Pre-1000 Medieval Philosophy, Misc

Whether Trinitarianism is coherent depends not only on whether some account of the Trinity is coherent, but on which accounts of the Trinity count as "Trinitarian." After all, Arianism and Modalism are both accounts of the Trinity, but neither counts as Trinitarian (which is why defenses of Arianism or Modalism don’t count as defenses of Trinitarianism). This raises the question, if not just any account of the Trinity counts as Trinitarian, which do? Dale Tuggy is one of very few philosophers (...) to give explicit definitions of Trinitarian (versus Unitarian) theology. But they are no mere formalities. They are essential to his central criticisms of both historical and contemporary forms of Trinitarianism. In this paper, I offer my own definitions of Trinitarian and Unitarian theology, contrast them with Tuggy’s, and argue for the superiority of my definitions to Tuggy’s. If Trinitarianism and Unitarianism are what Tuggy says they are, the outlook for Trinitarianism is bleak indeed. If they are what I say they are, Tuggy’s central objection to Trinitarianism fails. To show what is at stake in these pairs of definitions, I examine a doctrine much neglected in Analytic Theology, but central to Nicene Trinitarianism—the Monarchy of the Father. (shrink)

This article expands our knowledge of the historical-philosophical process by which the dominant metaphysical account of the Christian God became ascendant. It demonstrates that Marius Victorinus proposed a peculiar model of ‘consubstantiality’ that utilised a notion of ‘existence’ indebted to the Aristotelian concept of ‘prime matter’. Victorinus employed this to argue that God is a unity composed of Father and Son. The article critically evaluates this model. It then argues that Augustine noticed one of the model's philosophical liabilities but did (...) not publicly name Victorinus when he rejected it in De Trinitate, thereby exemplifying the practice of private ‘rebuke’ (ἐλέγχɛιν). (shrink)

Aristotle's theory of eternal continuous motion and his argument from everlasting change and motion to the existence of an unmoved primary cause of motion, provided in book VIII of his Physics, is one of the most influential and persistent doctrines of ancient Greek philosophy. Nevertheless, the exact wording of Aristotle's discourse is doubtful and contentious at many places. The present critical edition of Ishaq ibn Hunayn's Arabic translation (9th c.) is supposed to replace the faulty edition by A. Badawi and (...) aims at contributing to the clarification of these textual difficulties by means of a detailed collation of the Arabic text with the most important Greek manuscripts, supported by comprehensive Greek and Arabic glossaries. (shrink)

The methods of intellectual history have not yet been applied to studying the invention of technology for printing texts and images ca. 1375–ca. 1450. One of the several conceptual developments in this period refl ecting the possibility of mechanical replication is a view of the relationship of eternity to durational time based on Gregory of Nyssa’s philosophy of time and William of Ockham’s. Th e article considers how changes in these ideas helped enable the conceptual possibilities of the dissemination of (...) ideas. It describes a direct connection of human perceptual knowledge to divine knowledge that enhanced the authority of printed production to transfer and reproduce the true and the good. (shrink)

Compelling voices charge that the theological notion of “sacrifice” valorizes suffering and fosters a culture of violence by the claim that Christ’s death on the Cross paid for human sins. Beneath the ‘sacred’ violence of sacrifice, René Girard discerns a concealed scapegoat-murder driven by a distortion of human desire that itself must lead to human self-annihilation. I here ask: can one speak safely of sacrifice; and can human beings somehow cease to practice the sacrifice that must otherwise destroy them? Drawing (...) on Gregory the Great (ca. 540–604), I propose an understanding of sacrifice that both distinguishes Christian sacrifice from sacred violence and accounts for how to overcome the roots of the sacred violence identified by Girard. I make four claims: First, Girard recognizes two kinds of sacrifice—one, the scapegoat murder, overcomes community rivalries by unanimous imitation of an accuser, shifting blame onto a third party who is collectively murdered; the other sort of sacrifice practices renunciation and forgiveness in imitation of God. These I respectively designate the “Satanic” (Girard’s term) and the “theomimetic” (mine). Second, I analyze the intrinsic instability that keeps the Satanic from sustaining the societal order and unity that it promises. Third, by a constructive reading of Gregory the Great, I posit that satanic sacrifice overlooks and indeed exacerbates the root of human covetousness—a failure to love. Fourth, Gregory’s teaching on the imitation of Christ enables us to expand on Girard’s account of the theo¬mimetic sacrifice of renunciation, to clarify how this latter might not only oppose but also systematically subvert the Satanic by healing the disorder out of which mimetic rivalry and scapegoating first take their rise. (shrink)

A noção de que a vontade é um bem dado à criatura racional está presente tanto na reflexão de Agostinho como naquela de Anselmo, quando ambos abordam o tema do livre-arbítrio. No entanto, a forma de considerar a vontade difere em cada um deles: para Anselmo, a liberdade será pensada como a reta determinação da vontade para o bem, é o poder de não pecar, expressão da retidão da vontade; já para Agostinho, a vontade livre será pensada como um bem (...) intermediário, que pode aderir ao bem supremo ou afastar-se dele e converter-se para um bem que lhe é próprio, exterior ou inferior. O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar algumas notas de leitura sobre (1) a liberdade da vontade em Agostinho e (2) sobre a definição de liberdade em Anselmo. (shrink)

The Middle Ages saw a great flourishing of philosophy. Now, to help students and researchers make sense of the gargantuan—and, often, dauntingly complex—body of literature on the main traditions of thinking that stem from the Greek heritage of late antiquity, this new four-volume collection is the latest addition to Routledge’s acclaimed Critical Concepts in Philosophy series. Christina Van Dyke of Calvin College, USA, and an editor of the Cambridge History of Medieval Philosophy, has carefully assembled classic contributions, as well as (...) more recent work, to create a one-stop ‘mini library’ of the best and most influential scholarship. -/- With a comprehensive index and a useful synoptic introduction newly written by the editor, Medieval Philosophy will be welcomed as an indispensable resource for reference and research. (shrink)

This article argues that the analogical argument employed by Augustine in De Trinitate (the soul-God analogy) is formally identical to the analogical argument employed by Plato in the Republic (the city-soul analogy). The similarities between these two analogies, however, have received insufficient attention in the secondary literature. My goal is to fill this lacuna. I first provide a summary of the analogical methodology of these two works, and I then proceed to translate these two analogies into one analogical argument form, (...) showing that they are formally equivalent. I then differentiate these two analogies from other analogical arguments by focusing on their exploratory and programmatic character. This differentiation helps to capture the uniqueness of these two analogies, to understand their function, and, ultimately, to appreciate more fully the consonance between Augustine’s methodology and Plato’s. (shrink)

It has been repeatedly stated that Maximus the Confessor’s (c. 580–662) thought is of eminently philosophical interest, and his work has been approached from a philosophical point of view in a number of monographs. However, no dedicated collective scholarly engagement on Maximus the Confessor as a philosopher has been produced. Although Maximus’ treatises reflect a strong philosophical background, prior research has failed to determine with clarity his specific philosophical sources and predilections. Besides apologetic purposes, he referred occasionally to purely philosophical (...) topics, which are more adequate to reveal Maximus’ philosophical education and knowledge. Among these topics are representation and imagination, which have a significant role in epistemology. Maximus’ epistemology proves his dependence on ancient Greek philosophy, especially Aristotle, Stoicism and Alexandrian Neoplatonism. A few centuries later, Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Al-Farabi (c.870—c.950), the founder of medieval Arabic philosophy, dealt with the same topics in his epistemology. Al-Farabi’s philosophy has been studied extensively and we have a good idea about his possible sources. There are several indications that Al-Farabi and Maximus the Confessor share common insights, for they resort to the same ancient Greek tradition. In this paper, I attempt to compare Maximus’ and Al-Farabi’s epistemology in order to reveal affinities and differences that permit us to analyze and assess Maximus’ philosophical education. (shrink)

The work aims to demonstrate that at the heart of Eriugena’s approach to Christian theology there lies a profoundly philosophical interest in the necessity of a cardinal shift in the paradigms of thinking – namely, that from the metaphysical to the dialectical one, which wins him a reputation of the ‘Hegel of the ninth century,’ as scholars in Post-Hegelian Germany called him. The prime concern of Eriugena’s discourse is to prove that the actual adoption of the salvific truth of Christ’s (...) revelation about all humans’ Sonship to God directly depends on the way the truth of God’s Oneness is consistently thought of. It is exactly the dialectic of the universal and particular which allows Eriugena both to tackle the dichotomy between being and non-being and to proceed towards raising a question how the totality of God’s being can be approached so as to let him radically reconsider a predominantly metaphysical view of creation the theological reflection traditionally relies on. According to the dialectical understanding of unity that Eriugena does adhere to, the reality of creation cannot be thought of, and therefore known, otherwise than in the way of being inseparable from the universal Principle of all. This is the Principle abandoned by nothing, unless the mind corrupted by the senses thinks otherwise and, following the metaphysical pattern of dichotomy, improperly sets the creation and its Principle apart. Restoration of the mind to the proper rational motion of recta ratio freed, as Eriugena argues, from the dictates of senses therefore becomes the way of both the epistemological breakthrough to the infinite whole and practical return from the world of finite things to living in the divine reality of creation. The work’s argument is based on the assumption of close affinity between Eriugena’s discourse and that of his Islamic contemporaries, who developed their dialectical ideas within the Mu’tazilah tradition of a philosophically disciplined approach to the truth of God’s Oneness. In particular, al-Nazzam’s engagement with Parmenides’ Periphyseon and his resistance to the danger of a dualistic interpretation of its ontology seem to provoke Eriugena’s innovative approach to Christian theology with a view to suggesting a mode of overcoming dualism as the main obstacle on the way to the Truth revealed. This vision of the meaning of Eriugena’s undertaking allows us not only to better understand the novelty of his approach to Christian theology, but also reconsider some of the key points of his discourse that seem to have become a sort of commonplace in Eriugenian studies: 1. Unlike the prevalent opinion, not the forms of the division of Nature but the modes of interpreting being and non-being are to be understood to constitute the genuine subject-matter of each book of the Periphyseon and, hence, of the five parts of his system. 2. The fourfold division of Nature is to be interpreted not as a basic structure of the system offered by Eriugena, but as a means of introducing dialectic to the body of theology by refuting Augustine’s metaphysical vision of a hierarchical model of the universe and indicating the way of resolution of the cardinally theological contradiction – God does and does not create at the same time. 3. All this gives reason to disagree with a general tendency of associating Eriugena’s work with exploration of the division of God’s Nature and to reinterpret it as an immense anti-division project to be understood as an important turn in the history of Christian thought entirely focused on the truth of God’s Oneness and human life in conformity to it. *** I affirm that this thesis is entirely my own work and has not been submitted for examination in any form elsewhere. (shrink)

The importance of Plato’s Parmenides for the Neoplatonist tradition is well-known, and many philosophers disputed the dialogue’s second part division through different hypotheses. Departing from Proclus’ account in Theologia platonica, we will explain why the diadochus thought Amelius, Porphyry and Iamblichus divisions to be wrong, and how ‘the philosopher of Asine’, Plutarch of Athens and Syrianus gave a successful accounts of Plato’s true intentions, just as they conceived them. Then, we will show how Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite was aware of this (...) old quest, suggesting a reading of Epistulae I-V that claims the importance of Plato’s dialogue hypotheses in his works. -/- A importância do Parménides de Platão para a tradição neoplatónica é sobejamente conhecida e muitos filósofos disputaram a divisão da segunda parte do diálogo em diferentes hipóteses. A partir de Theologia platonica de Proclo, explicaremos porque é que o diadochus considerou erradas as divisões de Amélio, Porfíro e Jâmblico, e como é que “o filósofo de Ásine”, Plutarco de Atenas e Siriano deram conta das verdadeiras intenções de Platão, tal como estes as concebiam. Depois, mostraremos como Pseudo-Dionísio Areopagita estava ciente desta disputa antiga, sugerindo uma leitura de Epistulae I-V que advoga a importância das hipóteses do diálogo de Platão nas suas obras. (shrink)

Este artigo pretende descrever algumas características da recepção latina do Corpus Areopagiticum — o conjunto de obras atribuído a Dionísio, o Areopagita —, destacando uma invulgar tradição de leitura, tradução, interpretação e comentário destes escritos. Explicaremos a importância de um único manuscrito (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, gr. 437) no início da cadeira de transmissão desta duradoura difusão, discutindo como é que um documento do século IX influenciou todas as posteriores leituras e traduções em Latim, a fim de esboçar alguns atributos distintivos (...) da disseminação dos textos levada a cabo por autores como sejam Hilduíno, João Escoto Eriúgena, João Sarraceno e Tomás Galo. Os problemas resultantes da tradução de conceitos como sejam " para lá (hyper) " ou " beleza " serão objecto de especial atenção, e iremos inquirir de que modo estas versões são mais ou menos bem-sucedidas na sua tentativa de transmitir, ao mesmo tempo, a filosofia mesma de Dionísio e as interpretações dos autores. -/- This paper aims to describe some features of the Latin reception of the Corpus Areopagiticum — the collection of works attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite — focusing on the unusual tradition of reading, translation, interpretation, and comment of these writings. We will explain the importance of one single manuscript (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, gr. 437) in the beginning of this lasting diffusion's chain of transmission, discussing how a 9 th-century document influenced all posterior readings and translations into Latin, in order to trace out some distinctive attributes within the texts' spreading undertaken by authors such as Hilduin, John Scottus Eriugena, John Sarrazen or Thomas Gallus. Special attention will be paid to problems arising from the translation of concepts such as 'beyond (hyper)' or 'beauty', and we will enquire whether these renderings are more or less succeeded in their attempt to convey, at the same time, the very Dionysius' philosophy and the authors' interpretations. (shrink)

Among the medieval sources cited in early-modern philosophical and religious works, Gregory of Rimini (c. 1300–1358) appears more than once as the authoritative progenitor of doctrines that have consolidated over time. This can be said of the ‘etiamsi Deus non daretur’ argument, used, among others, by Hugo Grotius and Francisco Suárez, of which in this article we intend to verify the correctness of attribution to Gregory and the relevance of the connection with his ‘si Deus ipse non esset’. This verification (...) is carried out by means of an analysis of the Augustinian influences of Gregory’s positions: it is shown that of the various ‘etiamsi Deus non daretur’ arguments that Western culture would have known and experienced, Gregory’s ‘si Deus ipse non esset’ can be considered mostly as an anticipation of a formula, whose content and meaning, precisely because of the philosophical-moral framework and the Augustinian theological inspiration in which it was expressed, were very different from those that the authors of the following centuries would have attributed to it. (shrink)

Augustine’s Confessions is the autobiographical story of his conversion. So long as conversion is the beginning of a life lived in gratitude towards divine mercy, it is closely connected with confession. Conversion, in fact, is the condition that makes confession possible, while confession is the condition that makes conversion intelligible. As Sacred Scripture teaches, confession can be seen as an act of repentance for sins committed and as an act of praise given to God. It is not a question, however, (...) of two alternative senses, since one implies the other. When man accuses himself of his sins, he thanks God for having created him blameless; when he praises God, he honors his magnificence. In both cases, moreover, the initiative is God’s, inasmuch as his mercy is immense and his virtue incalculable. And man, given his condition as a finite being, could say nothing about it. Since, therefore, God is the true motive, man, in praising him, does no more than repeat, by way of response, the appeal that God himself has addressed to him through the silent language of Sacred Scripture. All this makes conversion intelligible, because it makes it consisting of the creature’s disposition to surrender entirely to the mercy of the Creator who dwells in the depths of his soul. For this reason, praise of God in Augustine’s Confessions resounds as an act of thanksgiving, a gesture of gratitude, a testimony of love for God and for his infinite goodness. (shrink)

The presence of the Church Fathers in Robert Grosseteste’s works has always been an object of interest for scholars. In a 1997 article, Robert Grosseteste and the Church Fathers, Neil Lewis has outlined the status quaestionis on the topic, and has made a few remarks on the peculiarities of Grosseteste’s works dating to different periods of his life. In fact, since the 1230s the presence of the Church Fathers was always prominent in the works of Grosseteste (who could read Greek (...) and draw directly from the Greek sources of the Patristic tradition), but in a way less and less exclusive. In this paper the author reconsiders this topic and makes further remarks on it, with particular regard for Grosseteste’s use of Augustine. (shrink)

In examining Augustine’s contribution to the Christian doctrine of bellum iustum, this article sheds light on some extremely interesting pages, from which it is possible to reconstruct how Augustine conceived the relationship between the Christian religion and the Empire. Rejecting the accusations according to which the Christian religion would be an “enemy of the State,” he affirms instead that, if it were given the attention it deserves, it would give Rome “a foundation and a consecration” which it never knew during (...) its history. Moreover, Augustine’s considerations do not only concern the military sphere, but every aspect of civil life, recognizing Christianity as an element of maximum guarantee for the stability of institutions and of the entire society. (shrink)

Gnostic studies in the XXeth century have been influenced by Hans Jonas’ The Gnostic Religion and his existentialist approach of Gnostic movements, until the discovery of the Coptic Nag Hammadi texts, in 1945, gave access to a series of documents coming from the Gnostics themselves. Progressively, the panorama of Gnostic sects and movements deeply changed, calling into question the notion of “dualism” used by the Church Fathers when refuting their Gnostic opponents. If Plotinus criticizes the Gnostic contempt of the world (...) and their life without ethics, the recently commented texts from Nag Hammadi attest the use of the Platonic demiurge understood in the frame of the biblical version of the creation. The beauty of the world is not absent from Gnostic texts. The role of the Gnostic demiurge in documents like the Apocryphon of John or the Valentinian Tripartite Tractate, for example, shows that access to salvation is possible in a philosophical and theological system that is monistic. The heresiological category of “dualism” has too often hindered the study of the Gnostics which does not correspond to what the new documentation brings out. (shrink)

Of all the approaches to the concept of dualism in Origen’s thought, this article concerns the issue which does not seem very obvious : his understanding of the expression heteros theos. Is it possible to call Jesus “the other God”, existing aside from the only God? Thanks to the Dialogue with Heraclides, we can judge the profundity of the issue. According to the Dialogue, heteros theos resembles the language used by Marcion, in which “the other God” means the Demiurge, an (...) antagonist of the merciful God. But the expression also invokes the Judeo‑Christian inspired Christology, in which “the other God” signifies a manifestation of the God Jehovah, or a secondary deity, subordinate to Jehovah. In his other writings, Origen usually avoids calling Christ heteros theos, precisely because of the similarity to marcionism and monarchianism. However, forced to resolve the theological problem presented in the Dialogue, Origen decides to explain the meaning of the term “heteros”. His explanations are inspired by Aristotle’s categories, much simplified and illustrated by examples from the Bible. Origen shows that “difference” can be understood as opposition, but there are other possible interpretations of the term. More than anything, it is relative towards a particular characteristic. Origen’s argumentation, in comparison with other discussions concerning the term (Justin Martyr and Tryphon, Peter and Simon the Magician), illustrates that the understanding of God as “different” may lead to the emergence of dualistic concepts, which are often very radical. (shrink)

As the most rigorous upholder of monotheism, the pseudo‑Clementine homilist is at strife with the Marcionite dualism. More precisely, he comes up against the Apelles’ doctrine, which is all the more dangerous as it establishes the unicity of God and reduces the demiurge of the world and author of the Law to a created power. The theory of the «false pericopes» of the Scriptures is specially directed against Apelles, in order to protect the identity between the supreme God and the (...) Creator of the world. It seems that the conjectures about the origin of the Evil One, which attempt to avoid a new form of dualism, are also directed towards the refutation of Apelles : to the obedient demiurgical angel is opposed the providential function of the Evil One, who has to put the human beings’ piety to trial ; and against Apelles who maintains the severance between corporeal reality and God’ being, the homilist makes use of the audacious theory of the mixing of the elements to settle both the connaturality of the Evil One and of the body of God and the blamelessness of God with reference to the will of the Tempter, which is contingent. (shrink)

This special volume of Forum Philosophicum, entitled “Sharing in the Logos: Philosophical Readings of Maximus the Confessor,” makes available five papers selected from those presented at the conference “Maximus the Confessor as a European Philosopher,” held at the Freie Universität, Berlin, from the 26th to the 28th of September, 2014. We are happy to open up our journal to the contributions of a number of scholars who all share a specific methodological stance when it comes to reading Patristic texts. Rather (...) than discussing the philosophy of Maximus the Confessor, they seek out the philosophical involvements and implications of Maximus’ theology. They respect the distinction between philosophical and theological modes of thinking, while recognizing how those modes of thinking influence and complete each other. (shrink)

Cette contribution est le résumé d’une communication sur la notion de la matiere dans le commentaire de Calcidius sur le Timée de Platon. Pour arriver a un dualisme minimal, Calcidius (a) combine des éléments d’Aristote, des Stoiciens, et de Numénius, mais (b) rejette la notion qu’il attribue aux Hébreux, certains aspects de la notion de Numénius, et d’une notion qu’il attribue a certains Platoniciens.

The Commentary on Sefer Yeṣira, with its pronounced Pythagorean and Neo-Platonic overtones, written by Saadya Gaon in 931, stands out among the other writings of this Jewish theologian, and raises the question of the purpose of its composition. It has been argued that in writing a commentary on this work of letter-speculation, Saadya responded to mythical and mystical trends in tenth-century Judaism, endeavoring to recast this foundational mystical text as a work of rational philosophy. The present article argues that Saadya (...) was also responding to the intellectual challenge of his broader environment, stretching beyond the Jewish community. In some circles in the Islamicate world, letterspeculations, often associated with the sciences of the occult, were presented in this period as the height of philosophy. In particular, al-Tawḥīdī’s account of the Pure Brethren and Ibn Masarra’s Book on the Properties of Letters demonstrate the relevance of these trends in Saadya’s immediate geographic and intellectual environment. (shrink)

Was sind Emotionen, Gefühle, Affekte und Leidenschaften? Sprechen wir von erlebten und kommunizierten Gefühlszuständen oder von psychophysiologischen Erregungs- und Reaktionsmustern? Welche Rückschlüsse erlauben motorisches Verhalten und Ausdrucksverhalten auf unsere tatsächlichen Gefühle? Wie prägen soziale Prozesse und kulturelle Voraussetzungen das emotionale Erleben und Ausdrucksverhalten? Sollen wir unseren Gefühlen und Leidenschaften Grenzen setzen oder freien Lauf lassen? Müssen wir unsere Emotionen verbergen, oder dürfen wir Gefühle zeigen? Die Beiträge des Bandes vermitteln plastische Eindrücke von Emotionen im Wandel des Zeitgeists, konzentriert auf die (...) ausgeprägte Gefühlswelt von Mittelalter und Renaissance. Mediävistische Forschung erschließt uns literarische, bildliche und philosophisch-wissenschaftliche Konzepte von Emotionen sowie ihrer Bewertung aus vergangenen Jahrhunderten und regt an, sie auf Fragen unseres eigenen Lebens und unserer geschichtlichen Gegenwart zu beziehen. Mit Beiträgen von Dieter Birnbacher, Mechthild Dreyer, Martin Pickavé, Thomas Nisters, Isabelle Mandrella, Hans Hecker, Achim Landwehr, Hans Körner, Barbara Haupt, Irmgard Rüsenberg, Vittoria Borsò und Katharina Philipowski. (shrink)

Pseudo-Dionysius’ first principle is hyperousios. By definition, that concept is not theistic. In his oeuvre, however, Pseudo-Dionysius promotes Trinitarianism. A majority of Pseudo-Dionysius’ interpreters have maintained that these concepts are compatible. This article makes a case for the incoherence of that position.

"O presente artigo tem o objetivo de explorar as concepções sobre o “belo” e a “beleza” presentes na obra do Pseudo-Dionísio. Em seus escritos, a divindade permanece sempre oculta e distanciada das representações sensíveis; permanece misteriosa e impossibilita no homem um tipo de conhecimento direto. A “beleza” das coisas e o “belo” encontram-se intimamente ligados à questão da hierarquia e da ordem, sendo que tão mais bela é uma coisa quanto se aproxime do cume dessa ordem. Assim, ter-se-á em consideração (...) estas linhas gerais de estudo ao mesmo tempo que se tentará expor, de forma simples, os princípios elementares daqueles que parecem ter sido as grandes influências neoplatônicas do autor, como é o caso de Plotino e de Proclo. /// This article aims to explore the conceptions of “beautiful” and “beauty” in the work of Pseudo-Dionysius. In his writings, the divinity always remains hidden and distanced from sensible representations; it remains mysterious and hinders man from a type of direct knowledge. The “beauty” of things and the “beautiful” are intimately connected to the question of hierarchy and order, since a thing is more beautiful to the degree that it approaches the summit of this order. Accordingly, these general lines of study will be taken into consideration while an attempt is made to lay out, in a simple way, the elementary principles of those who appear as the great Neo-Platonic influences of the author, as is the case of Plotinus and Proclus.". (shrink)

As Hegel once said, in Byzantium, between homoousis and homoiousis, the difference of one letter could decide the life and death of thousands. As this article seeks to argue, Byzantine thinking was not only attentive to conceptual differences, but also to iconic ones. The iconoclastic controversy (726-842 AD) arose from two different interpretations of the nature of images: whereas iconoclastic philosophy is based on the assumption of a fundamental 'iconic identity', iconophile philosophy defends the idea of'iconic difference'. And while the (...) reception in the Latin West of the controversies over the image as a mere problem of referentiality of the letter explains why its originality has remained underestimated for centuries, reexamining Byzantine visual thinking in the light of today's 'pictorial turn' reveals its striking modernity. (shrink)

This is the first critical edition of Epistles 15-21 of the Brethren of Purity, which explore the natural sciences and correspond to Aristotle's great works on philosophy of nature. Carla Baffioni illuminates the Epistles' relation to Greek philosophy, with particular focus on various doctrines of Ismaili origin that are echoed in the treatises.

"Throughout the History of Philosophy, one of the issues that frequently provoked philosophical reflection was the problem of the existence of evil in the world. How can the concept of a Creator God and Supreme Good, the source and foundation of all reality, be reconciled with the existence of evil in his work? In the present article, we intend to touch on some points regarding this issue based on the thought of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, referring to his work The Divine (...) Names, specifically Chapter 4. ". (shrink)

One of the most important exponents of the School of Alexandria, Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150. – ca. 215.) is the author of a famous trilogy, consisting of Protrepticus, Paedagogus, and Stromata, which correspond to the three ways of acting of the Logos, namely to convert the pagans to the true faith, to cure the soul from passions, and to uplift the soul to the methodic and intellectual life of spiritual perfection. Logos thus acts through exhortation, training, and teaching. Clement (...) considers himself to be the guardian of the Apostolic tradition and takes the task of conserving this tradition, which consists of cosmological and theological truths. With that goal in mind, the Alexandrian talks about the relation between pagan philosophy and Christianity, allegorical interpretation of the Scripture, the need of revealing and concealing the knowledge, which, in order to be correctly understood, has to be interpreted in accordance with the tradition. The intention of this short article is to point out these concepts and their connections in the way Clement sees them. (shrink)

Traditionally Christian ethical reflection has taken the form of what is called nowadays ‘virtue ethics’. This article compares the approach to virtue ethics in the Byzantine thinker, Maximos the Confessor, and the Western thinker, Thomas Aquinas. They both share the heritage of Plato and Aristotle. Maximos develops a concern for the virtues that is practical and ascetic; although he recognizes and uses the traditional classical terminology, he prefers a new Christian terminology, based more directly on the Scriptures. In contrast, Aquinas (...) accepts and uses the classical terminology, adding to it Christian ‘theological’ virtues. His concern is much less directly practical than Maximos, and more directed to the kind of society in which the virtues can flourish. This contrast between the ascetical and political (which should not be overdrawn) is manifest in Dumitru Stăniloae and Josef Pieper, introduced as modern interpreters of Maximos and Thomas respectively. (shrink)

There is a tension in the Dionysian corpus between the resolute negativity of the Mystical Theology and Divine Names, on the one hand, and the affirmative confidence of the hierarchical treatises. Where the former works insist that God is entirely beyond created symbols, the latter speaks of "mediation" of the divine (CH XIII.4) and "a correlation between visible signs and invisible reality" (CH XV.5). Whereas the debate surrounding the Corpus tends to exaggerate one of these poles at the expense of (...) the other, I argue that the tension between them is best understood by way of a distinctively eschatological reading. Although scholars including Paul Rorem claim that the Corpus Dionysiacum contains no eschatology, I argue that the Divine Names describes a gap that is unmistakably temporal between what we "now grasp" and the plenitude of knowledge that remains for the "time to come" (DN (I.4). Because Dionysius claims that union with God remains a matter for expectation and is thus reserved for eschatological fulfillment, the present practice of the church that he describes necessarily takes the form of a tentative attempt to speak and act without certain knowledge. The church may continue to hope that its visible signs are taken up into the divine life, but Dionysius is clear that this affirmation is necessarily uncertain. Yet, far from undermining the present practice of faithful life, Dionysius suggests that the temporal play of presence and absence describes the condition of sacrament itself. (shrink)

The New Testament testifies the fact of divine inhabitation in the soul. This raises the question of what philosophical means may be employed in order to explicate such a theological supposition. Irenaeus and Basil the Great seem to suggest that God is present in the soul as a form in a matter. Thomas Aquinas speaks of God in-existing in us as an efficient cause of our existence and of the grace. In accordance with the modern Thomists we may understand the (...) God’s sanctifying inhabitation as an exemplar-efficient causality . This causality does not constitute any new substantial divine presence in the soul. Rather we may conclude that the “old” substantial presence of God as the cause of our existence becomes also cause of our spiritual transformation operated according the “exemplar” of God. (shrink)

Resumen En el �mbito de la acci�n moral, el principio socr�tico de que nadie yerra voluntariamente implica que toda vez que un agente elige algo lo hace por considerarlo, al mismo tiempo, como bueno o, al menos, preferible a otra cosa: su elecci�n es internamente racional. La tesis socr�tica sobre la conexi�n estructural entre error y autoenga�o constituye, sin duda, uno de los aportes m�s decisivos al pensamiento filos�fico occidental. De esta concepci�n en torno a la naturaleza y estructura del (...) error, en general, y de su aplicaci�n espec�fica al caso del error moral, se siguen importantes consecuencias para el modo en que S�crates considera el fen�meno del conflicto motivacional. Asimismo, se muestra la importancia decisiva que tuvo la concepci�n socr�tica para la discusi�n de la estructura de la conciencia moral tanto en Plat�n y Arist�teles como en Tom�s de Aquino.: In the realm of moral action, the socratic principle nobody errs willingly implies that the rational agent always chooses to do what he/she takes to be good or better for himself/herself: his/her choice is internally rational. Socrates"� view of the connection between error and self-deception is a major contribution to western philosophy. The application of this view to the particular case of moral error has important consequences concerning the possibility of motivational conflict. Not only Plato and Aristotle but also Aquinas are strongly influenced by Socrates in their views concerning the structure of moral conscience. (shrink)

This article examines the relationship between light, splendour and beauty in the thought of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. From a systematic analysis of the Corpus Dionysiacum, we will see to what point he forged an aesthetic perspective from the property of “splendour” in comparison with “proportion”, to coordinate the conception of light in Christian Revelation and in Neoplatonic Philosophy.

In this article the treatment of animals by the early Christian and Arabic philosophy has been developed, focusing mainly on the work of Isidore of Seville and Al-Farabi. The contribution of this study is to highlight the insufficiently considered aspects of the ontology of animals and of their endorsement as moral "subjects" in both Latin and Arabic literature up to our days.

al-Fārābi was well aware that ecumenism can easily convert to tyranny if a certain city–state attempts to impose its laws outside its territory. State legislation depends on specific cultural and historical factors which deprives it from being universal because culture and history could not unite different nations in an ecumenical state. Legislation has to be built on universal premises, e.g. on philosophy, so as to serve the needs of a global state. Philosophy is the bond which unites humans and communities, (...) while religion and legislation are disruptive factors. Despite the fact that in our days there are different philosophies, philosophy encourages dialogue, not hatred. As a result, al-Fārābi was right when he founded his ecumenical state on philosophy. Consequently, philosophers ought to persuade the citizens through rational arguments, dialectic, symbols and religion so as to accept the existence of an ecumenical state. The goal of this state is the supreme good, understood as the theoretical living. Al-Fārābi’s ecumenism is a means for the perfection of human beings and societies and not simply for the augmentation of wealth, as it is seen today. Al-Fārābi dreams of an anthropocentric ecumenical state. I support that this should be the form of modern ecumenism. While modern scholars have strong objections to the governing of philosophers, we should agree that philosophy is the appropriate universal language. The persistence on power and other divisive factors, such as religion or tradition, is doomed to fail. (shrink)