Ancient Philosophy Commons^™

Sense And Sensibility: A Sermon On Living The Examined Life, Sarah J. Mejias

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Jane Austen’s novels remain an essential component of the literary canon, but her first published novel, Sense and Sensibility, is frequently neglected. However, in Sense and Sensibility is the genesis of Austen’s technique through which her major characters cultivate and reveal a strong inner life, demonstrated through the character of Elinor Dashwood. This technique is a characteristic she incorporates in each of her succeeding novels. Her approach to literature centers on the interiority of her characters and their ability to change, but it her first novel Austen takes a unique approach. Following the structure of an eighteenth-century sermon, Austen …

Philosophical Self-Presentation In Late Antique Cappadocia, Stefan Vernon Hodges-Kluck

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation offers a new perspective to the development of religious orthodoxy in the second half of the fourth century CE by examining the role of the body in the inter- and intra-religious battles between Christians and “pagans” over the claim to the cultural capital of philosophy. Focusing on Cappadocia (modern-day central Turkey), a particularly vital region of the fourth-century Roman empire, I argue that during this time, Greek-speaking intellectuals created and disputed boundaries between Christianity and “paganism,” as well as between “orthodoxy” and “heresy,” based on longstanding elite notions of how an ideal philosopher should look, think, and act. …

Identifying And Interpreting A Philosophical Garden At The Villa Of The Papyri At Herculaneum, Antonio Robert Lopiano

Masters Theses

The Villa of the Papyri is one of the most important archaeological sites from Roman antiquity for its preserved architecture, library, and art collection. All three of these would be truly remarkable in their own right, but their combined presence in one site has drawn scholars to study the villa for centuries. This thesis contributes to this corpus of work by examining the west peristyle garden at the Villa of the Papyri and proposing the presence of a philosophical garden therein. This hypothesis is supported through analysis of ancient authors, archaeological research of the region, and evidence from the villa …

Pharaonic Occultism: The Relationship Of Esotericism And Egyptology, 1875–1930, Kevin Todd Mclaren

Master's Theses

The purpose of this work is to explore the interactions between occultism and scholarly Egyptology from 1875 to 1930. Within this timeframe, numerous esoteric groups formed that centered their ideologies on conceptions of ancient Egyptian knowledge. In order to legitimize their belief systems based on ancient Egyptian wisdom, esotericists attempted to become authoritative figures on Egypt. This process heavily impacted Western intellectualism not only because occult conceptions of Egypt became increasingly popular, but also because esotericists intruded into academia or attempted to overshadow it. In turn, esotericists and Egyptologists both utilized the influx of new information from Egyptological studies to …

Saving Socrates: A New Socratic Portrait, Anthony Lobrace

Honors Theses

In 399 B.C. Socrates was indicted on charges of asebeia, or impiety and corrupting the youth. He was brought before a jury of some 500 Athenians in a type of trial known as agon timetos, or “trial of assessment”. Casting their votes, the vast majority of the jurors found Socrates guilty of the offenses he was accused of. A week later he drank a cup of hemlock and died in his prison cell. In what follows I will draw a new portrait of Socrates. This will be constructed from details found in Aristophanes’ the Clouds, as well as Socratic dialogues. …

Christian-Stoicism: Exploring The Relationship Between Christianity And Stoicism And Constructing A Manual Of Christian-Stoic Wisdom, Trevor Kelly

Master of Arts in Religious Studies (M.A.R.S. Theses)

While the theological assumptions of Christianity and Stoicism may seem disparate, their philosophies are highly compatible. This compatibility is one of the reasons that early Christian authors looked to pagan Stoic authors for support and inspiration. Many Stoic and Christian authors compiled manuals for right living. The historical connections and conceptual similarities between the two schools of thought suggest the viability and value of constructing a combined Christian-Stoic manual of wisdom. Such is the constructive task of this thesis. Passages from Christian and Stoic sources are brought together to illustrate major common themes. The passages are followed by original commentaries …

Virtue, Knowledge, And Goodness, Marlin Ray Sommers

Masters Theses

This thesis consists of three parts. Part one responds to an argument by Jason Baehr that virtues of intellectual character which make their possessor good qua person can also figure as virtues in reliabilist accounts of knowledge. I analyze his argument with special attention to the cases he uses to motivate his claims, and argue that the role which intellectual character virtues play in the acquisition of knowledge is not the role which is relevant to reliabilists accounts of knowledge. More generally, I argue that character intellectual virtues are not good candidates for reliabilist virtues because their telos is not …

Peri Algeos: Pain In Aeschylus And Sophocles, Anda Pleniceanu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis is an examination of physical pain in ancient tragedy, with the focus on three plays: Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound and Sophocles’ Philoctetes and Trachiniae. The study unfolds the layers of several conceptual systems in order to get closer to the core—pain and its limits in tragedy. The first chapter aims to show that Aristotle’s model for the analysis of tragedy in his classificatory tract, the Poetics, centered on the ill-defined concept of mimesis, is an attempt to tame pain and clean tragedy of its inherent viscerality. The second chapter looks at the dualist solution advanced by Plato …

The Virtue Of Shame In Moral Development An Aristotelian Perspective, Claire Amelia Kokoska

Honors Theses

Aristotle touts the importance of performing virtuous actions in order to have a virtuous character. Yet, reason is necessary for an individual to actively change their own behavior. Aristotle believes that children are too young to have developed reason, so we may wonder how are they to become virtuous. The answer I offer is shame. Shame is a painful emotion that causes one to believe that, by acting poorly, we have lowered our worth in the eyes of those we respect and admire. I argue that shame effectively changes behavior in children because it is attached to a stigma of …

Ek Tou Homerou Ad Homerum: A Survey Of The Roman Imperial Iconography Of Homer, Juan Dopico

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis evaluates the imagery of Homer in Roman imperial mosaics stemming from the 2^nd century AD to the 5^th century AD. In doing so, it will show that the Romans perhaps transformed the image of Homer in order that the patron may identify himself as an erudite and intellectual elite. This practice might have strong parallels with literary treatments with Homer during the Second Sophistic, especially among the Platonic philosophical tradition in the imperial period.

As a tool for those wishing to do a systematic analysis of figures in Roman art, mosaics contain some advantages that other …

Beauty Speaking: Beauty And Language In Plotinus And Augustine Of Hippo, Anthony J. Thomas Iv

Theses and Dissertations--Modern and Classical Languages, Literature and Cultures

Much has been said about the influence of Plotinus, the Platonist philosopher, on the ideas of Augustine of Hippo, the Western Church Father whose writings had the largest impact on Western Europe in the Middle Ages. This thesis considers both writers’ ideas concerning matter, evil, and language. It then considers the way in which these writers’ ideas influenced their style of writing in the Enneads and the Confessions. Plotinus’ more straightforward negative attitude towards the material word and its relationship to the One ultimately makes his writing more academic and less emotionally powerful. Augustine’s more complicated understanding of the …

Antigone Claimed, "I Am A Stranger": Democracy, Membership And Unauthorized Immigration, Andres Fabian Henao Castro

Doctoral Dissertations

My dissertation offers a new framework through which to theorize contemporary democratic practices by attending to the political agency of unauthorized immigrants. I argue that unauthorized immigrants themselves, by claiming their own ambiguous legal condition as a legitimate basis for public speech, are able to open up the boundaries of political membership and to render the foundations of democracy contingent, that is to say, they are able to reopen the question about who counts as a member of the demos. I develop this argument by way of a close reading of Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone[1], which allows me to …

The Memetic Evolution Of Alchemy From Zosimos To Timothy Leary, Ryan J. Hutchinson

History Undergraduate Theses

The subject of alchemy is often only relegated to a footnote of the history of modern chemistry. When framed as a discussion of the history of ideas and mankind attempting to understand their position in the universe, the language of alchemy is seen present in the writings of ancient Greece to 20th century counterculture. But how did this obscure art survive such a long journey over time and space? This paper explores alchemy as a meme (as defined by Richard Dawkins) that changed over time to fit the needs of its proponents. We find that the ideas in alchemy had …

Augustine, Wannabe Philosopher: The Search For Otium Honestum, Allen G. Wilson

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Know Yourself And You Will Be Known: The Gospel Of Thomas And Middle Platonism, Seth A. Clark

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus and is primarily composed of rhetorical statements that were used to preserve the teachings of itinerant Greek philosophers. These collections were used to persuade individuals to join the philosophical schools represented, much like the early followers of the Jesus movement would use his teachings to convince others to join them as well. However, the theological background for the text is still debated because it contains esoteric and enigmatic references not fully understood by most scholars. This work argues that the theological and philosophical background for the Gospel …

Seeking Vita Contemplativa: A Search For Contemplation In A Secular World, Rosette Marie Cirillo

Senior Projects Spring 2014

Senior Project submitted to The Divisions of Languages and Literature and Social Studies of Bard College

The Relationship Between Natural Law And Mosaic Law In Philo: His On Rewards And Punishments As A Case Study, Clark Whitney

Honors Theses

Living from around 20 B.C. to A.D. 50, Philo of Alexandria, Egypt contributed to the fields of philosophy and religion. In fact, Philo is one of the most significant contributors to our understanding of Hellenistic Judaism and Middle Platonism.. By extension, our understanding of the New Testament (especially the Pauline epistles) is indebted to Philo, because a plethora of the New Testament writings were composed by Jews into Greek language. According to C.D. Yonge, very little is known about Philo's personal life except that he lived in Alexandria, Egypt and came from a family who was wealthy and prominent among …

Truth And Falsehood In Plato's Sophist, Michael Oliver Wiitala

Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy

This dissertation is a study of the ontological foundations of true and false speech in Plato’s Sophist. Unlike most contemporary scholarship on the Sophist, my dissertation offers a wholistic account of the dialogue, demonstrating that the ontological theory of the “communing” of forms and the theory of true and false speech later in the dialogue entail one another.

As I interpret it, the account of true and false speech in the Sophist is primarily concerned with true and false speech about the forms. As Plato sees it, we can only make true statements about spatio-temporal beings if it …

The Hellenistic Ideal Of The Good Or Virtuous Life., Bernadette Monaco

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper explores the Hellenistic Ideal of the good or virtous life by looking at historical backround, the philosophical writings of Plato and Aristotle, and the literary works of Euripides.

Philosophical Influences In The Art Of War Found In The Romance Of The Three Kingdoms, Nathaniel Ethan Clark

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

“Philosophical Influences in The Art of Warfound in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms” is an examination of Sunzi’s philosophy about leadership in The Art of War as applied to the moral character, or lack thereof, of historical Han Dynasty leaders, Liu Bei and Cao Cao. In Luo Guanzhong’s The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the two are fictionalized with oppositional personalities and corresponding philosophical bases. I explore the ways in which their actions embody or reject the philosophy found in Sunzi’s The Art of War.

Plato’S Gorgias: Rhetoric, The Greatest Evil, And The True Art Of Politics, Paul A. George

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The interweaving of rhetoric, the greatest evil, and the true art of politics create the unity of the dialogue. Whereas Gorgianic rhetoric is pleasure seeking flattery which inspires belief without knowledge, noble rhetoric is refutative, inspiring the acknowledgment of falsity or ignorance. Moreover, it is self-refutation, meaning that the person being persuaded arrives at the conclusion of his ignorance by his own realization; the noble rhetor does not connect all the dots for them. The greatest evil is to have a false opinion about justice. A just penalty for suffering from the greatest evil is to face selfrefutation in hopes …

Poetic To Platonic AlēTheia Orality, Literacy, And The Development Of Truth In Greek Poetry And Philosophy, Justin B. Cecil

Institute for the Humanities Theses

In recent years many scholars have dedicated much research to the development of the Orality Problem. In its most general form, the Orality Problem is grounded in the following two questions: 1) is there a difference between spoken and written language and 2) if there is a difference between these two forms of communication what exactly is this difference and how does it operate. Research into these questions has two major sources to draw upon: cross-cultural research between literate and non-literate cultures and textual analysis of written oral records from ancient Greece. According to the mounting research, many scholars now …

Collapsing The Philosophy/Rhetoric Disjunct: Nietzsche, Plato And The Perspectival Turn, Ned Vankevich

Institute for the Humanities Theses

Often overlooked within the standard views of academe lie hidden a number of tacit assumptions. Until the time of Nietzsche, the status of rhetoric as a discourse formation in Western intellectual history was often colored by the unflattering view generated by Plato in a number of his dialogues. In this thesis I present a case that revisits Plato and Nietzsche with an eye toward understanding the reasons why these two highly influential figures in contemporary philosophy adopt the views they advocate. In doing so, I attempt to illumine the reason Plato forms a fundamental split between philosophy and rhetoric and …

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 …

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, …

Socratic Elenchos And Maieusis In Euripides' Medea, Laurie K. Haight

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Sumptuary Guidelines In Clement Of Alexandria's Paedagogus And Seneca's Epistulae Morales, Stephen Crump

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis, Sumptuary Guidelines in Clement of Alexandria's Paedagogus and Seneca's Epistulae Morales, explores the similarities between the ethical outlooks of Clement of Alexandria and Seneca, as well as peculiar emphases of each writer. The thesis is introduced with a discussion of the Christian search for identity within the Roman world, and the influence of Stoicism in formulating this identity. The next two chapters provide the social and intellectual context within which Clement and Seneca respectively wrote. In establishing Clement's backdrop, the cultural, intellectual, and economic settings of Alexandria are examined. The argument is put forth that these various settings …

Ancient Mesopotamian Concepts Of Death And The Netherworld According To Ancient Literary Texts, John William David Mcmaster

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis attempts to elucidate the concepts of death and the netherworld found within Sumerian and Semitic literary texts. This particular topic has received very little attention in the past but studies of a similar nature have tended to take a fairly general approach dealing with Mesopotamian concepts in their entirety. Sumerian and Semitic cultures have not been distinguished due to the large number of similarities which were seen to exist between their societies, cultures, and religious ideas. More recently, however, such a methodological procedure has been found to exist within the literature of the two cultures. With this in …

Plato's Crito: A Speech Act And Structuralist Analysis For Performance, Gary Gerard Gute

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Although scholars recognize many of Plato's early dialogues as works of significant dramatic merit, few attempts have been made to either systematically analyze them for performance or to dramatize them in their entirety. A traditional Aristotelian analysis does not facilitate bringing the dialogues to fruition in theatrical performance because of their lack of physical, external action. This study, recognizing the dramatic potential of Plato's Crito, undertakes an analysis of the dialogue for the purpose of performance . Two methodologies are applied: Speech Act and Structuralist Analyses. The study culminates in a dramatic production of the Crito.

According to speech act …

Orestes And Redemption In Two Different Ages, Kevin Lantry

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

In the attempt to ascertain man's changes in world view, the Orestes stories of the Greek tragedians were compared with the Orestes stories of six 20th-century playwrights. The Orestes plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides were contrasted with the similar plays of Hofmannstahl, Jeffers, O'Neill, Giraudoux, Eliot, and Sartre. The Greek tragedians appear to terminate Orestes' retribution for inherited evil and a just crime by an actual, total, restorative redemption, divinely instigated. The 20th century playwrights portray only the potential termination of Orestes' retribution in a distant future, by means of a salvation that is self-instigated, costly, and completely non-restorative. …