Heraclitus on Law (Fr.114 DK)

Rhizomata ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm Schofield

AbstractNo Heraclitean fragment that bears on the political sphere compares with Fr.114 in length or theoretical ambition. Its basic preoccupation as often is with human intelligence and the need for better understanding. But its claim about the resources available to understanding is developed by means of an analogy with the city’s reliance on law and thereby on the ‘one divine’. And this is the dimension of the fragment that has most engaged scholars. It is generally supposed that a main lesson taught by the analogy is that, important resource though its law is for a city, ‘what is common’ provides understanding with a much stronger resource. This paper argues that that interpretation is misconceived: there could be no more powerful source of support than the ‘one divine’. Heraclitus’ point is rather that humans need to muster more strength to get the support available to understanding than citizens have to exercise in accessing that available in the law.

Author(s):  
Svetlana M. Klimova ◽  

The article examines the phenomenon of the late Lev Tolstoy in the context of his religious position. The author analyzes the reactions to his teaching in Russian state and official Orthodox circles, on the one hand, and Indian thought, on the other. Two sociocultural images of L.N. Tolstoy: us and them that arose in the context of understanding the position of the Russian Church and the authorities and Indian public and religious figures (including Mahatma Gandhi, who was under his influence). A peculiar phenomenon of intellectually usL.N. Tolstoy among culturally them (Indian) correspondents and intellectually them Tolstoy among culturally us (representatives of the official government and the Church of Russia) transpires. The originality of this situation is that these im­ages of Lev Tolstoy arise practically at the same period. The author compares these images, based on the method of defamiliarisation (V. Shklovsky), which allows to visually demonstrate the religious component of Tolstoy’s criticism of the political sphere of life and, at the same time, to understand the psychological reasons for its rejection in Russian official circles. With the methodological help of defamiliarisation the author tries to show that the opinion of Tolstoy (as the writer) becomes at the same time the voice of conscience for many of his con­temporaries. The method of defamiliarisation allowed the author to show how Leo Tolstoy’s inner law of nonviolence influenced the concept of non­violent resistance in the teachings of Gandhi.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
István Lükő

A cikk a szakképzési törvény megjelenésének 25. évfordulója alkalmából rendezett „25 éves a szakképzési törvény - Korszakos változások - új irányok” című konferencia előadása alapján készült, amelyet a szerző vezette Az első szakképzési törvény gazdasági- társadalmi környezete nemzetközi kitekintésbe című Panel keretében tartott.Ez a negyedszázados esemény a társadalmi-gazdasági szinten zajló rendszerváltás fontos része volt a másik két oktatási alrendszer törvényi szabályozásával együtt.Az írás ezt a korszakot, illetve a törvényhez kapcsolódó gazdasági-társadalmi környezetet mutatja be nemzetközi kontextusban.A téma elvi-elméleti felvezetéseként a szerző áttekinti a különböző szempontok és léptékek szerinti szakképzési modelleket, amelyek a világban fellelhetők. The government formed after the political events in 1989 considered the comprehensive transformation of the educational system, primarily by legal regulation, as one of their main tasks. After years of preparation, the three acts on education were passed in 1993, including the Act on VET. Several documents, e.g. the National Qualification Registry, are connected to this law; in this article I have undertaken to examine these connections and to make comparisons to other countries. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the law taking effect, on May 5th 2018 the Hungarian Association for Pedagogy and the Teacher Training Centre of the BME organized a monumental conference titled The Law on VET becomes 25 years old – Epochal changes – new directions in Budapest at the BME. After the plenary sessions, five panels were held – I was the moderator of the one titled: The socio-economic environment of the first VET act in an international dimension, and I held a short lecture here with a similar title. 


2021 ◽  

Carl Schmitt emphasised the crucial importance of the friend–enemy dichotomy for the political sphere. Is the connection between the concept of the enemy and politics still relevant today? Or does the political sphere need to be defined quite differently, on the one hand, and does the problem of enmity need to be dealt with beyond the political sphere, on the other? Since the publication of this book’s 1st edition, the issue of ‘enmity’ has by no means been settled, as recent terrorist attacks have shown. On the contrary, hatred of those who think differently seems to be on the increase, and they are then demonised as ‘enemies’. This development is explored in the contributions to the book’s 2nd edition. Rüdiger Voigt, professor emeritus of administrative science at the University of the German Armed Forces in Munich, is the author and editor of numerous books on state theory and state practice.


1970 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-13
Author(s):  
Andrzej Zoll

The changes brought about in Poland and elsewhere in Europe by the fall of Communism have given rise to hopes for the establishment of a political system differing from the one which had been the fate of these countries. In place of totalitarianism, a new political system is to be created based on the democratic principles of a state under the rule of law. The transformation from totalitarianism to democracy is a process which has not yet been completed in Poland and still requires many efforts to be made before this goal may be achieved. One may also enumerate various pitfalls jeopardising this process even now. The dangers cannot be avoided if their sources and nature are not identified. Attempts to pervert the law and the political system may only be counteracted by legal means if the system based on the abuse of the law has not yet succeeded in establishing itself. Resistance by means of the law only has any real chance of success provided it is directed against attempts to set up a totalitarian system. Once the powers which are hostile to the state bound by the rule of law take over the institutions of the state, such resistance is doomed to failure.


1982 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 805-825 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. G. Lake

In 1620 Thomas Scott published a notorious pamphlet entitled Vox Populi. This purported to recount the proceedings of the Spanish council of state and denounced the devious machinations of Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador, and by implication the pro-Spanish policy of King James. Once Scott's authorship became known he took the traditional way out and fled to the Low Countries. There he served as a preacher with the English regiments and as a minister at Utrecht. He also continued his pamphlet commentary on events in England. Scott, then, was that well-known figure, the radical puritan opponent of the Jacobean regime. He has certainly been cast in that role and until recently such a view of his career would have seemed unexceptionable enough. However, of late there has emerged a corpus of work which might be thought to render any such view of Scott untenable. On the one hand, the existence within the mainstream of English protestantism of anything approaching a coherent body of puritan attitudes has been challenged, at least until the emergence of Arminianism polarized religious opinion and almost created a self-conscious and aggressive puritanism where there had been none before. In the political sphere it has been claimed that within the predominant view of constitutional and political propriety any attempt at concerted opposition to royal policy was both conceptually and practically impossible.


Author(s):  
Manuel Antonio Sebastián Edo

En el Senado siempre hubo individuos que se opusieron a Octavio y varios de ellos llegaron a conspirar contra él. Tras el confinamiento de Lépido del ámbito político, lo cual hizo que quedaran Antonio y Octavio frente a frente, este último fue objeto de varias conspiraciones. Esta forma de oposición más violenta es la que predomina en el relato de las fuentes clásicas, que recogen importantes datos para conocer las relaciones entre el Senado y el princeps. Sin embargo, de entre ellas, hay un hecho particular que llama la atención, ya que se trata de un caso de oposición no violenta y que llega a ser ensalzado en las fuentes (Tac., Ann., 3, 75), representado por el jurista Marco Antistio Labeón. En primer lugar, para abordar el tema recopilaremos los casos anteriores a Antistio Labeón que se opusieron a Augusto y haremos un breve perfil biográfico del personaje. Finalmente, indagaremos en los casos en los que Labeón mostró su oposición a la figura de Augusto.AbstractIn the Senate there were always individuals who opposed Octavius and  several of them came to conspire against him. After the confinement of Lepidus from the political sphere, which caused Antonius and Octavius to remain face to face, the latter was subject to several conspiracies. This form of more violent opposition is the one that predominates in the ensemble of the classic sources, which collect important data to know the relations between the Senate and the princeps. However, among them, there is a particular fact that attracts attention, since it is a case of non-violent opposition and that it becomes extolled at the sources (Tac., Ann., 3, 75), represented by the jurist Marcus Antistius Labeo. To address the issue, first, we will collect the cases before Antistius Labeo which opposed Augustus and make a brief biographical profile of the character. Finally, we will investigate the cases in which Labeo showed his opposition to the figure of Augustus.


Author(s):  
Dawid Nowakowski

The recent studies on the relations between humanism or humanists and jurisprudence convince that Reneaissance, especially in XVIth century, when the national states began to raise, belonged to the periods of increased interest in the issue of law. Although Erasmus was not a layer, nor he introduced in any of his works a complete theory of law, he maintained close relations with many leading theoreticians of the law and jurists (Alciati, Budé, Cantiuncula, Zasius) and sometimes spoke in the legal discussions of his age. Among hist most important works concerning the matter of law were: Institutio principis Christiani, Ratio seu Methodus verae theologiae, Christiani matrimonii institutio, De interdicto esu carnium and Ecclesiastes. In the paper I’m going to concentrate on this latter work, in which Erasmus discusses the significance of preaching, preacher and widely understood Christian rhetoric. In the Ecclesiastes Erasmus touches the law subject with the special emphasis on historical character of law and relations between the divine law, the law of Christ and the law of Nature. After a short discussion about his understaning of law I will concentrate on the essential differentiation between the letter of law and the spirit of law, and I will point at proposed by Erasmus ways of introduction of law into human life. Erasmus, on the one hand, escaped a rigidity and abstraction of law and, on the other, he neutralised an aspect of the coercion of law. In his solution Erasmus appreciated the political dimension of preaching and acknowledged preacher as a more important guide of the people, than ruler. I’m going to interpret the Erasmian concept of preaching as an rhetorical mean of introduction of law in analogical way to “introduction” proposed by Plato in his Nomoi.


2021 ◽  
pp. 29-48
Author(s):  
Janusz Nawrot

The conducted exegesis of some particular verses from the Septuagint indicates that two initial covenants made between a representative of the chosen nation with a Gentile party (Abraham and Solomon) did not breach the obligations resulting from the Law of Moses. The theological portrait of Abraham in the Book of Genesis captures an unambiguous evaluation of his conduct in accordance with the Law although the Law itself appeared considerably later when Moses lived. The pact between Solomon and Hiram deserves a similar evaluation. However, the later covenants between the kings of Israel and Judah with Gentile rulers deserve an extremely negative evaluation. Although they did not formally violate the Mosaic prohibitions, they were evaluated as a violation of trust in the Lord as He was the only Partner of the covenant between Himself and the Israelites. Such an interpretation is possible especially in light of Deut 7:6 which accentuates the uniqueness of Israel as a nation chosen by God from among other nations. And because this selection of Israel was done on the foundation of the covenant made on the Mount Sinai, it should be a one-of-a-kind covenant that should not be replaced with another pact signed with a human being, and let alone a Gentile. In all of the cases above, starting from King Asa and ending with Archpriest Jonathan, there was a true violation of the rule whereby the Lord was the only Partner of the covenant with His people. Thus, each of the analyzed treatises met with valid criticism both from a prophet and the inspired author. It is difficult to treat these violations as a major breach of the faith of Israel because of the established diplomatic relations. However, it was the rule of God’s uniqueness as a foundation for any sphere in the life of the chosen people that was violated. It included the political sphere which should not be excluded from the chosen people’s faith.  


2021 ◽  
pp. 7-28
Author(s):  
Janusz Nawrot

The conducted exegesis of some particular verses from the Septuagint indicates that two initial covenants made between a representative of the chosen nation with a Gentile party (Abraham and Solomon) did not breach the obligations resulting from the Law of Moses. The theological portrait of Abraham in the Book of Genesis captures an unambiguous evaluation of his conduct in accordance with the Law although the Law itself appeared considerably later when Moses lived. The pact between Solomon and Hiram deserves a similar evaluation. However, the later covenants between the kings of Israel and Judah with Gentile rulers deserve an extremely negative evaluation. Although they did not formally violate the Mosaic prohibitions, they were evaluated as a violation of trust in the Lord as He was the only Partner of the covenant between Himself and the Israelites. Such an interpretation is possible especially in light of Deut 7:6 which accentuates the uniqueness of Israel as a nation chosen by God from among other nations. And because this selection of Israel was done on the foundation of the covenant made on the Mount Sinai, it should be a one-of-a-kind covenant that should not be replaced with another pact signed with a human being, and let alone a Gentile. In all of the cases above, starting from King Asa and ending with Archpriest Jonathan, there was a true violation of the rule whereby the Lord was the only Partner of the covenant with His people. Thus, each of the analyzed treatises met with valid criticism both from a prophet and the inspired author. It is difficult to treat these violations as a major breach of the faith of Israel because of the established diplomatic relations. However, it was the rule of God’s uniqueness as a foundation for any sphere in the life of the chosen people that was violated. It included the political sphere which should not be excluded from the chosen people’s faith.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. p20
Author(s):  
Chinedu C. Odoemelam ◽  
Uche V. Ebeze ◽  
Okorom E. Morgan ◽  
Daniel N. Okwudiogor

This study is situated within the normative theoretical framework, which focuses on the press in nations where the press is expected to assume the coloration of the political milieu within which it finds itself. The British colonial masters discovered the power of the press in the early 16th century and devised numerous schemes to restrict publication. Such policies were extended to her majesty’s colonies; for instance, the law of sedition in Nigeria. Freedom of the press is a right but it is a right that has been won only through many hard-fought legal battles like the one fought by John Peter Zenger in the seditious trial of 1735. There were several such trials for sedition in the colonies, and despite the acquittal of John Peter Zenger, the British colonial government went ahead to adopt such laws in her colonial territories. This was exemplified in the seditious offence ordinance that was in force in 1909 in Southern Nigeria. This study adopts the historical, legal research and critical paradigm technique to examine how the law of sedition has fared in inhibiting press freedom in Nigeria since 1914. The study provides an understanding of how colonial influence may affect laws regulating how the media function in independent States.


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