On the Contemplative Life, Or on Suppliants

2020 ◽  
pp. 75-89
Keyword(s):  
Contemplative Life

Thomas Merton on the Contemplative Life

1972 ◽  
Vol 53 (629) ◽  
pp. 470-476
Author(s):  
Bede McGreggor
Keyword(s):  
Thomas Merton ◽  
Contemplative Life

scholarly journals Contemplative life as an ideal of blessing in Thomas Aquinas’ moral philosophy

2020 ◽  
Vol 80 (316) ◽  
pp. 456
Author(s):  
Nadir Antonio Pichler ◽  
Talia Castilhos de Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
First Principle ◽  
Human Soul ◽  
Divine Nature ◽  
Human Happiness ◽  
The World ◽  
Contemplative Life

The purpose of the text is to describe and analyze the contemplative life as an ideal of beatitude in the moral philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. By assimilating, remodeling and criticizing the ancient and medieval philosophical-theological tradition, Thomas structures an original and complex synthesis, immersing itself in the essence of the divine nature through knowledge and in the human soul through the contemplative life, and from there to erect the pillars of an ontology theocentric, where God is the supreme good and promoter of human happiness, the first principle of all reality. From him comes the world, man and all creatures, and everything tends to return to its essence, in a special the man. For this reason, God is the alpha and omega, propitiator of the deepest beatitude. The text is organized into four items: the context of beatitude, the excellence of the intellectual soul by the activity of the contemplative life, the reasons for the contemplative life and the comparison between the active and the contemplative life. Síntese: O objetivo do texto é descrever e analisar a vida contemplativa como ideal de beatitude na filosofia moral de Tomás de Aquino. Assimilando, remodelando e criticando a tradição filosófico-teológica antiga a medieval, Tomás estrutura uma síntese original e complexa, mergulhando na essencia da natureza divina pelo conhecimento e na alma humana pela vida contemplativa, para, a partir daí, erigir os pilares de uma ontologia teocentrica, onde Deus é o bem supremo e promotor da felicidade humana, o primeiro princípio de toda a realidade. Dele procede o mundo, o homem e todas as criaturas, e tudo tende a retornar a sua essencia, de modo especial, o homem. Por isso, Deus é o alfa e o ômega, propiciador da mais profunda beatitude. O texto está organizado em quatro itens: Contexto da beatitude, a excelência da alma intelectiva pela atividade da vida contemplativa, as razoes da vida contemplativa e a comparaçao entre a vida ativa e a contemplativa.Palavras-chave: Beatitude; Vida contemplativa; Filosofia moral; Tomás de Aquino; Deus.

Landino and Maximus of Tyre

1960 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 289-294
Author(s):  
Eugene M. Waith
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Highest Good ◽  
The Third ◽  
History Of ◽  
Allegorical Interpretation ◽  
Contemplative Life ◽  
Maximus Of Tyre

The Disputationes Camaldulenses of Cristoforo Landino constitute an important document. Composed in the manner of Ciceronian dialogues, they present us with a group of speakers famous in the history of Florentine thought: among others, Lorenzo de’ Medici, Alberti, and Ficino of the ‘Platonic Academy’ at Careggi to which Landino belonged; Alamanno Rinuccini, the Acciaiuoli, and Marco Parenti of the other ‘academy', presided over by Argyropoulos. The first dialogue deals with the relative merits of the active and contemplative life, the second with the problem of the highest good—two topics dear to the Renaissance. The third and fourth give an allegorical interpretation of the Aeneid. It would be hard to find personages or themes more central to quattrocento intellectual history. Inevitably one looks to the Disputationes for the light they throw on these Florentine scholars and on their interests.

Cristoforo Landino and Coluccio Salutati on the Best Life

1994 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 747-769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce G. McNair
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
World View ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Civic Humanism ◽  
Vita Activa ◽  
Contemplative Life

An Important Issue in the study of fifteenth-century Florentine humanism is whether or not later Quattrocento humanists advocate a withdrawal from public life and abandon the “civic” humanism of Salutati, Bruni, and the early Quattrocento humanists. There is no lack of studies on this question using the categories of vita activa and vita contemplativa. In broad terms, the early fifteenthcentury Florentine humanists, reacting against the medieval scholastic world view, are seen as advocating the supremacy of the vita activa though still valuing the vita contemplativa, while the midfifteenth- century humanists, under the influence of the Medici and Marsilio Ficino's Platonic studies, are considered to have reversed the earlier emphasis on the “civic” outlook for the supremacy of the contemplative life and a withdrawal from public affairs.

THE REPRESENTATIONS ON THE CONTEMPLATIVE AND ACTIVE LIFE IN EARLY HELLENISTIC PHILOSOPHY

2021 ◽  
pp. 5-17
Author(s):  
Vladimir Brovkin
Keyword(s):  
Way Of Life ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Active Life ◽  
Hellenistic Philosophy ◽  
Contemplative Life

It is established that the question of the preferred way of life was actualized in the early Hellenistic philosophy. For many philosophers, the contemplative and the active life were equivalent. This position was held by Demetrius of Phalerum, early Stoics, probably Xenocrates and Menedemus of Eretria. Dicaearchus preferred an active life. Aristotle, Theophrastus, and Epicurus preferred the contemplative life. Unlike Aristotle and Theophrastus, Epicurus viewed the contemplative life not as an end, but only as a means of achieving serenity. It was also found that the high value of active life in early Hellenistic philosophy was due to the preservation of the polis system and the formation of Hellenistic monarchies, which opened up wide opportunities for philosophers to participate in political activities. The desire for a contemplative life was associated with the crisis of the polis system.

Civic Patron as Ideal Citizen

The Lay Saint ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 83-125
Author(s):  
Mary Harvey Doyno
Keyword(s):  
Men And Women ◽  
Internal Focus ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Civic Community ◽  
New Equation ◽  
And Control ◽  
Contemplative Life ◽  
The Ideal

This chapter discusses the cult of Pier “Pettinaio” or Pier “the comb-maker” of Siena. Pier lived in Siena until his death in 1289, earning first a pious, and then a saintly reputation for his efforts to follow a rigorous schedule of prayer, to deliver charity to his fellow city-dwellers, and finally to resist the more aggressive commercial practices espoused by other urban artisans and merchants. One sees in Pier's vita how the celebration of a contemporary lay patron became an opportunity to think about the role everyday men and women played in the creation of an ideal civic community. As the vita repeatedly argues, Pier's extraordinary spiritual rigor produced the model of good communal citizenship. But one also sees in this vita an expanded understanding of the content and role of lay charisma. At the same time that the vita celebrates Pier's external actions, it also celebrates his internal focus: his embrace of the contemplative life, his prophetic powers, and his ecstatic states. Thus, in the years immediately before the mendicants took over guardianship and control of the lay penitential life, the cult of a pious Sienese comb-maker demonstrates not only a new equation between the ideal lay Christian and the ideal lay citizen but also an expanded notion of the content and power of lay spirituality.

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