Aristotle's Use of Medicine as Model of Method in his Ethics

1957 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Werner Jaeger

Philosophy, in general, moves in a sphere of abstraction, and its statements claim to be necessary and of universal validity. The reader therefore expects them to appeal directly to his reason, and he does not normally reflect much on the time and historical conditions that determined what the philosopher took for granted. It is only in this age of historical consciousness that we have come to appreciate these factors more readily, and the great thinkers of the past appear to us more or less closely related to the culture of their age. The writings of Plato and Aristotle in particular are for us an inexhaustible source of information about Greek society and civilisation. This is true also in regard to the relation of Greek philosophy to the science of its time, and this is of special importance for our understanding. That relation can be traced throughout Aristotle's logical, physical, and metaphysical works; but the influence of other sciences and arts is no less evident in his ethics. In this paper I propose to examine the numerous references to medicine that occur in the Nicomachean Ethics. They are mostly concerned with the question of the best method of treating this subject. The problem of the right method is always of the utmost importance for Aristotle. The discussion of it begins on the first page of the Ethics, where he tries to give a definition of the subject of this course of lectures and attributes it to a philosophical discipline that he calls ‘politics’. He does so in agreement with the Platonic tradition. We can trace it back to one of the dialogues of Plato's first period, the Gorgias, in which the Platonic Socrates for the first time pronounces his postulate of a new kind of philosophy, the object of which ought to be the care of the human soul (φυχῆς θεραπεία). He assigns this supreme task to ‘political art’, even though it does not fulfil this function at present.

2016 ◽  
pp. 52-65
Author(s):  
Patryk Kołodyński ◽  
Paulina Drab

Over the past several years, transplantology has become one of the fastest developing areas of medicine. The reason is, first and foremost, a significant improvement of the results of successful transplants. However, much controversy arouse among the public, on both medical and ethical grounds. The article presents the most important concepts and regulations relating to the collection and transplantation of organs and tissues in the context of the European Convention on Bioethics. It analyses the convention and its additional protocol. The article provides the definition of transplantation and distinguishes its types, taking into account the medical criteria for organ transplants. Moreover, authors explained the issue of organ donation ex vivo and ex mortuo. The European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine clearly regulates the legal aspects concerning the transplantation and related basic concepts, and therefore provides a reliable source of information about organ transplantation and tissue. This act is a part of the international legal order, which includes the established codification of bioethical standards.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Léon E Dijkman

Abstract Germany is one of few jurisdictions with a bifurcated patent system, under which infringement and validity of a patent are established in separate proceedings. Because validity proceedings normally take longer to conclude, it can occur that remedies for infringement are imposed before a decision on the patent’s validity is available. This phenomenon is colloquially known as the ‘injunction gap’ and has been the subject of increasing criticism over the past years. In this article, I examine the injunction gap from the perspective of the right to a fair trial enshrined in Art. 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. I find that the case law of the European Court of Human Rights interpreting this provision supports criticism of the injunction gap, because imposing infringement remedies with potentially far-reaching consequences before the validity of a patent has been established by a court of law arguably violates defendants’ right to be heard. Such reliance on the patent office’s grant decision is no longer warranted in the light of contemporary invalidation rates. I conclude that the proliferation of the injunction gap should be curbed by an approach to a stay of proceedings which is in line with the test for stays as formulated by Germany’s Federal Supreme Court. Under this test, courts should stay infringement proceedings until the Federal Patent Court or the EPO’s Board of Appeal have ruled on the validity of a patent whenever it is more likely than not that it will be invalidated.


Belleten ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 76 (276) ◽  
pp. 385-402
Author(s):  
Murat Kılıç

The origins of the imperial cult in Smyrna date back to the Hellenistic period. It is a fact that political concerns were effective in the generation of such cults. Predicting the super power of the future and proving to be a loyal ally whilst acting in satisfactory behaviors were essential factors. The right preference made between two fighting or contending powers ensured that a city would benefit from various privileges in the future. For example, Symrna, which had established a cult in the city previously on behalf of Stratonice, the mother of Antiochus II of Seleucid dynasty, would do the same by building a temple in the name of the dty of Rome for the first time in Asia in 195 BC, after recognizing the rising power. Later on, while giving permission to the provinces that wanted to establish an imperial cult, the Roman emperors and the Senate would consider first, their relationships with Rome in the past and second, their origins. Smyrna, building its relationships with the Roman state on a solid basis, was granted the title of neokoros three times by the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Hadrianus and Caracalla, respectively. In this essay, the development of the Roman imperial cult in Smyrna is discussed within the historical process outlined above. An attempt has been made to put forth new opinions about the issue by discussing the academicians' evaluations on the imperial cult, which apparently was effectively executed in Smyrna between the first and third centuries AD, with the support of epigraphic and numismatic evidences.


1937 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-181
Author(s):  
E. C. S. Wade

Apart from the passage through Parliament at the end of last year of the Public Order Act, the Courts have in the past few years interpreted police powers on several occasions in the direction of restricting liberty. No excuse is therefore required for examining once again in this Journal a topic, one aspect of which was discussed in the last number. The case of Elias v. Pasmore [1934] 2 K. B. 164 raised important questions as to the right of the police to search premises in the course of making an arrest on a warrant. That case recognized for the first time the validity on such an occasion of a search, which resulted in the discovery of documents (not being documents in the possession of the person named in the warrant) containing evidence of an offence committed by any person, even though the search and seizure were illegal as regards other documents discovered on that occasion. This protection for police action only extends to the actual documents which are evidence of the commission of a crime; but it matters not that the crime is one alleged to have been committed by some one other than the person in the course of arresting whom the search is being made.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-140
Author(s):  
Constantin Vadimovich Troianowski

This article investigates the process of designing of the new social estate in imperial Russia - odnodvortsy of the western provinces. This social category was designed specifically for those petty szlachta who did not possess documents to prove their noble ancestry and status. The author analyses deliberations on the subject that took place in the Committee for the Western Provinces. The author focuses on the argument between senior imperial officials and the Grodno governor Mikhail Muraviev on the issue of registering petty szlachta in fiscal rolls. Muraviev argued against setting up a special fiscal-administrative category for petty szlachta suggesting that its members should join the already existing unprivileged categories of peasants and burgers. Because this proposal ran against the established fiscal practices, the Committee opted for creating a distinct social estate for petty szlachta. The existing social estate paradigm in Russia pre-assigned the location of the new soslovie in the imperial social hierarchy. Western odnodvortsy were to be included into a broad legal status category of the free inhabitants. Despite similarity of the name, the new estate was not modeled on the odnodvortsy of the Russian provinces because they retained from the past certain privileges (e.g. the right to possess serfs) that did not correspond to the 19th century attributes of unprivileged social estates.


2019 ◽  
pp. 313-325
Author(s):  
Borislav Grozdic ◽  
Valerija Dabetic

In the aggressive dominance of critical rational thinking over the mythical worldview, myth as a historical and effective force does not lose its actuality and importance, because myths often hide deeper messages than what history can offer. In such a social context, the significance of the spiritual message of the Kosovo myth - the commitment to the Heavenly Kingdom, as a lasting common value of the Serbian people, returns as a theme. In spite of its omnipresence, the opinion prevails that the myth belongs to the past, and if it is not yet obsolete, it certainly should be. The authors advocate the idea that myth, as a comprehensive experience of the world, and therefore the Kosovo myth as well, is a factor of national integration, a part of collective identity, and a common value system. Analysing the secular and spiritual understanding of the Kosovo myth, the authors point out the importance of the vivid memory of the prince Lazar?s commitment to the Heavenly Kingdom. For Christians, this represents the value and goal above all others and it forms the core of the Serbian historical consciousness and spiritual community. The paper shows that the spiritual message of the Kosovo myth is not understood or it is misunderstood nowadays, since the commitment to Kosovo is perceived as a call and an obligation to die for it. The authors conclude that the Kosovo myth is not a call to die in the war, on the contrary, it is a struggle for external and internal freedom, as well as for the highest values that are implied by the definition of the Heavenly Kingdom ? peace, love, honour, justice, dignity, and others.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-89
Author(s):  
Abay Satubaldin ◽  
Kunikey Sakhiyeva

This article discusses the museum system of modern Kazakhstan and offers, for the first time ever, a classification and typology of the country’s museums.In recent years in independent Kazakhstan, on the basis of the Soviet system, a modern museum network has been formed which currently lists 250 museums. Among them are 17 national-level museums, 54 at the regional level, 73 at the provincial level, 103 branches of regional- and district-level museums and four private museums.The purpose of this article is to analyse the museum system of modern Kazakhstan and develop a classification and typology of the country’s museums.In the course of the study, conducted in 2017–2018, data was collected on the activities of museums at the national, regional and district levels over the past seven years. From the results of this investigation, the museums of Kazakhstan were systematized according to the subject or topic of the museum (e.g. history, art, scientific), its affiliation (national, regional district), and by size, measured by number of employees.


Legal Studies ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 469-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aoife O'Donoghue

In the pantheon of approaches open to participants in the pacific settlement of disputes, good offices holds a noteworthy place. The evolution of good offices over the past century is concurrent with a trend of considerable transformation within international law, including – amongst other changes – a move away from a state-led legal order, including in good offices following the emergence of the heads of international organisations as its prime users, and a process of legalisation and specialisation within the subject that has entirely altered its character. These changes have led to a redefinition of good offices that stresses the actor carrying out the role above the form that it takes. To accompany these changes in practice, there is a need for a transformation in the legal analysis and definition of good offices. One potential option in achieving this end is Bell'slex pacificatoria. If good offices is to continue to play a significant role in the settlement of violent conflicts, a fully developed legal analysis is necessary to grasp both its historical development and its potential future role.


Glasnik prava ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-51
Author(s):  
Edina Kočan

The author presents a comparative legal analysis of the segments of construction law in Croatian and Slovenian law, with the aim of pointing out the differences that exist between them. Considering that this is a relatively new legal institute, which was somewhat earlier standardized in Slovenian law in relation to Croatian law, in the introductory exposition, a brief review was made of the occurrence of the construction law and the reasons for earlier non-regulation. The second part of the paper is dedicated to the stipulations of Act on ownership and Property Code of the Republic of Slovenia. This part refers to the conceptual definition of the construction law, in order to classify it in a certain broader unit, to which it belongs - genus proximum - searching for the closest relative, emphasizing the important characteristics that make it specific in relation to other property rights. In the third part of the paper, the author analyses the stipulations related to the subject of building rights, with reference to the dilemmas that exist in that sense, both in Croatian and Slovenian jurisprudence, as well as in the legal science of some other countries. The fourth part of the paper is dedicated to the stipulations that regulate the acquisition and duration of construction rights. Considering that derivative acquisition, among other things, characterizes the existence of bases and ways of acquisition, first possible bases of acquisition are presented, and then entry in appropriate public books as a way of acquiring this right and its duration. The concluding part of the paper summarizes the results of the analysis and evaluates the considered legal solutions, with the presentation of reasoned objections to the existing regulations, all with the aim of eventual amendment of the right to build in the legal systems in question.


1977 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 74-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Sedley

During the last four decades historians of ancient logic have become increasingly aware of the importance of Diodorus Cronus and his pupil Philo as pioneers of the propositional logic which came to flourish in the Stoa. Their direct influence has so far been recognised in two main areas of Hellenistic controversy – the validity-criteria for conditional propositions, and the definition of the modal terms ‘possible’ and ‘necessary’. But some broader questions have not been satisfactorily answered. What were Diodorus' own philosophical allegiances and antecedents? What is his place in the history of Greek philosophy? How far-reaching was his influence on the post-Aristotelian philosophers?There was little chance of tackling these questions confidently until 1972, when Klaus Döring published for the first time the collected fragments of Diodorus, in his important volume Die Megariker. Meagre though they are, these fragments confirm my suspicion that Diodorus' philosophical background has not been fully explored, and also that his influence on the three emerging Hellenistic schools – the Stoics, Epicureans, and Sceptics – was far wider than has hitherto been recognised. There has been much discussion as to which earlier philosophers played the most decisive part in shaping Hellenistic philosophy, and the respective claims of the Platonists and of Aristotle have never lacked expert advocacy. In all this, the claims of so obscure a figure as Diodorus have been underrated.


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