The paper outlines several forms of ethical attitude to good life and good death in the Socratic literature of the fourth century BCE. A model for the Socratic discussions could be found in Herodotus’ story about the meeting between Croesus and Solon. Within their conversation, Solon shows the king of Lydia that death is a place from which the life of each man can be seen as the completed whole. In his Phaedo, Plato depicts Socrates’ last day before his death (...) in a similar spirit, as the completion of his beautiful life. However, there is no consensus regarding opinions on death among the Socratics. The final part of the paper outlines various meanings of death in the writings of the first generation of the Socratic authors, which arise from different attitudes that the individual philosophers hold regarding the soul as well as other topics. This part puts the principal emphasis on Aristippus, who is considered as the most controversial figure of the Socratic movement. Aristippus makes an interesting opposite to Plato concerning death, since he associates the philosopher’s endeavour for a good life solely with that which is here and now. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThe paper deals with Jan Patočka’s and Michel Foucault’s influential interpretations of the ancient Greek approach to care. At first sight, it might seem that Foucault’s care of the self is opposed to Patočka’s care of the soul. On closer reading, however, it becomes clear that the two interpretations lead to similar conclusions, as exemplified by the way the two authors interpret Plato’s Laches: both of them see it in relation to the issue of how to live one’s life. Further (...) on, the paper deals with the development of Patočka’s understanding of care of the self and his approach to the philosophy of history. It is revealed that Foucault’s approach to history is opposed to Patočka’s on a number of issues. Despite their diverging opinions, however, the two authors problematize the ancient Greek care of the self as an important issue in Western culture, emphasizing the therapeutic role of contemporary philosophy along the way. (shrink)

_Care of the Self: Ancient Problematizations of Life and Contemporary Thought_, by Lívia Flachbartová, Pavol Sucharek, and Vladislav Suvák, focus on different manifestations of “taking care of the self” present in ancient and contemporary thought.

Cieľom článku je nanovo reflektovať činnosť jednej z najslávnejších ženských filozofiek, Hip­parchie z Maróneie. Naším zámerom je ukázať, prečo sa stala v porovnaní s inými ženami antiky taká významná a v mnohom signifikantná pre ďalší vývoj procesu ženskej eman­cipácie. Hlavným svedectvom je pre nás fragment SSR V I 1 od Diogena Laertského, ktorý kladieme do súvislosti s ďalšími antickými správami o Antisthenovi a raných kynikoch. Dve hlavné témy Diogenovho svedectva sú Kratétova svadba s Hipparchiou a spor Hipparchie s Theodórom. Vo (...) výklade poukazujeme na momenty, v ktorých je filozofická osobnosť Hip­parchie nadčasová a inšpiratívna aj pre súčasnosť. (shrink)

This paper deals with Care of the Self under globalization. The first part refers to Johann P. Arnason’s interpretation of Jan Patočka’s work on super-civilization and shows the contradictions facing people in the Modern Era. It suggests that the concept of moderateness is an adequate point of departure for handling the various contradictions of the current epoch. The second part looks at selected aspects of Confucian philosophy in which moderateness, that is, the permanent search for a “middle position” is an (...) integral part of that philosophical tradition. The critical actualisation of Confucianism as proposed for instance by Heiner Roetz is seen as an appropriate way of developing the dialogical characteristics of Confucian philosophy. In the last part it is stressed that critical theory is of relevance when identifying various forms of suffering and because of its ability to understand and critically evaluate diverse cultural and social contexts. (shrink)

The paper deals with the Socratic ethics as developed by Antisthenes and conceived by the doxografical tradition as the basis of Diogenes’ Cynicism. The author tries to show that Antisthenes’ thought as a whole is connected with paideia . Thus Antisthenes’ interpretations of Homer as well as his logical paradoxes have ethical aiming. There is a close connection between Antisthenes’ logic and his ethics of the care of the self. Socratic thought in Antisthenes’ fragments is neither skeptical nor dialectical. Contrary (...) to both “intellectualistic” tendencies Antisthenes puts stress on the wise continually practicing ethics. By using of logical paradoxes Antisthenes probably hoped to demonstrate the anti-Platonic priority of ethics over metaphysics and logic. From this point of view Antisthenes can be seen as the predecessor of practical Cynical bios. (shrink)

The paper gives an outline of Antisthenes’ ethics. The first part questions the accounts of modern historians, who try to include Antisthenes in one or another philosophical schools of that time . In the second part it shows the affiliations between Antisthenes´ thinking and socratic tradition: It comes out, that the interconnection between the former and sophistics and kynicism might have come into existence as late as in the later doxographic accounts of his doctrine. The third part deals in more (...) details with the writings Kyros and Heracles, which exemplify a mimetic depiction of the way of acting of a socratic sapient. The analysis of the preserved fragments shows, that the Antisthenian ethics is practical, differing from the Platonic conception of practice in that in it moral knowledge and moral action became one. Thus it represents a non-theoretical expansion of socratic ethics and as such cannot be grasped by the classical approaches which draw a sharp line between socratics and sophistics. (shrink)

Abstrakt: Článok sa zaoberá tým, ako Dión z Prúsy pracuje s figúrou Diogena, respektíve ako prispôsobuje diogenovský kynizmus sociálnej a politickej realite svojej doby. Prvá časť načrtáva okolnosti, ktoré doviedli Dióna k rozhodnutiu, aby si obliekol kynický plášť. Ďalšia časť sa zaoberá tým, ako Dión vytvoril z Diogena príklad filosofického konania. Diónovo chápanie kynizmu sa prejavuje v jeho reinterpretácii príbehu o Diogenovi a Alexandrovi. Nakoniec sa článok zamýšľa nad otázkou, aké črty zdôrazňuje Dión vo svojom portréte Diogena a akú úlohu (...) prisudzuje kynizmu v období cisárskeho Ríma. Kľúčové slová: Dión z Prúsy, Diogenés zo Sinópy, kynizmus, Sókratés – sokratika. (shrink)

The paper discusses the conception of philosophy and ethics in Seneca’s Letters, as well as in his other writings, which it sets in the broader context of ancient and modern thought. The introduction outlines the Socratic and Stoic foundations of Seneca’s ethics. The next section focuses on the interpretation of passages from the Letters that remind us that the task of philosophy is to teach human to live an active life. The paper points out that, according to Seneca, philosophy resembles (...) art more than knowledge, and Seneca adapts his language and the examples he uses to this effect. In the next section, the paper returns to delineating the relationship between theoretical and practical thought. The specificity of Seneca’s position becomes visible in the background of Aristotle’s problematization of this relationship. The last section asks how we should approach Seneca’s conception of ethics and philosophy. The analyses outlined above show that Seneca’s Letters fully express an approach to philosophy as an art of living, an approach that modern authors such as Nietzsche and Foucault consider determinative for the whole of ancient philosophy. (shrink)

Abstrakt: Článok sa zaoberá tým, ako Dión z Prúsy pracuje s figúrou Diogena, respektíve ako prispôsobuje diogenovský kynizmus sociálnej a politickej realite svojej doby. Prvá časť načrtáva okolnosti, ktoré doviedli Dióna k rozhodnutiu, aby si obliekol kynický plášť. Ďalšia časť sa zaoberá tým, ako Dión vytvoril z Diogena príklad filosofického konania. Diónovo chápanie kynizmu sa prejavuje v jeho reinterpretácii príbehu o Diogenovi a Alexandrovi. Nakoniec sa článok zamýšľa nad otázkou, aké črty zdôrazňuje Dión vo svojom portréte Diogena a akú úlohu (...) prisudzuje kynizmu v období cisárskeho Ríma. Kľúčové slová: Dión z Prúsy, Diogenés zo Sinópy, kynizmus, Sókratés – sokratika. (shrink)

The paper retraces the history of one of the ancient arguments, which took place in the period of the rise of metaphysics between Plato and Isocrates. The problem at issue was the balance between words and acts. Both philosophers aimed at different resolutions of the problems brought about by this conflict bewteen the words and acts . In the course of history the ways of "settling" this argument have been gradually marginalized. The metaphysics, however, had not freed itself of the (...) necessity to resolve the confilcts, which the metaphysics itself provoked by its claims on the "rule of reason". That is why even such a marginalized character as Isokrates could become an interesting and a very significant impulse for the contemporary thought, still captured by platonism and facing "isocratian objections". (shrink)