyday life in consciousness changes. In this sense, Barthes continues and brings to a new level the work begun by Heidegger, but he starts not from individual consciousness, but from the life of the "I" with others in everyday life as a space of idiorrhythmes. The discovery of common features of reflections on everyday life in Heidegger and Barthes prompts the author to trace the influence of philosophical texts on changes in the subject of the humanities.

An Assessment of Empirical Thinking in Islam

This research explores the intersection between empiricism and Islamic epistemology, focusing on the limitations of sensory perception in capturing reality. Although empiricism plays an important role in Islamic thought, its exclusive reliance on sensory experience limits the understanding of phenomena beyond perception. Through a comparative analysis of Islamic philosophical texts and empirical literature, this study reveals the compatibility of empirical inquiry with metaphysical insights in Islam. By advocating a holistic approach to acquiring knowledge, this research contributes to the broader philosophical discourse, emphasizing the synthesis of empirical methods with spiritual insights for a comprehensive understanding of reality. Highlights : Empirical limitations: Highlighting the constraints of sensory perception in grasping reality. Compatibility of methodologies: Demonstrating the harmony between empirical inquiry and Islamic metaphysical principles. Synthesis of knowledge: Advocating for a holistic approach that integrates empirical methods and spiritual insights for a comprehensive understanding of reality. Keywords: Empiricism, Islamic epistemology, Sensory perception, Metaphysical insights, Holistic approach

Language-attached Transfer Restrictions in Neural Machine Translation: An Analysis of Tao Te Ching

This study focuses on the language-attached transfer restrictions in Chinese to English neural machine translation (NMT) of Tao Te Ching, an ancient Chinese philosophical text, which aims to identify and analyze the specific challenges and limitations encountered by NMT systems when translating linguistic features that are unique to the source language and how these challenges impact the accuracy and quality of the translated text in English. It contributes to the understanding of the complexities involved in machine translation of ancient Chinese texts and proposes strategies to mitigate the identified transfer restrictions, ultimately aiming to bridge the gap between machine translation capabilities and the richness of Chinese philosophical literature.

What is spirituality? The challenges of a philosophical definition

AbstractIn recent years, there have been a number of philosophical publications focusing on spirituality. But even in pertinent philosophical texts it is rare to find attempts at shaping a workable definition of spirituality, despite the obvious need for a clear definition for the philosophical debate on spirituality. This paper addresses the major issues in shaping a satisfactory definition of spirituality: an understanding of spirituality as transcendence of critical reasoning, the broadness of the concept, the implications of various scholarly backgrounds and the challenge of avoiding a circular definition. It suggests a rough clustering of common approaches into ontological, ethical, and functional definitions and discusses their weaknesses. It is argued that an inclusive, metaphysically parsimonious, and stipulative definition is the best way to address typical difficulties and avoid weaknesses of common definitions. Finally, it proposes a definition based on meaning, a term that often appears in the discussion of spirituality. It is suggested that understanding meaning in the ordinary sense of the word might be a good starting point to arrive at a satisfactory definition of spirituality.

The Fraternity of Milk: Sovereignty and Anthropotheophagy in Derrida’s Unpublished Seminar Manger l’autre (1989–1990)

Abstract In the unpublished seminars given in the United States and France between 1989–1991, Manger l’autre: Politiques de l’Amitié and Rhétoriques du Cannibalisme, Derrida analyzes the rhetorical function that the act of eating has in the Western tradition’s philosophical texts. In this paper I analyze the reading Derrida makes in those seminars of Saint Augustine’s Confessions, in order to show that they are entangled with a critique of political sovereignty. For Derrida, Augustine has a cogito of his own, which is a cogito du manger l’autre. Augustine’s formulation is “I think, eat and drink” (ego cogito, manduco et bibo), and Derrida understands it as a way of constituting both the self of the ego and the self of the community. The first form of Christian community configured through the intake of food is the fraternity of milk: infants that suck the same milk from the breast of their nurse or mother. The second configuration of the community is, of course, the sacrament of Eucharist, in which the body of the father is divided (partagé) among the brothers. I show how the analysis Derrida makes of Augustine in these seminars is a way of deconstructing the very concept of community and its relation to sovereignty. This is attempted by Derrida through the problem of jealousy: the brothers of milk will always be jealous of each other, being themselves the condition for the breaking of the community and their sovereignty. But the second form of community is also threatened by food: since the holy wafer is an edible thing and the act of incorporation of food is really an act of theophagy.

Philosophy and biography

AbstractDoes the biography of a philosopher have any relevance to assessing their philosophy? After considering and rejecting three distinct treatments of this question, a different answer is articulated here. Distinguishing between the content and approach of a philosophical text, this article argues that biography is relevant to assessing the approach of the text in three ways: in its socio‐historical context, its philosophical context, and its personal context in the life of the philosopher. Such a strategy offers new ways of comparing very different texts and assessing them in terms of the aims of the philosopher writing them.

The perfumer’s garden: scent and well-being in some Greek and Roman sources

This paper explores the connection between scent and well-being (eudaimonia) in some ancient Greek and Roman sources. Focusing on the metaphor of the ‘perfumer’s garden’ — the blend of scents in ancient perfumes used to evoke faraway lands like Arabia Felix or Egypt — the paper discusses how these aromatic creations communicate more than the fragrance of the gardens they come from. Believed to possess medicinal properties mirroring their plant sources, perfumes offer a unique window into health and social life. While all classes sought well-being through scent, specific perfumes varied based on factors like social status and gender. This work focuses on these variations, examining medical and philosophical texts about the relation of scent and health alongside literary case studies: Herodian’s account of remedies used during the Antonine Plague, where class dictated perfume choice, and the use of Egyptian-inspired scents during the Hellenistic period, which expresses differences between men and women. In exploring these aromatic landscapes, we uncover a complexity where the essence of gardens and their fragrances reveal more than attempts at using scent to secure health; they show themselves to be rich sources of symbolic meaning reflecting the values and aspirations of ancient authors.

Art, illusion, and recycled images in Johannes Pauli’s anecdotes on painters

This article considers selected book illustrations that were published in the 1530s by Augsburg printer Heinrich Steiner. It compares Steiner’s choice of images for Schimpff und Ernst (1534), a popular anthology of entertaining and serious anecdotes compiled by the Franciscan preacher Johannes Pauli, with woodcuts that Steiner had previously employed in newly translated, moral–philosophical texts by Cicero and Petrarch. Although all three texts problematize the art of painting according to classical and medieval narratives, which urge caution in viewing lifelike images, each proposes diverse solutions for regarding illusionistic works of art. Whereas prior studies focus on the intentions of individual authors, this article highlights the printer–publisher’s agency. One image recycled in disparate works speaks to art’s multifaceted functions for upper-class, lay readers. This article argues that Steiner’s selection of images inserts Pauli’s chapter on artists and illusionistic painting into ongoing debates in Reformation-era Germany about the proper role of images in religious ritual. This cross-reading of image–text pairings in the early 1530s offers insights into the complexity of period attitudes towards visual art, the painter’s profession, and the beholder’s responsibilities.

Concepts that fit in a (Roman) hand

Abstract The Roman author Lucius Anneus Seneca (4 BC–65 AC), the main representative of Stoic philosophy in Latin literature, wrote several tragedies in verse in which the Latin noun manus ‘hand’ has a remarkable incidence, almost doubling the occurrence of other terms more related to tragic themes, such as scelus ‘crime’ or mors ‘death’. This paper is based on the hypothesis that this high frequency is linked to the concept of embodiment as well as on the metonymies and metaphors used in Seneca’s figurative language to encode abstract concepts. The occurrences of the term manus in a corpus composed of Seneca’s dramatic and philosophical texts have been analysed, paying attention to the metonymic and metaphorical contexts where it appears. As a result, it has been observed that this word can refer to multiple realities such as individuals, actions, identity, control, or power.

The Rumors Are True

Abstract This essay examines the role of rumors in F. W. Murnau’s films as well as in later writings about his life and career. While Murnau perpetuates long-standing figurations of gossip as a frivolous or even malicious activity, he also grants unverified information a truth value. Where Heidegger claimed that Gerede (idle talk) is based on “groundlessness” and “indifferent intelligibility,” this essay shows that rumors in Murnau’s films are often well-founded and also essential to a nuanced understanding of his work. Bringing together film analyses, archival materials, and philosophical texts, the essay sheds light on an underexamined aspect of Murnau’s oeuvre and addresses broader questions about the status of speculative, uncertain, or contested knowledge. A study of Gerede does not entail a concealment of authentic discourse but illuminates Murnau’s philosophy of rumors as part of a dialectic of destabilized knowledge.

Vsevolod S. Sementsov Annual Memorial Conference “Philosophical Texts in Sanskrit: Problems of Reading and Interpretation” (Pune, Delhi, November 8–14, 2023)

Vsevolod S. Sementsov Annual Memorial Conference “Philosophical Texts in Sanskrit: Problems of Reading and Interpretation” (Pune, Delhi, November 8–14, 2023)

Ancient Indian Rules of Interpretation and Its Relevance in Contemporary Society

Ancient Indian Rules of Interpretation and its relevance in Contemporary Society Tshering Choden Abstract: In ancient India there was tremendous development of mathematics, astronomy, medicine, grammar, philosophy, literature and law. This is evident from the large number of legal treatises in ancient India. The Mimamsa Sutra or the Purva Mimamsa Sutras, written around 600 B.C. by Rishi Jaimini is one of the most important ancient Hindu philosophical texts. It forms the basis of Mimamsa, the earliest of the six orthodox schools (darshanas) of Indian philosophy. According to tradition, sage Jaimini was one of the disciples of sage Veda Vyasa, the author of the Mahabharata. The Mimansa Rules of Interpretation were created for resolving the practical difficulties in performing the Vedic Yajnas. The rules for performing the various yagyas were given in books called Brahmanas e.g., Shatapath Brahman, Aitreyas Brahman, Taitreyas Brahman etc. There were many ambiguities, conflicts, incongruities in the texts and hence principles of interpretation had to be created for this purpose. Thus, the Mimansa principles were originally created for religious purpose, but they were so rational and logical that subsequently they began to be used in law, grammar, logic, philosophy etc. In this paper, one aspect of our native Jurisprudence, viz. our traditional principles of interpretation, has been dealt with, and the aim is to study the same in the context of its obscurities and relevance in the contemporary society. The principles of interpretation of statutes mainly relied on in our law courts are those dealt with in the works of Western jurists like Maxwell and Craies. However, in our country we had developed from very early times a scientific system of interpretation known as the Mimansa Principles and these were regularly followed by our renowned jurists like Vijnaneshwara (author of Mitakshara), Jimutvahana (author of Dayabhag), Nanda Pandit (author of Dattak Mimansa) etc. Most of these principles are rational and scientific, and in some respects superior to the principles obtaining in Western Law.