ARTICLES
Andrei Seregin
Institute of Philosophy RAS (Moscow)
avis12@yandex.ru
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 634-654
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-634-654
Keywords: ancient ethics, emotion, pain, pleasure, stoicism
Abstract. In this paper, I want to offer a detailed justification of the thesis that the early Stoics made a significant distinction between two types of hedone (i.e. “pleasure”), namely, physical pleasure and pleasurable emotion, despite using the same term for both. To this end, I first summarize the arguments in favour of this thesis that have already been presented in scholarly literature: emotion is a mental activity, while physical pleasure is one of the possible objects of this activity; the opposite of pleasure as an emotion is lype (“distress”), whereas the opposite of physical pleasure is ponos (“pain”); emotion is a moral evil, whereas physical pleasure is an indifferent. I then offer further arguments to demonstrate that, in early Stoic thought, physical pleasure should be understood as a bodily affection rather than a mental activity. Finally, I analyze and criticize the views of those scholars who argue that the early Stoics regarded physical pleasure either as a mental activity or as a component of emotion.
Alexander A. Sinitsyn
The Dostoevsky Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities
aa.sinizin@mail.ru
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 655-686
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-655-686
Keywords: Herodotus’ Histories/Muses, Persian wars, Ionians, Homer, Sparta, Athens, King Cleomenes I, archaic maps, bronze tablet/halkeos pinax, Aristagoras, Gorgo, foreign policy, art of diplomacy, global conflict, West and East, Europe and Asia.
Abstract. Before the Greek-Persian wars, the Ionians had tried to engage the Hellenic states of the Balkan Greece in the flaring advance of a group of poleis in Asia Minor against the Persian rule, the Ionic revolt resulted in a large-scale (within the ancient world) conflict between the East and the West and unleashed a half-century’s confrontation between the Hellenes and the Achaemenid Empire. In the complex international situation shaped at the turn of the 5th century BC in the Hellenic world — in its European and Asian parts — strong poleis needed not only military power but also the art of diplomacy to maintain their steadfast stance. In the second half of the 6th century BC the states of the Eastern part of the Aegean Sea frequently tried to involve Spartans in their affairs and exploit their military power in fighting Persians. Herodotus gives accounts of several such attempts: Hdt. 1.82–83; 1.152; 3.46–47 and 54–56; 3.148; 5.49–51 and 97; 6.84. Aware of the ‘enormity’ of the Persian wars in the world history, Herodotus chose a topic of a Homeric scale to be accounted of epically. His historical ad ethnographic text is made up of various myths, yarns, legends, anecdotes and amusing and edifying short stories. The tyrant of Miletus Aristagoras sought to engage the Spartans in the conflict with the Persians by using peculiar bronze tablet (khalkeos pinax), which was an archaic geographic proto-map meant to persuade Cleomenes to set out on a dangerous military march (Hdt. 5.49–50). According to the author of the article, the novella of Aristagoras’ mission in Sparta and the bronze tablet are presented in the Histories as a drama: with dialogues, urgings, attempts made by the protagonist (the tyrant of Miletus) he tried to get King Cleomenes interested and win him over, yet, Aristagoras’ designs failed. The role of Gorgo, the young daughter of the King, in this mini-drama is of great importance: she condemns the cunning petitioner, thereby rescuing her father and Sparta. This must be one of the tales that the Father of History could have heard about the wise Spartan Queen. The moral of the Herodotus’ parable about Aristagoras, Cleomenes, Gorgo and the ‘geographical map’ can be interpreted as follows: beware of the Ionians bringing fake tablets. But in Athens everything turned out differently. There Aristagoras’ mission was successful. Athenians sent the Ionians 20 ships, which, as Herodotus writes in Homer’s language, became “the beginning of the disasters” (arkhe kakov) of all Hellenes and the barbarians (Hdt. 5.97.3) — the beginning of the great conflict between Europe and Asia.
John F. Finamore
University of Iowa
john-finamore@uiowa.edu
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 687-703
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-687-703
Keywords: soul, vehicle, Proclus, Plato, Republic, underworld, communication
Abstract. In the Myth of Er in the Republic Plato describes various aspects of the soul’s afterlife. At 614e3-615a4 he writes that souls who have gathered on the plain of judgment are then divided into those who lived morally good lives and so rise into a place of reward and those who have not who descend into the realm of punishment. On the souls’ return to the plain after their time above or below, they greet one another and tell each other of their experiences. Some 700 years later, Proclus in his commentary on the Republic tries to answer some issues that this short passage must have raised for some philosophers in antiquity. The problem is simple enough: how can souls who do not have bodies or organs of sense communicate in this way? Proclus lays out his response in several stages. He agrees, of course, that souls in the underworld do not have corporeal bodies. However, they do have ethereal vehicles, and these vehicles, he says, are more closely adapted to the souls and therefore less likely to introduce errors in the souls. Thus, the seeing and hearing in Hades is actually clearer and more directly known than those that occur when we are imprisoned in our bodies. These vehicles retain the images received when we were embodied, and thus we can recognize other souls and communicate with them. As for hearing and speaking, the vehicles are actually better at these tasks than the organs in our bodies. How Proclus reaches these conclusions is not immediately clear from the Republic commentary, but with the aid of other works, especially the Timaeus commentary, we will be able to see how Proclus attempts to make the case for disembodied souls speaking and hearing in the underworld.
James M. Magrini
College of Dupage, Glen Ellyn, IL (USA)
circlereturn@aol.com
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 704-719
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-704-719
Keywords: Socratic dialectic; Plato’s dialogues; Apocrypha, Sokratikoi Logoi; Eudaimonic ethics
Abstract. This essay providers an analysis of the apocryphal “Platonic” dialogue On Justice and develops a unique notion of Socratic philosophy that is present within this ancient example of Sokratikoi Logoi but requires elucidation. It unfolds in three main sections focused on: (1) Dialectic as an example of a “speech-act,” where the use of words “commits” Socrates and his interlocutors to the task of developing an ethical soul in and through reasoned discourse; (2) Socrates’ embrace of a form of ethics termed “practical-and-contextual ethics, as related to eudaimonic ethics, which reveals that unlike “action-based” ethics, Socratic ethics is concerned with ethical behavior within specific and unique contexts and situations, indeed, in great part, the many situations within Socrates finds himself actually guide and direct his ethical behavior - the deliberation concerning the virtuous choices made at the appropriate or right time; and (3) The question concerning how ignorance is related to the ethical choices made in praxis, and it is argued that following Socrates, ethical decisions are indeed possible despite lacking a full and complete knowledge of virtue or the virtues such as courage, temperance, piety, wisdom, or as related to the apocryphal dialogue, “justice.” Ultimately, the analysis seeks to offer the reader an intimation of what an authentic notion of Socratic philosophy might look like despite the Platonic inauthenticity of the source material.
Eka Avaliani
International Black Sea University (Georgia)
eavaliani@ibsu.edu.ge
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 720-734
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-720-734
Keywords: Roman politics, Iberian Kindom, Res Gestae, empire, periphery
Abstract. This study examines the political relations between the Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Iberia (Eastern Georgia). It explores the Roman Empire's policies and attitudes toward its peripheries, particularly the Kingdom of Iberia, as well as Iberia's aspirations to integrate into the imperial framework. The research highlights the formation of a Roman imperial network, reflecting the alignment of interests and interactions between these two political entities. The relationship between the Roman Empire and Iberia is analysed using two Roman imperial sources: Res Gestae Divi Augusti and the inscription of Vespasian, along with Caesars Titus and Domitian. Through the interpretation of these materials, the study aims to model the dynamics of this relationship.
Ekaterina Matusova
HSE University, Moscow
ek.matusova@mail.ru
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 735-766
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-735-766
Keywords: the Derveni papyrus, the sophists, Prodicus, Aristotle, proto-linguistics, semantics, correct speech (orthoepeia), homonymy, synonymy, ambiguity
Abstract. The article discusses the impact of the early sophistic theories of language on the style and argumentation of the Derveni author and shows that he engages deeply with the problematics of semantics as discussed by the sophists, in particular the notions of correct speech, the proper meanings of words, synonymy and homonymy. Aristotle notes that the main device of the sophists is homonymy, the use of which permeates the style and argumentation of the text of the papyrus. According to Aristotle, the concept of homonymy includes general notions. Such an approach can already be observed in the Derveni papyrus, in particular regarding the notion of sameness (τὸ αὐτό) which the author uses in three different ways while playing with its polysemy: the sameness of one and many, the sameness of the opposite aspects of one process and the sameness of synonyms. The article suggests how this sophisticated approach of the author may correspond to earlier hermeneutic traditions related to the orphic theogonic poems.
Maksim Prikhodko
Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University
prihodkomaxim@yandex.ru
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 767-778
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-767-778
Keywords: Eusebius of Caesarea, image, sacred history, holiness, biography, typology, logos, Bible, emperor Constantine, symbol
Abstract. The article examines the hagiographic model of a Holy Emperor, formed by Eusebius of Caesarea in his later encomiastic speeches “In Praise of Constantine”, “On Christ’s Sepulchre”, and in the laudatory biographical work “Life of Constantine”. In contrast with the literal, rhetorical and political interpretation of Eusebius’ concept of Holy Emperor, the author takes a new approach to the symbolism of the figure of Emperor Constantine. The article’s task is to reveal and trace the image of Constantine as a working “symbolical mechanism”, associating profound religious and philosophical concepts, such as the relationship between eternity and history. The investigation highlights the originality of Eusebius’ symbolical thinking, which, in contrast to the ancient traditions and customs, provides the Christian-philosophical view of the problem related to preserving the examples of holiness in the memory of descendants. It is this that consists of the tasks of hagiography. The proposed model of a Holy Emperor is based on two main components: the ruler as a sacred image, and the ruler as a subject of sacred history. Eusebius finds the sacred image in the very soul of Emperor Constantine, which reflects the eternal ideas and is likened to the Word of God. In the light of the sacred history, the Basileus acts as an “interpreter” of the Word of God, revealing it in his politics, the understanding of divine providence and his place in it. The Christian emperor opens the logos-like principle in people through his deeds, transferring it from the intelligible realm to the empirical sphere that is the sphere of history.
Lee Fratantuono
Maynooth University
lee.fratantuono@mu.ie
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 779-795
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-779-795
Keywords: Plato, Virgil, Troy, Italy, bees
Abstract. The influence of Plato on Virgil has been the subject of research into the sources for the Aeneid. Plato’s longest work, the Nomoi or Laws, has not received attention as a possible inspiration for Virgil. Close study of certain passages will demonstrate that Plato’s use of bee imagery in particular as part of his metaphorical description of the process by which new polities are established may have been influential on Virgil’s artistic presentation of the development and foundation of what would develop into the Lavinium of the future.
Elias Vavouras
University of Western Macedonia (Greece)
ivavouras@uowm.gr
Ioannis Mitrou
University of Athens
mitrouyiannis@yahoo.com
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 796-823
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-796-823
Keywords: political philosophy, political science, radical Platonism, nepotism, rational criticism, slavery, social mobility, dialectic, equality, revolution, totalitarianism
Abstract. The aim of this research is to highlight the revolutionary and radical impact of Platonic philosophy on political reality. Plato introduces a political model which does not end in dogmatism, authoritarianism and totalitarianism, but is aporetic and subversive even of itself, i.e., deeply philosophical. The only element of the Platonic proposal that can give political definitions is political science, which is personified in the collective political part of philosophers-governors. However, political definitions or institutions are not dogmatic in nature, but dialectical, in the sense that they are always subject to rational criticism and refutation. Also, groundbreaking proposals such as the abolition of nepotism and private property for political governors, social mobility, equality between women and men in terms of education and assuming political positions, the marginalization of slavery, the mixture of liberalism and socialism, etc. compose a strongly revolutionary political manifesto, which can be called radical Platonism.Our methodological approach concerns both the clarification of basic Platonic concepts and the concepts introduced by Alain Badiou in relation to the political and its reinvention in relation to Plato. Thus, we follow the dynamics that develop between the two philosophers and the meta-interpretation of their positions that will yield the logic of radical Platonism into today’s political situation.
Nadezhda P. Volkova
Institute of Philosophy RAS (Moscow)
go2nadya@gmail.com
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 824-843
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-824-843
Keywords: Plato, Timaeus, pre-cosmic state of the world, primary bodies, qualities, regular polyhedra.
Abstract. In this paper I discuss the pre-cosmic state of elements in the Timaeus, when they existed as “vestiges of their own nature” (53b2). In the Timaeus, Plato distinguishes between two states of the elements: pre-cosmic (47e-53c) and cosmic (53c-57d). While the cosmic state of the elements has been extensively analyzed, the pre-cosmic state remains less clear and continues to be the topic of ongoing scholarly debate. Some scholars share the opinion that in the pre-cosmic state of the world the elements were bodies having certain stereometric forms (e. g. Archer-Hind, Taylor, Mortley, Mohr, Miller etc.). While other scholars believe that there were no bodies, but some forces and qualities placed in the Receptacle (e. g. Cornford, Zeyl, Waterfield etc.). I would like to demonstrate that the first interpretation is more consistent with Plato's overall thought than the second. Firstly, I examine the cosmic state of the elements, shaped by the Demiurge into regular polyhedra, in comparison with the pre-cosmic chaos, described as a "field" of heterogeneous, unbalanced forces. Secondly, I define the status of elements in the Timaeus, their role as causes of motion, and the nature of the Receptacle. And finally, I analyze the opinions of ancient commentators on the pre-cosmic chaos, including the presence of primary bodies there and the interpretation of "vestiges" of the elements. I came to the conclusion, that (1) Cornford's interpretation, which posits only forces and qualities in the pre-cosmic chaos, contradicts Plato's fundamental premise that physical movement requires a bodily substrate.; and (2) the description of the pre-cosmic state of the world, which suggests the presence of the elements as disordered and unformed bodies, was widely supported by the views of Plato's ancient commentators.
Dmitri Panchenko
St Petersburg University; Higher School of Economics (St Petersburg)
dmpanchenko@yahoo.com
Anthony Terekhov
Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS (St. Petersburg)
aterekhoff@gmail.com
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 844-869
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-844-869
Keywords: Wang Chong, ancient Chinese philosophy, ancient Greek astronomy and cosmology, the Presocratics, Dicaearchus, Eratosthenes, ancient linear measures, intercultural contacts in antiquity
Abstract. In his extensive work, the Lunheng Wang Chong (27–ca. 102) repeatedly criticizes the views of certain literati. We consider the possibility that some of the views of both the literati and the critic go back to Greek scientific and philosophical traditions. Various statements in the Lunheng have clear analogies in Greek and Latin texts. For instance, to illustrate the contrary motion of the sun and moon relative to the fixed stars Wang Chong compares their movement to that of ants crawling on a rolling mill-stone. The same comparison appears in Vitruvius and a number of Greek writers. There was an early Greek theory of Air that knows everything everywhere; Wang Chong cites precisely the same idea in respect to qi, barely distinguishable from air in the context. Wang Chong knows the extravagant Chinese theory that involves seasonal rise and fall of the sun attached to heaven. However, if the sun is not attached to heaven the corresponding theory turns ingenious. Precisely such a version of the theory is attested for Anaximenes whose views display many links with the views that circulated in China. Moreover, Wang Chong holds the same basic cosmographic views as Anaximenes. Wang Chong has a correct idea of the distance between the observer and the horizon, but this normally requires knowledge of the radius of the spherical earth, which suggests the Greek origin of the numerical data available to Wang Chong.
Gershon Bar Cochva
Orot Israel College and Efrata College of Education
gershon@emef.ac.il
Haim Shkolnik
Staff Officer of Archaeology (SOA) of the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria
haimsh@israntique.org.il
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 870-893
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-870-893
Keywords: Heroon, mausoleum, temenos, monumental tomb, Herod the Great, Machpela Cave, Trysa, Hebron, Tombs of the Patriarchs
Abstract. Researchers estimated that the complex built above the Cave of the Patriarchs was built by Herod. A new carbon-14 date reinforces this opinion. The complex was built over a cave, seemingly a natural karst void, possibly modified by humans, traditionally associated with the burial Cave, where Judaism's Patriarchs and Matriarchs are interred - defining the compound as a Heroon, enclosed by a "temenos". A concealed burial loculus meant for a single ossuary was discovered in the system below the floor of the temenos. Considering all the data, we would like to suggest that the Heroon-temenos was built at the beginning of Herod's reign and the individual burial loculus was set apart for Herod himself before he opted for burial in Herodium.
Valery V. Petroff
RAS Institute of Philosophy (Moscow)
campas.iph@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 894-929
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-894-929
Keywords: Thaddeus Zielinski, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Hippolyte Taine, Ernest Renan, Lucretius, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Pavel Florensky, the Slavic Renaissance
Abstract. The article examines the concept of the “Slavic Renaissance” proposed by the classical scholar and philosopher of culture Thaddeus Zielinski. It is based on the idea of the beneficial and continuous influence of the heritage of ancient Greece on the cultures of modern Europe. Zielinski points out that the history of European culture (of which he considered Slavic culture to be a part) has experienced a series of revivals in its development, caused by appeals to antiquity. The most significant were the Romanesque and German renaissances. Zielinski believes that the next one should be the Slavic Renaissance. Since the most effective channel of cultural transfer, according to Zielinski, is poetry, the creator of such a revival should be a scholar who possesses the qualities of an expert on antiquity and, at the same time, a poet capable of enriching the Russian language with all intricacies of the ancient Greek language and way of thinking, thereby reforming it. Zielinski assigned the role of the prophet of the Slavic Renaissance to Vyacheslav Ivanov. The concept of the “Slavic Renaissance”, being at the same time a manifesto, ideologeme, a program and cultural phenomenon of Russian modernism of the early 20th century, requires consideration in various aspects and contexts, which is undertaken in this publication. The intellectual background of Thaddeus Zielinski’s reflections is discussed. It is argued that his concept is a variant of reasoning about translatio studii (transfer of learning), in connection with which examples of the transfer of culture and power are considered. The metaphors used by Zielinski are discussed, in particular, the oppositions of south/north, heat/cold, images of vegetation and sea currents, as well as the basic antagonism of culture and barbarism. The texts of Lucretius, Hippolyte Taine, Ernest Renan are indicated and analyzed as Zielinski’s sources. The article examines Zielinski’s views on the interpenetration of the ancient and Christian worldviews, his idea of “living antiquity”, which suggests the continuing presence and influence of the ancient legacy in all spheres of spiritual life of modern Europe. It examines the specifics of Vyacheslav Ivanov’s understanding of Zielinski’s concept: Ivanov gave it a “Dionysian” and strengthened its Christian dimension. The intellectual evolution of Zielinski’s and Ivanov’s views is considered taking into account their dramatically changing biographical circumstances and historical context.
Rustam Galanin
The Dostoevsky Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities
The Saint Petersburg State University
mousse2006@mail.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 930-953
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-930-953
Keywords: Phoenician philosophy, Jewish identity, Greek philosophy, Greek atomistic, Mochos of Sidon
Abstract. A fragment has come down to us from the Stoic Posidonius, where it is said that the Phoenicians, in particular Mochos from Sidon, developed atomic philosophy even before the time of the Trojan War. Modern scientists, for the most part, are extremely skeptical about this evidence and do not recognize any developed philosophical culture among the Phoenician ethnos. In our article, we try to refute this point of view by showing that, having a very developed mythological system, the Phoenicians could have had an equally developed philosophical culture, which, in turn, influenced Greek thought – the fact which the Greeks themselves never denied, tracing their wisdom to the Ancient East and to Phoenicia in particular. Atomism could have originated in Phoenicia because Phoenicia was an alphabetic culture, and according to the observations of scientists, almost everywhere where alphabetic writing arose, unlike ideographic writing, one or another form of philosophical atomism arose along with it. Also, based on epigraphic evidence, the article shows that the mysterious Laitos, the translator of Mochos’ works into Greek, is none other than a little-known Platonist of the 1st century AD Ofellius Laetus from Ephesus, whose translations could be used by such authors as Josephus, Tatian, Diogenes Laertius, Iamblichus, Damascus and Nonnus when they touched on Phoenician issues.
Stanislav Nikolaev
RAS Institute of Philosophy (Moscow)
1517.dv@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 954-993
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-954-993
Keywords: Callistus Angelicudes, neoplatonism, the One, Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita, Maximus Confessor, Diadochos of Photiki, Eros, the Good, theory of moving, affect, enchantment of beauty
Abstract. The article presents an analysis of Callistus Angelikudes teaching on the three kinds of love, each corresponding to a distinct kind of movement or striving. The sources of this doctrine in ancient and Christian philosophy are examined. Special attention is given to the striving associated with the most perfect form of love – the enchantment by the Beauty of God (thelxis). The study demonstrates how Callistus Angelikudes develops the Areopagitic notion of ecstatic eros (ekstatikos eros), according to which God carries out His providential processions in the act of creation. He further elaborates on St. Maximus the Confessor’s teaching on the captivation by Beauty and the transformation of passions, aligning them with the ideas of the Palamite synthesis. Thus, the third kind of love (eros) in Kallistos Angelikoudes’ thought emerges as the return (epistrophe) of the intellect to God in an infinite movement of contemplation. Thelxis (enchantment) is presented as the striving that directs the intellect toward this return to the primordial source of Beauty, which possesses a unifying function (enopoietiken) for the intellect and fixes it upon God without the mediation of human will.
Vladimir Brovkin
Institute of Philosophy and Law SB RAS, Novosibirsk
vbrovkin1980@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 994-1009
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-994-1009
Keywords: Thales, Anaximander, Hecataeus, political activity, democratic values, historical reconstruction
Abstract. The article reconstructs the political views of the Milesians on the basis of biographical data and socio-historical context. It has been established that there is a democratic orientation in the activities of Thales, Anaximander and Hecataeus. Representatives of the Milesian School are characterized by active participation in socio-political activities, a critical attitude towards tyranny, a desire for political virtue, public discussion of state affairs, a combination of contemplative and active life, and polis patriotism. It is shown that all these values were most characteristic of ancient Greek democracy during its heyday. It is concluded that no matter what narrow party interests the representatives of the Milesian School defended, their political activities reflected those trends that were associated with the formation of democracy in the late Archaic period.
Daria M. Dorokhina
Russian State University for the Humanities (Moscow)
dadorohina@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 1010-1020
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-1010-1020
Keywords: Plato, Snegirev, Lopatin, the soul, psychology, Christianity, soul science.
Abstract. This paper tries to show the Platonic tendency in Russian psychology of the late 19th century. Snegirev applies in his course of psychology the doctrine of the soul of Plato, the Christian patristic heritage, as well as current philosophical literature. The article provides a brief religious and philosophical context of Russian psychology at the turn of the 19-20 century and examines the features and main aspects of psychology, understood as "soul science".
Igor Tantlevskij
Saint Petersburg University
i.tantlevsky@spbu.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 1021-1035
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-1021-1035
Keywords: “ultimate” question of existence, the essence of man’s nature, problem of identification and self-identification of the individual, Genesis 6:3, Job, Qoheleth
Abstract. The article deals with the Judaeans’ perception and interpretation of the doctrine of existential nature — proclaimed by the Torah in Gen. 6:3 in the Persian period, but going back to the ancient source Yahwist, — about the finitude of man in his fleshly hypostasis, but leaving open for readers the question about the afterlife of the spirit. The author shows that the Judaeans basically formed two answers to the question of the essential nature of man, the “last” question of his existence, identification and self-identification as an individual. One point of view is most clearly expressed by the compiler of the Book of Job: man’s body is ultimately destroyed without hope of restoration, and his spirit — even the wisest and most righteous - descends into Sheol and practically completely loses its individuality, depersonalizes (cf. also, for example, Ps. 104[103]: 29–30; 146[145]:3–4, etc.). The author of the Book of Qoheleth makes no secret of the fact that he is well aware of this extremely pessimistic doctrine. At the same time, the idea of the decisive good of “wisdom” and “justice/righteousness” for man and of the good reward for his adherence to them “there” (šām [Qoh. 3:17], i.e., in the otherworld) runs through his book. One may suppose that he thereby assumes, at least implicitly, that only the spirits of the “righteous and wise” ascend to God in heaven (Qoh. 12:7b; cf. also: Qoh. 3:21a) — thus appearing to be a true particle of the divine Spirit, — while the spirits of the rest descend to Sheol. According to Qoheleth, the “spirit” of man — as an active independent entity — on the death of the flesh returns to God on its own (not God taking it!) and — probably as a consequence — is not correlated with “breath” anywhere in the book (as opposed to relevant passages in the Book of Job and several other biblical texts).
Sergey Kocherov
National Research University «Higher School of Economics» (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia)
kocherov@yandex.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 1036-1049
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-1036-1049
Keywords: freedom of choice, deviation of atoms, acquired properties, necessity, randomness, personal autonomy, blissful life
Abstract. The article analyzes the provisions on which Epicurus' doctrine of freedom is based. It is shown that the deviations of atoms, which many researchers consider to be the main argument in defense of freedom in Epicurus, do not prove freedom, but the objectivity of accidents and the probable nature of events. Without denying the influence of either necessities or accidents on our lives, Epicurus urged us to use those that are beneficial to humans, but to find freedom where everything depends only on us. This requires a reasonable limitation of one's desires and a preference for pleasures that lead to bliss, understood as freedom from the sufferings of the body and the anxieties of the soul. It is proved that human freedom of Epicurus is manifested, first of all, in the constant freedom of choice, which can be considered his contribution to the development of the problems related to free will.
Oleg Donskikh
Novosibirsk State University of Economics and Management
Novosibirsk State Technical University (Russia)
olegdonskikh@yandex.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 1050-1066
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-1050-1066
Keywords: One, individual consciousness, consciousness of the transcendent, monism, dualism, fate (Moira), good law (Eunomia), justice (Themis), truth (Dicke).
Abstract. The article analyzes the movement of individual consciousness to the intuitively guessed unity of being. This spiritual movement takes place in different spheres of cultural life and manifests itself in creative searches of politicians, poets, religious mystics and wisdom lovers. Gradually a circle of images-concepts is formed, thanks to which the idea of unity receives its expression, as well as images-concepts that carry the opposite content. Rationalism played an essential role in this spiritual search, since the polis organization required explicit verbal justification of legal institutions. Already in Homer and Hesiod some speculations about the power behind the diversity of the visible world ruled by numerous deities slip through, and subsequent poets directly express this idea, comprehending in an appropriate way such images-notions as Moira, Themis, Dike, Eunomia. Orphics move to the understanding of the unified beginning through the opposition of the divine and human, and Zeus eventually acquires by the beginning of the 5th century the meaning of the universal beginning, and then by the Hellenistic time the picture of the hierarchically organized intellectual world is formed. The philosophers (literally “lovers of wisdom”) move towards an understanding of the unity of being by discussing the problem of the relation between the One and the Many. Differences in the approaches of the Milesians and representatives of Magna Graecia are discussed. Deep realization of the One, which determines everything but is inaccessible for interaction, means a breakthrough to the consciousness of the transcendent.
Maria Koroleva
Lomonosov Moscow State University
yamariakoroleva@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 1067-1082
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-1067-1082
Keyword: wonder, eros, the beautiful, sophists
Abstract. The following text will analyze, with an attempt of representing multiple mutually opposing views, some of the accounts given in the 20th and early 21st century of two typologically different instances of wonderment in the dialogues of Plato: one occurring at the very beginning of a love experience of Socrates, a different one – during his battle with a sophist. It will argue that the mechanism of this feeling, as found throughout Plato’s writings, was at least partially shaped by the opposition between the Greek verb γίγνεσθαι (to become, to happen, to be born) and εἷναι (to be). That said, Plato tended to associate the surprising with nowness – and avoided the correspondent expressions in relation to ideas – and through it, with the beautiful, that has no prehistory to “now”. This means that the use of the verbs and adjectives expressing wonderment in the dialogues was idiosyncratic, and this idiosyncrasy was targeted at explaining Plato’s understanding of the temporal aspects of the beautiful. The article will also outline the transitions between the instances of non-contextual (genus-related) and contextual (species-related) perception of beautiful objects as one of the ways to approach the Aristotelian critique of Plato's concept of participation in forms.
Timothey Myakin
Novosibirsk State University
miackin.timof@yandex.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 1083-1099
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-1083-1099
Keywords: Sappho’s poetry, Sapphic’s religious community, religion of archaic Lesbos, mysteries of Artemis in ancient Mytilene
Abstract. Now we know that Sapphic Aphrodite is an “erotic side” of Cybele-Mother, the main Lesbian goddess, whose temple was the most important shrine of Mytilene VII–VI BC (Myakin 2024; Latzinoglou 2020; Spencer 1995). The article shows, that during the mysteries of Artemis the Sappho girls sacrificed their girlhood to Artemis with the participation of the poetess herself, who led this as a priestess of Aphrodite-Cybele (cf. M]ater…eortan, Sapph. Fr. 9, 4 Neri).
Hakob Harutyunyan
Yerevan State University, Armenia
hakobharutyunyan@ysu.am
Inna Sargsyan
Russian-Armenian University, Yerevan
inna.r.sargsyan@rau.am
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 1100-1107
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-1100-107
Keywords: Hephaestus, ancient Greek (ancient Roman) gods, ancient Armenian gods, priest, Movses Khorenatsi, temple, Armenia
Abstract. The ancient Greek gods, especially the Olympian gods, have gained worldwide fame since the eastern campaign of Alexander the Great. Thus, the Hellenistic era became a springboard not only for the socio-economic development of countries, but also for their cultural and economic rise. One of the cultural and economic phenomena of that time was the ancient Greek god Hephaestus (his Roman equivalent Vulcan). However, according to the “History of Armenia” by Movses Khorenatsi, the Armenians needed the “help” of Hephaestus even before the Hellenistic period. Armenian artisans and all representatives of creative work were looking for their patron, since the supreme Armenian deities mainly patronized only natural phenomena: Aramazd patronized the sky and earth, the Sun god, respectively, the Sun, Anahit – fertility, Vahagn – rain, Astghik – love and beauty and etc. The workers, who made up the majority of the population, could not remain without a supreme patron for long, which corresponds to the logic of ancient man. And if the national (Armenian) pantheon did not provide its god, then it had to be “imported” from outside. This god became Hephaestus. That is why Movses Khorenatsi connects the appearance of Hephaestus directly with the appearance of the Armenian people on the historical arena.
Gleb Karpov
Saint Petersburg University
glebsight@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 1108-1130
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-1108-1130
Keywords: rhetoric, enthymeme, syllogism, abbreviated syllogism, Russian translation of Aristotle's Rhetoric
Abstract. The article criticizes the widespread view of the enthymeme as an abbreviated syllogism, as well as the method of testing its correctness by restoring it to a full categorical syllogism. It is argued that such an approach not only distorts the Aristotelian understanding of the enthymeme as an instrument of persuasion, but also hinders the development of the logic's applied aspect, and makes it difficult to respond adequately to the public demand for its practical application. The main attention is paid to the analysis of the classification of enthymemes in Aristotle's Rhetoric. On the basis of this analysis it is concluded that of the four types of enthymemes only one can be restored to a full syllogism, while the rest should be evaluated by the method of searching for counterexamples. In addition, the article makes a comparative study of the old (Platonova) and new (Tsybenko) Russian translations of the Rhetoric. On its basis, a number of clarifications to the treatment of enthymemes and ways of working with them in Aristotle are proposed, which confirms the invalidity of the concept of enthymeme as an abbreviated syllogism.
Anton Didikin
Maqsut Narikbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan
abdidikin@mail.kz
Elina Shumilova
Eurasian National University of L.N. Gumilyov, Astana, Kazakhstan)
e-shumilova@yandex.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 1131-1139
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-1131-1139
Keywords: al-Farabi, ethics, virtues, education, virtuous city, pedagogical model, Plato, Aristotle, Islamic philosophy, humanities
Abstract. The philosophical ideas of Abu Nasr al-Farabi on the ethical foundations of education have a close connection with the classical tradition, which combines both the metaphysical and ethical concepts of Plato and Aristotle, as well as Islamic theology. The role of systematic learning in the development of moral qualities and rational thinking forms the basis of the pedagogical model, the essence of which is embodied in various teaching methods for the elite and the majority and the deep connection of intellectual development with the moral improvement of the individual. In al-Farabi's philosophy education is considered not only as the transmission of knowledge but also the formation of the ability to apply it in practice, integrating it into human behavior and values. The research is based on a comparative analysis of al-Farabi's philosophical texts and a critical review of modern interpretations of his ideas. Special attention is paid to the interaction of the philosophical and religious foundations of al-Farabi's system of views, which makes his model universal for different cultural and educational contexts. The results show that al-Farabi's ethical concept of the «virtuous city» combining elements of Platonic utopia and Aristotelian logic remains relevant including for the development of modern education.
Elena Alymova
Saint Petersburg University
The Dostoevsky Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities
ealymova@yandex.ru
Svetlana Karavaeva
North-Western State Medical University named after I. I. Mechnikov (Saint Petersburg)
The Dostoevsky Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities
ksv.karavaeva@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 1140-1156
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-1140-1156
Keywords: Aristotle, Pseudo-Aristotle, “Secretum Secretorum”, “Tajnaya Tajnyh”, Knowledge, Power
Abstract. The article is dedicated to a text, which, being a translation, became influential in the Old Russian culture – “Secretum Secretorum”, also known as “Aristotelian Gates”. It is considered to be connected to the so-called Judaisers. But, so far as different sources make it evident, even a larger intellectual area including the circle of the Great Prince was under its influence. The treatise is composed as a series of precepts concerning the principles of ruling ascribed to Aristotle. The fundamental theme of the treatise is a “secret knowledge” considered necessary for a prince to exert his power as efficiently as possible. The article provides an interpretation of some key concepts, which elucidate the connection between power and knowledge.
Roman Svetlov
St Petersburg University
spatha@mail.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 1157-1169
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-1157-1169
Keywords: Platonism and Neoplatonism, noology, skepticism, apophatics
Abstract. The correlation of the basic concepts of Neoplatonism, its epistemological, noological ideas and its apophatics with ancient skepticism is encountered from time to time in modern studies. This article aims to discover the reasons for this phenomenon: historical (related to the evolution of interpretations of Plato’s legacy), substantive (related to the theme of the mind in ancient philosophy), and formal-discursive (related to the mechanisms of transmission of various discourses between schools and generations of thinkers). A study of Plotinus's noology allows us to see the innovations he introduced into the understanding of the intellect and the reality of intelligible being, which turned out to be relevant for the subsequent tradition, both medieval (Augustine Aurelius) and modern (Descartes). It should be noted that in verifying the nature and status of intelligence, Plotinus turns to a number of skeptical arguments, which are also discussed in the article.
Anna Afonasina
Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University
afonasina@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 1170-1189
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-1170-1170-1189
Keywords: Empedocles, nature, cosmos, universe, unity, Sphairos
Abstract. Definition of a concept is an important task of any science, and philosophy is no exception here. Many discussions and heated arguments arise from the fact that different authors imply different meanings for the same word. This is probably an inevitable part of scientific enquiry, because it is not always possible to define a concept quickly and reliably, or its meaning changes over time and acquires new content in a new context. This is a characteristic feature of the entire history of science, the origins of which lie in antiquity. Not many ancient philosophers were as fortunate as Empedocles, whose fragments of poem reflect the process of formation of various complex concepts. It cannot be said that he defined the basic notions precisely. Unlike modern scientists, ancient thinkers before Aristotle had no such task. The meaning of different words in Empedocles' poem can often be guessed only from the relevant textual, historical or religious context. Nevertheless, thanks to the rather large volume of fragments and testimonies, we can benefit greatly by looking at the origins of scientific thinking in Empedocles' philosophy. In the surviving fragments of his poem we find such words as physis, kosmos and to pan. These important concepts for physics and cosmology would be reinterpreted by many later thinkers, and new pictures of the world would be built from them. I propose to turn to these words and to present their semantic content on the basis of surviving fragments and testimonies about Empedocles. The question is whether they are interchangeable or each has its own meaning? If the former, the variety of words with the same meaning can be justified by metrical constraints. If the latter, then it is necessary to identify their differences.
Pavel Butakov
Institute of Philosophy and Law SB RAS
pavelbutakov@academ.org
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 1190-1203
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-1190-1203
Keywords: narrative, metaphor, transmission of knowledge, parable, Gospel, liturgy
Abstract. Many of Jesus’ parables function not only as metaphors but also as narratives. As stories, these parables carry implicit meanings. This paper aims to explore how the author conveys these implied meanings within the story and how the audience interprets them. First, I examine those parables in the Gospels that include a moral lesson. Second, I analyze the reception of parables that lack explicit interpretations in the Gospels, particularly within the Eastern Orthodox liturgical tradition. In both cases, I identify two key devices that communicate the implicit meaning. The first device involves generalizing the specific characters and details to convey a broader, even universal significance. The second device is the audience’s ability to identify with the emotions or choices of the characters during the climax of the narrative.
TRANSLATIONS
Alexei Garadja
Russian State University for the Humanities
agaradja@yandex.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 1204-1224
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-1108-1130-1204-1224
Keywords: Michael Psellus, allegorical interpretation, Neoplatonism, human being, subjectivity
Abstract. The publication presents a commented Russian translation of Michael Psellus’ four minor works written in the genre of allegory, meaning a philosophical interpretation of characters and plots from Ancient Greek mythology and literature, primarily Homeric. The method of allegorical philosophico-philological commentary was first fully elaborated by adherents of Stoa (from Zeno to Cornutus), was later expansively exploited by Platonists (Plutarchus), Alexandrian scholars, Fathers of the Church among them, and subsequently by Neoplatonists (Porphyry of Tyre should be mentioned here in particular). This means that Psellus is guided by an ancient tradition and in his turn transfers it on to the next generations of Byzantine scholars (John Tzetzes, Eustathius of Thessalonica). Other considerations aside, the undoubted service rendered to us by all these commentators inclined to allegorical interpretations is the enormous volume of information on Ancient Greek mythology we have at our disposal nowadays. The philosophical value of allegorical interpretation is also undeniable, since it addresses a number of everlasting issues on the condition humaine, the disposition and purpose of the human being and subjectivity. In this respect, two of the four allegories presented here, are especially significant, those on Tantalus and on the Sphinx. Two additional allegories, on the Cave of the Nymphs in Homer, and on the encounter of Odysseus and Circe, are indicative of the continuity between Psellus and the early Neoplatonist Porphyry, the author of the treatise De antro nympharum. The first critical edition of the four allegories had been prepared by J.F. Boissonade (Boissonade 1851: 341–371). The present translation is based on two currently authoritative editions of Psellus’ minor works and orations, by J.M. Duffy (Duffy 1992) and A.R. Littlewood (Littlewood 1985).
Eugene Afonasin
Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University
afonasin@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 1225-1242
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-1225-1242
Keywords: creationism, the first principles, the middle Platonism, early Jewish philosophy, time, matter.
Abstract. Clement of Alexandria twice refers to Philo as a ‘Pythagorean.’ Obviously, this is how the early Christian writer imagined the Jewish exegete, famous for his allegorical interpretations of the Old Testament, characterized by numerical symbolism. However, the fascination with allegories is more likely to remind the reader of Stoicism, while the love of numerical speculation alone does not make a person a Pythagorean, for by the time of Clement all this had long since become commonplace in Greco-Roman literature. It seems to me that Clement, who was well acquainted with the school philosophy of his time, does not throw words to the wind, and when he calls Philo a Pythagorean, he means something more concrete. Moreover, numerical symbolism and allegories are not the most important parts of the story. The most striking similarity between Philo and the Pythagoreans is seen in his interpretation of the nature of the first principles. Of course, Philo is a strict monist and his first principles has a pronounced transcendental character, so not every version of Pythagoreanism is suitable for him. Nevertheless, since the transcendent deity must somehow manifest itself in the world, his metaphysical scheme cannot do without the principle of plurality, however subordinate its role. Thus, in the treatise De ebrietate 30, commenting on a place in Prov. 8.22, he writes that the demiurge who created the world is to be regarded as its ‘father,’ while the ‘mother’ may rightly be the creator's ‘knowledge.’ The reference is obviously to the biblical figure of Wisdom, who as a result, is quite similar to an indeterminate dyad of the Pythagorean Anonymus Alexandri. In De opificio mundi 8-9 Philo also cannot dispense with the secondary principle of creation, which must exist before the world, being at the beginning of time molded by measure and number into an ordered cosmos.
Eugene Afonasin
Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University
St. Petersburg State University
Novosibirsk State University of Economics and Management
afonasin@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 1243-1257
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-1243-1257
Keywords: Judaism, Platonism, creationism, Stoicism, time, eternity, the first principles.
Abstract. Philo remains not only a key figure in the history of the interpretation of the biblical books, but also a crucial witness to the development of Platonism in the first century BCE. It is in this capacity that he appears in the treatise ‘On the Eternity of the World’ translated below, which can be divided into two unequal parts: the introductory part (sec. 1-19), in which Philo speaks for the most part on his own behalf, and the doxographic part (sec. 20–150), which systematically presents the positions of other philosophers, most notably the Peripatetics. After a general introduction, in this paper we turn to the first part of the treatise.
Svetlana Mesyats
Institute of Philosophy RAS
I. Kant Baltic Federal University
messiats@mail.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 19.2 (2025) 1258-1288
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2025-19-2-1258-1288
Keywords: Neoplatonism, Proclus, Plato’s Timaeus, Commentary on “Timaeus”, Neoplatonic doctrine of nature, physiology as theology, prayer, divine causes, Demiurge
Abstract. Proclus’ Commentary on Plato’s Timaeus, written around 440 A.D., is our only source of information regarding the Neoplatonic doctrine of nature. In this extensive and complex work, Proclus not only analyzes the text of the dialogue line by line, but attempts to reconstruct Plato’s “universal doctrine of nature” (hole physiologia), which considers the visible cosmos as a rational living being produced by supernatural divine hypostases – the Soul, the Intellect and the One. In this respect, Neoplatonic natural philosophy proves to be a form of theology, as it examines the nature of the universe in terms of its procession from the Demiurge, and considers the material cosmos as dependent on divine causes. This publication offers the first commented Russian translation of the Book II of Proclus’ Commentary on “Timaeus”. The translated section includes a comprehensive introductory excursus on the essence and ultimate purpose of prayer, as well as a commentary on Tim. 27c1-d5 in which Pythagorean Timaeus explains why people of a good sense should pray to gods at the outset of every undertaking, and starts his cosmological discourse by introducing the division into being and becoming.
