The Battle ofpsychêandthymos: A Reappraisal of Heraclitus’ Psychology

2020 ◽  
Vol 102 (4) ◽  
pp. 525-555
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Mason
Keyword(s):  
Fifth Century ◽  
Extended Analysis ◽  
Century Thought ◽  
Held Back

AbstractHeraclitus is generally recognised as the first of the Greek thinkers to develop a psychology, but the understanding of his psychology is held back by the assumptions that his soul is a life-principle and is ‘comprehensive’ of the various faculties we regard as psychological. The fragment that best displays the revolutionary character of Heraclitus’ soul doctrine, from a properly psychological viewpoint, is B 85. I offer an extended analysis of this fragment in order to bear out the claims, firstly, that psyche or ‘soul’ for Heraclitus is the intelligence alone, divine in origin, and secondly that thumos (primarily as the seat of desire) is a better candidate for his biological life-principle, whose exigencies are at odds with those of soul. I also offer some reflections on why, despite Heraclitus’ multifaceted influence on fifth-century thought, and despite the coherence of his psychology, this ‘revolution’ never quite took hold.

The Overworked Playwright A Study in Euripides' Cyclops

1961 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-169
Author(s):  
Peter D. Arnott
Keyword(s):  
Critical Edition ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Critical Attention ◽  
Ancient Literature ◽  
The Status ◽  
Survival Of The Fittest ◽  
Century Thought

TheCyclops is a neglected play. Although commending itself by its brevity to teachers as an easy introduction to Euripides, it has received little critical attention and is only rarely performed. Nevertheless the feeling persists that even this slight work, being by Euripides, must be treated with respect. A recent school edition comments, ‘The preservation of ancient literature does seem in some measure to have illustrated the principle of the survival of the fittest; and the Cyclops may have been one of the few satyric dramas which really deserve to be handed down to us.’ Similarly J. Duchemin, in his critical edition published a few years earlier, cautiously suggests that the characterization of Polyphemos embodies familiar themes in later fifth-century thought: ‘Son Cyclope est, semble-t-il, auprès des autres, une figure évoluée, et par certains côtés vraiment moderne: le materialisme intellectuel affiché dans l'⋯γών avec Ulysse, et où l'on a voulu retrouver les traces de la sophistique (v. 316 sqq.), marque de toute evidence une étape nouvelle dans le développement du personnage.’ The purpose of this article is to re-examine the status of the play, and inquire whether such tributes are really justified. I hope to gather together certain considerations, some already familiar, others perhaps less well known, which suggest that the value of the Cyclops, both as drama and as an illustration of Euripides' thought, is negligible, and that the illustrious name of its author has led us to look for merit where none exists.

Pericles Monarchos

1950 ◽  
Vol 70 ◽  
pp. 76-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Morrison
Keyword(s):  
Fifth Century ◽  
Sufficient Accuracy ◽  
Ancient History ◽  
Athenian Democracy ◽  
Extreme Form ◽  
Actual Position ◽  
Unique Position ◽  
Century Thought ◽  
Totalitarian State

In a lecture on the Working of the Athenian Democracy delivered to the Hellenic Society at Burlington House on 3 May, 1949, Professor A. W. Gomme attacked the view ‘ that μοναρχια or principate describes with sufficient accuracy, not only Pericles' actual position, but Herodotus' and Thucydides' conceptions of it ’. To the word μοναρχια Gomme attached the meaning of absolute rule, typified in fifth-century thought, and in Herodotus, by the Persian kingship: by ‘ principate’ he meant the direct, single rule of an Augustus. To both he drew the parallel of modern dictatorship in a totalitarian state. Since he cited me as subscribing to this view in its most extreme form, in so far as I approved of E. M. Walker's remarks on the strategia in the Cambridge Ancient History and took Darius' arguments in favour of a monarchy for Persia in Herodotus iii 80–2 as ‘ Herodotus’ own justification for Pericles' unique position at Athens ', I feel that I should make some reply; and am grateful to the editor of the Journal for this opportunity of doing so. I am also grateful to Professor Gomme for letting me consult his MS. so that I have been able to take up the point with him on a surer foundation than that of memory, and have had the privilege of a second acquaintance with a brilliant lecture.

Un intricato processo ad Atene: Eufileto uccide Eratostene, seduttore della moglie (Lysias, Or. I: De Eratosthenis caede apologia)

Vox Patrum ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 449-464
Author(s):  
Orazio Antonio Bologna
Keyword(s):  
Fifth Century ◽  
Don Juan ◽  
Young Wife

In Athens in the late and early fifth century B.C. Eratosthenes, a well-known real Don Juan was killed. He sets his eyes on a young wife and seduces her, she is the wife of Euphiletus, a modest farmer, who spent a lot of time in countryside, away from his wife. Euphiletus, after the birth of his (first) son, places full faith in his wife. Having been in­formed about the affair, he catches her in adultery and, in front of some witnesses, kills Eratosthenes. The victim’s relatives hold a trial against the murderer, who before the Court gives a brilliant oration, written by Lysia one of the greatest orators of Athens.

Late roman pottery : a fifth century deposit from Carthage

1980 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucinda Neuru ◽  
D. Kyle ◽  
A. Demers ◽  
John Walker Hayes
Keyword(s):  
Fifth Century ◽  
Late Roman

A Buddhist Image of (Im)Perfect Rule in Fifth-Century China

1995 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-153
Author(s):  
Charles D. Orzech
Keyword(s):  
Fifth Century

Copper-based alloys of the fifth century

1992 ◽  
Vol 6 (34) ◽  
pp. 54-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.E. King ◽  
D. M. Metcalf ◽  
J.P. Northover
Keyword(s):  
Fifth Century

Islamic Law and Society

1990 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-191
Author(s):  
Louay M. Safi
Keyword(s):  
Composite System ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Social Growth ◽  
The Social ◽  
Collective Experience ◽  
Law And Morality ◽  
The Impact

Shari'ah (Islamic law) has been the dominant moral and legal code ofMuslim societies for the gnxter part of their history. During the early centuriesof Islam, Shari'ah hcilitated the social growth and develojment of the Muslims,growth that culminaa in the establishment of a vast emph and an outstandmgcivilization. By the close of the fifth century of Islam, however, Shari'ahbegan to lose its role as the guiding force that inspired Muslim creativityand ingenuity and that nurtured the growing spirit of the Muslim community(Ummah). Consequently, the Ummah entered a period of stagnation thatgradually gave way to intellectual decline and social decadence. Regrettably,this painful trend continues to be more or less 'part of the individualconsciousness and collective experience of Muslims.This paper attempts to trace the development of the principles of Islamicjurisprudence, and to assess the impact of Shari'ah on society. It argues thatthe law ceased to grow by the sixth century of Islam as a result of thedevelopment of classical legal theory; more specifically, law was put on hold,as it were, after the doctrine of the infallibility of ijma' (juristic consensus)was articulated. The rigid principles of classical theory, it is contended, havebeen primarily induced by the hulty epistemology employed.by sixth-centuryjurists.Shari'ah, or Islamic law, is a comprehensive system encompassing thewhole field of human experience. It is not simply a legal system, but rathera composite system of law and morality. That is, Islamic law aspires to regulateall aspects of human activities, not only those that may entail legalconsequences. Hence, all actions and relationships are evaluated in accordancewith a scale of five moral standards.According to Shari'ah, an act may be classified as obligatory (wajib),recommended (mandub), permissible (mubah), reprehensible (makruh), orprohibited (haram). These five categories reflect the varying levels of moral ...

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