IN SEARCH OF LITERARY SOURCES OF DIALOGUE «DE CONSOLATIONE PHILOSOPHIAE» BY SEVERIN BOETHIUS

The paper examines the literature basic of Severin Boethius work «The Consolation of Philosophy». The author starts with the historical context of the appearance of the text and then goes to consider its variety of literary genres and forms. Main of them are satura Menippea, consolation, protreptic, soliloquy and dialogue. Textual and conceptual analyses have relieved the connection between Boethius’s «The Consolation» and the works of other famous authors of Antiquity among them there are Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Cicero, and St. Augustine. As a connoisseur of Antiquity, Boethius uses literature to explain his philosophical ideas. In addition, the author of the article suggests an analytical review of the image of the Lade Philosophy in «Consolation». The genealogy of this literary character refers to the Greek mythology, Plato’s «Symposium» and «Crito» dialogues, Martianus Capella’s work «On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury» and Augustine’s the literary image of St. Monika. The article reconstructs an epistemological methodology of Boethius’s Neoplatonic dialogue that consists of five stages and describes a therapeutic role of philosophy in the traditions of Plato and Stoics. The essence of this role is a mind therapy. Philosophy teaches us to see the world as a whole, to describe it in clear notions and judgments. According to the text of «Consolation», Boethius takes us to make an intellectual Neoplatonic climbing from practical (ethic) to theoretical (metaphysic) philosophy – from vita activa to vita speculativa. The main aim or the top of this Neoplatonic meditation is a contemplative life or reminding own Ego. The great ideas of this work have the significant influence on Medieval and Renaissance philosophy and literature.

LITERARY TEMPTATIONS OF PHILOSOPHY

The article examines the features of literature that are attractive for philosophy. Literary temptations are diverse: from special literary means of expression to a literary style of thinking, from posing common human problems to special ways of representing the world, from studying literary phenomena to following them. The differences between philosophy and literature took shape in antiquity. Philosophy posed a question and gave a reasoned answer, while literature described an interesting adventure. Further evolution has accumulated many differences in means, and in goals, and in perception. But from time to time philosophy and literature interacted. Philosophy sometimes analyzed literature like Heidegger, occasionally used a literary style like Nietzsche. But literature has repeatedly posed philosophical problems like Dostoevsky. Of particular attractiveness are: 1. the comprehensibility and accessibility of the literary language, 2. the emotional impact of literature as the creation of a special experience of the read, 3. a narrative way of representing the world. The desire for clarity has led to the emergence of encyclopedias, various propaedeutics, simplified courses in philosophy and other new forms of organization and presentation of knowledge. The example of children’s literature led to the emergence of philosophy for children. A personal emotional attitude to the text can be a sufficient basis for the scientific work of a humanist. A philosopher always needs rational foundations, but the subject of research could also be asked by literary emotions. Narrative has proved to be an impressive temptation for philosophy. For a long time, it was studied only within the framework of literary theory. From there he came to philosophy. Under the influence of philosophy, the narrative turned into a paradigm for the methodology of humanitarian knowledge. Literary temptations of philosophy gave positive results: discussions were stimulated, interesting concepts were put forward, if philosophy remained philosophy.

Fálétí’s Philosophical Sensibility

Let us begin with an unfortunate fact: Adébáyọ̀ Fálétí is one major writer that is hardly anthologized. The problem could not have been that he wrote in Yorùbá because Fágúnwà is far more anthologized than he is. Simon Gikandi’s edited Encyclopedia of African Literature (2003) has an entry and other multiple references to Fágúnwà. There is only one reference to Fálétí which is found in the index without any accompanying instance in the work. In Irele and Gikandi’s edited volumes, The Cambridge History of African and Caribbean Literature (2004), Fálétí only managed an appearance in the bibliography that featured four of his works—Wọn Rò Pé Wèrè Ni ́ (1965), Ọmọ Olókùn Ẹṣin (1969), Baṣòrun Gáà (1972) and Ìdààmú Páàdì Mínkáílù (1974). In the preface, Irele and Gikandi write: The scholarly interest in African orality also drew attention to the considerable body of literature in the African languages that had come into existence as a consequence of the reduction of these languages to writing, one of the enduring effects of Christian evangelization. The ancient tradition of Ethiopian literature in Ge’ez, and modern works like Thomas Mofolo’s Shaka in the Sotho language, and the series of Yorùbá novels by D. O. Fágúnwà, were thus able finally to receive the consideration they deserved. African-language literatures came to be regarded as a distinct province of the general landscape of imaginative life and literary activity on the African continent (2004, xiii). Essays 60 Adeshina Afolayan In fact, the publication of Fágúnwà’s Ògbójù Ọdẹ Nínú Igbó Ìrúnmalẹ (The ̀ Intrepid Hunter in the Forest of Spirits, 1938) made the chronology of literary events in Africa, and it misses out Fálétí’s 1965 work. In her “Literature in Yorùbá: poetry and prose; traveling theater and modern drama,” in the same volume, Karin Barber seems to redress this imbalance when she gives a place to Fálétí in her discussion of post-Fágúnwà writers. According to her, In the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s there was an explosion of literary creativity, with many new authors emerging and pioneering new styles and themes. Among the most prominent were Adébáyọ Fálétí whose ̀ Ọmọ Olókùn Ẹṣin (1969) is a historical novel dealing with a revolt against the overlordship of Ọyọ, and Ọládèjọ Òkédìjí, author of two brilliantly innovative crime thrillers (Àjà ló lẹrù, 1969, and Àgbàlagbà Akàn, 1971), as well as a more somber tragic novel of the destruction of a young boy who is relentlessly drawn into a life of crime in the underworld of Ifẹ (Atótó Arére, 1981). Notable also are Akínwùnmí Ìsòlá, whose university campus novel Ó le kú (1974) broke new ground in social setting and ambience; Afọlábí Ọlábímtán, author of several novels, including Kékeré Ẹkùn (1967), which deals with the conflicts arising from early Christian conversion in a small village, and Baba Rere! (1978), a contemporary satire on a corrupt big man; and Kólá Akínlàdé, prolific author of well-crafted detective stories such as Ta ló pa Ọmọ Ọba? (Who Killed the Prince’s Child?). These authors were all verbal stylists of a high order; they transformed the literary language, moving away from Fágúnwà’s rolling cadences to a more demotic, supple prose that successfully caught the accents of everyday life (2004, 368). While it may be misplaced to draw a comparison between Fágúnwà and Fálétí, there is a sense in which Fálétí’s demonstrates a more robust literary sensibility that goes beyond the allegorical into a realistic assessment of human relationship and sociality within the context of the Yorùbá cultural template. While Fágúnwà could not resist the influence of Christianity, and especially the allegorical motif of the journey in which humans encounter spiritual challenges (which John Bunyan’s Pilgrim Progress made popular), Fálétí is fundamentally a cultural connoisseur; a writer with a most intimate and dynamic understanding of the Yorùbá condition, especially in its conjunction with the political and sociocultural contexts of contemporary Nigeria. And we have Ọlátúndé Ọlátúnjí to thank for the deep exploration and interrogation of the fundamental poetic and literary nuances that Fálétí has left for us. In this essay, I will attempt to unearth the philosophical sensibility that undergirds Fálétí’s literary prowess, especially as demonstrated by his poems. Fálétí’s Philosophical Sensibility 61 Both the poets and the philosophers have always had one thing in common— the exploration of the possibilities that ideas and visions yield: As theoretical disciplines concerned with raising social consciousness, philosophy and literature engage in similar speculation about the good society and what is good for humanity. They influence thoughts about political currents and conditions. They can, for instance, lead the reader to critical reflections on the type of leaders suitable for a given society and on the degree of civic consciousness exercised by the people in protecting their rights. Philosophy and literature, equally, offer critical evaluation of existing and possible forms of political arrangements, beliefs and practices. In addition, they provide insights into political concepts and justification for normative judgements about politics and society. They also create awareness of possibilities for change (Okolo 2007, 1). Compared to Ọlátúnjí’s exploratory unraveling of Fálétí’s poetry, my objective is to enlist Fálétí as a poet that has not been given his due as one who is sensitive to the requirements of political philosophy and its objective of ensuring the imagination of a society that is properly ordered according to the imperatives of justice.

Creativity of Otezhan Nurgaliev and Reflections of Martin Heidegger About the Word

The article analyzes the work of the outstanding Kazakh poet Otezhan Nurgaliev and the ideas of the German philosopher Martin Heidegger about the power of words and the essence of poetry in his work “On Poets and Poetry. Hölderlin. Rilke. Trakl ” on the basis of theoretical and methodological research in domestic science and world philosophy, it is also assessed whether the prerequisite for the emergence of language and the basis of the beginning of being is poetic. In the poet’s poems and reflections, the subtext of symbols and poetic images related to the spiritual being and social reality of society are traced, their significance in understanding the realities of modern society and modernity are determined. In the collection of poems «School of Athens» Otezhan Nurgaliev opened to Kazakh readers the wisdom of world philosophy and the ancient era from a new side in the language of poetry, which is close to its national reality. This approach was mastered by the poet through world philosophy and literature, as well as oriental culture, national spirituality, turkic traditions, and folk wisdom published at that time.

“Possible Worlds” and the Meanings of F. Dostoevsky's Providence in the Messianic Receptions of the ХХth Century

The article analyzes the specifics of the receptive impact of the artistic Messianic concept of F. Dostoevsky, which influences providential contexts in the cultural philosophy of the ХХth century. The possibility to identify the features of the artistic embodiment of the Russian Messianic problems in cultural philosophy and literature of the ХХth century determines the relevance of this study. The analysis of the strategy of modeling possible worlds in Dostoevskys work, which referentially determines the development of Russian utopian / dystopian providence, determines the novelty of the study. The concepts of the Christological axiosphere, which reflects Dostoevsky's Messianic concept, determine the most important coordinates of the providential receptive trends of the ХХth century. They are objects of analysis in the article. It is proved that the semiotics of messianic motifs in Russian literature of the XXth century is connected, first of all, with the Abrahamic religious context, which is built into the most complex providential concept of the anthropological Christology of F. Dostoevsky. According to the principles of fractal logic, the writer generates the Abrahamic canon in the key messianic world-modeling metametaphors. Dostoevsky's messianic pretext is referentially manifested in Russian literature of the twentieth century - in the work of Russian Symbolists, who understand the Messiah as a divine-existential personality, in the works of writers of the late XXth century, who interprete the messiah as a collective personality - a substitutionary sacrifice. In our opinion, the chiliastic aspiration of messianic Christology and anthropology is also connected with the influence of Dostoevsky. However, we should talk about the dissipative variability of messianic concepts due to the contextual reference of messianic ideas of eastern origin, in particular, the Zoroastrian, Sufi and Islamic contexts are found. The artistic idea of messianism in Russian literature of the XXth century can also be considered as a semiotic sign system that reveals historiosophical and socio-political meanings, modeling the tendencies of anthropologization and ontologization of the literary process.

Kohelet – Hebrew or Hellenist?: A Survey of the Debate

This essay provides a comprehensive survey of two centuries of scholarly debate regarding the extent to which Kohelet, the author of the book of Ecclesiastes, was influenced by currents of Greek philosophy and literature. This essay first considers Kohelet’s possible Hebraic, Babylonian, and Egyptian sources of influence, before moving on to address its main topic. It surveys the broad spectrum of scholarly debate on this issue, and explores the strength and plausibility of each position on this spectrum. Finally, it concludes that while no certain conclusions can be reached, the evidence seems to reject the more extreme ends of this spectrum of opinion, while at the same time underscoring the uniqueness and irreducability of Kohelet’s worldview.