Biography of Madhva, d. 1386, exponent of Dvaita philosophy.

An argument for why Plato’s Laws can be considered his most important political dialogue In Plato's Second Republic, André Laks argues that the Laws, Plato’s last and longest dialogue, is also his most important political work, surpassing the Republic in historical relevance. Laks offers a thorough reappraisal of this less renowned text, and examines how it provides a critical foundation for the principles of lawmaking. In doing so, he makes clear the tremendous impact the Laws had not only on political (...) philosophy, but also on modern political history. Laks shows how the four central ideas in the Laws—the corruptibility of unchecked power, the rule of law, a “middle” constitution, and the political necessity of legislative preambles—are articulated within an intricate and masterful literary architecture. He reveals how the work develops a theological conception of law anchored in political ideas about a god, divine reason, that is the measure of political order. Laks’s reading opens a complex analysis of the relationships between rulers and citizens; their roles in a political system; the power of reason and persuasion, as opposed to force, in commanding obedience; and the place of freedom. Plato's Second Republic presents a sophisticated reevaluation of a philosophical work that has exerted an enormous if often hidden influence even into the present day. (shrink)

On the life, achievements, and preachings of five Hindu leaders of Sringeri Mutt, in Sringeri, Karnataka, India.

A critical notice of T. Kouromenos, G. M. Parássoglou, K. Tsantsanoglou, The Derveni Papyrus. Edited with Introduction and Commentary, Studi e Testi per il Corpus dei Papiri Filosofici Greci e Latini 13, Leo Olschki, Firenze, 2006.

The works of the early Greek philosophers are not only a fundamental source for understanding archaic Greek culture and the whole of ancient philosophy, but also a perennially fresh resource that has stimulated Western thought until the present day. This nine-volume edition presents all the major fragments from the sixth to the fourth centuries BC.

The Derveni papyrus is the oldest literary papyrus ever found, and one of the very few from Greece itself, which makes it one of the most interesting new texts from the ancient Greek world to have been discovered this century. The eschatological doctrines and an allegorical commentary on an Orphic theogony in terms of Presocratic physics which it contains make it a uniquely important document for the history of ancient Greek religion, philosophy, and literary criticism. This book is the first (...) to have been published on the text. It includes a full and reliable translation of the Papyrus together with a range of articles by leading European and American classicists who are internationally recognised experts in Greek religion and philosophy. Professor K. Tsantsanoglou, who will publish the papyrus when work on it is complete, presents important new material and has checked all the articles against the Papyrus. Thus for the first time, material is provided which will authorize scholarship upon the Papyrus in a way hitherto impossible, will stimulate further work on it, and will make the book a standard reference work on the subject for years to come. (shrink)

daftar-i avval. Nishastʹhā va guftigūhā -- jild-i duvvum. Mabāḥis̲-i naẓarī, tārīkhī va kārburdī -- jild-i sivvum. Insān, imāmat, siyāsat -- jild-i chahārum. Akhlāq va siyāsat.

In the _Poetics_, Aristotle, defines metaphor as the transfer of a term from a given, foreign domain to another one. If, as does the classical doctrine of tropes, we consider that it substitutes the ‘proper’ term, the metaphor has a purely ornamental value and we can do without it. Modern theories insist, on the contrary, on the cognitive value of the metaphor: because it offers a re-description of the world, the metaphor is “alive”. The question is to what extent this (...) cognitive conception of metaphor, in spite of its classical reception, is already at work in Aristotle’s differentiated analysis of the phenomenon, as Ricœur claims. The answer is ‘yes but rather no’. This is because the cognition Aristotle talks about in relation to metaphor is of a special type, a “quasi-cognition”. (shrink)

Les Lois de Platon constituent une œuvre majeure dans l'histoire de la pensée politique.

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Les cinq contributions que l’on va lire ont été présentées et discutées lors d’une journée d’étude organisée par Leopoldo Iribarren et André Laks (Centre Léon Robin, UMR 8061) les 11 et 12 février 2011 dans le cadre du programme ANR « Présocratiques Grecs/Présocratiques latins » (ANR Blanc ANR 08‑BLAN‑0063‑01, responsable A. Laks). Couvrant quelques aspects centraux ou représentatifs de la pratique pré‑aristotélicienne de l’analogie et de la réflexion (le plus souvent implicite) dont celle-ci...

It is well known that when it comes to perception in the De anima, Aristotle uses affection-related vocabulary with extreme caution. This has given rise to a debate between interpreters who hold that in Aristotle’s account, the act of sense-perception nevertheless involves the physiological alteration of the sense organ (Richard Sorabji), and those think, with Myles Burnyeat, that for Aristotle, perception does not involve any material process, so that an Aristotelian physics of sense-perception is a “physics of forms alone”. The (...) present article suggests that the dematerialisation of Aristotle’s theory of perception, which has a long story from Alexander of Aphrodisias to Brentano, may be in fact traced back to Theophrastus’ exegesis of Aristotle’s relevant passages in the De anima in his Physics, as we can reconstruct it on the basis of Priscian’s Metaphrasis in Theophrastum and Simplicius’ commentary of Aristotle’s De Anima. The reconstruction also provides a scholastic-theoretical frame to Theophrastus’ critical exposition of ancient theories about sense perception in his De sensibus, whether or not the discussion originally belonged to Theophrastus’ Physics. (shrink)

Le développement conjoint, au cours du XVIIIe siècle, de la méthode historico-critique et du perspectivisme est à l'origine d'une tension nouvelle dans le traitement de l'histoire de la philosophie. L'article analyse brièvement quelques réactions, plus ou moins radicales, à cette configuration féconde. Zeller, Dilthey, Yorck, Nietzsche, Weber, Heidegger, Rorty, sont les principaux témoins. Il est aussi suggéré que la « doxographie », en dépit de la réputation détestable dont elle jouit, aussi bien chez les historiens que chez les philosophes, demeure (...) une composante importante de toute réflexion sur la relation de la philosophie à son passé. The joint development, in the course of the XVIIIth century, of the historico-critical method on the one hand and of a self-conscious perspectivism on the other hand, created a new tension in the handling of the history of philosophy. In the following, I sketch some characteristic ways, hard or more compromising, of dealing with this lasting and, I suggest, productive tension. Zeller, Dilthey, Yorck, Nietzsche, Weber, Heidegger, Rorty are my main witnesses. In the wake of an analysis made by M. Frede, I also suggest, in the light of this tension, that « doxography », despite the detestable reputation the genre has among philosophers and historians of philosophy alike, remains an important component of any reflexion about the relationship between philosophy and its past. (shrink)

This article takes up Diogenes again, investigating some of the reasons Diogenes has been unappreciated, and making a case for Diogenes' mind-based teleology as a significant philosophical contribution. The sophists, too, have suffered from the charge, which goes back to Plato, of not being “real” philosophers. Diogenes did not bother himself with, or was not interested in, showing in what sense the world is organized in the best possible manner; this looked to him as something that happened as a matter (...) of course. What did interest him, on the other hand, was to show what the thing that exercised intelligence is. From this point of view, the emphasis is definitely not on teleology, but rather on noetics. Here, primary textual evidence is available, for the fragments, as well as Simplicius's presentation of them, definitely support the view that the point of Diogenes' argumentation was to show that intelligence is air's. (shrink)

Cet ouvrage s'inscrit dans la série des travaux que le Centre de Recherche Philosophique de l'Université de Lille III consacre à l'étude des cosmologies grecques. Après le système classique d'Empédocle et la réflexion critique d'Epicure à l'époque hellénistique, on s'intéresse ici à un penseur charnière, le dernier représentant de l' "ancienne physique".La notoriété de Diogène d'Apollonie est faible, au-delà du cercle restreint des spécialistes du Ve siècle grec. Ce tard venu n'a pas le renom d'Anaximandre ou d'Empédocle, ni celui de (...) Démocrite, dont il est contemporain. Et pourtant, sa pensée n'est pas seulement l'ultime avatar d'une lignée dont il serait au fond indigne. Elle représente au contraire une forme d'achèvement, offrant une solution possible, dans le cadre du paradigme cosmologique hérité, au problème, laissé ouvert par le système d'Anaxagore, du mode d'action de "l'intellect" (νούς) dans le monde. La pertinence et la spécificité de la démarche, qui induit une doctrine de l'immanence, ressortent clairement quand on la confronte avec la célèbre critique d'Anaxagore menée par Socrate au nom de la téléologie dans le Phédon de Platon, et qui signe l'arrêt de mort de la spéculation présocratique. (shrink)

Le terme de « rationalisation », qui renvoie à un processus menant de l’« irrationnel » au « rationnel », prend deux valeurs opposées, selon que le processus en question est considéré comme objectif ou subjectif, légitime ou non. Le développement d’une nouvelle forme de rationalité en Grèce ancienne (la philosophie) et son historiographie postérieure présentent souvent des tensions intéressantes entre les deux options. Avons-nous affaire au « phénomèn » originel, dont la raison, malgré qu’elle en ait, doit s’accommoder, ou (...) déjà à des utilisations et transpositions, qui font « référence » à des prétentions ou des types de pensée traditionnels ? L’article étudie sous ce rapport deux cas célèbres : la description fantastique que donne Parménide de son voyage chez la Déesse dans le proème de son poème et l’autoportrait d’Empédocle en « magicien » dans un de ses fragments, pour suggérer, contre certaines tendances récentes de l’interprétation, qu’ils répondent tous deux à la seconde hypothèse. (shrink)

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En la Poética, Aristóteles define la metáfora como la transferencia de un nombre de un dominio extraño a otro. Si, como en la doctrina clásica de los tropos, vemos en ella un término figurado, que sustituye al término propio, la metáfora reviste un valor puramente ornamental y el discurso podría en principio prescindir de ella. La metáfora moderna, en cambio, tiene la ambición de ofrecer una redescripción del mundo, es una metáfora viva, y por tanto cognitiva. La cuestión es saber (...) en qué medida esa concepción cognitiva de la metáfora puede apoyarse en el análisis de Aristóteles, como Ricœur lo hace. La respuesta es sí, pero no, dado que la cognición de la cuál Aristóteles habla con relación a la metáfora es una cognición de tipo especial, una “cuasi-cognición”. (shrink)