Justice as a spiritual quest

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Chielozona Eze
Keyword(s):  
2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-202

The article advances a hypothesis about the composition of Michel de Montaigne’s Essays. Specialists in the intellectual history of the Renaissance have long considered the relationship among Montaigne’s thematically heterogeneous thoughts, which unfold unpredictably and often seen to contradict each other. The waywardness of those reflections over the years was a way for Montaigne to construct a self-portrait. Spontaneity of thought is the essence of the person depicted and an experimental literary technique that was unprecedented in its time and has still not been surpassed. Montaigne often writes about freedom of reflection and regards it as an extremely important topic. There have been many attempts to interpret the haphazardness of the Essays as the guiding principle in their composition. According to one such interpretation, the spontaneous digressions and readiness to take up very different philosophical notions is a form of of varietas and distinguo, which Montaigne understood in the context of Renaissance philosophy. Another interpretation argues that the Essays employ the rhetorical techniques of Renaissance legal commentary. A third opinion regards the Essays as an example of sprezzatura, a calculated negligence that calls attention to the aesthetic character of Montaigne’s writing. The author of the article argues for a different interpretation that is based on the concept of idleness to which Montaigne assigned great significance. He had a keen appreciation of the role of otium in the culture of ancient Rome and regarded leisure as an inner spiritual quest for self-knowledge. According to Montaigne, idleness permits self-directedness, and it is an ideal form in which to practice the freedom of thought that brings about consistency in writing, living and reality, in all of which Montaigne finds one general property - complete inconstancy. Socratic self-knowledge, a skepticism derived from Pyrrho of Elis and Sextus Empiricus, and a rejection of the conventions of traditional rhetoric that was similar to Seneca’s critique of it were all brought to bear on the concept of idleness and made Montaigne’s intellectual and literary experimentation in the Essays possible.


1982 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
Celia Weisman
Keyword(s):  

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riccardo Paredi

Resumen: El presente artículo se propone comparar y llevar a dialogar El Intérprete de los deseos de Ibn ʿArabī y la Vita Nova de Dante Alighieri bajo tres aspectos profundamente presentes a lo largo de los escritos: el concepto de Ausencia, de Memoria y de Indefinido. Según el presente análisis, la búsquedade la Amada en las dos obras presupone la Ausencia y valora la Presencia como meta final del Amante; en segundo lugar, el vacío causado en la Memoria, por la ausencia de Niẓām y de Beatrice, se llena con evocaciones y recuerdos; finalmente, es el Indefinido espacio-temporal lo que permite a las dos obras de ser tan universales, sin otras referencias concretas que la Amada o, aún más, labúsqueda espiritual misma.Palabras clave: Sufismo. Mística Islámica. Ibn ʿArabī. Dante Alighieri. Memoria. Ausencia. Presencia. Deseo divino. Amor cortés. Amor divino.Abstract: The following article aims to compare and to bring into dialogue the Interpreter of Desires by Ibn ʿArabī and the Vita Nova by Dante Alighieri, under three aspects which are deeply represented in these two works: the concept of Absence, of Memory and Indefinite. According to this analysis, the quest for the Beloved, in both works, implies the Absence and values the Presence as the finalaim of the Lover; secondly, the void caused by the absence of Niẓām and Beatrice is fulfilled by the mnemonic faculty, thanks to evocations, souvenirs and memories; lastly, the space-time indefiniteness allows the works to be considered universal. No other concrete references are found except the Beloved and her Spiritual Quest in itself.Key words: Sufism. Islamic Mysticism. Ibn ʿArabī. Dante Alighieri. Memory. Absence. Presence. Divine Desire. Courtly Love. Divine Love.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 124-143
Author(s):  
Kravets Vladimir ◽  
Shilo Alexander
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Jose Antonio Alonso Navarro

Here we present a translation into Spanish of the medieval English poem titled “Sir Orfeo”, which was composed in the late 13th or early 14th centuries within the WestminsterMiddlesex area. Our main spur has been to disseminate it amongst the modern Spanish-speaking readers due to its literary beauty and its story, a story which is not certainly innovative; however, it is innovative as to the way its author has succeeded in adapting the classical or Ancient Greek myth to the medieval English mindset of the readers or listeners of the time so as to arouse their interest, entertain them and teach them with a didactic purpose. The poem comprises all the elements inherent to a prototypical lay (or lai): a knight-king, a love story, a physical and spiritual quest, the otherworld (or fairyland), and moral and spiritual values which should be taken into account by the audience. We have attempted to make the translation of “Sir Orfeo” into Spanish as faithful as possible regarding the original English poem in order to maintain its literary essence, freshness and character. “Sir Orfeo” was a very popular poem in its time, and there is no doubt that it will become popular again in the 21st century in the light of different perceptions and approaches.


1998 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-100
Author(s):  
Miloš Dokulil ◽  

At the end of the second millennium, we seem to be somewhat nervous agairn. Twentieth-century scientific developments have opened up fascinating new fields of study both in the micro- and macrocosmos. Yet none of the new codes, paradigms, and ideologies appear to bring us nearer to some new and generally shared creed. Life without work for many, not only in the Third World, the successful integration of Europe, armed conflicts on local battlefields, as well as superficialities on TV screens, are our near-to-be contemporaneity. The seeming unlimited technical possibilities of artificial intelligence, the relativtatim of civic values, and a cartoon-like culture portend risks for the fiiture. Yet, while secular and lacking a binding sense of responsibility, postmodem society epitomizes spiritual hunger. Nurtured by good family traditions, the spiritual quest promises an open-ended, post-Godotian future.


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