ARTICLES
Lunette Warren
Stellenbosch University
lunettel@sun.ac.za
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 374-393
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-374-393
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-warren.pdf
Keywords: Plutarch, Plato, matter, Receptacle, motion, evil, Indefinite Dyad, Isis.
Abstract. Plutarch’s De animae procreatione is, by the author’s own admission, an unusual account of the cosmogony in the Timaeus, yet what is most original about it is often overlooked. The philosopher and biographer has a relatively positive view of women’s intellectual capabilities, including their ability to attain virtue, and as such the suggestion that the feminine principle of the cosmos is the origin of sublunary evil presents both an ethical and a metaphysical problem. Plutarch attempts to solve this problem by separating Matter from its movement, thus theorising a third kind, disorderly motion that ultimately causes evil. Even so, he maintains a close relationship between Motion and Matter by stressing their acosmic interaction, which allows for a degree of scepticism regarding the feminine and the female while creating space for the virtue of women. He does so by incorporating Matter and Motion into a single acosmic principle of disorder, the Indefinite Dyad. This division of kinds is apparent also in De Iside, where it becomes clear that Plutarch intends to frame the feminine as a potentially positive force in the cosmos.
Christos Terezis
University of Patras (Greece), terezis@upatras.gr
Lydia Petridou
Hellenic Open University, petridou.lydia@ac.eap.gr
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 394-418
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-394-418
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-terezis.pdf
Keywords: Charmides, dialectics, soul, communication, temperance.
Abstract. In this study we investigate the extract 154b8–156c9 from the introductory chapters of the Platonic dialogue Charmides so that to examine how the terms of Aesthetics are formed, which focuses on the selfhood and makes it the core of dialectics. Specifically, we structure our study in two chapters each of which includes two subchapters. In the first subchapter we focus on the soul, which in the Platonic text appears to be the criterion for moral perfectness. In the second subchapter, which systematizes the former, we show how Socrates contrives to do the transition from subjective judgments to logical propositions and the terms of the authentic Aesthetics. In the third subchapter, paying attention to the first communication between Socrates and Charmides, we discuss how the Athenian philosopher sets beauty within its true boundaries and activates the logical part of the soul. In the fourth subchapter, we follow the introduction in dialectics, which will lead anyone involved in truth. The main contribution of our study is that we show how in this dialogue Plato succeeds to go from vulgar hedonism to the beauty of the soul, which is a requirement for the inner transformation of selfhood.
Kazimierz Pawlowski
Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University (Warsaw)
k.pawlowski@uksw.edu.pl
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 419-430
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-419-430
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-pawl.pdf
Keywords: Plato, Socrates, Phaedrus, philosophical initiation, madness of Eros, myth.
Abstract. The article deals with the topic of "initiations" in Plato's Phaedrus. The idea of initiation was characteristic of Greek mysteries, especially the Eleusinian and Orphic mysteries, which played a large role in the formation of Greek philosophy. The essence of initiations was the experience of divinity. The motive of initiations in Plato's Phaedrus seems to have a similar meaning. This is also suggested by the allegory of human souls as chariots and the mystical “epopteia” motif woven into it, suggesting Eleusinian analogies.
Claudio César Calabrese
Universidad Panamericana (Mexico)
ccalabrese@up.edu.mx
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 431-447
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-431-447
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-calab.pdf
Keywords: Plato, Republic, ancient epistemology, cave allegory, myth.
Abstract. In this paper we study the organization of the allegory of the cavern through the investigation of knowledge verbs. First, we briefly follow the interpretations of the allegory of the cave that we consider most significant and our perspective: all are valid provided that each does not deny the others. At our core we analyze the verbs of knowledge: how they relate to each other and what structure of knowledge they establish. In the conclusion, we affirm that the verbs do not present a vision of being as "what is", but as "what is being"; this means, with respect to the allegory, that the relation between being and intelligibility means a pathway of mutual equalization, which the prisoner of the cave goes through; nevertheless, the attempt to reach a comprehensive intelligence of the being requires one more step: to integrate the phenomena to the comprehension of the real thing.
Andrei Seregin
Institute of Philosophy RAS (Moscow)
avis12@yandex.ru
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 448-455
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-448-455
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-seregin.pdf
Keywords: ancient ethics, Chrysippus, harm, injustice, Stoicism.
Abstract. In this article, I offer an analysis of Chrysippus’ treatment of “injustice” (ἀδικία) in SVF III, 289. First, I show that he espouses two theses: I) Every injustice is an act of harming those who suffer it; II) One who does injustice to others thereby does it to oneself. Then I discuss the two most plausible interpretations of II): a) One who does “conventional” injustice to others, i.e. causes them non-moral harm, thereby does “moralistic” injustice to oneself, i.e. makes oneself morally worse; b) One who does “moralistic” injustice to others thereby does it to oneself. I show that a) is untenable because the Stoics reject the very notion of non-moral harm, and b) fails because they believe that moral harm is basically self-regarding.
Albert van Wijngaarden
Novosibirsk State University (Russia)
Albertvanw@gmail.com
Lilian Karali
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece)
likarali@yahoo.com
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 456-469
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-456-469
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-karali.pdf
Keywords: History, Archaeology, Method, Theory, Philosophy.
Abstract. This article aims to bridge the gap between history and archaeology by linking the methodological and theoretical developments of both scientific disciplines. This is done by tracing general societal trends and developments within both disciplines, divided into five periods, from the professionalization of the sciences in the nineteenth century, up to the present day. The result will hopefully offer practitioners of both disciplines an insight into the others’ intellectual framework, and thereby foster better understanding and opportunities for future cooperation.
Sergey Kocherov
National research University «Higher school of Economics» (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia)
kocherov@yandex.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 470-482
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-470-482
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-kocherov.pdf
Keywords: pursuit of happiness, ideal state, best state constitution, common good, welfare state.
Abstract: The paper explores the key assertion of Aristotelian “Politics” that a state is formed primarily for the good life. Aristotle’s views on the essence, purpose and the best constitution of a state are analyzed in comparison with Socrates’ and Plato’s doctrine of an ideal state. The author investigates an Aristotelian interrelation between people’s understandings of happiness and their choice of a form of government and approval of a state policy. It is demonstrated that the Aristotelian idea of a state designed for the good life entered the Western political philosophy paradigm and has exerted a determining influence on the formation of a common good notion and the concept of a welfare state. The paper concludes that the choice between “the Aristotelian state” and “the Platonic state” is not only stipulated by historical and cultural reasons, but is at the same time existential for each nation.
Svetlana Mesyats
RAS Institute of Philosophy (Moscow, Russia)
messiats@mail.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 483-498
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-483-498
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-mes.pdf
Keywords: ancient philosophy, Aristotle, Theophrastus, Parva naturalia, Aristotle’s psychology, theory of respiration, cooling, fish, bloodless aquatic animals.
Abstract. Many translators and commentators of Aristotle's treatise On respiration are puzzled by his statement at De resp. 9, 475b 10-11 that “most fishes live in the earth … and are found by digging” (τῶν ἰχθύων οἱ πολλοὶ ζῶσιν ἐν τῇ γῇ). Indeed, this phrase seems to contradict not only common sense, but also Aristotle’s own words in the History of animals and other biological treatises, that aquatic animals, like fishes who take in water for cooling, cannot survive for a long time outside their native element. The paper shows that the replacement of the expression “most fishes” (οἱ πολλοὶ) by “many fishes” (πολλοὶ) proposed by W. Ogle and D. Ross does not solve the problem, since the few rare species of the land fish reported by Theophrastus in the treatise On creatures that live on dry land can hardly be called “many fishes”. In my opinion, the reason why the Aristotelian text is so puzzling is a misunderstanding of the expression ἐν τῇ γῇ. Although Ogle and Ross believe this to mean "on dry land", Aristotle may have in mind the mud and sand on the seabed. According to the philosopher, most fish do periodically bury themselves in mud at the bottom of the sea or rivers, thus maintaining the balance of heat and cold necessary for their life. Therefore, I affirm that the text of Aristotle does not need to be corrected.
Maria Varlamova
Saint Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation (Russia)
Boat.mary@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 499-516
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-499-516
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-varlam.pdf
Keywords: the first philosophy, being as being, universal, substance, nature, Aristotle, Alexander of Aphrodisias.
Abstract. As a subject of the first philosophy, the being as being is defined as the most universal and primary one. However, Aristotle proves in the Metaphysics that neither One nor being are substances, therefore they do not exist separately. Furthermore, in the De Anima he claims that those that are said to be universal are "either nothing or posterior", because they cannot be on its own in separation from the particular things. How, then, the universal being which can be named nothing or posterior postulated as the subject of first philosophy that is most worthy of knowing? And, on the other hand, if the being as universal is not a substance, on what ground it has it's unity? In order to answer these questions, I will consider Alexander of Aphrodisias' Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics and also the Quaestio I.3 and I.11 of his Quaestiones.
Evgenij Derzhivitskij
derzhiv@mail.ru
Vadim Perov
vadimperov@gmail.com
Andrey Polozhentsev
polozhenzev@icloud.com
St. Petersburg State University (Russia)
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 517-534
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-517-534
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-derzhav.pdf
Язык: русский
Выпуск: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 374-393
Keywords: ancient ethics, political ethics, moral dilemma, moral choice in politics, moral justification of murder.
Abstract. The article examines how to apply moral and philosophical reflection in the commission of a crime. An action is the result of solving an equation with many variables. This is overcoming legal, moral, philosophical, and emotional contradictions. However, modern legal and ethical thought closes the way for understanding its causes and motives. As an example, we examine the conspiracy and murder of Caesar in Rome in 44 BC. The article reveals objective differences in the understanding of morality in antiquity and in modern ethical science. Here we analyze the philosophical and ethical grounds that will help solve this dilemma. First of all, we considered the philosophical and political works and letters of Cicero. His reasoning about the duties of a citizen might have influenced Brutus' decision to participate in the conspiracy against Caesar and accept the moral choice as his fate. Brutus did not act as a murderer, but as an exponent of public purpose and public utility, for whom the purpose of the act was the public good, incompatible with tyranny.
Valery V. Petroff
RAS Institute of Philosophy (Moscow, Russia)
campas.iph@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 535-566
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-535-566
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-petroff.pdf
Keywords: Martyrdom of Peter, Martyrdom of Philip, Ps.-Linus, Actus Vercellenses, Timaeus of Plato, apocrypha, agrapha, mysteria, Platonism, inversion.
Abstract: The study offers a hermeneutic analysis of the apocryphal “Martyrdom of the Apostle Peter” (MPt). We argue that the main idea of Peter’s monologue from the cross is borrowed from Plato’s Timaeus (43e4–8), which describes a man who is placed upside down and thus perceives his right as left and considers truth a lie. MPt interpreted this account in the light of the Old Testament narrative about the expulsion of the first man Adam from paradise and the imperative to return to the “ancient fatherland”, following the “second Adam”, Jesus Christ, up to imitation of his death on the cross, transforming this instrument of shame and death into the tree of eternal life. The Apostle Peter, crucified on the cross with his head down, makes himself a living example of the existential overturn of man after the fall. Peter quotes an apocryphal λόγιον of Christ that exhorts to make everything upright: the earthly world order — right and left, top and bottom, front and back — should be again turned over and put from head to foot. Having established that Peter’s monologue constitutes a “discourse of reversal”, we argue that the starting point for constructing the λόγιον of Christ in the MPt was His saying in Matt 18:3: “if you don’t turn over (στραφῆτε) ..., you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.” The apparently similar utterance from the “Gospel of Thomas”, usually indicated as a parallel, cannot be considered as such, since it urges not to reverse the “signs of nature”, but to overcome sexual differentiation. It is concluded that the “Martyrdom of Peter” demonstrates the primacy of its narrative (as well as the autonomy of its “hermetic” imagery) in comparison with the “Martyrdom of Philip”. Vocabulary, rhetoric, and contents of the MPt place it within the early Christian, Gnostic and Hermetic literature. A distinctive feature of the work is its distinct esotericism: it has an initiatory, mystagogical character, its own metaphysics and dramatic logic. On the contrary, the “Martyrdom of Philip” belongs to the genre of the lives of saints, saturated with wonders and fabulous details. The transformations which “Martyrdom of Peter” undergoes in the Latin paraphrase by ps.-Linus are analyzed. It is shown that ps.-Linus fundamentally changes the narrative in order to make it conform with orthodoxy, although this is achieved at the cost of destroying the logic of the Greek prototype. An annotated Russian translation of the Apostle Peter’s monologue on the cross is published in the Appendix.
Aleksey Panteleev
St. Petersburg State University (Russia)
a.panteleev@spbu.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 567-586
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-567-586
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-pantel.pdf
Keywords: Early Christianity, Roman Empire, Second Sophistic, Apologist, Hagiography, Flavius Philostratus.
Abstract. The article deals with the early Christian literature of the 2nd–3d centuries in the context of the Second Sophistic. Famous sophists and Christian intellectuals were contemporaries, and they were educated by the same teachers. The focus of the article is on such themes as the claims of apologists for the status of ambassadors to the Roman emperors, the desire to demonstrate their education and include Christianity in the mainstream of development of ancient culture, an appeal to Greek history. When Christians tried to prove the truth of their views on the world and the deity and to demonstrate the superiority of their culture and their own tradition, they often used ideas and methods borrowed from the arsenal of Second sophistic.
Daniil Shulga
Siberian Institute of Management – The branch of Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (Novosibirsk, Russia)
alkaddafa@gmail.com
Chen Jianwen
National Taiwan Normal University (Chinese Taibei)
cjw1216@ntnu.edu.tw
Nikita Golovko
Novosibirsk State University (Russia)
monch@ngs.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 587-608
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-587-608
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-shulga.pdf
Keywords: Asia Minor, China, Hellenistic period, Han dynasty, archeology, Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, historical background, Silk Road, Hellenism.
Abstract. After the dissolution of the Empire of Alexander of Macedon the layer of Hellenized aristocracy began to appear in Asia under the influence of mixed marriages and cultural syncretism. The announcement of the establishment of the independent state of Bactria made by Diodotus I triggered the appearance of a special culture, characterized by the mixture of Iranian, North Indian and Greek cultural elements. Ultimately, its subsequent spread to the East lead to influence on the China-dominated world. Based on all the mentioned above, the given article aspires to collect and analyze the data, primarily from narratives as sources and foreign literature, for the purpose of researching the processes that connected two ancient and very influential civilizations – Greece and China. The main stages of explicit and implicit relations between China and Hellenistic Bactria is defined. The role of nomad cultures in establishment of connections between West and East is determined and exemplified by the events of the 3rd century B.C. and the early 1st century B.C. Conditional character of the names, referred to nomad entities by ancient writers, is analyzed. We show the controversy of interpretation the given names with the ethnic groups in modern meaning as well as the range of sources on the relations between Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and China and their characteristics. Finally, we construe the equal role of nomads, Chinese and Hellenes in the described contacts of ancient societies.
Anton Didikin
Institute of State and Law Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russia)
abdidikin@bk.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 609-617
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-609-617
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-didikin.pdf
Key words: legal philosophy of law, ethics, natural law, common good, T. Aquinas, J. Finnis.
Abstract. The paper interprets the arguments of Thomas Aquinas on natural law as a way to achieve the common good, which had a significant impact on John Finnis’ natural law theory. The author reveals the conceptual foundations of J. Finnis’ understanding the morally justified actions of people in the community aimed at the obtaining of basic benefits, and the debatable issues of his theory in modern philosophical and legal research. The author arrives to the conclusion that the reinterpretation of J. Finnis analysis of the grounds for ethically significant actions leads him to formulate an instrumental approach to natural law as a rational way to implement a decent life.
Denis Maslov
Institute of Philosophy and Law, SB RAS (Novosibirsk, Russia)
denn.maslov@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 618-636
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-618-636
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-maslov.pdf
Keywords: ataraxia, skeptical tranquility, skeptical anxiety, Ancient Pyrrhonism, Sextus Empiricus, pathos, passion, Eudaimonia, happiness, belief.
Abstract. The article tackles the question whether the Pyrrhonian skeptic can be happy having “pathe” in his life. Thus, the consistency of Pyrrhonian skepticism is discussed. In the first section, I consider the notions of ataraxia and tarache. The source of unhappiness is considered by Sextus to be beliefs about the good and the evil, which give rise to intense longing that creates anxiety. Sceptical suspension of judgement extirpates beliefs and therefore this anxiety. In the second section, the notion of pathe is analyzed in comparison with the Stoics. Pathe, such as hunger, thirst, pain, etc., are inevitably and involuntarily present in the life and they create a certain kind of distress. Because of their unreasonable and necessary nature, pathe cannot be disposed of but are nevertheless moderate and hence bearable. The question is, therefore, whether pathe can cause distress directly or through compelling people to form beliefs, which is examined in the third section. Sextus clearly distinguishes between these things as being dependent (beliefs) and independent (pathe) from us. A presupposition that beliefs are exclusively in our power was widely held at the time. On that ground, I argue that pathe do not originate anxiety for they cannot compel us to form beliefs. In addition, such conditions do not cause great agitation and therefore they cannot be a source of unhappiness. Those who hold something for good or true are burdened with a double distress – mental suffering from beliefs and from pathos. Thus, the skeptical life is better off than the dogmatic one. In the last section, I try to show on example of mental pathe, which are not bodily (the search for truth, love for people, the ethos of the community), that even they do not compel the sceptic to form beliefs.
Daniil Dorofeev
Saint-Petersburg Mining University (Russia)
dorofeev61@mail.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 637-664
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-637-664
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-dorofeev.pdf
Keywords: Visual Communications, Aesthetic Contemplation, Erotic Love, Plato, T. Mann, «Death in Venice», Beauty, Music and Word, L. Visconti.
Abstract. The article is devoted to the study of ontological, aesthetical and anthropological features of visual communication in Plato and Thomas Mann. I compare T. Mann’s Death in Venice artistic conception with the philosophical understanding of the image, contemplation, beauty and Eros of Plato, primarily in the dialogues Phaedrus and Symposium (with some reference to F. Nietzsche and the film by L. Visconti). The author explores the specifics of the visual-plastic worldview and the contemplative cognition of being, determined by the erotic foundation of the aesthetic contemplation of the human image as phenomenal manifestation of truth, fundamentally different from the one revealed in speech communication, and even capable of being autonomous from it, and represents the philosophical and artistic phenomenology of the development, transformation and implementation of such consciousness. The role of Athens and Venice as particularly significant historical-cultural topoi of visual communication is specially emphasized.
Roman Svetlov
Herzen State Pedagogical University (Saint Petersburg, Russia)
spatha@mail.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 665-673
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-665-673
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-svetlov.pdf
Keywords: Plato, the concept of dynamis, the principle of the irrational in the philosophy of Plato, the origins of academic skepticism.
Abstract. The «mathematical joke» from the Statesman is a good occasion for discussing the irrational in Plato's philosophy. This joke demonstrates that human nature is ungraspable in a rational way. Actually, the theme of human irrationality is present in a number of key-texts of Plato's anthropology. This topic is also important for other fundamental problems of his philosophy. The central word is «δύναμις», which is found in those texts of Plato, where he discusses the concepts of existence, knowledge, and the Form of the Good. The specificity of the using this word by Plato gives us an opportunity to have a new look at the basic strategies of his philosophy.
Dmitri Panchenko
Saint-Petersburg State University; Higher School of Economics in Saint-Petersburg (Russia)
dmpanchenko@yahoo.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 674-692
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-674-692
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-panchenko.pdf
Key words: Lycurgus, Sparta, Zeus, Athena, Odin, Enki, Varuna, Ahura Mazda, Di, Dionysus, Zaleucus, Greek religion, Greek historiography.
Abstract. The ancient authors knew nothing certain about Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus save that he lost his eye (allegedly because of the opposition to his reforms). This small detail provides the best indication to the original character of Lycurgus. Greek, Indian, Iranian and other texts repeatedly mention the eye of a highest god, and there were Sumerian precedents for that. The idea of the eye of god was initially connected with the notion of the celestial pole and its symbolic representation. An important and characteristic function of the all-seeing Eye was to oversee justice and right order, just as ‘the eye of Zeus’ does in Hes. Op. 267. Spartan one-eyed Lycurgus was a god of that type. Conscious efforts of fifth century’s Spartan politicians who were able to influence contemporary poets and writers turned Lycurgus into a lawgiver of a kind of Athenian Solon.
Irina Protopopova
Russian State University for the Humanities (Moscow)
plotinus70@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 693-701
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-693-701
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-protopopova.pdf
Keywords: Plato, «Sophist», noesis, ontology, «Timaeus».
Abstract. The article provides a commentary on the “Sophist” 255c8–d7, where a question arises, whether it is necessary to introduce the eidos “Other” after the justification of Movement, Rest, Being, and Same as separate genera. In the discussion of the Other, two more eide resurface, τὰ αὐτὰ καθ' αὑτά and τὰ δὲ πρὸς ἄλλα, whose logical necessity in the course of the discussion stays in doubt. The question is raised, why was it necessary to introduce these types of being when discussing the genus of the “Other”? A brief summary of modern approaches to the passage is given; thereupon the ontological meaning of these eide is examined on the example of several Plato’s dialogues (“Phaedo”, “Symposium”, “Republic”, “Philebus”). Consulting the “Timaeus” allows us to show how these eide, in the form of two main genera (“paradigm” and “imprint”), relate to the division of existence into “self” and “reflection” in the “Sophist” (266a8–c4), and the third genus, “chora”, to the “nature of the Other” in the “Sophist”. The closeness of the descriptions of “chora” in the “Timaeus” with being figuring as Other in the analyzed passage from the “Sophist”, is reinforced by the description of being as Other in the “Parmenides”. It is concluded that the unexpected inclusion in the discussion of the five great genera of the two main eide of being indicates the ontological status of the “noetic whole” described through the interaction of the five great genera. In the final part of the paper, it is shown that the World Soul in the “Timaeus” is a “three-dimensional” cosmological image of the “noetic quintet” of the “Sophist”, which can probably explain the unnecessary, at first glance, inclusion of two ontological eide, τὰ αὐτὰ καθ' αὑτά and τὰ δὲ πρὸς ἄλλα, in the logical reasoning about the need for a genus of the “Other”.
Alexander Sanzhenakov
Institute of Philosophy and Law SB RAS (Novosibirsk, Russia)
sanzhenakov@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 702-708
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-702-708
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-sanzh.pdf
Keywords: scientific realism, history of philosophy, philosophy of history, quasi-realism, internal realism, truth, subject of history.
Abstract. The article is devoted to the consideration of the possibility of applying the methodological principles of scientific realism in the history of ancient philosophy. The author shows that in its strong version, scientific realism is not an appropriate basis for historical research, since it involves minimizing the number of interpretations of philosophical material of the past. Another serious drawback of applying strong versions of scientific realism in the history of philosophy is their focus on the correspondent theory of truth. This theory does not fit the historian of philosophy, since she aims not only at creating a realistic picture of the past, but also at incorporating the philosophical ideas of the past into the modern context, therefore a coherent theory of truth is more likely to meet her objectives. After a brief review of the weak versions of realism (H. Putnam’s “internal realism”, S. Blackburn’s “quasi-realism” and “sensibility theory”), the author concludes that these kinds of realism are more suitable for the history of philosophy in general and for the history of ancient philosophy in particular. As a result, the author concludes that the historian of philosophy must take into account the objectivity and independence of the philosophical ideas of the past, and inevitably be guided by his own conceptual and terminological facilities in order to incorporate the ideas of the past into the modern philosophical context.
Nadezhda Volkova
RAS Institute of Philosophy (Moscow, Russia)
go2nadya@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 709-727
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-709-727
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-volk.pdf
Key words: Timaeus, theory of perception, sense of smell and odours, Plato, regular polyhedra.
Abstract. The article is devoted to the problem of the sense of smell in Plato’s Timaeus. Any study of Plato’s doctrines requires first of all an examination of the rich tradition of the exegesis of his texts. In this article, author discusses the works of such famous scholars of Plato’s philosophy as Francis Cornford, Gregory Vlastos, Denis O’Brien and others. Despite the fact that the problem of the sense of smell is not among the central themes in Plato's cosmology, it turns out to be connected with many of them: the problem of the correspondence elements to forms of regular polyhedra, the problem of division into species of elements, the question of the structure of surfaces of regular polyhedra, etc. The author tried to present the question of the sense of smell in the Timaeus as a consistent theory, which can be placed in the context of the theories of his predecessors, such as Alcmaeon, Empedocles and Democritus, and his followers, first of all Aristotle. The author accepts the view that odours are mixtures of water and air (Vlastos). Reconstructing the theory of the sense of smell as a part of the whole theory of perception, the author comes to the conclusion that odours have no species and names because they don’t belong to the one idea of the element. Unlike colors, sounds and juices (which retain their identity even being mixed with other elements: color – with fire, taste – with water, sound – with air) odours have a half-formed, mixed, nature. In the light of this reconstruction, Plato’s theory of odours appears to pave the way to a more developed Aristotle’s theory of smell.
TRANSLATION
Eugene Afonasin
Institute of philosophy and law SB RAS (Novosibirsk, Russia)
afonasin@post.nsu.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 728–741
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-728–741
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-heraclid-1.pdf
Keywords: pleasurable life, moral excesses, reason, peace and war.
Abstract. Heraclides of Pontus (c. 388–310 BCE), a Platonic philosopher, worked in various literary genres. He discussed such typical Platonic topics as the transmigration of the soul, composed philosophical lives, dialogues or treaties about politics, literature, history, geography, etc., and wrote a series of works on astronomy and the philosophy of nature. Nothing is preserved. The present publication contains a collection of scant doxographic testimonies about Heraclides’ lost ethical and political writings. The evidences are translated and numbered according to a new edition by Schütrumpf et al. 2008.
Eugene Afonasin
Institute of Philosophy and Law SB RAS (Novosibirsk, Russia)
Novosibirsk State University
afonasin@post.nsu.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 742-755
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-742-755
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-heraclid-2.pdf
Keywords: Homer, Iliad, Odyssey, poetry and music, beauty and usefulness.
Abstract. Heraclides of Pontus (c. 388–310 BCE), a Platonic philosopher, worked in various literary genres and wrote on such topics as psychology, politics, literature, history, geography, astronomy and the philosophy of nature. Nothing is preserved. The present publication contains a collection of the testimonies about Heraclides’ varied writings, dedicated to Greek cultural history, including literary and religious studies, and, in some details, musical history. The evidences are translated and numbered according to a new edition by Schütrumpf et al. 2008.
Eugene Afonasin
Institute of Philosophy and Law SB RAS (Novosibirsk, Russia)
Novosibirsk State University
afonasin@post.nsu.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 756-811
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-756-811
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-gorgias.pdf
Keywords: sophistic, doxography, sources of ancient philosophy.
Abstract. Gorgias (483–375 BCE), a famous Ancient Greek philosopher and orator. According to ancient testimonies he was praised for his eloquence and published numerous literary works, but very little is preserved. The present publication contains a collection of scant doxographic evidence about Gorgias’ life and writings and a translation of two his extant speeches The Encomium on Helen and the Apologia of Palamedes. The evidences are based on A. Laks and G. Most’ Early Greek Philosophy (2016).
Anna Afonasina
Novosibirsk State University (Novosibirsk, Russia)
afonasina@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 812-825
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-812-825
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-afonasina.pdf
Keywords: Pre-Socratic, Empedocles, Strasbourg papyrus, ancient cosmogony.
Abstract. The works completes a Russian commented translation of Empedocles’ fragments available from the Strasburg papyrus. I present here the sequence of the Ensembles b, d and f with the addition of some other fragments known before papyrus’ first publication in 1999. This badly fragmented piece of evidence is translated into Russian for the first time.
Andrey Kurbanov and Lydia Spyridonova
andrey.kurbanov@gmail.com
lydia.spyridonova@gmail.com
Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities (St. Petersburg, Russia)
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 826-840
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-826-840
https://nsu.ru/classics/schole/14/14-2-psellus.pdf
Keywords: Michael Psellos, John Mauropous, Phaedon, Timaeus, soul, logos spermatikos, Odor of Sanctity, myrrh, ether.
Abstract. This article proposes a commentary and a Russian translation of Letter KD 33, written by the Byzantine philosopher Michael Psellos to his friend John Mauropous. Both correspondents were among the most prominent figures of the revival of Platonism in the 11th century. Their writings provide a notable example of the adaptation of Platonic philosophy to Byzantine needs. The letter was sent after a sorrowful event — the death of Mauropous’ brother, whose corpse, however, started to exude a sweet floral fragrance. Psellos argues that the “odor of sanctity” proceeds from the soul, which has received a divine myrrh, emanating from God. But how could it be that this supernatural aroma proceeds even after the soul’s departure? The author suggests that the human body partakes not only of the earthly primary substances, but also of the ether, which is involved in forming the man’s logos. During the process of dissolution between soul and body, the intellectual fire burns the earthly substances of blood out, whereas its heavenly substance continues to remain. This ethereal essence, retaining the sweet-smelling aroma of the soul, exhales it around after the physical death.
REVIEWS
Geoffrey S. Bowe
Istanbul Technical University (Turkey)
gbove@itu.edu.tr
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 14.2 (2020) 841-848
Keywords: Pre-Socratic, book review, philosophy.
Abstract. A review of: Laks, A., Most, G. W. The concept of Presocratic philosophy. Princeton University Press, 2018.
