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РЕЦЕНЗИИ / REVIEWS
LAKS, ANDRÉ, trans. Glenn W. Most. The Concept of Presocratic Philosophy. Its Origin, Development, and Significance. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018, Pp. X | 137. Hardback, $29.95 ISBN 978-0-691-17545-4.
Andre Laks' The Concept of Presocratic Philosophy is a translation by Glenn Most of Introduction a la "philosophie présocratique" (Paris 2006), and follows on Most and Laks' new nine volume set of Loeb Classical Library texts, Early Greek Philosophy (Cambridge, 2016). The first two chapters discuss how we came to refer to philosophers before Socrates as 'Presocratic,' an anachronism; in Anaximander's time there existed no Socrates for him to precede. Laks identifies two conceptual caesurae, one marked by Cicero, and the other by the Platonic-Aristotelian tradition. Cicero identifies Socrates with a movement from natural philosophy to ethics, a change in content, whereas the Platonic-Aristotelian delimitation sees in Socrates a methodological change via the Socratic search for definitions. According to Laks, the methodological rupture is first brought out by Plato via the critique of Anaxagoras in the Phaedo. The 18th Century neologism "Presocratic" emerges against the backdrop of Diogenes Laertius' bifurcation of early philosophy into the Italian and Ionian schools, but also under the influence of the observations of Cicero and Aristotle. It would take a century for the terminology to be cemented, the result of Nietzsche's re-evaluation of the Presocratics, and Diels' publication of Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker in 1903. Laks assesses the evolution of Nietzsche's re-evaluation at length and explores various historiographical approaches of scholars like Zeller and Hegel.
Having looked at ways in which Socrates marks a caesura for the Presocratic philosophers, Laks discusses in what way they were philosophers. Definitional attempts fall under two oppositions, namely myth vs. reason, and scientific vs. philosophical rationality. Unlike muthos, logos excludes traditional divinities and employs strict logical connectives; unlike medicine or astronomy, philosophy's content and form change interdependently. The emergence of a specialized differentiation of philosophy from other enterprises is explored in several ancient texts. The Socrates of Plato and Xenophon specializes in a protreptic search for happiness; a Hippocratic text demarcates distinguishes medicine as practical from philosophy as theoretical; the agonistic nature of philosophy is stressed in Gorgias' Helen; the Sophists distinguish the philosopher from the statesman. Given the im-
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© G. S. Bowe, 2020
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possibility of clean lines of content demarcation, Laks advocates a functional distinction: "the distinction between science and philosophy calls for a discussion analogous to the distinction between myth and reason: a functional approach is just as advisable here as there." (51) In the final analysis, a specialized discipline called philosophy emerges in terms of two parameters: inquiry into nature as a whole, and rationalization of nature leading to formal argumentation.
Laks next examines Vernant's attempt to diminish the idea of the 'Greek miracle' of rationality. According to Vernant, Greek rationality is neither the same as nor continuous with our own, and it evolved alongside the development of the Greek polis. To this Laks counters that the Panhellenic ideal in which Greek philosophy evolved is something that transcends the polis. Whereas Vernant had seen the political and cultural upheavals of the 7th and 6th centuries as a mutation of discontinuity, Jaspers observes them as a part of a teleological and axiological trajectory. Whether seen as a continuity or a mutation, the 'originary' nature of Greek reason in relation to our own is undeniable. The question becomes how to understand the nature of 'origin' in terms of epochs marked by reference events. The danger here is that reference points are susceptible two at least two fallacies. The first is 'exhaustive subsumption,' whereby we reduce an epoch to a reference event, and the second is 'causal' whereby we mistake the reference event for the cause of the epoch. Laks employs Said's appeal to 'beginnings' marked by 'authorizations' whereby the pursuit of certain avenue of thought is given credence by an initial observation methodology or content.
The final chapter discusses two 'continental' approaches to the Presocratics, that of Gadamer and Cassirer. Gadamer maintains that only Parmenides is of primary importance, since other Presocratics can only be understood in relation to him. Gadamer's anti-relational account, in which none of the Presocratics engaged with one another, is a rejection of the Aristotelian approach, and the Hegelian dialectical approach. This is problematic insofar as we are so heavily dependent on Aristotle for accounts of them, and are incapable of assessing them on their own terms. Laks maintains that Cassier offers "one of the best available introductions to Presocratic philosophy." (85). The book concludes with a six page assessment of his thought. Although deeply Hegelian, Cassirer sees ancient philosophy not as part of the evolution of an absolute spirit, but rather in terms of the self-discovery of the logos in the process of a discipline that is creating its own contents through "the extrication of thought from determinations that are external to it." (92) Cassirer distinguishes himself from Hegel by distinguishing the form and contents of philosophy in a way that Hegel did not.
In the end, one may ask - what difference does it make how we classify these thinkers known as Presocratics, for surely they can be appreciated independently
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of such historiographical frameworks? To put the question this way however, would be to fail to contemplate, to sediment or refuse to grapple with the nature and form of that appreciation. It is in the service of this appreciation of the significance of the Presocratics for our own time and our history that Laks has provided an invaluable guide. The text is a remarkable achievement, in so far as it succinctly and eloquently captures so much in just under 100 pages. It is deeply thought provoking, not only for its presentation of the quandaries involved in assessing the Presocratics, but also for those engaged in historiography generally, for its applications extend far beyond merely the questions raised by the development of Greek philosophy.
Some critical remarks follow. 1. With regard to Laks' identification of the Phaedo as Plato's line of demarcation between Socrates and the Presocratics, I would argue that Socrates is at pains in the Apology to distinguish himself from Anaxagoras in terms of content. To most members of Socrates' jury, philosophy would have meant something like natural science, whereas Plato presents Socrates as more of a protreptic Sage. Thus we might think of the Apology as the more important text for the caesura. Given that Anaxagoras died in or around the year that Plato was born, Plato's own use of moon imagery in Republic I would marks a conceptual break from Anaxagoras' philosophy. 2. It is worth recalling Aristotle's remarks at Metaphysics 982^9 that 0 9iX6^u0og 91X6^090^ problematizes the nature of the distinction between muthos and logos that Laks highlights in this regard. 3. With regard to Laks' critique of Vernant, which is quite correct, consider Diogenes' accounts of the tripod stories in his chapters on Thales and Bias. In three accounts, the seat of wisdom is the Oracle at Delphi, but in one account it is the Oracle at Didyma, suggesting, agonistically, that Asia Minor, and not Attica is the seat of wisdom in the Greek world; the agonistic emergence of philosophy is seen as regional, as with Diogenes' Italian and Ionian schools, and not political, i.e. tied to the evolution of the polis per se.
G.S. Bowe
Istanbul Technical University, gbove@itu.edu.tr
Аннотации / Abstracts
Lunette Warren
Stellenbosch University, lunettel@sun.ac.za
The Feminine, the Origin of Evil and the Motion of Matter
in Plutarch's De animae procreatione
Language: English
Issue: ЕХОЛН 14.2 (2020) 374-393
DOL10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-374-393
Keywords: Plutarch, Plato, matter, Receptacle, motion, evil, Indefinite Dyad, Isis. Abstract. Plutarch's De animae procreatione is, by the author's own admission, an unusual account of the cosmogony in the Timaeus, yet what is most original about it is often overlooked. The philosopher and biographer has a relatively positive view of women's intellectual capabilities, including their ability to attain virtue, and as such the suggestion that the feminine principle of the cosmos is the origin of sublunary evil presents both an ethical and a metaphysical problem. Plutarch attempts to solve this problem by separating Matter from its movement, thus theorising a third kind, disorderly motion that ultimately causes evil. Even so, he maintains a close relationship between Motion and Matter by stressing their acosmic interaction, which allows for a degree of scepticism regarding the feminine and the female while creating space for the virtue of women. He does so by incorporating Matter and Motion into a single acosmic principle of disorder, the Indefinite Dyad. This division of kinds is apparent also in De Iside, where it becomes clear that Plutarch intends to frame the feminine as a potentially positive force in the cosmos.
Люнетт Уоррен
Университет Стелленбоша, lunettel@sun.ac.za Женщина, происхождение зла и движение материи в «О сотворении души в Тимее» Плутарха Язык: английский Выпуск: ЕХОЛН 14.2 (2020) 374-393
Ключевые слова: Плутарх, Платон, материя, движение, зло, неопределенная двоица, Исида.
Аннотация. «О сотворении души», по словам самого Плутарха, является необычным рассказом о космогонии в Тимее, однако то, что в нем наиболее оригинально, часто упускается из виду. Философ и биограф имеют относительно позитивный взгляд на интеллектуальные способности женщин, в том числе на их способность к достижению добродетели, и поэтому предположение о том, что женский космический принцип является источником зла в подлунном мире, представляет собой как этическую, так и метафизическую проблему. Плутарх пытается решить эту проблему, отделяя
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материю от ее движения и предлагая третье, беспорядочное движение, которое, в конечном счете, вызывает зло. Тем не менее, он поддерживает тесную связь между движением и материей, подчеркивая их акосмическое взаимодействие, которое позволяет в некоторой степени скептически относиться к женскому и женственному, создавая пространство для добродетели женщины. Он делает это, объединяя материю и движение в единый акосмический принцип беспорядка - неопределенную двоицу. Такое разделение видов проявляется и в De Iside, где становится ясно, что Плутарх намеревается представить женственность как потенциально позитивную силу в космосе.
Christos Terezis - Lydia Petridou University of Patras - Hellenic Open University terezis@upatras.gr - petridou.lydia@ac.eap.gr
The anthropological model (каЛод кауабод) in the Platonic dialogue Charmides Language: English Issue: EXOAH 14.2 (2020) 394-418 DOL10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-394-418
Keywords: Charmides, dialectics, soul, communication, temperance.
Abstract. In this study we investigate the extract 154b8-156c9 from the introductory chapters of the Platonic dialogue Charmides so that to examine how the terms of Aesthetics are formed, which focuses on the selfhood and makes it the core of dialectics. Specifically, we structure our study in two chapters each of which includes two subchapters. In the first subchapter we focus on the soul, which in the Platonic text appears to be the criterion for moral perfectness. In the second subchapter, which systematizes the former, we show how Socrates contrives to do the transition from subjective judgments to logical propositions and the terms of the authentic Aesthetics. In the third subchapter, paying attention to the first communication between Socrates and Charmides, we discuss how the Athenian philosopher sets beauty within its true boundaries and activates the logical part of the soul. In the fourth subchapter, we follow the introduction in dialectics, which will lead anyone involved in truth. The main contribution of our study is that we show how in this dialogue Plato succeeds to go from vulgar hedonism to the beauty of the soul, which is a requirement for the inner transformation of selfhood.
Кристос Терезис - Лидия Петриду
Университет Патр - Греческий открытый университет terezis@upatras.gr - petridou.lydia@ac.eap.gr
Антропологическая модель (каЛод кауабод) в платоническом диалоге Хармид
Язык: английский
Выпуск: EXOAH 14.2 (2020) 394-418
Ключевые слова: Хармид, диалектика, душа, общение, воздержание. Аннотация. В данной работе мы исследуем выдержку I54b8-156bg из вводных глав платонического диалога Хармид с тем, чтобы исследовать, как формируются те эстетические термины, которые в диалоге фокусируется на самости и делают его
846 ЕХОЛН Vol. 14. 2 (2020) Аннотации
ядром диалектики. Исследование разделено на две главы, каждая из которых включает в себя два подраздела. В первом подразделе мы концентрируемся на душе, которая в платоническом тексте является критерием нравственной совершенства. Во второй подглаве, систематизирующей первую, мы показываем, как Сократ ухитряется осуществить переход от субъективных суждений к логическим предложениям и терминам аутентичной эстетики. В третьем подразделе, обращая внимание на первую беседу Сократа и Хармида, мы обсуждаем, как афинский философ устанавливает красоту в своих истинных границах и обращается к разумной части души. В четвертом подразделе мы следуем введению в диалектику, которая призвана направлять к истине. Главный вклад нашего исследования состоит в том, что мы показываем, как в этом диалоге Платону удается перейти от вульгарного гедонизма к красоте души, которая является требованием для внутренней трансформации себя.
Kazimierz Pawlowski
Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University (Warsaw), k.pawlowski@uksw.edu.pl
The philosophical Initiation in Plato's Phaedrus
Language: English
Issue: ЕХОЛН 14.2 (2020) 419-430
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-419-430
Keywords: Plato, Socrates, Phaedrus, philosophical initiation, madness of Eros, myth. Abstract. The article deals with the topic of "initiations" in Plato's Phaedrus. The idea of initiation was characteristic of Greek mysteries, especially the Eleusinian and Orphic mysteries, which played a large role in the formation of Greek philosophy. The essence of initiations was the experience of divinity. The motive of initiations in Plato's Phaedrus seems to have a similar meaning. This is also suggested by the allegory of human souls as chariots and the mystical "epopteia" motif woven into it, suggesting Eleusinian analogies.
Казимир Павловски
Университет кардинала Стефана Вышинского (Варшава), k.pawlowski@uksw.edu.pl
Философское посвящение в «Федре» Платона
Язык: английский
Выпуск: ЕХОЛН 14.2 (2020) 419-430
Ключевые слова: Платон, Сократ, философское посвящение, безумие Эроса, миф. Аннотация. В статье рассматривается тема «посвящений» в «Федре» Платона. Идея инициации была характерна для греческих мистерий, особенно для элевсинских и орфических, которые сыграли большую роль в становлении греческой философии. Сущностью инициации был опыт божественности. Мотив инициации в Платоно-вом «Федре», похоже, имеет сходное значение. На это указывает и аллегория человеческих душ как колесниц, и вплетенный в нее мистический мотив «эпоптеи», предполагающий элевсинские аналогии.
Claudio César Calabrese
Universidad Panamericana (Mexico), ccalabrese@up.edu.mx
Plato and the cave allegory. An interpretation beginning with verbs of knowledge
Language: English
Issue: EXOAH 14.2 (2020) 431-447
DOL10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-431-447
Keywords: Plato, Republic, ancient epistemology, cave allegory, myth. Abstract. In this paper we study the organization of the allegory of the cavern through the investigation of knowledge verbs. First, we briefly follow the interpretations of the allegory of the cave that we consider most significant and our perspective: all are valid provided that each does not deny the others. At our core we analyze the verbs of knowledge: how they relate to each other and what structure of knowledge they establish. In the conclusion, we affirm that the verbs do not present a vision of being as "what is", but as "what is being"; this means, with respect to the allegory, that the relation between being and intelligibility means a pathway of mutual equalization, which the prisoner of the cave goes through; nevertheless, the attempt to reach a comprehensive intelligence of the being requires one more step: to integrate the phenomena to the comprehension of the real thing.
Клаудио Сезар Калабрезе
Панамериканский университет (Мексика), ccalabrese@up.edu.mx Платон и аллегория пещеры. Интерпретация на основе глаголов познания Язык: английский Выпуск: EXOAH 14.2 (2020) 431-447
Ключевые слова: Платон, Государство, античная эпистемология, миф. Аннотация. В данной работе мы изучаем организацию аллегории пещеры через анализ используемых в ней глаголов познания. Прежде всего, мы вкратце прослеживаем интерпретации аллегории пещеры, которые считаем наиболее значимыми с нашей точки зрения: все важны при условии при условии взаимной непротиворечивости. Анализируя глаголы познания, мы выясняем, как они соотносятся друг с другом и какую структуру знания они устанавливают. В заключение мы утверждаем, что глаголы представляют собой не видение бытия как «то, что есть», а как «то, что есть бытие»; это означает, по отношению к аллегории, что связь между бытием и постижимостью означает путь к обоюдному выравниванию, через который проходит заключенный пещеры; тем не менее, попытка достичь полного понимания бытия требует еще одного шага: интегрировать явления и понимание реального.
Andrei Seregin
Institute of Philosophy RAS (Moscow), avis12@yandex.ru
On Stoic Self-Contradictions: áSixsiv vs. ¡3Mtctsiv in Chrysippus (SVF III, 289)
Language: English
Issue: EXOAH 14.2 (2020) 448-455
848 ЕХОЛН Vol. 14. 2 (2020) Аннотации DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-448-455
Keywords: ancient ethics, Chrysippus, harm, injustice, Stoicism.
Abstract. In this article, I offer an analysis of Chrysippus' treatment of "injustice" (¿Sixia) in SVF III, 289. First, I show that he espouses two theses: I) Every injustice is an act of harming those who suffer it; II) One who does injustice to others thereby does it to oneself. Then I discuss the two most plausible interpretations of II): a) One who does "conventional" injustice to others, i.e. causes them non-moral harm, thereby does "moralistic" injustice to oneself, i.e. makes oneself morally worse; b) One who does "moralistic" injustice to others thereby does it to oneself. I show that a) is untenable because the Stoics reject the very notion of non-moral harm, and b) fails because they believe that moral harm is basically self-regarding.
Серёгин Андрей Владимирович
Институт философии РАН (Москва), e-mail: avis12@yandex.ru О самопротиворечиях стоиков: ¿Sixsiv vs. ¡3Mtctsiv у Хрисиппа (SVF III, 289) Язык: английский Выпуск: ЕХОЛН 14.2 (2020) 448-455
Ключевые слова: античная этика, вред, несправедливость, стоицизм, Хрисипп. Аннотация. В этой статье я предлагаю анализ хрисипповской трактовки «несправедливости» (¿Sixia) в SVF III, 289. Сперва я показываю, что он придерживается двух тезисов: I) Всякая несправедливость есть причинение вреда тем, кто ее терпит; II) Тот, кто причиняет несправедливость другим, тем самым причиняет ее себе. Затем я обсуждаю две наиболее правдоподобные интерпретации тезиса II): a) Тот, кто причиняет «конвенциональную» несправедливость другим, т.е. подвергает их неморальному вреду, тем самым причиняет «моралистическую» несправедливость себе, т.е. делает себя морально хуже; b) Тот, кто причиняет «моралистическую» несправедливость другим, тем самым причиняет ее себе. Я демонстрирую, что а) не срабатывает, потому что стоики отвергают само понятие неморального вреда, а b) - потому что они считают, что в сущности моральный вред каждому может причинить только он сам.
Albert van Wijngaarden
Novosibirsk State University (Russia), Albertvanw@gmail.com Lilian Karali
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece), likarali@yahoo.com
Theory and Method: Bridging the Gap between History and Archeology
Language: English
Issue: ЕХОЛН 14.2 (2020) 456-469
DOI:10.25205/1995-4328-2020-14-2-456-469
Keywords: History, Archaeology, Method, Theory, Philosophy.
Abstract. This article aims to bridge the gap between history and archaeology by linking the methodological and theoretical developments of both scientific disciplines. This is done by tracing general societal trends and developments within both disciplines, divid-
