How to Rule the World: An Introduction to Xenophon'sThe Education of Cyrus

2015 ◽  
Vol 109 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT C. BARTLETT
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The World ◽  
Moral Excellence ◽  
Self Knowledge

As a contribution to the study of empire and imperial ambition, the present study considers the greatest analysis—Xenophon'sThe Education of Cyrus—of one of the greatest empires of antiquity—the Persian. Xenophon's lively and engaging account permits us to watch Cyrus as he builds a transnational empire, at once vast and stable. Yet Xenophon is ultimately highly critical of Cyrus, because he lacks the self-knowledge requisite to happiness, and of the empire, whose stability is purchased at the price of freedom. Cyrus finally appears as a kind of divinity who strives to supply the reward for moral excellence that the gods evidently do not. Xenophon implies that any truly global empire would have to present itself as a universal providential power capable of bestowing on human beings a blessed happiness that as such transcends our very mortality.

Self-Knowledge in Personality Disorder: Self-Referentiality as a Stepping Stone for Psychotherapeutic Understanding

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Strijbos ◽  
Gerrit Glas
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Personality Disorder ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
The Self ◽  
Stepping Stone ◽  
The World ◽  
Philosophical Framework ◽  
Self Knowledge

This article provides a philosophical framework to help unpack varieties of self-knowledge in clinical practice. We start from a hermeneutical conception of “the self,” according to which the self is not interpreted as some fixed entity, but as embedded in and emerging from our relating to and interacting with our own conditions and activities, others, and the world. The notion of “self-referentiality” is introduced to further unpack how this self-relational activity can become manifest in one's emotions, speech acts, gestures, and actions. Self-referentiality exemplifies what emotions themselves implicitly signify about the person having them. In the remainder of the article, we distinguish among three different ways in which the self-relational activity can become manifest in therapy. Our model is intended to facilitate therapists’ understanding of their patients’ self-relational activity in therapy, when jointly attending to the self-referential meaning of what their patients feel, say, and do.

Plato's Critique of Hedonism in the Philebus

2008 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT C. BARTLETT
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Precise Nature ◽  
Crucial Question ◽  
Human Good ◽  
Self Knowledge

No one can claim to have thought seriously about the question “How ought I to live?”, the guiding question of political philosophy, without having confronted the powerful answer to it supplied by hedonism. In thinking about hedonism today, we may begin from that thinker who was both very important to and early in its history: Plato. Of the dialogs that have come down to us as Plato's, only the Philebus takes as its direct aim the examination of pleasure's claim to be the human good. The Philebus culminates in the suggestions that the need for self-awareness or self-knowledge may finally be more fundamental to all human beings (and hence to hedonists) than is even the desire for pleasure, and that the experience of at least some pleasures constitutes a great obstacle to precisely the self-knowledge we seek. The Philebus is important today not only because it contains a searching analysis of hedonism but also because it compels us to raise the crucial question of the precise nature of “the good” with which we are justly most concerned—our own or that of others—a question whose centrality to self-knowledge we are in danger of forgetting.

scholarly journals Ecosocial Philosophy of Education: Ecologizing the Opinionated Self

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jani Pulkki ◽  
Jan Varpanen ◽  
John Mullen
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Philosophy Of Education ◽  
Real Life ◽  
The Self ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Life Problems ◽  
Epistemic Humility ◽  
The World ◽  
Human World ◽  
Flexible Boundaries

AbstractWhile human beings generally act prosocially towards one another — contra a Hobbesian “war of all against all” — this basic social courtesy tends not to be extended to our relations with the more-than-human world. Educational philosophy is largely grounded in a worldview that privileges human-centered conceptions of the self, valuing its own opinions with little regard for the ecological realities undergirding it. This hyper-separation from the ‘society of all beings’ is a foundational cause of our current ecological crises. In this paper, we develop an ecosocial philosophy of education (ESPE) based on the idea of an ecological self. We aspire to consolidate voices from deep ecology and ecofeminism for conceptualizing education in terms of being responsible to and for, a complex web of interdependent relations among human and more-than-human beings. By analyzing the notion of opinions in light of Gilles Deleuze’s critique of the ‘dogmatic image of thought,’ we formulate three aspects of ESPE capable of supporting an ecological as opposed to an egoistic conception of the self: (i) rather than dealing with fixed concepts, ESPE supports adaptable and flexible boundaries between the self and the world; (ii) rather than fixating on correct answers, ESPE focuses on real-life problems shifting our concern from the self to the world; and (iii) rather than supporting arrogance, EPSE cultivates an epistemic humility grounded in our ecological embeddedness in the world. These approaches seek to enable an education that cultivates a sense of self that is less caught up with arbitrary, egoistic opinions of the self and more attuned to the ecological realities constituting our collective life-worlds.

Self within World

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Culliney ◽  
David Jones
Keyword(s):  
Personal Development ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Dynamic Flow ◽  
The West ◽  
Self In Relation ◽  
The Core ◽  
The World ◽  
Constructive Interaction

We describe the foundations of the fractal self in relation to the Chinese notion of personal development and enhancement of adeptness in the world and mutualism with the other. This seeking, described in the codified system of Daoism, is a pathway that may progress to the highest level of achievement of such a self: that which defines a sage. The chapter introduces the view that a sage is a fractal self that achieves a peak of intimacy and constructive interaction with the world. We detail the development of human beings on this pathway, emerging beyond the core embodiments of empathy, sympathy, and rudimentary morality observed in apes. The self for the early Chinese was always a being that was embedded in the world and dynamic flow of forces. This self was defined in intimate terms as adaptable and adept, seeking to be a microcosmic contributor to some holistic macrocosm. In this chapter, Daoism leads our thinking on how the fractal self engages with the world. In turn, this way of understanding selfness and its potential to enrich its system from within resonates with discussions of the interactive self of Buddhism and was also in the minds of Pre-Socratic thinkers in the West.

On the Biblical Notion of the “Fear of God” as a Condition for Human Existence

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 433-453
Author(s):  
Job Y. Jindo
Keyword(s):  
Human Existence ◽  
The Self ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Work In Progress ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Hebrew Word ◽  
The World ◽  
State Of Mind ◽  
Fear Of God

This article examines the biblical notion of the “fear of God” as a fundamental normative category for all human beings. First, the Hebrew word for “fear” is examined in correspondence with the word for “knowledge,” for they oftentimes appear as synonyms in the Bible. Fear of God is thereby identified as a particular state of mind that directs one’s perception of the world and the self and qualifies, essentially, one’s existence as human. This study is part of a work-in-progress that explores the conceptual world of biblical authors.

scholarly journals (RE)VER O MUNDO PARA LER O ESPAÇO: EXISTÊNCIA E (AUTO)CONHECIMENTO NA GEOGRAFIA HUMANISTA

GEOgraphia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (51) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Roberto Bernardes de Souza Júnior ◽  
Maria Geralda de Almeida
Keyword(s):  
Daily Life ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Humanistic Geography ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Self Knowledge

A considerar as proposições da fenomenologia existencialista, principalmente respaldada em Merleau-Ponty, o texto analisa as possibilidades explicativas acerca das lógicas vigentes na prática de pesquisa dos geógrafos humanistas. Por meio do conceito de mundo e de sua inseparabilidade do sujeito que nele se insere, visa-se decifrar as espacialidades do cotidiano e compreender as maneiras pelas quais os seres humanos vivem em sua geograficidade. A metodologia empregada foi revisão bibliográfica e correlação com as teorias da fenomenologia. Entende-se que é fundamental a adoção de uma postura de aventura e curiosidade em relação ao cosmo em que o geógrafo se insere para que seja possível ler efetivamente o espaço.Palavras-chave: fenomenologia; ser-no-mundo; geograficidade. (RE)VIEW THE WORLD TO READ THE SPACE: EXISTENCE AND (SELF)KNOWLEDGE AT HUMANISTIC GEOGRAPHY Abstract: Considering the propositions of existentialist phenomenology, mainly based on Merleau-Ponty, the text analyzes the explicative possibilities of the major logics at the humanistic geography practices are analyzed. By the means of the concept of world and its inseparability from the subject that inserts itself into it, it attempts to unravel the spacialities of daily life and comprehend the ways in which human beings live their geographycity. The used methodology was bibliographical revision and correlation to phenomenological theories. It its understood that the assumption of an adventurous and curious posture in relation to the cosmos where the geographer is fundamental in order to read effectively the space.Keywords: phenomenology; being-in-the-world; geographicality. (RE)VUE LE MONDE POUR LIRE L’ESPACE : EXISTENCE ET (AUTO)CONNAISSANCE A LA GEOGRAPHIE HUMANISTE Résumé: Au considérer les propositions de la phénoménologie existentialiste, particulièrement cette appuyée en Merleau-Ponty, cet essai analyse les possibilités explicatives sur les logiques en vigueur dans les pratiques de recherche des géographes humanistes. Á travers du concept de monde et de son inséparabilité avec le sujet qui est dessus, on vise déchiffrer les spatialités du quotidien et comprendre les façons par lesquelles les êtres humains vivent en son géographicité. Les méthodologies utilisées ont été le révision bibliographique et corrélation avec les théories de la phénoménologie. On entend que l’adoption d’une posture de curiosité et aventure en relation au cosmo où le géographe est inséré est fondamental pour la possibilité de lire effectivement l’espace.Mots-clé: phénoménologie; être-au-monde; géographicité.  

BENEFIT OR HARM FROM PHILOSOPHY: REFLECTIONS OF 19TH CENTURY PHILOSOPHERS (I. M. Skvortsov, V. N. Karpov, P. I. Linitsky)

2020 ◽  
pp. 114-118
Author(s):  
Olga Machkarina
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
The Self ◽  
Moral Personality ◽  
The World ◽  
Self Knowledge ◽  
Eternal Law ◽  
Xix Century

The author reveals the views of I. M. Skvortsov, V. N. Karpov, P. I. Linitsky – Russian religious philoso-phers of the XIX century on the role of philosophy in the knowledge of the world around him in its integri-ty and comprehension of the "eternal law", on the connection of philosophy with private sciences and determination of the place of philosophy in the system of education, its influence on the formation of the thought culture of the student's personality, on the role of philosophy in the self-knowledge and upbring-ing of the moral personality.

scholarly journals SUFISME DALAM SYAIR HAMZAH FANSURI

LITERA ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haryadi Haryadi
Keyword(s):  
Repeated Reading ◽  
The Self ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The World ◽  
Qualitative Descriptive ◽  
Simple Life ◽  
Good Deeds

This study aims to reveal the divine vision, worldly vision, and concept of makingthe self close to God according to Hamzah Fansuri. The data sources were Syair Perahu I and Syair Perahu II transcribed by Braginsky. The data were collected through repeated reading. They were analyzed using the qualitative descriptive technique with a reference to literary and sufism theories. The study reveals three conclusions. First, according to Hamzah Fansuri, human beings’ closeness to God can reach the highest level, namely the unification of the creature and the creator. Second, Hamzah Fansuri views the world as something temporary and the life after as something eternal. Third, Hamzah Fansuri’s concept of making the self close to God includes (a) being aware of the self, (b) remembering God and expressing praises, (c) performing good deeds, (d) controlling the passion and living simple life, and (e) avoiding evil deeds.

scholarly journals A Christian understanding of the significance of love of oneself in loving God and neighbour: Towards an integrated self-love reading

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannelie Wood
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Great Commandment ◽  
The World ◽  
Christian Understanding ◽  
Love Of God

This article addresses the meaning of the great commandment of love (Mt. 22:35–40) with afocus on the understanding of self-love as considered within a Christian context. Christians ingeneral understand the commandment as applying to love of God and one’s neighbour. Thereference to self-love tends to be ignored or misunderstood, especially when love of self isviewed in the context of the Christian virtues of humility and self-mortification. The conceptof narcissism (self-preoccupation or self-glorification) has devastating effects on relationshipswith God, human beings and the world. In the Christian context self-love is not a thirdcommandment and it is not clearly outlined in Scripture. Furthermore, the love of oneselfseems to be the norm by which the love of God and neighbour are measured. It appearstherefore that by bringing narcissism into the equation of self-love, a better understanding canbe achieved of what a healthy Christian self-love should entail. Furthermore, a brief discussionon the views of the self as mind, emotions and will as well as agape, philia and eros is requiredfor a proposed integrated self-love reading.

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