History of Philosophy Commons^™

Listing Of The 1970-1971 Sagp Content, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

On The Antecedents Of Aristotle's Bipartite Psychology, William W. Fortenbaugh

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

This paper will be concerned with the antecedents of Aristotle's bipartite or moral psychology. It will consider two common theses: 1) Aristotle's bipartite psychology is in origin a popular psychology already present (if not clearly formulated) in Euripides' Medea; 2) Aristotle's bipartite psychology developed out of tripartition by collapsing together the two lower elements of tripartition. Roughly, I shall be affirming the first and rejecting the second thesis. In both cases I hope to develop and make more precise the origins of Aristotle's bipartite psychology.

Intellectualism And Practical Reasoning In Aristotle's Moral Philosophy, John Cooper

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

My aim in this paper is to examine the basis of the dominant scholarly understanding of Aristotle's conception of human eudaimonia. I call this interpretation intellectualist, because it attributes to Aristotle the view that human flourishing consists exclusively in pure intellectual activity of the best and highest kind. I show that the intellectualist thesis, with its grounds, is inadequate. I also show that in the Eudemian Ethics the rejection of this kind of intellectualism is explicit, adopting instead a much more inclusive view of what it is for a man to flourish. I provide an alternative reading of EN X.7-8, …

The Tradition About Zeno Of Elea Re-Examined, Friedrich Solmsen

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Acceptance of Plato's testimony in the Parmenides raises more problems than has commonly been realized. Plato's divinatio may have hit the truth, but to have this confidence involves an act of faith. If anyone wonders what other theory we may put forward regarding Zeno's treatise, he may take notice of the fact that in the Phaedrus Plato mentions Zeno in the company of rhetoricians like Thrasymachus, Theodorus, and Gorgias. In the devising of new methods and argumentative techniques he remains a pioneer.

Listing Of The 1969-1970 Sagp Content, Society For Ancient Greek Philosophy

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Dinos, John Ferguson

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Speculation on circular movement is part of the general process of replacing mythology by science and mathematics - Dinos did indeed evict Zeus. That the primal movement is circular stems from astronomical observation. The atomists equate the dine with ananke, and that becomes tyche for Plato and Aristotle.

Euripides and Aristophanes were aware of the philosophical implications of the latest physical speculation.

The Non-Lover In Plato's Phaedrus, Stanley Rosen

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

My goal is to cast light on the philosophical function of that much and unjustly maligned character, the non-lover. In a secondary sense, my paper is intended as evidence of a thesis on how to read a Platonic dialogue. We recall the Symposium in order to contrast the Phaedrus.

Listing Of The 1968-1969 Sagp Content, Society For Ancient Greek Philosophy

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Xenophon's Teleology, Francis R. Bliss

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

There is considerable evidence that the later Greeks and even more the Romans bypassed Aristotle and Plato in their treatment of teleology. Theirs was to be the age of immanent deity, of epiphany, of astrology, of credo quia absurdum. The Stoic Pronoia, which we have in fullest form in Cicero's De Natura Deorum 2, closely reflects the version we have in Xenophon, even transferring elements from his proof of the existence of deity to the proof of pronoia. Also, Xenophon's double treatment of his theme, stressing the cosmic in one chapter and the human in the other, initiated the tendency …

Mind's Commitment To The Real: Parmenides B8.34ff, Alexander P.D. Mourelatos

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

It is through an analysis of this passage that I can explain most clearly and directly a certain conception of the relation of mind to reality for which I also find evidence in other texts, in some of the characteristic aspects and themes of Parmenicles' poem, and which I consider philosophically and historically important.,

Knowledge Of Atoms And Void In Epicureanism, David J. Furley

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

There is an obvious paradox in the theories of the Atomists. If knowledge comes to us by means of sensation, how are we to explain the atomist's knowledge of the basic propositions of his special theory: that the world consists of void, which is called 'the intangible', and atoms, which are said to be imperceptibly small? Epicurus' method was to set up a pair of contradictories - either there is a void or there is not, either matter is infinitely divisible or it is not - and then to present an argument for rejecting one of them.

Listing Of The 1967-1968 Sagp Content, Society For Ancient Greek Philosophy

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Listing of the Contents and Commentary

The Argument For Immortality In Plato's Phaedrus, Thomas M. Robinson

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The Phaedrus seems to be saying that soul is the cause of all movement in an organized world, a world measurable by Time. In a non-organized world not measurable by Time one can wonder whether the movement in question has anything to do with this. At this stage words start to break down under the strain. Plato is compelled to give some description of the pre-cosmic chaos, and talk of movement in such a world is no more and no less intelligible than phrases like 'before this' (53a8) in the same passage, when Time has been admitted to be absent. …

The Creation Myth In Plato's Timaeus, Leonardo Taran

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the question whether the creation myth in Plato's Timaeus is to be taken literally or not. My reason for reopening the discussion is the recent publication by Professor Vlastos of a paper entitled "Creation in the Timaeus: is it a Fiction?" In this paper Vlastos tries to answer the arguments that Professor Cherniss gave in favor of the metaphorical interpretation, in the course of which arguments he attacked Vlastos' earlier article "The Disorderly Motion in the Timaeus?. My reason for concentrating on Professor Vlastos ' papers is that his is the most …

An Inquiry Into Aristotle's Use Of Proportionality, Thomas Olshewsky

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

This paper is an exploratory investigation of the use of analogy in Aristotle's works. The thesis is that Aristotle's analogia is not simply a classification of terms as certain scholars suggest (e.g., Joseph Owens and Harry Wolfson); that it is rather a more or less precise methodological device that Aristotle uses throughout his writings and indicates certain ontological presuppositions on the part of the Stagirite. We will first investigate the etymological background of analogia, and then consider Aristotle's uses of it. On the basis of these considerations, we will attempt to formulate its ontological and historical significance. Finally, we will …

Does Aristotle Demonstrate The Definition Of The Soul?, E. M. Barksdale

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

A Translation Of The Dissoi Logoi Or Dialexeis, Rosamond Kent Sprague

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Draft translation of the Dissoi Logoi

Listing Of The 1966-1967 Sagp Content, Society For Ancient Greek Philosophy

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Listing of Articles and Commentary.

The Greek Verb 'To Be' And The Problem Of Being, Charles H. Kahn

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

I am concerned in this paper with the philological basis for Greek ontology, that is to say, with the raw material which was provided for philosophical analysis by the ordinary use and meaning of the verb einai, 'to be'. My question is: how were the Greek philosophers guided, or influenced, in their formulation of doctrines of Being, by the pre-philosophical use of this verb which serves to express the concept of Being in Greek?

Ancient Interpretations Of Aristotle's Doctrine Of Homonyma, John P. Anton

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The main purpose of this paper is to offer an exposition and a critical examination of the ancient interpretations of Aristotle's doctrine of homonyma. It is determined that the commentators reveal their Neoplatonic interpretive stance in dealing with the question of homonyma.

The Platonic Dream, David Gallop

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The author writes (12/13/16): "The 1965 paper concerned Plato's use of dreaming and waking as metaphors for various contrasts in different philosophical contexts, and especially for its relevance to the Divided Line and Cave of Republic VI-VII. It was a companion piece to my study of Images in the Republic, published in the Archiv sur Geschichte der Philosophie in 1965, and was originally written with it as part of a single long paper. That 1965 paper dealt with Plato's attacks on images and mimesis, and tried to reconcile them with his own constant use of images, especially in Republic V-VII."

On The "Gold-Example" In Plato's Timaeus (50a5-B5), Edward N. Lee

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Plato imagines someone moulding figures of all kinds in a lump of gold, and continually remoulding each and all into all the others. If someone points to one of these shaped pieces of gold and asks "what is it?" Three possible replies: by far the safest, "it is gold." 2, But never "triangle." 3. Unless they are willing to accept "such", that has some safety.

The most complete previous interpretation of this passage is by Harold Cherniss, AJP 75 (1954) 113-130. This paper discusses the difficulties in Cherniss' interpretation and offers alternatives.

Listing Of The 1965-1966 Sagp Content, Society For Ancient Greek Philosophy

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Listing of the SAGP papers and commentary information

A Century Of Platonic Scholarship In France: From Cousin To Robin, Ernst Morris Manasse

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Traces the influence of Neoplatonism in scholarship and philosophy in France from the 1830's to the 1930's.

The Universal In Physics I.1, Joseph Owens C.Ss.R.

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The opening paragraph of the Physics sketches succinctly Aristotle's general notion of scientific knowledge. First, in any scientific discipline, to know a thing is to know its principles or elements. Secondly, the natural path of human knowledge is from things that are more knowable for men to things that are more knowable in themselves, that is, from concretions to the distinct cognition of principles and elements. These two norms are regarded as applying to all scientific procedure. Here they are outlined briefly as an introduction to the Aristotelian philosophy of nature. But Aristotle goes on to apparently recommend moving from …

The Aristotelian Doctrine Of Qualitative Change In Physics Vii.3, Gerard Verbeke

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Aristotle wonders whether it is possible to translate into terms of qualitative change the most important activities of man, such as technical activities, culture of the body, moral conduct, and scientific knowledge. The confrontation between the notion of qualitative change on the one hand and certain fundamental forms of human activity on the other makes it possible to define even more precisely the notion of alloiosis and to lead us to a more thorough understanding of the distinctive nature of properly human activities.

Sagp Amherst Conference 1964, Rosamond Kent Sprague

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Announcement of the Amherst conference of SAGP, August 1964

Some Observations Concerning Plato's Lysis, Donald Norman Levin

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Discussion of the authenticity and relative dating of the dialogue followed by examination of the several definitions of "philos". The Good is the ultimate goal that remains in view to Plato, no matter what else must be abandoned as dialectically unacceptable.

Listing Of 1964-1965 Sagp Content, Society For Ancient Greek Philosophy

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Notes On Aristotle De Anima 3.5, John M. Rist

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Of all the Aristotelian doctrines perhaps the most difficult is that concerning the Active and Passive Intellects which we find in the short fifth chapter of the third book of the De Anima. Interpretations of this chapter have been almost as numerous as interpreters, and it would be naive to expect at this stage to be definitive. Nevertheless it seems that progress has been delayed in many cases by a too casual approach to what Aristotle says in the chapter itself - and this at least admits of some improvement.