history of ancient Greek philosophy

After presenting the reasons for undertaking an analysis of the Symposium and the Apology with regard to emotions, I focus on the groups of pleasure/joy and love/friendship and discuss relevant contexts. They provide us with a complex picture which I then try to interpret by means of a concept of hierarchy. Next, I touch upon on the issue of the expression of emotions. Finally I show why and how the Symposium and the Apology may be helpful in the study of emotions.

The fragment reflects the Aristotelian thought in a way that cannot be used to the reconstruction of Plato's philosophy of history, which can be found in the dialogues and do not exists any base to consider that Plato has reserved  it to his oral lectures.

This paper focuses on one of the major criticisms made to Aristotle's virtue ethics, namely that it lacks explicit moral action guidance. The same criticism has been addressed to later developments of virtue ethics. There have been several attempts to overcome this objection and to demonstrate that modern theories of virtue ethics do provide principles of right action. In this paper, I discuss mainly two such major attempts: the exemplarist approach and the virtue rules approach. My aim is to examine whether, if applied to Aristotle’s virtue ethics, these two approaches can provide a convincing answer to the criticism that Aristotle’s ethics does not offer explicit moral action guidance .

Resumen: L'Economico di Senofonte contiene un interessante trattato sulla vita matrimoniale: al centro di questo trattato si colloca la figura della moglie di Iscomaco, così come viene delineata da quanto quest'ultimo narra a Socrate. Una figura in parte innovativa, in quanto viene associata alla gestione dell'oikos come responsabile

"Thaletas of Creta in Sparta
A. V. Zaikov (А. В. Зайков )
The ancient tradition names Thaletas “the man expert in the legislation” because he was the carrier of ancient secret knowledge allowed him to act in Sparta as a re-organizer of the Gymnopaediae and in this connection in the role of the founder of a new music and poetic direction, in the role of a healer who banished the plague, and also in the role of a suppressor of internal conflict and an installer of social order. The activity of Thaletas on making the social order completely coincided
with his activity in musical, poetic and ritual spheres. In other words Thaletas has expelled a sedition and has established the civil peace with follow modes: he united the citizens in choruses, has taugth them correct joint dancing movements, rhythms and songs, transformed street conflicts into the competitions made by precisely established rules within the framework of Apollo’s cult, and also forced the citizens to recognize that henceforth the annual performance of such uniting is the debt and indispensable duty of a community before Apollo – the god-purificator, healer and suppressor of strife. The close consideration and detailed analysis of the information kept in the ancient texts about Thaletas’ activity help to understand peculiarities of the constitutional experience of archaic
Sparta. Its characteristic feature was active and regular use of the potential of ecstatic religious cults with the purpose of preservation of the social peace and establishment eunomia."

It is widely believed that the ancient Greeks thought that Thales was the first philosopher, and that they therefore maintained that philosophy had a Greek origin. This paper challenges these assumptions, arguing that most ancient Greek thinkers who expressed views about the history and development of philosophy rejected both positions. I argue that not even Aristotle presented Thales as the first philosopher, and that doing so would have undermined his philosophical commitments and interests. Beyond Aristotle, the view that Thales was the first philosopher is attested almost nowhere in antiquity. In the classical, Hellenistic, and post-Hellenistic periods, we witness a marked tendency to locate the beginning of philosophy in a time going back further than Thales. Remarkably, ancient Greek thinkers most often traced the origins of philosophy to earlier non-Greek peoples. Contrary to the received view, then, I argue that (1) vanishingly few Greek writers pronounced Thales the first philosopher; and (2) most Greek thinkers did not even advocate a Greek origin of philosophy. Finally, I show that the view that philosophy originated with Thales (along with its misleading attribution to the Greeks in general) has roots in problematic, and in some cases manifestly racist, eighteenth-century historiography of philosophy.

Il Protagora presenta una struttura complessa per forma e contenuto ed è l’elaborata mise en scène di un dialogo tra Socrate e il sofista di Abdera. Uno dei temi di questo dialogo è il dialogo stesso come forma di comunicazione opposta all’incanto prodotto dai discorsi dei sofisti. In quest’opera il dialogos socratico si oppone al logos sofistico. Ma cos’è un “dialogo”, come funziona nelle relazioni reciproche tra dialoganti e che effetti produce in chi ascolta? Nel secondo prologo del Protagora Socrate stabilisce una analogia tra i cibi del corpo e quelli dell’anima, portando il discorso sull’anima dal lato di un determinismo psichico che mette in guardia circa la pericolosità delle tecniche sofistico-retoriche di chi, come Protagora, si professa capace di insegnare l’arte di parlare, di possedere la techne ton logon. Questo studio prende le mosse proprio a partire dall’analogia tra corpo e anima e segue questa prospettiva di analisi, una tra le molte, mettendo in evidenza il tentativo platonico di costruire una “scienza del dialogo” in analogia con la “scienza dei corpi”, la medicina.
Sul dialogo, inteso come oggetto di analisi, si innesta la questione della medicina dell’anima, tema che attraversa – si può dire – l’intera produzione platonica. Da questo punto di vista, si confrontano tre “saperi”, l’arte della sofistica della medicina e del dialogo, saperi che si richiamano a vicenda nel Protagora e più in generale nella filosofia platonica. Dai confronti testuali tra vari dialoghi platonici e i trattati medici del Corpus hippocraticum emerge un’immagine del dialogo come pratica comunicativa “sana”, che permette di riconoscere la corretta fisiologia dell’anima, del parlare e della città, e più in generale di individuare, tra le righe, quel “medico dell’anima” che solo è in grado di portare alla homologia le istanze psichiche di ogni individuo, gli interlocutori di un dialogo e i cittadini di una comunità politica che è innanzitutto comunità di parlanti e di ascoltatori.

There is a long and successful scholarly tradition of commenting on Nietzsche's deep affinity for the philosophy of Heraclitus. But scholars remain puzzled as to why he suggested at the end of his career, in Ecce Homo, that the doctrine he valued most, the eternal recurrence of the same, might also have been taught by Heraclitus. This essay aims to answer this question through a close examination of Nietzsche's allusions to Heraclitus in his first published mention of eternal recurrence in The Joyful Science and in a related set of notes from the period when he was formulating and defending his doctrine of eternal recurrence while writing Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The key to answering this question, it is argued, is that Nietzsche came to believe that the doctrine of eternal recurrence, when properly understood as requiring identical repetition, has to presuppose a Heraclitean reality of eternal, absolute, and universal flux.

نهضت ترجمه: سرگذشت ترجمه در فرهنگ اسلامی، از سده نخست هجری تا دوره معاصر/ نوشته سیداحمد هاشمی و دیگران، تهران: نشر کتاب مرجع، ۱۳۸۹ ش

موضوع کتاب حاضر بررسی سرگذشت ترجمه در فرهنگ اسلامی از سده‌ی نخست هجری تا دوره‌ی معاصر است. کتاب در دو بخش اصلی «نهضت ترجمه» و «ترجمه‌های جدید» تدوین شده و هر بخش مشتمل بر چند فصل است. این اثر با ارائه تاریخچه‌ای از نهضت ترجمه و نحوه‌ی انتقال آثار تمدن‌های غیرعربی به عالم اسلام شروع شده است. سپس به معرفی مترجم‌ها و نوع ترجمه آنها پرداخته و پیامدهای ترجمه‌ی آثار را بررسی کرده و شرحی بر ترجمه به عربی، ترجمه به ترکی و ترجمه به فارسی در دوره‌ی معاصر ارائه داده است

L'autore passa in rassegna le classiche fonti storiche sulla vita e le opere di Talete e sulla cultura dell’antico Egitto. Espone un metodo per la misurazione delle altezze delle piramidi che potrebbe essere stato usato dal grande saggio dell'antichità. Immagina anche la realizzazione di un ipotetico distanziometro per misurare dalla costa le distanze delle navi in mare, il quale permette anche di spiegare la scoperta dei teoremi geometrici e la predizione di eventi astronomici che la tradizione attribuisce a Talete.

The essay deals with the issue of not-being in Aristotle against a background constituted, on one hand, by the distinction of the various senses of being and not-being, and, on the other hand, by the analysis of the proposition and the role which negation plays in it.

Aristotle maintains a coherent conception of happiness in the Nicomachean Ethics and in the Politics. It is a dominant one, namely that happiness in its fullest sense consists in the activity of contemplation and that it is to this goal that all the activities of the individual and the community should be directed.

Η διδακτική αυτή προσέγγιση στοχεύει στο να βοηθήσει τους πανεπιστημιακούς διδάσκοντες στο να προσεγγίσουν διδακτικά τη σκέψη των Προσωκρατικών φιλοσόφων, σε ένα μάθημα αρχαίας φιλοσοφίας ή κλασικής φιλολογίας στο πανεπιστήμιο, δίνοντας επιλεκτικά βάρος και στο ρόλο τους ως πολιτικών προσώπων της εποχής τους. Η μέθοδος διδασκαλίας μπορεί να συνδυάζει τις δοξογραφικές μαρτυρίες και τα αποσπάσματα με τις ιστορικές πηγές και πολιτικές έννοιες που αφορούν στην έννοια της ελληνικής πόλεως-κράτους κατά την αρχαϊκή και κλασική εποχή.

Seminario sobre Heráclito en
nuestro  Extremo  Occidente
Curso de Filosofía Antigua. Heráclito de Efeso
Su pensamiento, su historia y su recepción en Argentina
Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto
26 y 27 de mayo de 2016 Departamento de Filosofía
Joaquín E. Meabe
Materiales y adendas a la sesión
de Academia edu: https://www.academia.edu/s/06f19a9116

Comincia con questo volume la pubblicazione del mio manuale di storia della filosofia presso la casa editrice Aracne in Roma. Il contenuto di questo primo volume riguarda la filosofia dei Presocratici, dalle origini del pensiero greco agli atomisti. Il volume successivo, in fase di approntamento, riguarderà i Sofisti, Socrate e le scuole socratiche, Platone e l'Accademia. Seguirà poi il volume su Aristotele ed il Peripato.

I discuss the issue whether the calculus of pleasures which is introduced by Socrates towards the end of the dialogue reflects a position that actually is attributed to him by Plato (as it is often assumed by interpreters) or (as I maintain) it is an ad hominem argument. The point important for the interpretation of the dialogue as a whole and of some other dialogues as well.

This paper proposes a new interpretation of the famous fourth century A.D. mosaic of the “Seven Sages” and the “Anger of Achilles”. Discovered in Merida in 1982, this mosaic was previously analyzed and interpreted by J.M. Aharez Martinez and M.-H. Quet. The occurrence of these two iconographic themes in one mosaic tends the author to compare the description of the “Anger of Achilles” in the first book of the Iliad with the maxims of the Seven Sages of Greece. The study of both written and iconographic sources shows that he image of the “Anger of Achilles” evokes allusively the moral precepts of the Seven Sages. The mosaic constitutes therefore an example of the practical use of “artificiosa memoria “.

This article is focused on answering the question to what extent one can be a sceptic. Sextus Empiricus’s Outlines of Scepticism serves as a guide. In section 1, it is investigated whether three logical laws have a certain foundation or are subject to doubt. In section 2, Sextus’s way to deal with these laws is examined; the question arises how dogmatic his approach is. After that, a possible ‘reply’ by Sextus to the criticism receives attention. Section 3 is concentrated on a possible alternative to Sextus’s approach. Besides logical laws, some important methods are concerned.

This essay examines Giannantoni’s historiographical production regarding ancient logic. In particular, two works are considered: the first one, on Aristotle’s modal logic, published in 1964; the second one, appeared in 1981, concerning the κυρεύων λόγος of Diodorus Cronus. While the study of modal logic is valuable for its philological rigor and its hermeneutic sobriety, the latter is a true example of a historiographical method applied to ancient texts.

The starting-question is whether, as it is often admitted, Plato's critical attitude to poetry and the fine arts reflects a position of lack of awareness of aethetic values - a position common to him and other ancient thinkers (e.g. Aristotle). I argue that, on the contrary, there is such an awareness, but that for Plato aesthetic values are not positive values (Aristotle's attitude is different). This is the first part of a three-parts essay.

Les dix-huit études, dont deux inédites, rassemblées dans le présent ouvrage sont le résultat de quarante années de recherche sur le cynisme ancien. Elles complètent les trois monographies que l’auteur a consacrées à ce mouvement: L’ascèse cynique (1986), Les Kynika du stoïcisme (2003), Cynisme et christianisme dans l’Antiquité (2014), et les deux ouvrages collectifs qu’elle a co-dirigés sur le sujet: Le cynisme ancien et ses prolongements, avec Richard Goulet en 1993, et The Cynics. The Cynic Movement in Antiquity and its Legacy, avec Robert Bracht Branham en 1996.
C’est l’ensemble du cynisme comme tradition philosophique influente et contestée, de ses origines à la fin de l’Antiquité, qu’un éclairage tout à la fois philologique, historique, prosopographique et philosophique tente de mettre en perspective dans le cadre de la société antique et de restituer dans sa cohérence, tout en le mettant en relation avec les autres mouvements de pensée contemporains.
La documentation est immense et très dispersée, les points d’interrogation sont nombreux. Qui a lancé ce mouvement? Pourquoi certains ont-ils voulu en faire une école philosophique tandis que d’autres préféraient le réduire à un mode de vie? Comment rendre compte des traits scandaleux de la fameuse République de Diogène qui aurait inspiré les premiers Stoïciens? Quels points de rapprochement et quels points d’opposition ont déterminé les relations tumultueuses et complexes que le cynisme a entretenues avec le stoïcisme et avec le christianisme?
De ces études il ressort que le cynisme, refusant toute dogmatique et se voulant une philosophie des actes, apparaît comme la grande philosophie populaire de l’Antiquité.

A través de una interpretación integral del diálogo y su relación con la denominada "doctrina no escrita", el trabajo muestra la relación entre la ontología y la política en el pensamiento del pensador ateniense. Su ideal ético consiste en la preservación de los movimientos ordenados del alma y la preservación de la calma

The hero-cult of Hippolytus in Troezen is well documented in the archaeological, epigraphic and literary record. This paper focuses on the social function of the cult of Hippolytus in Troezen. After discussing the archaeological evidence for this hero-cult, I demonstrate how a special type of votive dedications that predominate in the assemblages of his sanctuary sheds light on the hero’s specific social function and cultic identity (i.e. his kourotrophic power). By tying together the different types of evidence (archaeolo­gical as well as literary), I argue that the kourotrophic function of Hippolytus was an effective medium at the hands of the polis-authorities of internalising a reverent behaviour in the ancient worshippers.

La Collection hippocratique présente ce trait remarquable que des textes médicaux techniques y sont parsemés de préceptes éthiques sans articulation apparente entre les deux registres. L’essai que je soumets soutient l’hypothèse suivante : si les médecins hippocratiques ne distinguaient pas, dans leurs écrits, éthique et technique, c’est que ces
préceptes éthiques sont dérivés de la médecine au même titre que les techniques de soins.
D’où la question générale de mon travail : Qu’est-ce que la
médecine hippocratique, pour autant qu’elle produit non seulement des techniques de soins, mais aussi une éthique? Qu’est ce que cette éthique, pour autant qu’elle est produite par une pensée médicale?
L’essai est principalement consacré à la première de ces deux questions. Il tente de montrer que la médecine hippocratique n’est pas une simple technique qui aurait recours à la philosophie, à la morale, à la religion ou à la politique pour ce qui concerne les problèmes relatifs, en
amont, à ses fondements épistémologiques ou ceux relatifs, en aval, à la régulation de ses applications.
En effet, contrairement aux techniques, la médecine hippocratique ne peut produire un objet défini. Les concepts médicaux s’appliquent dans tous les domaines. La seule définition possible de la médecine hippocratique
concerne sa fin : la santé humaine. Les médecins hippocratiques ont élaboré une pensée qui leur permette de tenter de donner à la vie humaine la plus
grande amplitude et la durée la plus longue. La médecine tout entière est une éthique de la santé. Cette attitude que j’appelle la résolution médicale s’oppose, à mon sens, à la démarche philosophique qui naît vers la même époque. En effet, seule la médecine est l’assomption humaine de la valeur promue par la vie elle-même, à savoir la santé. La philosophie cherche quant à elle à justifier la vie en l’enserrant dans un réseau de logos qui la dépasse de toutes parts.
Toute la pensée médicale est tendue vers cette fin : donner à la vie sa plus large amplitude. Or, s’il est vrai qu’on ne soigne pas l’Homme, mais l’individu, la médecine a dû élaborer méthode visant le singulier. Platon témoigne, dans le Phèdre, de cette méthode. Il s’agit de rapporter la partie à la totalité dont elle dépend.

This essay explicates the primary interpretative import of B1: 31-32 in Parmenides poem (On Nature)—lines which have radical implications for the overall argument, and which the traditional arrangement forces into an irreconcilable dilemma.  I argue that the “negative” reading of lines 31-32 is preferable, even on the traditional arrangement.  This negative reading denies that a third thing is to be taught to the reader by the goddess—a positive account of how the apparent world is to be “acceptably” understood.  I then suggest that a rearrangement of the fragments would make more sense overall, while further supporting the “negative” reading as more natural and coherent.  In particular, the rearrangement dispels the objection that, if mortal opinions were not true, why would Parmenides include such a lengthy false account of the apparent world--an account which explicitly denies the conclusions of the earlier section, ‘Truth’?

Il contributo descrive le principali ragioni culturali che indussero
Gabriele Giannantoni a fondare il Centro di Studio del Pensiero
Antico, presso il Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, di cui fu direttore
dal 1979 al 1998. Tra queste ragioni, centrale fu l’impegno a
delineare e stabilire la storia della filosofia antica come una disciplina
che, includendo le metodologie della filologia classica e le categorie
critiche della storia della filosofia, potesse assumere un profilo
autonomo. L’attività di ricerca, le pubblicazioni e le iniziative del
Centro furono ispirate da questa finalità.
The paper describes the main cultural reasons that led Gabriele
Giannantoni to found the Centro di Studio del Pensiero Antico, at
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, which he directed from 1979 to
1998. Among these reasons, the most relevant was the commitment
to establish the history of ancient philosophy as a discipline which, by
including the methodologies of classical philology and the critical
categories of the history of philosophy, could assume an autonomous
profile. The research, publications and initiatives of the Centro were
inspired by this purpose.