Books by Giannis Stamatellos
Plotinus and the Moving Image offers the first philosophical discussion on Plotinus' philosophy a... more Plotinus and the Moving Image offers the first philosophical discussion on Plotinus' philosophy and film. It discusses Plotinian concepts like "the One" in a cinematic context and relates Plotinus' theory of time as a transitory intelligible movement of the soul to Bergson’s and Deleuze’s time-image. Film is a unique medium for a rapprochement of our modern consciousness with the thought of Plotinus. The Neoplatonic vestige is particularly worth exploring in the context of the newly emerging “Cinema of Contemplation.” Plotinus' search for the "intelligible" that can be grasped neither by sense perception nor by merely logical abstractions leads to a fluent way of seeing. Parallels that had so far never been discussed are made plausible. This book is a milestone in the philosophy of film.
Filling the void in the current scholarship, Giannis Stamatellos provides the first book-length s... more Filling the void in the current scholarship, Giannis Stamatellos provides the first book-length study of the Presocratic influences in Plotinus’ Enneads. Widely regarded as the founder of Neoplatonism, Plotinus (204–270 AD) assimilated eight centuries of Greek thought into his work. In this book Stamatellos focuses on eminent Presocratic thinkers who are significant in Plotinus’ thought, including Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, the early Pythagoreans, and the early Atomists. The Presocratic references found in the Enneads are studied in connection with Plotinus’ fundamental theories of the One and the unity of being, intellect and the structure of the intelligible world, the nature of eternity and time, the formation of the material world, and the nature of the ensouled body. Stamatellos concludes that, contrary to modern scholarship’s dismissal of Presocratic influence in the Enneads, Presocratic philosophy is in fact an important source for Plotinus, which he recognized as valuable in its own right and adapted for key topics in his thought.
The rapid advancement of information technology in modern societies affects the way we live, comm... more The rapid advancement of information technology in modern societies affects the way we live, communicate, work, and entertain. Computers and computer networks formulate an information age in which traditional ethical questions are reexamined and new questions arise concerning moral standards for human behavior. Computer Ethics: A Global Perspective presents a clear and concise introduction to the ethical and social issues sparked by our ever-growing information society at the local and global level. Designed for use as a main text in undergraduate and graduate courses that focus on computer, business, and applied ethics, the text is also ideal for the Information Technology in a Global Society course for the International Baccalaureate diploma. The text considers the impact of digitized information on individuals and societies and includes discussions on privacy, reliability, security, intellectual property, control, equality of access, and authenticity, with insights from the scientists and philosophers who have attempted to evaluate, explain, and resolve these issues. The text also discusses the social impact of information technology in different areas of human life such as business, health, education, entertainment and politics.
Introduction to Presocratics presents a succinct introduction to Greek thinkers of the 6th and 5t... more Introduction to Presocratics presents a succinct introduction to Greek thinkers of the 6th and 5th century BCE and a thematic exploration of the topics and enquiries opened by these first philosophers and scientists of the Western tradition.
Φιλοσοφία και θρησκεία στην ύστερη αρχαιότητα, Εκάτη, 2007, 55 σελ. ISBN 978-960-408-072-4
Papers by Giannis Stamatellos
The Virtue of Harmony, edited by Chenyang Li and Dasha Düring, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021, 116-137, 2022
In Plotinus' Enneads, the concept of harmony is mainly discussed in relation to intelligible beau... more In Plotinus' Enneads, the concept of harmony is mainly discussed in relation to intelligible beauty and musical melody, the Pythagorean doctrine of soul's harmony, the universal harmony of the heavenly spheres, the nature of the perceptible bodies and the correlation between virtue and harmony. Modern scholarship emphasizes the Platonic-Pythagorean elements of Plotinus' harmonia. However, limited attention has been paid to the pre-Platonic origins of the concept of harmony in the Enneads as well as its connection to Plotinus' theory of virtue. The aim of this paper is twofold: firstly, to explore Plotinus' concept of harmony in light of Heraclitus' concordance of opposites and, secondly, to compare Plotinus' account of harmony to his virtue ethics. It is suggested that Plotinus' harmonia is not only found in musical harmony and the concordance of opposites but also to the virtue of justice as the harmonious concordance of the soul's different parts.
Journal of Ancient Philosophy, 2022
Analogy entails a comparison between objects or a system of objects that seem to be similar or al... more Analogy entails a comparison between objects or a system of objects that seem to be similar or alike in some respects: since objects are similar in certain observable or identified cases, they are also similar in some other unobservable or unidentified cases (Bartha 2019). Analogy is not only used in literal cases, but also in cases of metaphor and explanation. Similes and analogies are common in Homer: 'whiteness' is expressed by comparison to the snow or the sun, 'sweetness' by comparison to honey, 'hardness' to stone or iron (Lloyd 1966). As Lloyd observes, for the modern reader, the Homeric similes might be considered as "literary devices deliberately used to enliven repetitious descriptions", but, as he further suggests, they also "serve important purposes besides those which may very broadly be termed stylistic, they "reveal the fundamental role which comparisons play in conveying certain notions" (Lloyd 1966, 183-184).
Philosophical Review, 2009
... by Michael Campochiaro Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stamatellos, Gianni... more ... by Michael Campochiaro Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stamatellos, Giannis, 1970-Plotinus and the presocratics : a philosophical study of presocratic influences in Plotinus' Enneads I Giannis Stamatellos. ... To my grandparents Nikos and Elpinike Tetradi ...
Journal of Ancient Philosophy, 2013
The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition
Advances in experimental medicine and biology, 2017
The utilization of digital tools aiming at the cognitive enhancement of students and adults, so t... more The utilization of digital tools aiming at the cognitive enhancement of students and adults, so that they can achieve better performance and professional or academic success, has increased in recent years. This paper focuses on ICT tools such as computer games, programming languages and educational software as means for cognitive enhancement and attempts to highlight their contributions. Issues of design and the limitations of digital tools are discussed. In the final section, the ethical implications of using educational ICT tools for cognitive enhancement from a virtue ethics perspective are presented.
ABSTRACT This article has no abstract
International Journal of Cyber Ethics in Education, 2011
In normative ethical theory, computer ethics belongs to the area of applied ethics dealing with p... more In normative ethical theory, computer ethics belongs to the area of applied ethics dealing with practical and everyday moral problems arising from the use of computers and computer networks in the information society. Modern scholarship usually approves deontological and utilitarian ethics as appropriate to computer ethics, while classical theories of ethics, such as virtue ethics, are usually neglected as anachronistic and unsuitable to the information era and ICT industry. During past decades, an Aristotelian form of virtue ethics has been revived in modern philosophical enquiries with serious attempts for application to computer ethics and cyberethics. In this paper, the author argues that current trends and behaviours in online communication require an ethics of self-care found in Plotinus’ self-centred virtue ethics theory. The paper supports the position that Plotinus’ virtue ethics of intellectual autonomy and self-determination is relevant to cyberethics discussions involved...
Ethical Technology Use, Policy, and Reactions in Educational Settings, 2013
100 of the Most Important Arguments in Western Philosophy, 2011
The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition, 2012
The Classical Review, 2013
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Books by Giannis Stamatellos
Papers by Giannis Stamatellos
xiv + 162, map. Malden, MA and Oxford: Wiley–Blackwell, 2012.
Nuria Scapin
The Classical Review / Volume 64 / Issue 01 / April 2014, pp 48 - 50
a piece of wood floats on a pond, so the whole earth floats on water”, A14; A12), while in Anaximenes the same analogy is used in the relationship between the human soul and the cosmos (“as our soul, which is air, maintain us, so breath and air surround the whole world”, B2). Analogy is also found in Anaximenes’ inductive reasoning used for rhetorical, metaphoric and explanatory purposes (A7, A12, A14, A15). The aim of this paper is to explore analogical reasoning in Heraclitus of Ephesus (fl. c. 500 BCE). I shall argue that for Heraclitus analogy is a pattern of thought with argumentative value particularly in relation to his ontology (B79, B90, B36), epistemology (B61, B111, B124), politics (B44) and ethics (B9, B13). I suggest that Heraclitus uses the pattern of analogy in order to criticize the relativity of human perception and opinion in favor of the unity and totality of logos. Heraclitus’ analogical reasoning is a form of induction that should be also contrasted to Parmenides’ ontology and metaphysics of being.
Project: BEAGLE - Bioethical Education and Attitude Guidance for Living
Environment (Erasmus Plus KA2, 2018-1-HR01-KA201-047484)
Saturday, 19 February 2022, 18.00 – 20.00 (Greece time)
Giannis Stamatellos, PhD
The workshop aims to offer a concise introduction to early Greek philosophical ethics. Cicero (106 – 43 BCE) emphatically stated that “Socrates was the first who brought down philosophy from heaven to earth and placed it in cities, and introduced it even in homes, and drove it to inquire about life and customs and things good and evil (Tusculan Disputations V.10). Aristotle in Metaphysics 987b2 regarded Socrates as the philosopher who wondered extensively on ‘ethical matters’. Aristotle further claimed that Socrates’ teaching focused on ‘definitions’ found not to the world of nature as a whole but to the universal principles of ethics. However, the Derveni Papyrus demonstrated a wide range of Presocratic themes including ethics. Presocratic philosophy was not only an enquiry on the cosmos and physical reality, but also on the aporia of human life, virtue, excellence and the soul’s purification. Whereas virtue ethics systematically developed and discussed by Socratic and post-Socratic philosophical movements, the early Greek philosophical tradition should not be excluded from an ethical discourse. Eminent Presocratic thinker such as Xenophanes, Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Empedocles, Democritus and Archelaus enquired on key areas of early Greek philosophical ethics.
Workshop: Environmental Computing.
Educational methods: Workshop lectures, interactive learning, and philosophical discussions in a Socratic form of dialogue on environmental ethics and computer technology facilitated with the use of multimedia infographics and mind maps.