En este trabajo se presenta el lugar que ocupa el tiempo en la obra de Evagrio Póntico, especialmente como factor necesario para la acción de los _logismoí_, de modo tal que es el tiempo condición necesaria para que el hombre caiga bajo el dominio de sus pasiones y se dificulte su retorno a la Unidad. Además, se plantea y defiende la hipótesis que la atención es el modo que, de acuerdo con Evagrio, el tiempo puede ser “detenido” y, de esa (...) manera, interrumpida o aminorada la conducta dañina de los demonios. (shrink)

RESUMENLa melancolía no era desconocida en el mundo clásico. Al contrario, era un ámbito en el que los hombres melancólicos abundaban. Aristóteles, en el texto de Problemas XXX, 1, introduce una precisión acerca de este tema. Dice: Todos los hombres excepcionales son melancólicos. Esta condición obedece, según el Estagirita, a causa físicas –un exceso de bilis negra- y, por tanto, todos aquellos que tengan este exceso participarán también de la excepcionalidad que está reservada a los grandes personajes. Se trata de (...) una afirmación extraña si tenemos en cuenta otros pasajes aristotélicos y que ha provocado interpretaciones diversas y abundantes comentarios. En este trabajo propongo analizar la cuestión de la melancolía en ese texto aristotélico a partir, en primer lugar, de la ubicación del problema en el mundo clásico, avanzando luego hacia una definición de melancolía según el espíritu del Estagirita y su ubicación dentro del corpus doctrinal para finalizar con una conclusión que propone una interpretación base en algunos conceptos de matriz medieval.PALABRAS CLAVEMelancolía - Genialidad - Aristóteles - Tomás de AquinoABSTRACTMelancholy was not unknown in the classic era. On the contrary, that was a time in which melancholic men were many. Aristotle, in the Problems XXX, 1, introduces a precision about this topic. He says: All the exceptional men are melancholic. This condition obeys, according to the Estageira-born, to physical causes – an excess of black bile - and, therefore, all those who have this excess will take part also of the exceptional nature that is reserved to the eminent figures. That is a strange statement if we bear in mind other Aristotelic passages, and it has raised a wide range of interpretations as well as numerous comments. In this work I analyze the question of melancholy in this text, beginning with the contextualization of the problem in the classic world, advancing then towards a definition of melancholy according to the spirit of the Estageira-born and its place inside his doctrinal corpus, finishing with a conclusion that proposes a basic interpretation in some concepts of medieval inspiration.KEYWORDSMelancholy, genius, Aristotle, Thomas Aqu. (shrink)

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar un aspecto parti-cular de la demonología alejandrina y siríaca a partir del así llamadoδαίμων πλάνος o demonio errante, que Evagrio Pón-tico presenta en su tratado Sobre los pensamientos. Este demonio tiene como misión particular distraer al monje de la finalidad que le es pro-pia y disponerlo al ataque de demo-nios más peligrosos y dañinos. Esta figura es inaugurada por Evagrio y retomada algunos siglos más tarde por autores siríacos que la desarro-llan y aplican (...) de diversos modos en sus obras espirituales. Me detendré, además del texto evagriano, en la obra de uno de sus comentadores más reconocidos: José Hazzaya. (shrink)

This paper intends to show the presence of the concept of natural law in the work of Alcuin of York, through an interpretation of his writings. The author asserts the existence of a natural law, that is proper to man, identified with freedom and based in human nature. So, the natural law is inalienable and, in consequence, supposes the prohibition of slavery. Finally, I touch on women as subjects of this natural and essential freedom.

Si bien la influencia de Clemente de Alejandría sobre Evagrio Póntico ha sido señalada por autores como Antoine Guillaumont y Paul Géhin, este trabajo se orienta a considerar su presencia en el círculo de los discípulos de Evagrio y, paralelamente, reconsiderar las temáticas en las que, efectivamente, existió tal influencia. Utilizaré como texto de base para el análisis los Chapitres des disciples d’Évagre, un largo texto que reúne una serie de breves capítulos o kephalaia con enseñanzas de Evagrio que fueron (...) recogidas por sus discípulos, en los que puede observarse la influencia clementina. Me detendré particularmente en dos conceptos importantes para ambos autores: la apatheia y la amistad espiritual, lo cual permitirá, a mi entender, relativizar la autoridad de Clemente en Evagrio y los círculos cultos de los Padres del Desierto. (shrink)

Rubén Peretó Rivas. El nacimiento de la cultura cristiana. Madrid, Homo Legens, 2021, 200 pp., ISBN 9788418162596.

Ethics in the USSR revived in the middle of the twentieth century after more than twenty years of silence. The impetus for the development of research and teaching in this area was given by the supreme power, which considered ethics as one of the more effective tools of state propaganda, corresponding to the new social realities. But pretty soon, the very logic of research immersion in the subject required ethicists to deepen the philosophical and normative analysis of morality. This ultimately (...) led to the revision of the postulates of orthodox Soviet social science and to the formation of a strict moral theory within its framework. The latter, by the very fact of its appearance, called into question the agenda of moralizing ideologization. The renewal of Soviet ethics proceeded in several directions, but in theoretical perspective, the key one was the turn from understanding morality as a form of ideological superstructure (which was dogmatically asserted in historical materialism), to understanding it as a way of regulating human behavior with specific functional characteristics. Today one can trace that transition by a number of intermediate steps in the interpretation of morality, the reconstruction of which, based on the texts of the 1950s to early 1970s, is of interest not only in the context of the history of ideas, but also in terms of the development of the methodology of ethical research and understanding of how a rigorous moral theory can be formed. Some episodes of the history of Soviet ethics are relevant today as examples of emancipated thought and intellectual opposition to the domination of state ideology. (shrink)

Segundo Bruno Latour, “a ecologia nos enlouquece; e é daí que precisamos partir” (LATOUR, 2020a, p. 31). Propomos, portanto, que as imagens do Antropoceno sejam pensadas através de seus afetos: em especial a tristeza profunda. Através dos conceitos de psicopolítica (Byung-Chul Han) e cosmopolítica (Isabelle Stengers), este artigo demarca uma investigação inicial a respeito das possíveis relações entre depressão e clima; melancolia e cosmologia. Abordamos a racionalidade diagnóstica dos Modernos, assim como potenciais críticos e criativos do sujeito depressivo diante à (...) intrusão de Gaia. Por fim, indicamos futuros caminhos desta pesquisa por meio de uma sondagem de riscos atrelados à incomensurabilidade entre múltiplas perspectivas. Pode a depressão traçar, para além dos sentimentos de paralisia e impotência, alguma linha de fuga da emergência climática? Há tratamento? Pharmakon adequado? Uma resposta que não seja bárbara?Palavras-chave: Depressão; Gaia; Psicopolítica; Cosmopolítica; Antropoceno. (shrink)

Parallel to the evolution of art history as a discrete discipline during the 1800s and 1900s, the rediscovery of medieval ivories is closely linked to their progression from their origins, to private collections, to public spaces in museums. Although the dynamics of the art market today still often lead newfound objects to private, sometimes untraceable, places, other items have followed opposite paths – as in the case of two fragments of a Late Antique ivory pyxis considered here. These fragments, recently (...) put on display at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, entered the collection only in 2020, having made their way through generations of the family of art collector and dealer Dikran Kelekian (1867–1951). This study, the first to be devoted to these fascinating fragments, examines their iconography and tries to trace their provenance, dating, and function. (shrink)

This paper presents an analysis and critique of Roger Penrose’s epistemological, methodological, and ontological positions. The analysis is relevant not only because Penrose is an influential scientist, but also because of the particular traits of his thought. These traits are directly connected with his background and approach to science: ontological and epistemological realism, mathematical Platonism, emphasis on the continuities of science, epistemological inclusiveness and essential openness of science, the role of common sense, emphasis on the connection between science, ethics, and (...) philosophy. The paper articulates Penrose’s position and criticizes some of its possible shortcomings. It contributes to the perception of science as an open activity, as illustrated in Penrose’s particular approach, and provides an interesting case-study that can contribute to understanding how epistemological and ontological positions are connected with particular scientific practices. (shrink)

This paper argues that Spinoza held substances other than God to be inconceivable. It uses this claim to develop a novel response to the Problem of Other Substances, the problem of explaining why some of Spinoza’s proofs for God’s existence cannot be used to prove the existence of a non-divine substance instead.

The link between leadership and mental health at the workplace is well established by prior research. However, most of the studies have addressed this relationship from a single-source perspective. The aim of this study was to examine how supervisor and employee ratings of health-oriented leadership correspond to each other and which sources are predictive for employee mental health. We assessed data within 99 teams containing 713 employees in 11 different companies in Southern Germany. Supervisors and their staff completed questionnaires on (...) the supervisors’ health-oriented staff-care dimensions awareness, value of health and health behavior and current mental distress. Hierarchical linear models revealed that supervisors’ self-ratings were significantly related to their employees’ ratings only on the health behavior dimension, but not on the health awareness and value of health dimensions. Also, supervisors rated themselves significantly higher on HoL compared to their employees. Employee ratings of HoL significantly predicted their own level of mental distress, whereas supervisor ratings of HoL did not predict employees’ mental distress at the team level. Supervisors’ self-ratings of HoL did not influence the relationship between employee ratings of HoL and their mental distress on an individual level. These results highlight the complex relationship between multisource assessments of HoL and employee mental health, emphasizing the importance of subjective perception for mental health. Future studies should investigate under which conditions supervisor and employee ratings correspond to each other and are predictive for mental health at the workplace. (shrink)

Researchers have studied the athletes' dual careers with the aim of helping them to combine the sport and the academic–vocational sphere. Most of this research has addressed the study–sport combination, but there is a lack of studies on the work–sport combination. The main objective of this research was to explore the subjective perceptions of Spanish elite athletes when attempting to combine their careers as professional athletes with a second profession or trade. Further, this study aims to identify the access to (...) facilitating resources and the perception of obstacles and barriers to the development of a dual career. A qualitative approach was chosen to address these research questions. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was carried out on a sample of 18 elite athletes, and the data were collected using semi-structured interviews based on a set of superordinate and subordinate categories. The results showed that the athletes interviewed possessed valuable resources such as the transference of sports values to the work sphere. However, important barriers were highlighted such as the perception of sport institutions as absent entities in the work–sport combination. Thus, the study of this type of dual career seems to be one of the challenges facing the interested scientific community for the coming years. (shrink)

The authors of this volume discuss the relevance and influence of various Old and New Testament documents, and early Christian and Jewish texts in terms of their impact in shaping the moral character, identity, and behaviour of the specific communities in which they were produced as well as their ethical application throughout the centuries. Against a narrow understanding of ethics, the term "application" is not used to analyse the texts of the Bible as step-by-step manuals for moral conduct. Rather, the (...) contributors engage with biblical texts within the framework of a complex hermeneutical process of application of the relevance of these texts in contemporary ethical discourse. Contributors: Paul N. Anderson, Robert L. Brawley, Cilliers Breytenbach, Ulrich Busse, R. Alan Culpepper, Jan Willem van Henten, Rainer Hirsch-Luipold, Stephan Joubert, Craig R. Koester, Bart J. Koet, Michael Labahn, Tobias Nicklas, Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte, Udo Schnelle, Michael Theobald, D. Francois Tolmie, Joseph Verheyden, Ben Witherington, III, Ellen van Wolde, Michael Wolter, Mirjam Zimmermann, Ruben Zimmermann. (shrink)

Roger Penrose is known for his proposals, in collaboration with Stuart Hameroff, for quantum action in the brain. These proposals, which are still recent, have a prior, less known basis, which will be studied in the following work. First, the paper situates the framework from which a mathematical physicist like Penrose proposes to speak about consciousness. Then it shows how he understands the possible relationships between computation and consciousness and what criticism from other authors he endorses, to conclude by explaining (...) how he understands this relationship between consciousness and computation. Then, it focuses on the concept of non-locality so essential to his understanding of consciousness. With some examples, such as impossible objects or aperiodic tiling, the study addresses the concept of non-locality as Penrose understands it, and then shows how far he intends to arrive with that concept of non-locality. At all times the approach will be more philosophical than physical. (shrink)

El texto trata de abordar la noción de «significante» lacaniano desde una hermenéutica filosófica. Para ello se recorrerán algunos momentos clave de la elaboración de Lacan sin dar por supuesto ningún uso o definición que se promueve del término en cuestión, todo ello con la intención de subrayar aspectos como el del sentido y la vedad que desde un análisis hermenéutico-filosófico pueden ser captados en toda su profundidad.

Most of the features of modern Russian business are transient, determined by the transitional character of the Russian economy and drastic changes in the social structure, ideology, and consciousness of Russian society in general. There are three main normative experiences in the traditions of Russian business: a) the experience of pre-Revolutionary business, specifically developed and practiced by the merchants of the old-believers extraction; b) the experience of socialist economy, which was more or less oriented to the public good and presupposed (...) selfless aspirations by the economic agents; c) the experience of legally and administratively constrained private business and illegal shadow business, which expected businessmen to be vigorous, industrious and enterprising. The process of privatization was developed under the aegis of state, specifically the state bureaucracy. The influence of changes in the social-economic system has been ambivalent for social morals. However, the reforms could stimulate their improvement. The recent development in the cultural environment of business testify to the emerging space of civilized business, which manifests that it is practically useful for businessmen to be ethical. (shrink)

Ruben Berrios Queen’s University Belfast Anti-realism and Aesthetic Cognition Abstract At the core of the debate between scientific realism and anti-realism is the question of the relation between scientific theory and the world. The realist possesses a mimetic conception of the relation between theory and reality. For the realist, scientific theories represent reality. The anti-realist, in contrast, seeks to understand the relations between theory and world in non-mimetic terms. We will examine Cartwright’s simulacrum account of explanation in order to illuminate (...) the anti-realist position. Science consists of phenomenological and theoretical laws. The former are concerned with appearances, or those phenomena that can be directly observed; the latter involve the unobservable reality that is alleged to underlie appearances, and are capable only of indirect confirmation. Phenomenological laws are said to be descriptive, whilst theoretical laws are understood as explanatory. Cartwright is concerned with the theoretical. She claims that the standard realist account of the explanatory efficacy of theoretical laws is faulty. The explanatory power of theoretical laws consists in their ability to provide an explanation of physical phenomena. According to Cartwright, the realist claims that laws explain phenomena by providing an abstract description of them, in terms of their micro-structural features, that is alleged to be true. On this view, explanatory power is entirely dependent on descriptive adequacy. As phenomenological laws describe appearances, so theoretical laws describe the fundamental reality that governs appearances. Cartwright rejects the preceding view and in its place proposes a simulacrum account of explanation. According to Cartwright, the explanatory power of theoretical laws is related not to descriptive adequacy, but rather to the construction of adequate models. To explain a phenomenon is to construct a model which best or most adequately accommodates the phenomenon to a theory. The model will consist of various posited objects that serve to explain the phenomena in terms that are consistent with a set of theoretical laws. Cartwright claims that theoretical laws are true of, or describe, the objects of the model. The objects of the model, however, are not descriptive of reality. They are simulacra. They have, that is, the form or appearance of things, without possessing their substance or proper qualities. In light of the foregoing account we can summarise the distinction between scientific realism and anti-realism as follows. The realist claims that theoretical laws literally represent real objects. The anti-realist claims that laws represent objects of a model that are simulacra of reality. Anti-realism has an aesthetic dimension. The movement from realism to anti-realism is also the movement from the mimetic conception of the scientist as holding a mirror to nature to the constructionist view of the scientist as engaging with nature through invention. There is a lot of the artist in the anti-realist’s view of the scientist. This is true for Cartwright as well as, for example, Van Fraassen in his doctrine of constructive empiricism. It would appear, then, that the philosophy of science has absorbed some concepts that are ordinarily housed in aesthetics. And it has done so profitably. The aim of this paper is to reverse the direction of disciplinary influence. Can art, in relation to its status as a cognitive enterprise, be illuminated by scientific anti-realism? I will argue that it can. In an unexpected reference to the Nicomachean Ethics, Cartwright draws a suggestive parallel between theoretical laws and general moral principles, on the one hand, and physical phenomena and everyday moral conduct, on the other hand. If we add to this the claim that a central component of art’s value is cognitive, then we have the basic materials with which to flesh out a broadly anti-realist view of art. In the production of art, artists can construct models that mediate between everyday ethical phenomena and general ethical tendencies. These models reveal the ways in which there are implicit consistencies or inconsistencies, conflicts or congruences and so forth, between the phenomena and the tendencies. On this basis art can contribute to the reflective understanding of ethical life. This constitutes to a large degree art’s status as a cognitive enterprise. To apprehend art cognitively as artist or critic is to engage in aesthetic cognition. (shrink)

The idea of sociability - a person’s disposition and ability to communicate and live in the community - goes through the whole history of philosophy. Due to the peculiarity of translations, this term and the whole tradition related to it have been lost to the Russian reader. The article discusses some tendencies in comprehending the idea of sociability in early modern moral philosophy. The key to this consideration is F. Hutcheson’s essay On the Natural Sociability of Mankind, the title of (...) which contains the very term “sociability” and which presents the main essential points in a discussion of the issue in the first third of the 18 th century. One can distinguish two main approaches to the problem. According to one of them, sociability determined by various human natural needs is the basis of social relations, and a person becomes a moral agent as a social being (H. Grotius, T. Hobbes, S. Pufen-dorf, B. Mandeville). According to another approach, sociability is a manifestation of a person’s natural tendency to care for the good of others, and its consistent implementation leads to the formation of community and supports its stability (Cambridge Platonists, Shaftesbury, Hutcheson, J. Butler, D. Hume, A. Smith). Representatives of both approaches recognized contradiction in manifestations of sociability or in its nature. I. Kant theoretically overcame the confrontation between these approaches and conceptualized the contradiction and associated it with the human nature. According to Kant, the “unsociable sociability” is given in the fact that a person has a tendency to sociability but also a tendency to self-assertion at the expense of others. However, despite the presence of asocial features (evil principle), Kant considered the person’s inherent sociability (good principle) as a prerequisite for culture and as one of the most important conditions of possibility of morality. (shrink)

Drawing on my experiences at a teaching-focused university, I show how locating the health humanities in first-year or introductory composition courses improves learning and offers an economical, flexible, and far-reaching approach to bringing a health humanities education to all baccalaureate-level learners, regardless of whether they aspire to careers in the health professions. In terms of improving learning, health humanities composition courses support the disciplinary aims of both fields. Accessible, relevant issues in the health humanities, such as interventions in health debates (...) or representations of illness and healthcare settings, nourish the cognitive and social conditions needed to develop college-level writing skills. The health humanities’ emphases on interdisciplinarity and suspending judgment also inform students’ writing abilities. Composition trains students to write rhetorically by considering purpose, context, genre, mode, and other factors when addressing an audience. This approach to writing helps pre-health humanists communicate intentionally and compassionately about health topics as well as the larger issues they call into question. Because students enroll in health humanities composition courses at an early, formative moment in their studies, they are poised to carry or “transfer” their knowledge to other courses, including those that might prepare them for the workforce. (shrink)

Over the last few years a growing body of literature on Soviet-Third World relations has become available. The two books under discussion here represent valuable contributions to the understanding of East-South relations. Both books deal with changing Soviet approaches to the Third World. They trace Soviet interest in the developing countries and associate it with the post-Stalin leadership. Both books challenge prevailing views on Soviet behavior in the Third World and provide an excellent overview of Soviet scholarly works on development (...) issues. Of the two, Valkenier's book is the more interesting because it is more concise and rich. It offers a thorough review of the Soviet literature on academic research and policy decisions regarding their position with the Third World over the last 30 years. (shrink)

One of the essential distinctions in action theory is that between activity and passivity. I address this distinction in this article.

Throughout history, human beings have worked on their personal enhancement. Not only improving the living conditions, but also trying to improve the moral behavior of people, usually through education. The Transhumanist proposal of moral enhancement promises to make us better and understands it as a duty, also because of the ethical challenges that present to us. In the following article we explore if that is possible and to what extent, taking into account that humans are agents.

This book introduces readers to the topic of explanation. The insights of Plato, Aristotle, J.S. Mill and Carl Hempel are examined, and are used to argue against the view that explanation is merely a problem for the philosophy of science. Having established its importance for understanding knowledge in general, the book concludes with a bold and original explanation of explanation.

review of Philosophy of Economics by C. Dyke.