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Even Friends Cannot Have All Things In Common: Aristotle's Critique Of Plato's Republic, Christos C. Evangeliou

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Aristotle considered as the core of Plato's ideal polity the proposal of communism in its double form, community of women and children and community of property for the guardians who, thus, would be able to provide the means to achieving the perfect unification of the state. Aristotle objected to these innovations and came out as a defender of common sense and common Greek political practice. His arguments were intended to show not only the impracticability of Plato's proposals and their incompatibility with common Greek practices but also their undesirability. He believed that, human nature being what it is, a political …

Plato's Theologia Revisited, Gerard Naddaf

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The word theologia is attested for the first time in Plato’s Republic II, 379a4: Hoi tupoi peri theologias. According to Werner Jaeger (The Theology of the Early Greek Philosophers, Oxford 1947, 4-­‐13), Plato coined the word to support the introduction of a new doctrine which resulted from a conflict between the mythical and the natural (rational) approach to the problem of God. For Jaeger, the word theologia designates what Aristotle was later to call theologikê or “first philosophy (hê protê philosophia) – whence his translation of hoi tupoi peri theologias by “outlines of theology.” Victor Goldschmidt, for his part, in …

Material Alteration And Cognitive Activity In Aristotle's De Anima, John Sisko

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

In this paper, I would like to sketch my account of the relation between cognitive activity and material alteration within Aristotle's psychological theory. I will begin by suggesting a new framework through which to view the important issues (§2). I will then show that on Aristotle's account material alteration is required both for any episode of perception in animals taken generally (§3) and for any episode of thought in human beings (§4). Finally, I will examine Aristotle's rationale for supposing that material alteration is required for human thought (§5).

Sagp Newsletter 1995-96.2 November, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Announcement of the panels of SAGP with the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association December 28 in New York and with the American Philological Association December 28 in San Diego.

Review Of "The Romantic Virtuoso" By M. Peckham And "Into The Light Of Things: The Art Of The Commonplace From Wordsworth To John Cage" By G. Leonard, Richard Thomas Eldridge

Philosophy Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Book Review Of, Schopenhauer, R. Kevin Hill

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reviews the book "Schopenhauer" by Christopher Janaway

Book Review Of, Nietzsche's Philosophy Of Science: Reflecting Science On The Ground Of Art And Life, R. Kevin Hill

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reviews the book "Nietzsche's Philosophy of Science: Reflecting Science on the Ground of Art and Life" by Babette Babich

Race, Family, And Obligation, Rodney C. Roberts

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day Lecture Presented to the WMU Center for the Study of Ethics in Society, January 16, 1995.

Information And Reality At The Turn Of The Century, Albert Borgmann

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Characterizing The Population In Clinical Trials: Barriers, Comparability, And Implications For Review, Charles Weijer

Philosophy Publications

The definition of the study population for a clinical trial via the criteria for trial eligibility has implications for the validity of the study and its applicability to clinical practice. Though issues of equity regarding the selection of subjects for research have long been a concern of ethicists, issues regarding the impact of subject selection on a trial's generalizability have only recently attracted ethical scrutiny. After a review of the history of the ethics of subject selection, I focus on three empirical questions regarding the generalizability of clinical trials. (1) What proportion of diseased populations are studied in clinical trials? …

Reconstructing Rawls And Exposing The Implicit Social Embeddedness Of Theories Of Justice, Peter J. Taylor

Working Papers in Critical, Creative and Reflective Practice

This essay prods moral philosophy towards more explicit attention to the political constructions of injustice. I do not appeal to practical or political relevance, but advance a particular kind of constructivist interpretation of moral argumentation (constructivism+) in which our interpretive horizons are extended to include the implicit views of social action, broadly construed—from the macro- to the micro-social, and from the past to the present and the possible—built into philosophical arguments. I challenge the idea that, in order to oppose injustice, we must first articulate and justify a coherent conception of justice and then theorize the social, constitutional, …

Workshop Draft For Reading The Mind Of The Private Law - 1995, Wendy J. Gordon

Scholarship Chronologically

Eventually, I hope to produce an article or book called "Reading the Mind of the Private Law." In this project I hope to do three connected things: to simplify the underlying patterns of the common law and associated statutes to make them more comprehensible to newcomers; to provide a more accurately descriptive and more normatively attractive' story' than Posner's notion of value-maximization; and to make sophisticated lawyers' understanding of legal patterns more complete by including an explicit focus on benefits. (Traditional jurisprudence focuses more on harms than on benefits; even the practitioners of economic analysis, which technically speaking should be …

On The Legality And Morality Of Physician-Assisted Suicide, David J. Baggett

SOR Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Dialectic And Definition In Aristotle's Topics, May Sim

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The middle term between dialectic and being is definition. Definitions are formulae of essences or substances. Thus, one’s view of substance will depend on one’s view of definition: what a definition is, and how it is acquired. Further, insofar as definitions are arrived at through dialectic, definitions depend on dialectic. That is, the specific procedure of dialectic shapes the mode of definition, and the mode of definition shapes the notion of being. Not only does dialectic shape being through definition, but being and knowledge of it also determines dialectic. In short, these three things go together: dialectic, definition and being. …

Aristotle's Child: Formation Through Genes, Oikos, Polis, Daryl Mcgowan Tress

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The discussion of children in Pol VII and the linking of nature, habit and reason supports our thesis that Aristotle has a composite conception of the child and that it can be reconstituted by way of a linked examination of his analyses in the biology, ethics and politics.The child has his or her beginnings prior to birth and grows from unfinished to finished adulthood through linked phases. Each phase of development has its own telos - the complete human animal nature at birth, the complete ethical character later on, and the cultured, educationally complete person ready for adult life in …

Review Of Nietzsche On Knowledge And Wisdom By Keith May, Michael Vater

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Imago Dei And The Appreciation Of Beauty, Michael S. Jones

SOR Faculty Publications and Presentations

"Man does not live by bread alone ... " Human life embraces more than just 'living' (material survival); the human soul thrives on many ambiguous metaphysical elements. One of these elements is beauty. The question motivating this article is the ubiquitous 'why'; why do people find beauty in various elements of their environment? Put another way, what is it that enables one to appreciate beauty? The thesis of this article is that a person's ability to appreciate beauty is a result of being created in the image of God.

Nietzsche's Laughter, Plato's Beard, Michael Monahan

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

A Participatory Approach To The Teaching Of Critical Reasoning, Rory J. Conces

Philosophy Faculty Publications

For those of us who teach critical reasoning, our task of presenting its tools in an interesting way has been facilitated by a number of relatively easy to understand textbooks that include "fragments" of political, social, and economic issues of our day (albeit sometimes contrived and artificial as well as a chapter or two on the analysis of extended arguments, such as those found in essays, editorials, and letters to newspaper and magazine editors. Generally speaking, authors of these texts have made a concerted effort to arouse students' interest in learning critical thinking skills by inserting issues and reasoning situations …

Aristotle On The Αρχή Of Practical Reasoning: Countering The Influence Of Sub-Humeanism, Lynn Holt

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

My central aim is to show that Aristotle convincingly avoids what has been the linchpin of the dominant contemporary view of the starting point of practical reasoning: that practical reasoning must begin, both normatively and motivationally, with some desire or want (call this sub-Humeanism). My task is made more difficult by the presence of a now common interpretation of Aristotle himself in which desire is both normatively and motivationally super-ordinate. On this view, Aristotle cannot be a genuine alternative to the contemporary view, since he just is a contemporary: Aristotle is the first sub-Humean about practical reasoning.

In order to …

An Aristotelian Definition Of Friendship, Paul Schollmeier

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

My paper explicates the Aristotelian definition of friendship, and it demonstrates that friendship for Aristotle can be either altruistic or egoistic. Aristotelian friendship includes three species, one of which is altruistic and two of which are egoistic. Good friendship is essentially friendship, and it is for the sake of another. Useful and pleasant friendships are accidentally friendships, and they are for the sake of oneself.

Society For Ancient Greek Philosophy Bylaws, Sagp

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Memorials 1995, James A. Borland

SOR Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Two Papers On Environmentalism Ii: Resources And Environmental Policy, Jan Narveson

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Presented to the WMU Center for the Study of Ethlcs in Society - November 21, 1994.

Niccolò Machiavelli—Adviser Of Princes, Philip J. Kain

Philosophy

In Plato's Republic, Socrates argued that true artisans work not in their own interest but for the good of that upon which they practice their art. So the true ruler is one who works for the good of the city or the citizens, not the ruler's own self-interest.² Many would hold, with Leo Strauss, that Machiavelli contends the very opposite - that for him the true prince ruthlessly seeks self-interest and personal power.³ I think this is too simple a reading of Machiavelli.

I do not want to argue that Machiavelli is not a Machiavellian - that he …

Sagp Newsletter 1994-95.3 March, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Announcement of the SAGP panel with the Central Division of the American Philosophical Association for April 28, 1995, in Chicago.

Two Papers On Environmentalism - I: Environmental Ethics And Value In The World, John Post

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Presented to the WMU Center for the Study of Ethics in Society - November 14, 1994.

Sagp Newsletter 1994-95.2 February, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Announcement of the meeting of SAGP with the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association March 31, 1995, in San Francisco.

Kant, The Duty To Promote International Peace, And Political Intervention, Harry Van Der Linden

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Kant argues that it is the duty of humanity to strive for an enduring peace between the nations. For Kant, political progress within each nation is essential to realizing lasting peace, and so one would expect him to view political intervention- defined as coercive interference by one nation, or some of its citizens, with the affairs of another nation in order to bring about political improvements in that nation-as justified in some cases.! Kant, however, explicitly rejects all intervention by force, and some aspects of his work support an unqualified prohibition of political intervention. In this paper I will examine …

Why Should Educators Care About Argumentation?, Harvey Siegel

Philosophy Articles and Papers

Educators who are reflective about their educational endeavours ask themselves questions like: What is the aim of education? What moral, methodological, or other constraints govern our educational activities and efforts? One natural place to look for answers is in the philosophy of education, which (among other things) tries to provide systematic answers to these questions. One general answer offered by the philosophy of education is that the aim of education consists in fostering the development of students' rationality. On this view, education has as its fundamental task both the development of students' reasoning ability, and also the fostering of a …