The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200-600 AD: Psychology (with ethics and religion)

The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200-600 AD: Psychology (with ethics and religion)
Author: Richard Sorabji
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 452
Release: 2005
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780801489877

The third volume of this invaluable sourcebook covers three main subject areas. First, the metaphysics of Aristotle's logical works: the concepts of universal and particular underwent surprising transformations in this period, which gave rise to debates, still raging today, on personal survival after an interruption such as death. Second, logic in a more conventional sense: perhaps the most impressive debate was on the existence of the subject in singular and universal statements. There was also debate about the very different Aristotelian and Stoic conceptions of syllogism, of modal logic, of induction, of the nature of mathematics, and of philosophy of language. Third, the higher metaphysics of the Neoplatonists taught Augustine, and indirectly Descartes, to look for truth within themselves. The Neoplatonists struggled with the question whether our higher intellectual selves have distinct individuality, and thus they fed both sides in the great medieval debate between Aquinas and the followers of Averroes on individual human immortality. All sources appear in English translation and are carefully linked and cross-referenced by editorial comment and explanation. Bibliographies are provided throughout.

The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200-600 AD: Logic and metaphysics

The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200-600 AD: Logic and metaphysics
Author: Richard Sorabji
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 422
Release: 2005
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780801489891

The third volume of this invaluable sourcebook covers three main subject areas: the metaphysics of Aristotle's logical works; logic; and the higher metaphysics of Neoplatonism.

The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200-600 AD: Physics

The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200-600 AD: Physics
Author: Richard Sorabji
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 428
Release: 2005
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780801489884

Physics in Neoplatonist thought, the subject which occupies the second volume of this sourcebook, was innovative: the world of space and time was causally ordered by a nonspatial, nontemporal world, and this view required original thinking

Ideas in Motion in Baghdad and Beyond

Ideas in Motion in Baghdad and Beyond
Author: Damien Janos
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 489
Release: 2015-10-05
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9004306269

This volume contains a collection of articles focusing on the philosophical and theological exchanges between Muslim and Christian intellectuals living in Baghdad during the classical period of Islamic history, when this city was a vibrant center of philosophical, scientific, and literary activity. The philosophical accomplishments and contribution of Christians writing in Arabic and Syriac represent a crucial component of Islamic society during this period, but they have typically been studied in isolation from the development of mainstream Islamic philosophy. The present book aims for a more integrated approach by exploring case studies of philosophical and theological cross-pollination between the Christian and Muslim traditions, with an emphasis on the Baghdad School and its main representative, Yaḥyā ibn ʿAdī. Contributors: Carmela Baffioni, David Bennett, Gerhard Endress, Damien Janos, Olga Lizzini, Ute Pietruschka, Alexander Treiger, David Twetten, Orsolya Varsányi, John W. Watt, Robert Wisnovsky

Texts and Culture in Late Antiquity

Texts and Culture in Late Antiquity
Author: J. H. D. Scourfield
Publisher: Classical Press of Wales
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2007-12-31
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1910589454

Late Antiquity has increasingly been viewed as a period of transformation and dynamic change in its literature as in society and politics. In this volume, thirteen scholars focus on the intellectual and literary culture of the time, investigating complex relationships between late-Antique authors and the texts which they had inherited through the classical ('pagan') and Christian traditions. Particular emphasis is placed on works that carried special authority: Homer, Virgil, Plato, and the Bible. The volume thus contributes to the history of the reception of classical texts, and through its inclusiveness (classical and classicizing, philosophical, and patristic writing are all represented) seeks to offer a view of the textual world of late Antiquity as a unified whole. It affords a scholarly introduction to a sweep of late-Antique literature in Greek and Latin. Authors and genres discussed include Juvencus and Claudian, Plotinus and Proclus, Jerome and John Cassian, geographical and grammatical writing, and Christian cento.

Augustine on Memory

Augustine on Memory
Author: Kevin G. Grove
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2021
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0197587216

Augustine of Hippo, indisputably one of the most important figures for the study of memory, is credited with establishing memory as the inner source of selfhood and locus of the search for God. Yet, those who study memory in Augustine have never before taken into account his preaching. His sermons are the sources of memory's greatest development for Augustine. In Augustine's preaching, especially on the Psalms, the interior gives way to communal exterior. Both the self and search for God are re-established in a shared Christological identity and the communal labors of remembering and forgetting. This book opens with Augustine's early works and Confessions as the beginning of memory and concludes with Augustine's Trinity and preaching on Psalm 50 as the end of memory. The heart of the book, the work of memory, sets forth how ongoing remembering and forgetting in Christ are for Augustine are foundational to the life of grace. To that end, Augustine and his congregants go leaping in memory together, keep festival with abiding traces, and become forgetful runners like St. Paul. Remembering and forgetting in Christ, the ongoing work of memory, prove for Augustine to be actions of reconciliation of the distended experiences of human life-of praising and groaning, labouring and resting, solitude and communion. Augustine on Memory presents this new communal and Christological paradigm not only for Augustinian studies, but also for theologians, philosophers, ethicists, and interdisciplinary scholars of memory.

Ancient and Medieval Greek Etymology

Ancient and Medieval Greek Etymology
Author: Arnaud Zucker
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2021-01-18
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 3110714876

This volume on Greek synchronic etymology offers a set of papers evidencing the cultural significance of etymological commitment in ancient and medieval literature. The four sections illustrate the variety of approaches of the same object, which for Greek writers was much more than a technical way of studying language. Contributions focus on the functions of etymology as they were intended by the authors according to their own aims. (1) “Philosophical issues” addresses the theory of etymology and its explanatory power, especially in Plato and in Neoplatonism. (2) “Linguistic issues” discusses various etymologizing techniques and the status of etymology, which was criticized and openly rejected by some authors. (3) “Poetical practices of etymology” investigates the ubiquitous presence of etymological reflections in learned poetry, whatever the genre, didactic, aetiological or epic. (4) “Etymology and word-plays” addresses the vexed question of the limit between a mere pun and a real etymological explanation, which is more than once difficult to establish. The wide range of genres and authors and the interplay between theoretical reflection and applied practice shows clearly the importance of etymology in Greek thought.

Black Terror White Soldiers

Black Terror White Soldiers
Author: David Livingstone
Publisher: David Livingstone
Total Pages: 714
Release: 2013-06-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 1481226509

Far too ignorant of the histories of the rest of the world, being aware of only the accomplishments of Greece, Rome and Europe, Westerners have been made to believe that their societies represent the most superior examples of civilization. However, the Western value system stems from a misconception that, as in nature, human society too is evolving. The idea derives from the hidden influence of secret societies, who followed the belief in spiritual evolution of the Kabbalah, which taught that history would attain its fulfillment when man would become God, and make his own laws. Therefore, the infamous Illuminati gave its name to the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century, which claimed that human progress must abandon "superstition," meaning Christianity, in favor of "reason." Thus the Illuminati succeeded in bringing about the French and American revolutions, which instituted the separation of Church and State, and from that point forward, the Western values of Humanism, seen to include secularism, human rights, democracy and capitalism, have been celebrated as the culmination of centuries of human intellectual evolution. This is the basis of the propaganda which has been used to foster a Clash of Civilizations, where the Islamic world is presented as stubbornly adhering to the anachronistic idea of "theocracy." Where once the spread of Christianity and civilizing the world were used as pretexts for colonization, today a new White Man's Burden makes use of human rights and democracy to justify imperial aggression. However, because, after centuries of decline, the Islamic world is incapable of mobilizing a defense, the Western powers, as part of their age-old strategy of Divide and Conquer, have fostered the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, to both serve as agent-provocateurs and to malign the image of Islam. These sects, known to scholars as Revivalists, opposed the traditions of classical Islamic scholarship in order to create the opportunity to rewrite the laws of the religion to better serve their sponsors. Thus were created the Wahhabi and Salafi sects of Islam, from which were derived the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been in the service of the West ever since. But, the story of the development of these Islamic sects involves the bizarre doctrines and hidden networks of occult secret societies, being based on a Rosicrucian myth of Egyptian Freemasonry, which see the Muslim radicals as inheritors of an ancient mystery tradition of the Middle East which was passed on to the Knights Templar during the Crusades, thus forming the foundation of the legends of the Holy Grail. These beliefs would not only form the cause for the association of Western intelligence agencies with Islamic fundamentalists, but would fundamentally shape much of twentieth century history.

Forms of Astonishment

Forms of Astonishment
Author: Richard Buxton
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2009-07-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 0191554162

In this illustrated study Richard Buxton analyses Greek literary narratives and visual representations of the metamorphosis of humans and gods, as evidenced from Homer to Nonnos. Such tales have become familiar in their Ovidian dress, as in the best-selling translation by Ted Hughes; Buxton explores their Greek antecedents. He investigates such issues as: How do different contexts shape the way in which metamorphosis is narrated? How do the assumptions of commentators about 'strangeness' affect how metamorphosis is interpreted? How far should an interpreter allow 'contextual charity' to render more acceptable a belief such as that in metamorphosis? What are the implications of the notions of 'astonishment' (Greek: thambos) in a range of narratives about transformation? Throughout Forms of Astonishment Buxton draws comparisons between the Greek evidence and data from other religious traditions, ancient and modern; he also introduces comparative material from the sciences, from modern painting and literature, and from the cinema and computer graphics. In investigating metamorphoses of gods Buxton revisits the concept of anthropomorphism, arguing that the fact that Greek divinities were believed to change shape does not undermine the fundamentally humanlike form of Greek divinity. He also examines certain strands of Greek tradition, particularly among the philosophers, which called metamorphosis into question, whether in relation to the gods or to humans. Individual chapters deal with transformations into the landscape and into plants or trees—in the latter case transformation stories are set against a background of cultural beliefs about 'seminal' substances such as blood and tears. Overall, Forms of Astonishment raises issues relevant to an understanding of broad aspects of Greek culture, and illuminates issues explored by anthropologists and students of religion.