Classics Commons^™

Impulse And Animal Action In Stoic Psychology, John A. Stevens

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Even in orthodox Chrysippan epistemology, the Stoics believed that impulse can precede assent. Their doctrines on the propatheiai form a theory of temptation, in which impressions exert a force upon us to assent, just as the Academic critics of the Stoics argued. Close readings of De Fato 40-43 and Stobaeus do not actually bear out the consensus understanding of modern critics like Inwood that impulse is identical with, and can only occur with assent. Stevens collects more evidence and sets out the argument with greater clarity in his published version "Preliminary Impulse in Stoic Psychology", Ancient Philosophy 20.1 (2000) 139-168.

On Using The Past In Sextus Empiricus: The Case Of Democritus, Emidio Spinelli

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

If we draw the conclusions from a quick reconstruction of the presence of Democritean doxai in Sextus, we could underline that he seems to use them with the precise (and often explicit) intention of reaching at least two purposes, both functional to the attitude he constantly shows vis-à-vis philosophic past. These purposes are — it seems to me — the following:

a. the first one, that of taking advantage of D.'s doctrines as an integrating part of the diaphoniai that he builds (or that he inherits from the Pyrrhonian tradition which preceded him), always presenting D. as a Dogmatist among …

Sagp Newsletter 1996-97.2 November, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Announcement of the SAGP Panels with the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association and with the American Philological Association for December 1996.

No Noose Is Good News: Leadership As A Theological Problem In The Corinthian Correspondence, David E. Fredrickson

Faculty Publications

The role of the leader implied by Paul’s Corinthian letters is to prepare persons for public participation in the gathered community. Paul portrays himself as the community’s slave, who thus makes others free for political participation.

Aristotle And Chrysippus On The Physiology Of Human Action, Priscilla Sakezles

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The early Stoics do not seem to have physiological theories about the workings of the human body. This is not surprising in light of Chrysippus' admission, reported by Galen, of his ignorance of anatomy. Yet a physiological theory explaining the mechanics of how the body moves in response to the soul's desires can be reconstructed from a handful of neglected fragments. Interestingly, the revealed theory is nearly identical to Aristotle's explanation in On the Motion of Animals of "how the soul moves the body in voluntary motion" (700bl0 and 703b3). In this paper I reconstruct the Stoic theory, and argue …

Aristotle On Civic Friendship, Robert Mayhew

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Aristotle offers us no sustained account of civic friendship (πολιτική φιλία), only remarks scattered throughout the Nicomachean Ethics and Eudemian Ethics. In this paper I hope to make clear what his views on civic friendship are.

Citizens will feel affection for one another due to the mutual benefit they receive from living together in a city. They agree about what is advantageous for the city: who should rule, how the city should be run, etc.; and to the extent that they care about the common good, they all have one aim. In addition, the affection a citizen feels for his …

Sagp Newsletter 1995-96.4 April, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Announcement of the SAGP panel with the Central Division of the American Philosophical Association in Chicago April 26, 1996.

The Emperor Julian (A.D. 331-363): His Life And His Neoplatonic Philosophy, Anthony W. Nattania

Institute for the Humanities Theses

The Neoplatonism of the Emperor Julian (A.D. 331-363) is critically compared to the Neoplatonism of Plotinus (A.D. 205-270). This is done by analyzing their concepts of First Principles, Fate and Destiny, Existence of the Divine Being, the Human Soul, Matter, Time and Eternity, the Contemplation of "The One," and "The One" itself. Julian's psychology is analyzed in light of his Neoplatonism, Mithrasism, and tragic life history. The historical aspects of the attempted pagan reformation during the reign of Julian (A.D. 360-363) is assessed for its historical effects on the Later Roman Empire and its successive generations, while the history of …

Sagp Newsletter 1995-96.3 March, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Announcement of the panel of SAGP with the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association in Seattle, April 4, 1996.

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 …

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).

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 …

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.

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 …

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.

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.

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.

What Bernard Lonergan Learned From Susanne K. Langer, Richard Liddy

Department of Religion Publications

No abstract provided.

What Does Aristotle's Prime Mover Do?, Sarah Waterlow Broadie

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The Prime Mover of Metaphysics Lambda is the source, above all, of eternal motion in the first sphere. It may seem silly to ask 'What (according to Lambda) does the Prime Mover do?' The answer is obvious: 'He — or it — gives rise to the motion of the first sphere'. But according to a widely accepted interpretation, this is not what the Prime Mover does first and foremost; instead, the Mover essentially contemplates. This contemplative conception is my target here. I shall adduce reasons for suspecting that the contemplative Prime Mover is not an Aristotelian postulate in Lambda, but …

The Parts Of Definitions, Unity, And Sameness In Aristotle's Metaphysics, Mark R. Wheeler

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

First principles (ἀρχάι) are crucial to Aristotle's conception of scientific knowledge (επιστήμη). In the Posterior Analytics, Aristotle teaches us that all scientific knowledge is either knowledge arrived at through demonstration from first principles or knowledge of the first principles themselves. The first principles of a given science are the primary premises (τὰ πρώτα) of that science (Pst. An., 72a7); they express the essential characteristics of the substance about which the given science is concerned; and all other scientific knowledge is derived from the first principles through syllogistic inference.

The first principles of the various sciences are expressed through definition (ὁρισμός). …

Being According To Aristotle's Metaphysics Delta, Richard Bodeus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

In ordinary language, what is said 'being' is so-called in several different ways. In his attempt to clarify this important point, Aristotle introduces distinctions that are not as easily grasped as one might at first believe. Commentators are particular troubled by what 'being per se' means, especially in relation to the 'categories'. Some of them are also surprised to see that Aristotle leaves no room for what one might call 'existential being.' And other aspects of Aristotle's account raise additional problems. I hope to contribute to a more successful understanding of Aristotle's general aim in this text.

Sex & Mysticism In Plato, John Thorp

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

It is a commonplace that Plato seems to entertain two rather different pictures of our access to knowledge of the forms. On the one hand there is anamnesis, remembering a knowledge that we had before our incarnation and that we have since forgotten – thus the Phaedo and the Meno. On the other, there is something that looks far more like abstractive generalization from sensible particulars – the Symposium is the best example, though there are elements of it also in the Republic and the Sophist. This paper argues that there is also a third epistemological model at work, …

Sagp Newsletter 1994-95.1 November, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Announcement of the SAGP panels with the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association December 28, 1994, and with the American Philological Association, December 30, 1994.

Sagp Ssips 1994 Addendum, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Addendum to the SAGP SSIPS Program October 1994

Utopian And Dystopian Theories On Property, Cheryl Cowles Poe

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The selected works of Plato, Thomas More, Francis Bacon, Aldous Huxley and George Orwell revealed intriguing political theories on property (liberty) from a utopian and dystopian point of view. The theorists formed new social orders by abolishing various kinds of property. For the most part, their arguments for destroying property were defended by presenting a cure for an existing problem and then sustained through education, psychological conditioning, social and genetic engineering and so on. Common themes and differences were found between the utopian and dystopian theories and among the individual societies as well.

Hippocratic Pharmacology: Investigations Into The Theoretical Assumptions And Function Of Drug Therapy In The Corpus Hippocraticum, Edward G. Soltesz '94

Fenwick Scholar Program

The topic of this thesis is Hippocratic Pharmacology. While I intended to examine drugs and their efficacy in therapeutics, I soon realized the gravity of this undertaking: John Riddle and John Scarborough have been working on this for decades; my year's work would accomplish little. Instead, I found that work needed to be done in investigating the theoretical assumptions which the Corpus authors held about drug use: how did they believe these medicines worked? What were their underlying concepts? The methodological difficulty in answering these questions is evident at once. I decided to pursue this topic in two ways: first, …

Intentionality And Isomorphism In Aristotle, Christopher Shields

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

In this paper I investigate one central source of Aristotle's dissatisfaction with a comprehensive analogy between aisthêsis and noêsis. I will argue that his conception of nous as organless is neither empirically motivated nor obviously misguided. On the contrary, Aristotle's insistence that nous is separate and unmixed with the body is grounded in an approach to intentionality nascent in his treatment of noêsis. This approach to intentionality helps motivate the special status he awards nous.