Decalogue Five tells the story of Waldemar Rekowski (Jan Tesarz), a jaded taxi driver, Piotr Balicki (Krzysztof Globisz), an idealistic, newly-licensed attorney, and Jacek Lazar (Mirosław Baka), a young and troubled drifter, whose lives intersect with one another as a result of fate, or contingent circumstance, or some combination of both. With brutal detail and detachment, the film depicts Jacek’s seemingly aimless wanderings through Warsaw, his senseless killing of Waldemar, his interactions with Piotr (his court-appointed attorney), and his eventual (...) execution after a failed defense in court. Like other films within the Decalogue series, Five illustrates what happens when human beings are forced to confront ethical dilemmas (and thus are forced to confront themselves as responsible moral decision makers) in a world that seems to offer little in the way of moral direction, meaning, purpose, and community with others. Discussing the overarching aim of the Decalogue series as a whole, Krzysztof Kies´lowski refers to the sense of alienation, aimlessness, and loneliness that often describes the human condition. (shrink)

To live the complete Christian life through the cycle of conviction of sin, repentance, justification, sanctification, obedience, and hope is to experience the Decalogue in its fullness through Christ in the worship, preaching, and spiritual and moral witness in the community of believers and in the world.

In this article, I offer two different formalizations for prescriptions which correspond to two different forms of biblical prohibitions. I discuss the known fact that the prohibitive commandments of the Decalogue according to the Septuagint and the Vulgate, Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, are formulated with normative future tense indicatives. However, the Greek and Latin sources provide in Mark 10:19 variants of five biblical prohibitive commandments which are formulated with prohibitive subjunctives. I argue that there are semantic differences between (...) normative future tense indicatives and prohibitive subjunctives. These semantic differences are of importance for the understanding of the Decalogue. (shrink)

In the permissive society of today, where vice is so often paraded as virtue and where the sense of moral obligation is feeble, it is time for the church, following the lead of the New Testament, to restore the Decalogue to a prominent place in its liturgy and catechism.

There is a dilemma at the heart of the moral life, in that we often appeal to the Decalogue as being the basis of a common morality, yet it is impossible to justify these precepts as self-evident. I resolve this dilemma in light of Aquinas’s analysis of the relation between the self-evident precepts of the natural law and the Decalogue. The self-evident precepts (that man should live in society and should know and love God) follow directly from human (...) nature. The precepts of the Decalogue indicate how those goods are to be pursued in the context of just social relations. It is this contextualization in terms of just relations that prevents them from being self-evident and, correspondingly, requires their revelation. Since the commandments act as invitations to pursue the good without the defects of injustice, they are the most manifest condition for achieving the end of human happiness. (shrink)

This article explores the writings and thought on the Decalogue of the eminent nineteenth-century English poet, Christina Rossetti, especially in her volume, “Letter and Spirit. Notes on the Commandments”. It offers a corrective to several imbalances in the existing literature. First, scholars who admire Rossetti as a literary figure often neglect and even misunderstand or distort her Christian thought. Second, the study of the history of biblical interpretation has generally excluded women's voices. Third, a preoccupation with the rise of (...) biblical criticism has led scholars to ignore the continuation of devotional and ecclesial readings of Scripture in the nineteenth century and beyond. Rossetti's biblical interpretation is richly attentive to the women of the Bible and to the interests of women readers. It also reflects her Anglo-Catholic identity. Christina Rossetti offers a heightened treatment of the Decalogue which invites readers to realize that the implications of each of the Ten Commandments go wider and deeper than they have hitherto assumed, thereby awakening a greater sense of their own sinfulness. (shrink)

In the Decalogue, a foundation is laid for the order of the community, a foundation that continues in perpetuity to be the touchstone for all actions on the part of God's people as they seek to live in community and order their lives.

The purpose of this article was to comprehensively explore the phenomenon of the narrative of the Decalogue in its fundamental principles in the context of the theological understanding of Jewish law. For this purpose abstract-logical methods, historical-legal, phenomenological, axiological, epistemological methods, method of critical and systematic analysis and method of comparative theology were used. The result is a theological understanding of the basic moral and legal principles and reducing to a single, systematic; a study of the correlation between the (...) normative and the moral side of such a narrative was conducted. Of particular importance is the establishment and isolation of the basic initial principle in the defined context that underlies both Sinai law and all the biblical law. Because with the change of historical realities, which coincided with the destruction of the Temple and the termination of sacrifices, the law has also changed. However, the biblical law was of particular ideological importance, it set the tone and revealed and formed the basic principles for the further development of all Jewish law. Therefore, in our study we have drawn attention to the main ideological features of the biblical laws, because in our opinion, the basic formative essence is hidden in them and only by understanding it − will we be able to understand Jewish law itself. However, the phenomenon of law and even more so of Jewish law, is one of the best regulators and exponents of the educational principle that is designed to raise a person in love. Of course, morality is called for it and it should take precedence over everything else, but the legal part should not be ignored. Law should serve as a socially just, integrative, fundamental, binding, most effective, most respected regulator. Therefore, the problem of combining legal principles and moral precepts for biblical law did not stand basically. The significant part of the adopted legal norms initially was characterized by moral prescriptions, confirmed and expressed by law. Such a transition, the shift from morality to law, and the close relationship between them are one inseparable whole. And apart from Halacha, which was responsible for the legal aspect, there were also the writings of the prophets whose task was to illuminate the transition from law to morality, because precisely morality is the essence of everything. Here is the true meaning of the existence of a legal expression of such an educational principle. Thus, the basic educational principle of the Decalogue, in particular, and of biblical law in general, was to educate a high-moral person who had restrictive precepts that would not allow him to fall into lawlessness, and the formative commandments that would allow a person to be educated in the search for God, and to stabilize himself in the godlike state commanded by God through Moses. That is the essence of the Decalogue and Jewish law. The educational principle, both basic and effective, though not so familiar to the modern understanding of the nature of law, is precisely the principle that laid down both the basis of the Decalogue and the foundation of all Jewish law at least in its biblical part. (shrink)

1988, as the TV cycle ‘Decalogue’ was finished by Krzysztof Kieslowski, one of the most intriguing appearances throughout its episodes was the character of the silent witness, a young man played by Arthur Barciś. He is the first character who appears at the beginning of Decalogue I and therefore of the whole series and who returns in eight from the ten films of the cycle in very different hypostases: as nomadic camper, surveyor, nurse, bus driver, or rowboat driver, (...) traveler on foot or by bike etc. The film critics were intrigued by this character and interpreted him in different ways, especially in key either religious or ethical. They all and Kieslowski himself agreed that the silent witness is a strange and symbolic appearance that comes out from the frames of everyday life. It is as if a curtain would break or be torn and from beyond it something foreign and strange would appear, difficult to integrate into our categories, but which is surprisingly so eloquent for us. The phenomenology, that Kieslowski describes, is broken in this manner, but, paradoxically, also consolidated by this presence, that gives it meaning and content. (shrink)

In his ground-breaking series of films The Decalogue , Krzysztof Kieslowski creates an enigmatic character who appears in nine of the ten otherwise-disconnected films. Kieslowski neither names this mysterious man nor allows him one word of dialogue. In several of the films, the man is seen by other characters; in others he remains invisible to them. Sometimes he seems to influence the decisions of the protagonists; other times, he seems to remain a passive observer of their problems. Many scholars (...) who write on The Decalogue either do not note the «silent witness», or limit themselves to peripheral comments of little substance; others comment only briefly, and superficially on his enigmatic presence in one or other of the films. The present article offers a detailed analysis of the «silent witness» in each of the Decalogue films and develops a comprehensive synthesis of his critical moral significance in the series, proposing that the witness is an effective metaphor of the providential presence of the loving God for the protagonists; while respecting their liberty, he moves in their often-troubled lives, guides their moral decisions, gives them hope and brings them to higher levels of freedom and Christian responsibility. (shrink)

The achievement of the person of intellectual, moral, spiritual freedom throughout the history of mankind was at the center of philosophical, theological, moral, ethical and political doctrines. The problem of freedom and necessity philosophy for a long time was regarded as antinomy: or everything is subordinated to necessity - then there can be no freedom, or there is freedom that denies necessity. An attempt to find out the dialectical connection between freedom and necessity was made by B. Spinoza, who recognized (...) freedom as a conscious necessity. The concept of the stages of this awareness, which at the same time are the stages of socialization of a person, was developed by G.Gegal. Unconditional instruction of the moral consciousness to follow in the behavior of the law I. Kant considered as a categorical imperative, the condition of which is freedom of will. (shrink)

The public defence of science has never been more important than now. However, it is a difficult task with many pitfalls, and there are mechanisms that can make it counterproductive. This article offers advice for science defenders, summarized in ten commandments that warn against potentially ineffective or even backfiring practices in the defence of science: Do not portray science as a unique type of knowledge. Do not underestimate scientific uncertainty. Do not describe science as infallible. Do not deny the value-ladenness (...) of science. Do not associate with power. Do not blame the victims of disinformation. Do not aim at convincing the anti-scientific propagandists. Do not contribute to the legitimization of pseudoscience. Do not attack religion when it does not conflict with science. Do not call yourself a “sceptic”. (shrink)

In his catalogue of the manuscripts of Grosseteste's writings S.H. Thomson attributed to him a number of sermons each of which is free standing and none of which belongs to the sermon collection made after the bishop's death. One of these is found in the British Library MS Harley 979, where it occupies fols 37va-39rb. It is written in seven columns, in a hand of the second half of the thirteenth century. This sermon on the commandments is ascribed to Grosseteste (...) in the hand of the scribe, with the words: «Sermo magistri Roberti Lincolniensis Episcopi de decem preceptis decalogi». It has not hitherto been published. (shrink)

The Decalogue is the ten commandments which are a covenant between God and His people. Written on two tablets of stone, this Decalogue is apodictive (unconditional command and prohibition). It expresses the love between God and His people and between members of the people. This article shows that in the Pentateuch there are two versions of the Decalogue (Ex. 20:1-17 and Deut. 5:6-21) with some differences between them. Deuteronomy 5:6-21 contains additions to Exodus 20:1-17. Ex. 20:1-17 was (...) spoken by God himself to the Israelites at Mount Sinai; Deut. 5:6-21 by Moses in the plains of Moab when quoting Ex. 20:1-17. The commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy in Ex. 20:8-11 is motivated by God’s rest on the seventh day of creation; in Deut. 5:12-15 it is motivated by Israel’s liberation from slavery in the land of Egypt. Ex. 20:13-17 contains fi ve social commandments in no apparent order; Deut. 5:17-21 contains six social commandments inparallel arrangement. The Decalogue, as a law does not guarantee its implementation. And the Israelites repeatedly violated or disobeyed the law. Therefore, God Himself takes the initiative and intervenes toensure its implementation. After the destruction of the city of Jerusalem as an outward sign of the end of the Old Covenant, the prophet Jeremiah prophesied the New Covenant at the initiative of God to bewritten in the hearts, so that previously impossible loyalty would now become a reality (Jer. 31:31-34). Thus, the New Covenant is not different from the Sinai Covenant, but rather a renewal of YHWH’s faithfulnesswhich is rebuilt and deepened continuously so that it becomes a “covenant without end” (Lam. 3:22-23). Abstrak Dekalog adalah sepuluh fi rman yang merupakan pernjanjian antara Allah dengan umat-Nya, tertulis dalam dua loh batu. Dekalog yang bersifat apodiktif (perintah dan larangan tanpa syarat) mengungkapkankasih antara Allah dengan umat-Nya dan antarumat Allah. Artikel ini menunjukkan bahwa dalam Pentateukh terdapat dua versi Dekalog (Kel. 20:1-17 dan Ul. 5:6-21) dengan beberapa perbedaan. Ul. 5:6-21 memuat beberapa tambahan yang tidak terdapat dalam Kel. 20:1-17. Kel. 20:1-17 diucapkan sendiri oleh YHWH kepada bangsa Israel di gunung Sinai; Ul. 5:6-21 diucapkan oleh Musa di dataran Moab dengan mengutip isi Kel. 20:1-17. Perintah kuduskanlah hari Sabat dalam Kel. 20:8-11 bermotifkan istirahat Allah pada hari ketujuh saat penciptaan; dalam Ul. 5:12-15 bermotifkan pembebasan bangsa Israel dari perbudakan di tanah Mesir. Kel. 20:13-17 memuat lima perintah sosial tanpa urutan yang jelas; Ul. 5:17-21 memuat enam perintah sosial yang disusun paralel. Dekalog sebagai undang-undang tidak menjamin pelaksanaannya. Berulangkali bangsa Israel telah melanggar atau tidak setia pada penjanjian tersebut. Maka, Allah sendiri yang berinisiatif dan campur tangan demi terjaminnya pelaksanaan perjanjian-Nya. Sesudah penghancuran kota Yerusalem sebagai tanda lahiriah berakhirnya Perjanjian Lama, Nabi Yeremia menubuatkan Perjanjian Yang Baru atas prakarsa Allah yang akan ditulis dalam hati manusia, sehingga kesetiaan yang tadinya mustahil akan menjadi kenyataan (Yer. 31:31-34). Dengan demikian Perjanjian Yang Baru itu tidak berbeda dengan Perjanjian Sinai, tetapi lebih berupa pembaruan kesetiaan YHWH yang dibangun kembali dan diperdalam terus-menerus sehingga menjadi “perjanjian yang tak berkesudahan” (Rat. 3:22-23). (shrink)

According to Duns Scotus, the First Table of the Decalogue contains only those moral propositions whose truth value is known from their terms alone, or conclusions that necessarily follow from them. As such, God cannot make a dispensation from them. In contrast, God can make dispensations from the Second Table precepts, since these precepts are not logical deductions following necessarily from the First Table. Nevertheless, they are “highly consonant” with it. However, Scotus does not explain what he means by (...) saying the Second Table precepts are “highly consonant” with the First Table. Recently, Richard Cross and Oleg Bychkov have argued that consonance should be understood in terms of aesthetic considerations. This interpretation, however, falters in establishing that consonans ought to be construed aesthetically, and it contradicts explicit statements Scotus makes about divine freedom and what God can do: namely, it places constraints upon God’s will beyond mere logical possibility. (shrink)

The Decalogue or 10 Words is a text from the Torah of Moses that presents two versions of the same Sabbath commandment. One in the book of Exodus 20: 8-11 and another in Deuteronomy 5: 12-15. The first begins the commandment with the verb: make memory and the second, with the verb: save. In the first version, the commandment is connected to the memory of the Creation, while the second makes memory of the Liberation. This article sets out to (...) deal comprehensively with the first version of the seventh-day commandment. In it the word shabbat appears in the feminine as an element of fecundity linked to the theological concept of Creation. The shabbat is an invitation to cease and rest to behold the Creator with family and creatures. It is a commandment-word whose experience results in blessing, sanctity, encounter and dance. It is a commandment-word-teaching that instructs the human being to become aware of his responsibility to be created to care for the neighbor and the world: our Common House to the end of history where all Creation tends to Shabbat Eternal in which the Creator / Liberator / Rabbi / Gracious God will be "all in all" in the Spirit through his Son: the Lord of the Shabbat and time in which "all Israel shall be Saved ". (shrink)

In the 17th century natural and international law stood as the first theory of the modern state. But what did it look like before it was caught up in the history of modern statehood? In the topology of early modern knowledge ius naturae was regarded as a body of established thinking common to all disciplines. Philosophy, theology and jurisprudence were in complete agreement on a number of points: natural law was God-given; since the act of Creation divine commandments had been (...) inscribed into the hearts of men; natural law, the Decalogue, and the demands of ethics were identical. Natural law was nothing other than the eternal order imposed on humankind and the world by God since time began. Can this idea be reconciled with the modern state, its origins in disorder, and its need for the decision-making exercise of will? (shrink)

Résumé Ce texte est la transposition d’un exposé de l’auteur à l’IRCAM dans le cadre du séminaire MaMuPhi où dialoguent mathématiciens, musiciens (compositeurs, interprètes, théoriciens) et philosophes. Ni glose sur les théories du style en mathématique, ni prolégomènes à une stylistique future, encore moins galerie de portraits d’auteurs, il s’agit d’un essai plutôt que d’une étude : un court essai, catalysé en partie par les caustiques « décalogues » de Gian-Carlo Rota, où l’on évalue la place de l’auteur et essaie (...) de dégager les enjeux, essentiels plutôt que décoratifs, des questions d’écriture et de style dans la mathématique d’aujourd’hui. (shrink)

This paper discusses the representation of foreign gods as demons found in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. It investigates the category of δαιμόνιον in some Septuagint texts against the background of the Hellenistic literature, and the relationship between the notion of demon and that of idol. In doing this, it shows the relevance of the Septuagint for a better understanding of religious notions emerging during the Hellenistic period. Moreover, focusing on some uses of εἴδωλον in the Pentateuch, the (...) paper proposes a new interpretation for the word in the Greek version of the decalogue, in light of papyrological evidence. (shrink)

John-Paul II’s encyclical Veritatis Splendor examines the commandments, in particular the Decalogue. In so far as it is the expression of ‘natural law’ applicable and reflexively accessible to all, it is a permanent charter not only of Christian inspired ethics but of every human ethic . Using the story of the rich young man, cited in the encyclical’s first chapter, we would like to elucidate in the first part, and in our own way, how prohibitions open the way for (...) freedom and the richness of human creativity.This will show that Christian ethics, for which the Decalogue is of essential importance, cannot limit itself to drawing borders. Prohibitions are only a necessary condition and not a sufficient ground for a Christian ethic inspired by the gospel whose heart is the living person of Jesus the Christ. A Christian ethic does not end with delimiting borders that make possible and protect certain fundamental values; it also opens its own perspectives for a tasteful shaping of a qualified freedom that is ‘won’ thanks to keeping the commandments. This in turn leads to the point of the second part: a look at ‘taste’ and aesthetics in ethics. This will show how a balanced Christian ethic will necessarily be marked by a bipolarity of prohibition and taste.[...]CONCLUSIONEthics is not a simple matter; it is a complex field wherein orientations, commandments and prohibitions, suggestions, examples and experiences all play a role. We hope that it is now evident that ethics, on the existential level of experience, can only function properly when there is a tension between prohibition and taste. A one-sided emphasis or absolutizing of one of the two leads to the self-destruction of ethics. Reducing ethics to obeying commandments and prohibitions leads to a rejection of ethics, while a narcissistic absolutizing of taste leads to a destruction of ethics in as far as it results in the aestheticism of pure taste and in arbitrariness. Only an ethic that remains normatively modest by focusing its attention on the essential delimiting rules that protect basic values opens perspectives towards a creative meaningful life as a ‘lively adventure’. (shrink)

Ha sido mi interés en los últimos años reflexionar formalmente sobre la conciencia en referencia a sus fundamentos y aspectos biológicos, en especial los cerebrales y los de comportamiento. Urdiendo sobre sus aspectos fisiológicos, fenomenológicos, epistemológicos y ontológicos, he explorado la naturaleza del dolor como un estado paradigmático de conciencia en un cuento de “neurociencia ficción” (Díaz, 2002), en un trabajo publicado en Salud Mental (Díaz, 2007) y en un libro sobre la conciencia viviente (Díaz, 2007). Estos análisis utilizan al (...) dolor como un fenómeno de conciencia fértil para examinar las principales conjeturas vigentes sobre la relación mente cuerpo y el problema epistemológico del acceso científico a la conciencia. La presente comunicación es un breve repaso de las principales ideas exploradas que se especifican en un decálogo de afirmaciones sobre la naturaleza y el conocimiento del dolor. Medical Epistemology: Ten Postulates on Pain It has been my interest in recent years to formally reflect on consciousness’s biological aspects and foundations, especially the brain-related and behavioral ones. In dwelling on its physiological, phenomenological, epistemological and ontological aspects, I have explored the nature of pain as a paradigmatic state of consciousness in a “neuroscience-fiction” tale (Díaz, 2002), in a work published in Mental Health (Díaz, 2007), and in a book on living consciousness (Díaz, 2007). These analyses use pain as a fertile consciousness phenomenon in order to examine the main current conjectures on the mind-body relation and the epistemological problem of scientific access to consciousness. This work is a brief summary of the main ideas explored, specified as a Decalogue of statements on the nature and knowledge of pain. (shrink)

This interpretation of the conditions of the reception of the Decalogue in medieval Christianity and the Reformation period supports the hypothesis that the leading perspectives of ethics are formed by basic assumptions of the reality of human life. This hypothesis is contrary to G.E. Moore’s socalled ›naturalistic fallacy‹, because the ›natural law‹ as an important basic assumption implies a view of nature different from modern times. It is either founded in the eternal divine law or in a flexible conception (...) close to history and change. The Melanchthonian conception, however, relies more or less on a nonhistoric view which implies the notion of human dignity combined with the construction of practical principles appealing to all human persons. In contrast to the Anglosaxon mainstream of ethical thought we find here first indicators of an ethics which combines a transcendental foundation and an examination of everyday’s norms. Thus the Decalogue inspires the search for the conceptions of reality in the background of norms. (shrink)

At the conclusion of his De lege naturae apodictica methodus, a treatise on the law of nature, how it is grasped by the human mind, and how it coheres with the Decalogue, Niels Hemmingsen claims to have eschewed the use of theological sources in his argument, claiming instead to have demonstrated ‘how far reason is able to progress without the prophetic and apostolic word’. Yet the reader of the treatise will notice several citations of theologians alongside those of pagan (...) poets and philosophers. This essay demonstrates that there is less here than meets the eye, that is, that Hemmingsen quotes theologians only to buttress what one can know from natural reason or the classical tradition, even when he is discussing God, and thus he does not violate his own stated principle. (shrink)

This essay contends that God created humanity as His co-creators to bring Him glory with one’s entire being, including imagination and creativity. Throughout Scripture, YHWH is depicted as the artistic Creator of all that is beautiful, true, and transcendent. The Bible attests the creation of humanity in the imago Dei--sharing God’s innate creativity--and divine gifting of Spirit-inspired artisans utilizing their talents for God’s glory. Yet, over the centuries, “art” was oft misunderstood and grossly neglected in Christ’s church. Philip Ryken explains (...) how medieval skeptics began removing and destroying art believed to violate the Decalogue. Imbalanced suspicions toward art in Christendom still persist, despite the positive, inspirational effects of icons in Catholic and Orthodox traditions and scientific research that shows the therapeutic value of art across a broad spectrum of mental and physical challenges, including isolation and depression. Makoto Fujimura posits that Christian creatives possess a common faith as “border-walkers,” and can affect phoenix-like positive cultural and ecclesial change by reintroducing beauty as a visible “sermon” into a fragmented, post-pandemic world. (shrink)

Although the following essay is literary-philosophical, it arose from a practical interest. I have been struck by how widespread today is the complaint about the ‘inadequate father’. Of course a father may be inadequate in diverse ways, either absconding, absent and weak, or overbearing, bullying, and tyrannical, or some combination of these. Further, I am not restricting the term ‘father’ to its narrow biological sense, but using it rather as a metaphor for any institution or structure which an individual or (...) a group feels should have been in place to guide, direct, and protect them in important situations, but did not do its job properly. Consequently they are willing to concede they are not all they could have been, but they insist it is not their fault, rather the fault of the ‘father’ who should have done his job better. This ties in with the fashionable appeal of ‘victimhood’. Everybody today seems to want to cast themselves as a ‘victim’, for reasons similar to those mentioned above. If you are a ‘victim’, then there must be an ‘oppressor’– and some ‘parent’ organization that should have guided, directed, and protected you against the oppressor, but again did not do its job adequately. It is striking how many individuals and groups around the world today choose to perceive themselves, and to present themselves to others, as ‘victims’; it has indeed become a preferred characterization of our age, for it carries with it a rhetorical advantage that trumps all others. If you are able to cast yourself as a ‘victim’, and have others accept this, you disarm and neutralize criticism, not only of what you are, but of what you are currently doing – because the latter can be presented as a just ‘compensation’ for what you have suffered. As with guilt, there is no built-in quota or statute of limitations. This rhetoric was not as common thirty or forty years ago.There is an added factor here in America and the New World generally where, according to a whispered criticism, as our ancestors crossed the ocean, they experienced a ‘drop in civilization’. Life here was initially without some of the structures and institutions which had evolved over thousands of years in the Old World, which could thus be presumed there but here were absent. As we won with difficulty our independence, we unconsciously repudiated much of the ‘higher culture’ of the colonial master, throwing out the baby with the bathwater. As the ‘economic bubble’ of having won the Second World War has gradually dissipated, we discover we are handicapped by an absence of the forms of maturation and self-realization that arise in and are necessary for dealing with prolonged peace. In our ‘ideology of liberty’, our adults become essentially grown children, unschooled in anything higher, and thus have particular difficulty assuming the responsibilities of parenthood. They are forced to fall back upon a military style of giving orders, because on this side of the water, ‘final causes’ in the form of commonly admired or agreed on goals for striving are not in place. In this sense there is an absence of the ‘adequate father’. Further, as ‘American Culture’ expands through publicity and the media, we spread the same disease.There is another relevant factor, the ‘celebrity-liberationist’ lifestyle that has been diffused into the general population since the 1960's and has become a default secular ethic of our time, replacing the traditional Judeo-Christian decalogue. The former is invoked as a justification for aggressively seeking fame and fortune, and making no attempt to conceal this; rather than worrying that such an attitude will cause offense, it is worn proudly and defiantly in the hope that others will identify with it, thereby branding the performer a cultural hero. This popular strategy towards fulfilment itself rests on a metaphysic of ‘expressive individualism’, a position that holds that the supreme ethical imperative to which other obligations must be subordinated is for each to bring forward their hidden noumenal core, the only source of value, into phenomenal appearances where it may be admired and benefit others and such that creation will for the first time be complete. This change in Western culture made possible by greater affluence and security represents a trickle-down phenomenon and democritization of the awe reserved for the artist revered as a genius during the nineteenth century, now spread to the entire population. Anything that constrains this expansion, which interrupts or limits this transfer, is to be rejected as parental abuse, psychological repression, or cultural imperialism. (shrink)

A close analysis of the composition of both versions of the Decalogue in Ex 20 and Dt 5 shows the central place of the two positive commandments: the consecration of the sabbath and the honour due to father and mother. The literary and semantic relation between these two commandments provides the key for understanding the entire text: addressing man, the first text as father and the other as son, they define him as subject of a freedom received from another (...) and recognised in the other. Freedom is also offered to the reader in so far as two texts are given to him, which are similar and different: Presence is revealed in the space left open between them. (shrink)

The article is devoted to the problem of social exist- ence normativity. In the comparative analysis of the philosophy of law, humanities and social studies, the foundations of the ontological rootedness of the norm in human existence have been evidently found. The hypothesis of the study is that the norm is not a special way of regulating behavior, but is the main form of human existence. The ontological nature of the norm outside the semantic aspect of its individual manifestations is (...) revealed. For this purpose, the basis of the analysis is determined by the Decalogue, where for the first time an attempt was made to consolidate the “pure” norm. It is shown that the norm is born in the dialectic of pro- hibition and obligation in the reflexive processes of actions of a social subject. An attempt is made to comprehensively analyze the normativity of social existence. (shrink)

Many scholars have argued that the Protestant Reformation generally departed from virtue ethics, and this claim is often accepted by Protestant ethicists. This essay argues against such discontinuity by demonstrating John Calvin’s reception of ethical concepts from Augustine and Aristotle. Calvin drew on Augustine’s concept of eudaimonia and many aspects of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics , including concepts of choice, habit, virtue as a mean, and the specific virtues of justice and prudence. Calvin also evaluated the problem of pagan virtue in (...) light of traditional Augustinian texts discussed in the medieval period. He interpreted the Decalogue as teaching virtue, including the cardinal virtues of justice and temperance. Calvin was not the harbinger of an entirely new ethical paradigm, but rather a participant in the mainstream of Christian thinkers who maintained a dual interest in Aristotelian and Augustinian eudaimonist virtue ethics. (shrink)