scholarly journals Aristotle and Aristoxenus on Effort

Conatus ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
John Robert Bagby
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Generative Process ◽  
The Third ◽  
European Philosophy ◽  
Internal Experience ◽  
Early Modern Metaphysics

The discussions of conatus – force, tendency, effort, and striving – in early modern metaphysics have roots in Aristotle’s understanding of life as an internal experience of living force. This paper examines the ways that Spinoza’s conatus is consonant with Aristotle on effort. By tracking effort from his psychology and ethics to aesthetics, I show there is a conatus at the heart of the activity of the ψυχή that involves an intensification of power in a way which anticipates many of the central insights of early modern and 20th century European philosophy. The first section outlines how Aristotle’s developmental conception of the soul as geometrically ordered lays the foundation for his understanding of effort. The developmental series of powers of the soul are analogous to the series of shapes in mathematics. The second section links the striving of the soul to the gradual acquisition of virtues as a directed activity unifying multiplicity. The third examines the paradigm of self-awareness that Aristotelian effort involves. In the final section I show how ancient Greek theories of music were founded on the experience of striving. The “nature” of music is defined by Aristoxenus, and Theophrastus, in relation to the passion and intentionality of the soul. The geometrical order, as a synthesis of elements in geometry, music, or ethics, is a generative process in which past elements are retained and reintegrated in later stages of development. It requires effort to think geometrically, and the progress of knowledge itself is an integral aspect of all effort. Effort is the lived and self-aware cause which, moving step by step in an orderly and deliberate way, grows and advances upon itself. For both Spinoza and Aristotle, effort is the immanent intelligence which accomplishes what is in the purview of its understanding. Thus, will, in this conception of effort, is not something we already possess innately, but emerges gradually by an effort aimed at improvement.

Teleology in Jewish Philosophy

Teleology ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 123-149
Author(s):  
Jeffrey K. McDonough
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Critical Reception ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Critical Dialogue ◽  
Philosophical Discourse ◽  
The Third ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
The World

Medieval and early modern Jewish philosophers developed their thinking in conversation with various bodies of literature. The influence of ancient Greek and Arabic sources was fundamental to the very constitution of medieval Jewish philosophical discourse. Toward the late Middle Ages, Jewish philosophers also established a critical dialogue with Christian Scholastics. In addition to these philosophical corpora, Jewish philosophers drew significantly upon rabbinic sources and the Hebrew Bible. In order to clarify the unique as well as shared elements in the thought of medieval Jewish philosophers, this chapter begins with a brief study of some early rabbinic sources on the purpose of the world. The second part of this chapter studies Maimonides’s critique of the veracity and usefulness of the belief in (anthropocentric) teleology, and the critical reception of his views by later philosophers. The third part addresses discussions of divine teleology in Kabbalistic literature. The fourth and final section elucidates Spinoza’s critique of teleology, its precise target and scope, and its debt to earlier sources discussed in this chapter.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Shapiro
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Scientific Psychology ◽  
The Third ◽  
Scientific Approach

This chapter provides an overview of Pleasure: A History. The book traces a narrative in four acts. The first act shows how ancient Greek and medieval philosophers from both the Islamic and Latin traditions were concern with unifying the variety of pleasures. In the second act, early modern European philosophers became focused on pleasure as psychological. The third act shows how in the nineteenth century pleasure become of the object of scientific psychology. The book concludes by showing how contemporary psychology and philosophy are recognizing the shortcomings of the scientific approach and returning to questions from earlier in the story to enrich the approach. The introduction also provides chapter summaries and recognizes key figures who have been omitted.

Producing Idols

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-47
Author(s):  
Byron Ellsworth Hamann
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
New Spain ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Social Lives ◽  
Mistaken Identity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mesoamerican Languages

Idolatry is an accusation. Derived from ancient Greek terms for the veneration (latreia) of images (eidola), idolatry provides a framework for exploring the connections and confusions of the early modern Mediterratlantic world, where false images seemed to be everywhere. This essay surveys the social lives of idols in sixteenth-century New Spain, focusing on their destruction, creation, excavation, and commodification. Significantly, all four actions were performed by Europeans and Native Americans alike: the treatment of idols in New Spain cannot be neatly divided into Mesoamerican versus Mediterranean strategies. Understanding these shared practices requires contextualizing them in pre-Hispanic and medieval histories, as well as in Europe’s Renaissance present. But of course shared actions may conceal radically different meanings, and the essay’s final section considers how the Castilian term ídolo was translated into different Mesoamerican languages. The ancient category of the idol, imported to the Americas, was remade into something new. Connecting dictionary entries to military and missionary reports to the archives of the Inquisition, the production of idols in early modern New Spain provides an unexpected context for revisiting the classic concerns—and still generative possibilities—of James Lockhart’s concept of Double Mistaken Identity. RESUMEN La idolatría es una acusación. Derivada de los términos del griego antiguo utilizados para la veneración (latreia) de las imágenes (eidola), la idolatría brinda un marco para explorar las conexiones y confusiones del mundo Mediterratlántico de la temprana modernidad, donde las falsas imágenes parecían estar en todas partes. Este ensayo analiza la vida social de los ídolos en la Nueva España del siglo XVI, centrándose en su destrucción, creación, excavación y mercantilización. Es importante señalar que tanto los europeos como los indígenas americanos participaron en estos actos: el tratamiento de los ídolos en Nueva España no se puede dividir claramente en estrategias mesoamericanas versus mediterráneas. La comprensión de estas prácticas compartidas exige contextualizarlas en las historias prehispánicas y medievales, así como en el presente del Renacimiento europeo. No obstante, no cabe duda de que las acciones compartidas pueden ocultar significados radicalmente diferentes, y la sección final del ensayo considera cómo se tradujo el término castellano ídolo a diversos idiomas mesoamericanos. La antigua categoría del ídolo fue transformada al ser importada a las Américas. Al conectar las entradas del diccionario con los informes militares y misioneros a los archivos de la Inquisición, la producción de ídolos en la Nueva España de la temprana modernidad proporciona un contexto inesperado para revisar las preocupaciones clásicas, y las continuas posibilidades, del concepto de Doble Identidad Equivocada de James Lockhart. RESUMO Idolatria é uma acusação. Palavra derivada do termo do grego antigo para veneração (latreia) de imagens (eidola), a idolatria provém um enquadramento para explorar as conexões e confusões do mundo Mediterratlântico no início da era moderna, onde as imagens falsas pareciam estar em toda parte. Esse ensaio examina a vida social dos ídolos na Nova Espanha do século XVI, concentrando-se em sua destruição, criação, escavação e mercantilização. Significantemente, todas as quatro ações foram performadas tanto por europeus quanto por nativos-americanos: o tratamento de ídolos na Nova Espanha não pode ser claramente dividido em estratégias mesoamericanas versus mediterrâneas. Compreender essas práticas compartilhadas requer sua contextualização em histórias pré-hispânicas e medievais, bem como no presente da Renascença na Europa. Entretanto, é claro que ações compartilhadas podem esconder significados radicalmente diferentes, e a seção final do ensaio considera como o termo castelhano ídolo foi traduzido em diferentes línguas mesoamericanas. A categoria antiga do ídolo, importada para as Américas, foi transformada em algo novo. Conectando verbetes de dicionários a relatórios militares e missionários a arquivos da inquisição, a produção de ídolos no início da era moderna na Nova Espanha provém um contexto inesperado para revisitar preocupações clássicas – e ainda as possibilidades geradoras – do conceito de Identidade Duplamente Equivocada de James Lockhart.

scholarly journals "Któż tam będzie wisiał?" – Bunt chłopski w miejskiej wyobraźni

2012 ◽  
pp. 1-52
Author(s):  
Marcin Starnawski
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Marketing Strategy ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Punk Rock ◽  
Musical Form ◽  
Urban Imagination ◽  
Peasant Revolt

“Who’s going to dangle there?” – Peasant revolt in urban imagination. On the Gore album by R.U.T.A. and on its receptionThe author presents a review of a recent album “Gore: Songs of Rebellion and Misery from 16th to 20th Century” by a Polish punk rock / hardcore group R.U.T.A. The album, which combines traditional peasant lyrics with modern arrangements and folk instruments, has received acclaim from both fans and critics, while the band declared their commitment to struggles of contemporary progressive social movements. The author analyses the lyrics situating his reflection in sociological-historical framework to discuss realities of peasants’ lives and revolts during the second serfdom in early modern Poland. The author interprets the musical form of the songs as “punk-rock assimilation” of folklore themes. The final section contains critical reflection on the album’s marketing strategy and reception with the key dissected categories being “rebellion” and “authenticity.”

A Short Modern History of Studying Sacrobosco’s De sphaera

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (Special Issue) ◽  
pp. 23-33
Author(s):  
Alin Constantin Corfu
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Modern History ◽  
13Th Century ◽  
The Third ◽  
History Of ◽  
University Of Paris ◽  
The University

"A Short Modern History of Studying Sacrobosco’s De sphaera. The treatise generally known as De sphaera offered at the beginning of the 13th century a general image of the structure of the cosmos. In this paper I’m first trying to present a triple stake with which this treaty of Johannes de Sacrobosco (c. 1195 - c. 1256). This effort is intended to draw a context upon the treaty on which I will present in the second part of this paper namely, a short modern history of studying this treaty starting from the beginning of the 20th century up to this day. The first stake consists in the well-known episode of translation of the XI-XII centuries in the Latin milieu of the Greek and Arabic treaties. The treatise De sphaera taking over, assimilating and comparing some of the new translations of the texts dedicated to astronomy. The second Consists in the fact that Sacrobosco`s work can be considered a response to a need of renewal of the curriculum dedicated to astronomy at the University of Paris. And the third consists in the novelty and the need to use the De sphaera treatise in the Parisian University’s curriculum of the 13th century. Keywords: astronomy, translation, university, 13th Century, Sacrobosco, Paris, curriculum"

Same Address, Different Doors: Post-Heritage Deconstruction of the Heritage Household in Upstairs Downstairs in the 1970s and 2010s

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Abbiss
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Past ◽  
War Narrative ◽  
Critical History ◽  
The Social ◽  
Fourth Series ◽  
History Of ◽  
Multiple Episodes

This article offers a ‘post-heritage’ reading of both iterations of Upstairs Downstairs: the LondonWeekend Television (LWT) series (1971–5) and its shortlived BBC revival (2010–12). Identifying elements of subversion and subjectivity allows scholarship on the LWT series to be reassessed, recognising occasions where it challenges rather than supports the social structures of the depicted Edwardian past. The BBC series also incorporates the post-heritage element of self-consciousness, acknowledging the parallel between its narrative and the production’s attempts to recreate the success of its 1970s predecessor. The article’s first section assesses the critical history of the LWT series, identifying areas that are open to further study or revised readings. The second section analyses the serialised war narrative of the fourth series of LWT’s Upstairs, Downstairs (1974), revealing its exploration of female identity across multiple episodes and challenging the notion that the series became more male and upstairs dominated as it progressed. The third section considers the BBC series’ revised concept, identifying the shifts in its main characters’ positions in society that allow the series’ narrative to question the past it evokes. This will be briefly contrasted with the heritage stability of Downton Abbey (ITV, 2010–15). The final section considers the household of 165 Eaton Place’s function as a studio space, which the BBC series self-consciously adopts in order to evoke the aesthetics of prior period dramas. The article concludes by suggesting that the barriers to recreating the past established in the BBC series’ narrative also contributed to its failure to match the success of its earlier iteration.

Same Address, Different Doors: Post-Heritage Deconstruction of the Heritage Household in Upstairs Downstairs in the 1970s and 2010s

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Abbiss
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Past ◽  
War Narrative ◽  
Critical History ◽  
The Social ◽  
Fourth Series ◽  
History Of ◽  
Multiple Episodes

This article offers a ‘post-heritage’ reading of both iterations of Upstairs Downstairs: the LondonWeekend Television (LWT) series (1971–5) and its shortlived BBC revival (2010–12). Identifying elements of subversion and subjectivity allows scholarship on the LWT series to be reassessed, recognising occasions where it challenges rather than supports the social structures of the depicted Edwardian past. The BBC series also incorporates the post-heritage element of self-consciousness, acknowledging the parallel between its narrative and the production’s attempts to recreate the success of its 1970s predecessor. The article’s first section assesses the critical history of the LWT series, identifying areas that are open to further study or revised readings. The second section analyses the serialised war narrative of the fourth series of LWT’s Upstairs, Downstairs (1974), revealing its exploration of female identity across multiple episodes and challenging the notion that the series became more male and upstairs dominated as it progressed. The third section considers the BBC series’ revised concept, identifying the shifts in its main characters’ positions in society that allow the series’ narrative to question the past it evokes. This will be briefly contrasted with the heritage stability of Downton Abbey (ITV, 2010–15). The final section considers the household of 165 Eaton Place’s function as a studio space, which the BBC series self-consciously adopts in order to evoke the aesthetics of prior period dramas. The article concludes by suggesting that the barriers to recreating the past established in the BBC series’ narrative also contributed to its failure to match the success of its earlier iteration.

Hundert Jahre Formgeschichte: Ein Tribut an die Begründer

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-84
Author(s):  
Hans-Josef Klauck
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Critical Studies ◽  
Literary Output ◽  
Form Criticism

Abstract A hundred years ago, in 1919–1922, the groundbreaking works on form-criticism appeared, mainly independent of each other. This means that it is time for a retrospect and an evaluation. The article starts with the forerunners, especially Johann Gottlieb Herder and Hermann Gunkel, but also some others. Then main paragraphs are devoted to each of the five protagonists: Martin Dibelius, Karl Ludwig Schmidt, Rudolph Bultmann, Martin Albertz and Georg Bertram. Their foundational form-critical studies are discussed and contextualized within their lives and their literary output. In the case of Dibelius, more attention than usual is given to the important differences between the first (1919) and the second edition (1933) of his “Formgeschichte” that was decisive for creating the terminology. The little known political options that Bertram favored are criticized. The final section draws some lines from the early 20th century to the present days.

The Limit Situation And The Narrative Of War (On The Material Of The Novel “My Lieutenant” By Daniil Granin)

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-104
Author(s):  
Anatoly S. Kuprin ◽  
Galina I. Danilina
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Continuous Limit ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Term Limit ◽  
Abstract Author ◽  
The Third ◽  
Definition Of

The purpose of this study is the analysis of limit situation in the narrative of war. The material of the study is the novel of Daniil Granin “My Lieutenant” and related texts. In the first part of the paper, the authors explore existing approaches to the term “limit situation” and similar concepts into scientific and philosophical traditions; limits of its applicability in literary studies and its relation to the categories of “narrative instances” and “event”. Proposed a literary-theoretical definition of the limit situation, which can be used in the analysis of fiction texts. Existing approaches to the examination of the situation of war are analyzed: philosophical-existential, psychoanalytic, sociological, literary. In the second part of the paper, the authors propose their method for analyzing limit situations in texts about war, which basis on existing approaches and preserves the text-centric principle of studying the structure of the story. Two interrelated areas of research have been identified: the study of war as a continuous limit situation in the intertextual aspect (the discourse of war); the study of limit situations (death, suffering, guilt, accident) in the narrative of war as part of a specific text. In the third part of the scientific work,the analysis of war as a continuous limit situation results in the study of the concept of “limit” (border) in a fiction text. The role of “limit” (border) concept in the texts about the war is studied, the possible types of limits in the discourse of war are examined. Limit situations in the narrative of war are analyzed on the basis of the novel “My Lieutenant” by Daniil Granin. A review of journalistic and scientific works about the novel revealed both the continuity and the differences between the novel and the “lieutenant” prose of the 20th century. An analysis of the limit situations in the novel revealed their key position in the narrative. These situations are independent of the fiction time, of the fluctuation of the point of view’; the function of the abstract author is to build the narrative as a “directive” immersion of the hero and narrator in these situations.

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