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Full-Text Articles in Ancient Philosophy

Humanity And Nature: From Vergil To Modernity, Aaron Ticknor Apr 2022

Humanity And Nature: From Vergil To Modernity, Aaron Ticknor

Honors Bachelor of Arts

Though ecology is a relatively new field of study, the human relationship to nature has shifted and changed throughout history. In antiquity, it has been understood by scholarly consensus that there was a more general understanding of nature as a living force with spirit, for example the Roman animist concept of numen, and humanity being one with nature. In modernity, however, under the influence of Rene Descartes and Francis Bacon, nature is seen as completely separate from humanity and devoid of any value beyond the economic value of resources. Later philosophers such as Nietzsche lamented this shift, advocating for …


From City State To Medina: The Timeless Wisdom Of Aristotle’S Polis, Spencer Koehl Apr 2022

From City State To Medina: The Timeless Wisdom Of Aristotle’S Polis, Spencer Koehl

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Many philosophers and thinkers have considered the idea of community and what makes it strong, beneficial, and enduring. The Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle is no exception. Aristotle wrote thoroughly on the nature of the ideal community, which he observed in Greek city-states. Called a “polis”, this ideal community, according to Aristotle, is one that provides for its residents to live a good life above all else. In doing so, it usually is small enough that all its residents share a similar lived experience while being big enough to be self-sufficient. While Aristotle wrote on this subject over 2000 years ago, …


Returning To Reality: Christian Platonism For Our Times, Paul Tyson, Derek A. Michaud Jul 2017

Returning To Reality: Christian Platonism For Our Times, Paul Tyson, Derek A. Michaud

Philosophy Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Combat Trauma And Tragic Catharsis: An Aristotelian Account Of Tragedy And Trauma, Edward J. Hoffmann Jan 2016

Combat Trauma And Tragic Catharsis: An Aristotelian Account Of Tragedy And Trauma, Edward J. Hoffmann

Honors Bachelor of Arts

This essay argues that the Greeks experienced and understood combat trauma, and that they used tragedy and the catharsis that it effected as a means of restoring the order of souls traumatized in war. Our examination of the horrors of hoplite warfare should leave us with no question that ancient warfare was no more clean, decent, or glorious than modern war. To treat the trauma induced those horrors, the Greeks did indeed practice certain societal mechanisms, which our own society seems to so sadly lack. One of these was Attic tragedy. Certain of the tragedies explicitly speak to military experience, …


Shame And Sense, Samuel P. Carter Mar 2012

Shame And Sense, Samuel P. Carter

Honors Bachelor of Arts

In this paper I discuss shame and its connection to sense, the self, and public interaction. I take aim, in particular, at the account of shame put forth by David Velleman in his essay, “The Genesis of Shame.” His account is not only conceptually problematic, but it threatens to eclipse the bones and blood of humanity with the anesthesia of ahistorical intellectualism. Shame is a matter of taste and feeling that is concerned with that part of humanity that presents itself through the humanity of others around us. Throughout the paper I balance my critique of Velleman, which I see …


Law, Philosophy, And Civil Disobedience: The Laws' Speech In Plato's 'Crito', Steven Thomason Jan 2012

Law, Philosophy, And Civil Disobedience: The Laws' Speech In Plato's 'Crito', Steven Thomason

Articles

Plato's 'Crito' is an examination of the tension between political science, a life devoted to the rational discourse and the critique of politics, and the demands of allegiance and service to the city. The argument Socrates makes in the name of the laws is not just meant to persuade Crito. Rather, it is a philosophic defense of the city itself, the philosophic response to Socrates' own speech in the Apology defending philosophy. This speech reveals the dangers and problems of a life devoted to philosophy when reason is directed to politics and calls into question the values and way of …


A Papyrus Letter About Epicurean Philosophy Books, James G. Keenan Jan 1977

A Papyrus Letter About Epicurean Philosophy Books, James G. Keenan

Classical Studies: Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.