Mark Lamarre
Ancient philosophy, Classical Studies, Neoplatonism, Comparative Religion, Symbolism, Eastern Philosophy
Ancient philosophers I read or have studied: Empedocles, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Epictetus, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Plotinus, Iamblichus, Proclus, Philo
Renaissance: Nicholas Cusanus
Modern Scholars
Comparative Religion/Structuralism: Claude Levi-Strauss, Jane Ellen Harrrison, Walter Burkert
Philosophy: F. M. Cornford, Charles H. Khan, A.A. Long, Emile Brehier, Jerome Carcopino, Oswald Spengler, Edgar Morin
No known relation to William Lamarre, the Franciscan critic and contemporary of Thomas Aquinas, author of Reprehensorium seu Correctorium Fratris Thomae (1285) pending further research.
Little quotes Charles in a footnote to page 215 in treating of William de la Mare or de Mara a disciple of Bonaventura that "the serious part of his work seems directly inspired by Bacon". Little adds that no doubt William de Lamarre, as Charles termed him, "had come. under Bacon's influence either at Oxford or Paris". The work in question, taking the form of an anti- Aquinas criticism, was published in 1284. (ROGER BACON in Life and Legend, E. WESTACOTT, 1953, p. 56)
Alexander of Hales and his disciple Bonaventura accept the teaching of Gabirol that spiritual substances consist of matter and form. William of Lamarre is likewise a defender of Gabirolean doctrine. (The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls)
Ancient philosophers I read or have studied: Empedocles, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Epictetus, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Plotinus, Iamblichus, Proclus, Philo
Renaissance: Nicholas Cusanus
Modern Scholars
Comparative Religion/Structuralism: Claude Levi-Strauss, Jane Ellen Harrrison, Walter Burkert
Philosophy: F. M. Cornford, Charles H. Khan, A.A. Long, Emile Brehier, Jerome Carcopino, Oswald Spengler, Edgar Morin
No known relation to William Lamarre, the Franciscan critic and contemporary of Thomas Aquinas, author of Reprehensorium seu Correctorium Fratris Thomae (1285) pending further research.
Little quotes Charles in a footnote to page 215 in treating of William de la Mare or de Mara a disciple of Bonaventura that "the serious part of his work seems directly inspired by Bacon". Little adds that no doubt William de Lamarre, as Charles termed him, "had come. under Bacon's influence either at Oxford or Paris". The work in question, taking the form of an anti- Aquinas criticism, was published in 1284. (ROGER BACON in Life and Legend, E. WESTACOTT, 1953, p. 56)
Alexander of Hales and his disciple Bonaventura accept the teaching of Gabirol that spiritual substances consist of matter and form. William of Lamarre is likewise a defender of Gabirolean doctrine. (The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls)
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Papers by Mark Lamarre
The first condition for an understanding of Empedocles is to banish the notion of a gulf between religious beliefs and scientific views. His work is a whole, in which religion, poetry, and philosophy are indissolubly united. His imagination is constructive, gathering elements from every available quarter-Hesiodic and Ionian cosmogony, Parmenidean rationalism, Orphic mysticism, poetic legend, the experience of a physician, a poet’s sensuous response to the sights and sounds of mature, and the fears and hopes of a spirit exiled from heaven for ‘a brief span of life that is not life’- but building all these elements together into a unitary vision of the life of the world and the destiny of the human soul, bound, like the macrocosm, upon the wheel of birth and death (Cornford 122).
To give an idea of how Empedocles articulates the elements of muthos and logos in his system, eleven fragments have been chosen in an attempt to illustrate the basic aspects of his system with an attention to mythical aspects:
It is interesting to note that Plato only makes limited use of the term, usually in the context of a brief but substantial digression on the importance of the dialectical science. The aim of this paper is to get a better understanding of Plato's dialectic method by doing a brief survey of the relevant passages that explain dialectic found in the Republic, the Phaedrus, the Sophist, the Statesman and the Philebus and see how they compare.
1. Religion
2. Greek Beauty
3. Plato's notion of Beauty
4. Myth and Vision
5. The Fall from Grace
6. The Stairway to Heaven
7. Dialectic of the Good and Dialectic of Beauty
8. Apollo and Dionysus
Plato’s reflections on beauty emphasize the more intuitive, creative side of the intellect. Throughout his dialogues, one notices recurrent dynamic, complementary tensions between philosophy and myth, reason and poetry, practical and creative art. Fittingly, it is perhaps in the Symposium, widely considered a literary masterpiece, where Plato achieves the most cohesive balance between reason and intuition, philosophy and art.
(1) Happiness (Eudaimonia).
(2) The nature of the soul.
(2. a) Dynamics of virtue and vice.
(2. b) Voluntary and involuntary choices and actions.
(2. c) Pleasure and pain.
(3) Friendship (Philia).
(4) Moral Virtues.
(5) Intellectual Virtues
(5a) Productive arts (Tekne).
(5b) Practical Reason (Phronesis).
(5c) Scientific knowledge (Episteme).
(5d) Intellectual Reason (Nous).
(5e) Philosophical wisdom (Sophia).
(5f) Contemplative Life.
It has been observed that Plato’s Gorgias is a dialogue that Epictetus seems to favour in particular. There are at least two clear paraphrases from that dialogue in the Discourses. Otherwise, the references are not always explicit and are adapted to his Stoic terminology and his own personal style, so that the correspondences are more thematic than textual. The Gorgias is a dialogue that discusses what rhetoric is and through the course of the dialogue, examines notions of pleasure, tyranny, virtue, justice, politics, culminating in extended monologues by Socrates on the nature of the good life, before concluding with a myth about the judgment of the soul. It is considered a major exposition of Socratic ethics and had an influence on the Early as well as the Middle Stoa.
In order to get an idea of the influence of the Gorgias on Stoicism and on Epictetus in particular, what follows is a series of passage taken from the Gorgias paired with a corresponding passage from Epictetus’ Discourses. The comments aim to briefly point out the essential notions that Epictetus retains from the Gorgias and how he adapts them to Stoic doctrine and his personal style. Moreover, related notions from early Stoic doctrine will be discussed when appropriate.
In terms of virtue ethics, his system is largely compatible with Oakley’s six points. His four elements that explain virtue ethics can be considered to address the problem of normative decision criteria in a way that is compatible with Oakley reflections on the problem. In terms of deontology, it would be more difficult to consider in terms of modern deontological theory because his systems is not grounded in a fundamental deontological perspective. His deontological notions are dependent and intimately related to his consequentialist principles. However, his distinction between universal and individual roles is similar to Nagel’s proposal of a two-tier system that allows for more agent-relative concerns in deontological theory.
In modern terms one of the problems that can be pointed out is that his moral theory is not clearly separated from his applied ethics. One could argue that this makes it difficult to comply to the criteria of consistency and determinacy. On the positive side, it could be argued that this holistic aspect is a factor that guards against the problem of alienation of agent-neutral theories.
Another problem is that his moral principles are strongly grounded in a collective perspective. Quite often moral dilemmas are solved by giving priority to collective projects overall individual ones. Although Cicero’s discusses this problem with his reflections on how to balance the honourable with the beneficial. However, overall, it is probably no more self-effacing than some of the more demanding forms of consequentialism. Moreover, his moral theory relies heavily on popular morality and social traditions. Therefore how well the explanatory value succeeds in terms of grounding right action is problematic. However, these traditional moral concepts have gone through a considerable amount of logical analysis, mainly from stoic theorists and academic skepticism (Cicero x).
Overall, in terms of modern theory, Cicero’s system ultimately would need more work in terms consistency and determinacy and could need more work in explaining how the deontological aspect is integrated into his system. However, it presents interesting elements of compatibility with debates that seek to propose more flexible systems that seek a balance between agent-neutral and agent-relative concepts. It has a complex, holistic, systemic aspect that could effectively offer interesting perspectives in terms of dealing with the complexities of modern moral theories.
I proposes to practically apply this process to a relevant philosophical text to demonstrate what type of conclusions can be derived from the process and what type of disclosures can be determined. The text chosen for this purpose is the seventh treatise of the third Ennead of Plotinus entitled ‘’Eternity and Time’’. Besides being an important text from the Greek philosophical tradition, so important to Heidegger’s project, it is also important because, besides Aristotle’s analysis in Physics (4,10-14), it is the only major ancient Greek work on time that has come down to us. Moreover, the text explicitly places the understanding of Being on the horizon of temporality, a criteria that Heidegger stresses.
Plotinian terms compared to Heideggerian terms:
Eternity. Eternity is described as the radiation of the substratum of the intellectual principle. It is in state of unending, changeless, timelessness. It would be comparable to Heidegger’s notion of Primordial Time (see BT 331).
Time – Time is described as the activity of the soul in the world, and following Plato an image of eternity. Comparable to the temporalization of time (See BT366).
Being – Being is related to eternity; real being in its absolute ideal state is unmanifested. Comparable to Authentic Being. (see BT 267).
Existence – Existence is the manifestation of being in the world of becoming, in reference to the Timaeus. Comparable to "World" (see BT 95).
World Soul, Soul – The dynamic essence which governs the totality of the universe. Comparable to Being in the World (see BT 53). When referring to the human soul as genus, comparable to Dasein (see BT 42).
Futurity - Condition of existence as forward impulse. Comparable to the concept of futural (see BT 325).
Falling. The cosmogonic manifestation of the world soul at a macrocosmic level (Timaeus). Described here as a falling from Eternity into Time. With reference to the Phaedrus, the incarnation of human souls. Comparable to falling, throwness (See BT 176).
Desire – The desire for the soul to create according to ideal principles, the cause of it’s falling. Comparable to care (See BT 193).
Vision – A higher state of being obtained by gaining sight of eternity, considered as the teleologic goal of existence. Comparable to moment of vision (See BT 292).
Being-in-time. A concomitant state of Being-in-the-world. Comparable to within-time.
To situate things in the Protrepticus , chapter nineteen contains prominent Platonic ethical, social, political considerations from the Gorgias (506c-508a), the Menexenus (246d-248b) and Laws II (661d). Therefore, inclusion of the late fourth fifth century sophistic social political text that is the Anonymous Iamblichi , into chapter 20 can be seen, on one level, as a continuation of themes presented more explicitly in the previous chapter. According to Des Places, the purpose of that text is to present simpler economic and political considerations for a wider, more popular audience appeal (Protreptique 19). Moreover, according to Cole, the text if not directly, at least thematically, has had an appeal to other Platonist-oriented philosophers.
Cole makes many suggestive comparisons of the Anonymous with book two of Cicero’s On Duties, which is mainly derived from Panaetius, and which contains a more elaborate discussion of themes similar to the Anonymus text. Furthermore, Des Places has described the Platonistic aspects of Panaetius that can be found in book I of Cicero’s On Duties (Platonisme 259-69). Cole also notes that, if the attribution of the text to a follower of Democritus is correct, then the frequent associating of Democritus with Pythagoreanism could have caused to text to be placed in a Pythagorean compilation accessible to Iamblichus. The emphasis on the importance of childhood education in acquiring virtue, what constitutes an honourable life, dream psychology, the importance of following laws for social stability, Protagorean anthropological speculation , theories of tyranny are elements that would give the treatise a Platonist-friendly appeal. Moreover, the use of simple, dualistic opposites could appeal to the outlook of Pythagorean-influenced Platonism found in the Phaedo and Gorgias.
Treatise XVII of the Commentaries on the Republic, dealing with Aristotle’s objections to the aspects of the central books of the Republic from book II of the Politics, will be used as a starting point because it is a relatively straightforward exposition grounded in the original Platonic and Aristotelian texts. This paper will not be examining Aristotle’s arguments against Plato per se, but will rather try to examine the specifically Proclean views that emerge from the Platonic/Aristotelian debate and use those as a launching-point for further exploration of Proclus’ political philosophy.
The aim of this paper is to examine the Elements of Physics, mainly from an epistemological perspective. I will begin by noticing the Platonic, Euclidean and Aristotelian aspects of the work. The work is distinctive in that it is almost entirely composed of direct paraphrases from the Physics VI and VIII and De Caelo I of Aristotle with no additional commentary and is presented in the format of a textbook in the style of Euclid’s Elements, which is a kind of logical structure that is a familiar part of Proclus’ philosophical repertoire.
The Paper is divided into four sections:
1- Epistemological context of Aristotle and Euclid
2- Comparison with Aristotle's Physics and De Caelo
3- Comparison with Elements of Theology and Commentary on Euclid's Elements; Analysis of Neoplatonic elements
4- Historical influence and relevance to philosophy of science
Turning to the text, The Salvation, ‘’Metaphysics,’’ II. 12, it is stated that ‘’at any one and the same time there cannot be for anything that is possible in itself a cause that is possible ad infinitum’’ (II.12.2). Here he’s saying that a possible being cannot have an infinite amount of causes at the same time. Because if that infinite totality of causes would itself have either an internal cause or an external necessary cause. It can’t be internal, because it would either be (a) necessary, which is not an option because everything internal to that totality is possible; then (b) an internal possible cause – which is not an option because that would make it a part of the totality and a part can’t be a cause of the whole. So if that cause is not internal, then it has to be external. It can’t be possible, because all of the possible causes have been established in that inner totality. Therefore it has to be necessary. He concludes the argument by stating that:
Thus, things existing possibly terminate in a cause existing necessarily, in which case not every effect that exists as something possible will have simultaneously with it a cause that exists as something possible, and so an infinite number of causes existing at a single time is impossible. (II.12.2)
This argument can be considered as a subsidiary conclusion to Avicenna’s main argument for the proof of God’s existence (McGinnis 166-67). There are considered to be four main categories of arguments: (1) the metaphysical proof from necessity; (2) the proof from movement; (3) the proof from causality; (4) the proof from ontology (Netton 172-73). The themes are similar to the discussions on the problem of infinite causal regress as discussed for example in book two of Alexander of Aphrodisias’ On Aristotle’s Metaphysics. I think that he is essentially concerned with establishing a logical argument that integrates a hierarchy of ontological causality rather than simply natural causality. In that sense, it could be considered similar to the ‘’a posteriori cosmological arguments’’ of the quinque via of ThomasAquinas (Netton 173).
Threre will be comparison to the myths of Cybele-Attis, Isis-Osiris, Demeter-Persephone, Mary-Christ according to a mixed-model comprised mainly of Eliade, Burkert, Propp.
A - Brief Overview of the Inanna – Dumuzi Myth Cycl
1. The Courtship / Sacred Marriage.
2. Inanna’s Descent to the Underworld / Dumuzi’s Death.
3. Lamentations / Return of Dumuzi
B. Comparison with Mystery-Religion myths
1-Consort with Fertility Goddess.
2- Royalty and Shepherding.
3- Death and Journey to the underworld.
4- Symbiotic fertility and seasonal cycles.
5- Ritual Lamentations and searching.
6- Ascent from Underworld / Revival of Dead.
7-Divine Couple and Sacred Marriage. Marriage
C- Symbolic interpretations
a- Gnostic Symbolism.
b- Platonic Symbolism.
c- Structuralist approach.
d- Psychological Interpretation.
Additionally, various shades of red in relation to various fabric materials are possibly used to create further allusions to blood imagery (Goheen 115). These elements generally appear in the context of scenes with sacrifice rituals and ceremony (or allusions thereof); as Walter Burkert has observed of the Agamemnon, ''through it the language of sacrificial ritual runs like a leitmotiv'' .
The blood-soaked net used to kill Agamemnon, which is equated to a robe, very significantly reappears in the scene where Orestes kills Clytemnestra and Aegysthus (Cho. 972-1043). In his impassioned speech prior to the arrival of the Furies, it becomes the key symbol of his father's murder. Post-Freudian psychoanalytical theorist Melanie Klein equates this episode with a paranoid-psychotic disturbance. Following Freud, she develops a suggestive theory based on the Orestes trilogy, designating it an ''inverted Oedipus Complex''.
The play ends with a procession of women (Eum. 1015-1045). Tellingly, the members are wearing robes of a red (phoenix) colour, which can be linked with the purple tapestry, metaphorically indicating a ''conversion of the (darkly ) lethal carpet into a (perhaps more brightly tinted) symbol of blessing '' (Goheen 125). The examples here then conceivably give an indication of how Aeschylus uses elements of ritual and colour, as well as organic natural elements such as blood that resonate at several levels, from the concrete to the psychological to the metaphysical, thus giving into the complexity of human nature.
A.Description of the iconographic and decorative aspects of the vase, which depicts a scene of three woman and a man in a ritual scene. One woman holds a thyrsus and tympaneum and there is a tripod.
B. Analysis of the elements in relation to the history and development of Greek vase art. Mayo has observed that ‘’death, marriage, and the mysteries is a frequent triad in South Italian and Sicilian vase-painting’’ (283). These aspects will be examined, in the context of feminine themes, to see if they can shed light on the imagery and function of the vase.
1. Feminine aspects
2. Marriage aspects
3. Funerary aspects
4. Dyonisian aspects
5. Orphic aspects
C. Interpretation. Ariadne has often been linked with Aphrodite (Otto 182-85). Figure 29 (de Grummond 92) is a wall painting from Pompeii depicting Dionysus and Ariadne watching a contest between Pan and Eros, aptly illustrating the combination of the worlds of Dionysus and Aphrodite. Figure 30 (Lissarague in Masks 21), from a fifth century Bell krater, depicting what could be a puberty initiation scene, illustrates Dionysus and Ariadne in a ritual context. The Maenad holding the rabbit, a well-known fertility symbol could be an aspect linking Ariadne to Aphrodite.
The portrait on the Montreal Centuripe vase could serve to indicate that the deceased identified herself with Ariadne, as her features resembles the Ariadne figure on the body. The head can be related to the ascension of Aphrodite in a role of chthonian goddess (Calinescu in Mayo 143), and possibly related to Ariadne’s divinization after her revival by Dionysus, where Zeus placed her crown in the heavens (Seyffert 64). As shown in figures 11-14, Centuripe imagery has been related to the Dionysus and Ariadne figures of the frieze of the Villa of Mysteries.
This brief study purports to examine the important theological/narrative role she played through a comparative examination of three important examples of the several ‘Enthroned Virgin’ or ‘Madonna and child in Majesty’ iconographic images at Chartres; namely, the Right Porch Tympaneum of the West Façade, the North Rose Window, and the ‘Blue Virgin’ stained glass window.
At the same time, the world is subject to the entropic forces of death and decay. And so as well as trying to recognize and imitate divine immanence in the world, Hinduism strives to face the reality of death and decline by renewal; and this renewal is realized by re-enacting, re-connecting with the primordial acts of divine creation and the essential eternal archetypes. This is the transcendent aspect and it is realized primarily through ritual and sacrifice. ‘’The orderly arrangement of the cosmos is like the ritual construction of the sacrificial altar, which subsequently re-enacts creation’’(Rodrigues 2006, 48). This essay will show how the divine manifests its imminent and transcendent nature by looking at the themes of Vedic cosmology, temple ritual, and the union with the divine in the Baghavad Gita.
Moreover, one can notice signs of integration of more archaic traditions, possibly deriving from shamanistic Bon heritage. Samuel notes that as ‘’ time went on, the Kadampa came to occupy a similar place to the hereditary shamans of the Nyingmapa and Bonpo as performers of rituals for the lay population’’ (470), and that what ‘’Atisa brought to Tibet, however, was a combination of the clerical and shamanic approaches. His activity was the first important step in the establishment of a Buddhist tradition that would combine both elements’’ (470).
Cette dissertation propose en première partie, d’explorer la pratique de la vénération ancestrale et leurs liens avec les relations familiales à travers l’histoire de la Corée : La période préhistorique, la période des trois royaumes, la dynastie Koryo, et la dynastie Choson. Ensuite je vais dégager les principes essentiels des traditions de vénération familiale et ancestrale coréennes en examinant les valeurs familiales néo-confucéennes, les rôles familiaux dans le contexte de la vénération ancestrale et les éléments de bases des rites ancestraux
Dans la deuxième partie, je vais examiner la question des changements dans la société coréenne dans la l’époque moderne. Par la suite, je vais regarder comment les différentes formes religieuses ont répondu à ces changements. La religion chrétienne (catholique et protestante), les nouvelles religions, ainsi que le confucianisme et le bouddhisme seront examinés. Je vais terminer en m’attardant sur la question de l’avenir de la vénération familiale et ancestrale en corée.
The first condition for an understanding of Empedocles is to banish the notion of a gulf between religious beliefs and scientific views. His work is a whole, in which religion, poetry, and philosophy are indissolubly united. His imagination is constructive, gathering elements from every available quarter-Hesiodic and Ionian cosmogony, Parmenidean rationalism, Orphic mysticism, poetic legend, the experience of a physician, a poet’s sensuous response to the sights and sounds of mature, and the fears and hopes of a spirit exiled from heaven for ‘a brief span of life that is not life’- but building all these elements together into a unitary vision of the life of the world and the destiny of the human soul, bound, like the macrocosm, upon the wheel of birth and death (Cornford 122).
To give an idea of how Empedocles articulates the elements of muthos and logos in his system, eleven fragments have been chosen in an attempt to illustrate the basic aspects of his system with an attention to mythical aspects:
It is interesting to note that Plato only makes limited use of the term, usually in the context of a brief but substantial digression on the importance of the dialectical science. The aim of this paper is to get a better understanding of Plato's dialectic method by doing a brief survey of the relevant passages that explain dialectic found in the Republic, the Phaedrus, the Sophist, the Statesman and the Philebus and see how they compare.
1. Religion
2. Greek Beauty
3. Plato's notion of Beauty
4. Myth and Vision
5. The Fall from Grace
6. The Stairway to Heaven
7. Dialectic of the Good and Dialectic of Beauty
8. Apollo and Dionysus
Plato’s reflections on beauty emphasize the more intuitive, creative side of the intellect. Throughout his dialogues, one notices recurrent dynamic, complementary tensions between philosophy and myth, reason and poetry, practical and creative art. Fittingly, it is perhaps in the Symposium, widely considered a literary masterpiece, where Plato achieves the most cohesive balance between reason and intuition, philosophy and art.
(1) Happiness (Eudaimonia).
(2) The nature of the soul.
(2. a) Dynamics of virtue and vice.
(2. b) Voluntary and involuntary choices and actions.
(2. c) Pleasure and pain.
(3) Friendship (Philia).
(4) Moral Virtues.
(5) Intellectual Virtues
(5a) Productive arts (Tekne).
(5b) Practical Reason (Phronesis).
(5c) Scientific knowledge (Episteme).
(5d) Intellectual Reason (Nous).
(5e) Philosophical wisdom (Sophia).
(5f) Contemplative Life.
It has been observed that Plato’s Gorgias is a dialogue that Epictetus seems to favour in particular. There are at least two clear paraphrases from that dialogue in the Discourses. Otherwise, the references are not always explicit and are adapted to his Stoic terminology and his own personal style, so that the correspondences are more thematic than textual. The Gorgias is a dialogue that discusses what rhetoric is and through the course of the dialogue, examines notions of pleasure, tyranny, virtue, justice, politics, culminating in extended monologues by Socrates on the nature of the good life, before concluding with a myth about the judgment of the soul. It is considered a major exposition of Socratic ethics and had an influence on the Early as well as the Middle Stoa.
In order to get an idea of the influence of the Gorgias on Stoicism and on Epictetus in particular, what follows is a series of passage taken from the Gorgias paired with a corresponding passage from Epictetus’ Discourses. The comments aim to briefly point out the essential notions that Epictetus retains from the Gorgias and how he adapts them to Stoic doctrine and his personal style. Moreover, related notions from early Stoic doctrine will be discussed when appropriate.
In terms of virtue ethics, his system is largely compatible with Oakley’s six points. His four elements that explain virtue ethics can be considered to address the problem of normative decision criteria in a way that is compatible with Oakley reflections on the problem. In terms of deontology, it would be more difficult to consider in terms of modern deontological theory because his systems is not grounded in a fundamental deontological perspective. His deontological notions are dependent and intimately related to his consequentialist principles. However, his distinction between universal and individual roles is similar to Nagel’s proposal of a two-tier system that allows for more agent-relative concerns in deontological theory.
In modern terms one of the problems that can be pointed out is that his moral theory is not clearly separated from his applied ethics. One could argue that this makes it difficult to comply to the criteria of consistency and determinacy. On the positive side, it could be argued that this holistic aspect is a factor that guards against the problem of alienation of agent-neutral theories.
Another problem is that his moral principles are strongly grounded in a collective perspective. Quite often moral dilemmas are solved by giving priority to collective projects overall individual ones. Although Cicero’s discusses this problem with his reflections on how to balance the honourable with the beneficial. However, overall, it is probably no more self-effacing than some of the more demanding forms of consequentialism. Moreover, his moral theory relies heavily on popular morality and social traditions. Therefore how well the explanatory value succeeds in terms of grounding right action is problematic. However, these traditional moral concepts have gone through a considerable amount of logical analysis, mainly from stoic theorists and academic skepticism (Cicero x).
Overall, in terms of modern theory, Cicero’s system ultimately would need more work in terms consistency and determinacy and could need more work in explaining how the deontological aspect is integrated into his system. However, it presents interesting elements of compatibility with debates that seek to propose more flexible systems that seek a balance between agent-neutral and agent-relative concepts. It has a complex, holistic, systemic aspect that could effectively offer interesting perspectives in terms of dealing with the complexities of modern moral theories.
I proposes to practically apply this process to a relevant philosophical text to demonstrate what type of conclusions can be derived from the process and what type of disclosures can be determined. The text chosen for this purpose is the seventh treatise of the third Ennead of Plotinus entitled ‘’Eternity and Time’’. Besides being an important text from the Greek philosophical tradition, so important to Heidegger’s project, it is also important because, besides Aristotle’s analysis in Physics (4,10-14), it is the only major ancient Greek work on time that has come down to us. Moreover, the text explicitly places the understanding of Being on the horizon of temporality, a criteria that Heidegger stresses.
Plotinian terms compared to Heideggerian terms:
Eternity. Eternity is described as the radiation of the substratum of the intellectual principle. It is in state of unending, changeless, timelessness. It would be comparable to Heidegger’s notion of Primordial Time (see BT 331).
Time – Time is described as the activity of the soul in the world, and following Plato an image of eternity. Comparable to the temporalization of time (See BT366).
Being – Being is related to eternity; real being in its absolute ideal state is unmanifested. Comparable to Authentic Being. (see BT 267).
Existence – Existence is the manifestation of being in the world of becoming, in reference to the Timaeus. Comparable to "World" (see BT 95).
World Soul, Soul – The dynamic essence which governs the totality of the universe. Comparable to Being in the World (see BT 53). When referring to the human soul as genus, comparable to Dasein (see BT 42).
Futurity - Condition of existence as forward impulse. Comparable to the concept of futural (see BT 325).
Falling. The cosmogonic manifestation of the world soul at a macrocosmic level (Timaeus). Described here as a falling from Eternity into Time. With reference to the Phaedrus, the incarnation of human souls. Comparable to falling, throwness (See BT 176).
Desire – The desire for the soul to create according to ideal principles, the cause of it’s falling. Comparable to care (See BT 193).
Vision – A higher state of being obtained by gaining sight of eternity, considered as the teleologic goal of existence. Comparable to moment of vision (See BT 292).
Being-in-time. A concomitant state of Being-in-the-world. Comparable to within-time.
To situate things in the Protrepticus , chapter nineteen contains prominent Platonic ethical, social, political considerations from the Gorgias (506c-508a), the Menexenus (246d-248b) and Laws II (661d). Therefore, inclusion of the late fourth fifth century sophistic social political text that is the Anonymous Iamblichi , into chapter 20 can be seen, on one level, as a continuation of themes presented more explicitly in the previous chapter. According to Des Places, the purpose of that text is to present simpler economic and political considerations for a wider, more popular audience appeal (Protreptique 19). Moreover, according to Cole, the text if not directly, at least thematically, has had an appeal to other Platonist-oriented philosophers.
Cole makes many suggestive comparisons of the Anonymous with book two of Cicero’s On Duties, which is mainly derived from Panaetius, and which contains a more elaborate discussion of themes similar to the Anonymus text. Furthermore, Des Places has described the Platonistic aspects of Panaetius that can be found in book I of Cicero’s On Duties (Platonisme 259-69). Cole also notes that, if the attribution of the text to a follower of Democritus is correct, then the frequent associating of Democritus with Pythagoreanism could have caused to text to be placed in a Pythagorean compilation accessible to Iamblichus. The emphasis on the importance of childhood education in acquiring virtue, what constitutes an honourable life, dream psychology, the importance of following laws for social stability, Protagorean anthropological speculation , theories of tyranny are elements that would give the treatise a Platonist-friendly appeal. Moreover, the use of simple, dualistic opposites could appeal to the outlook of Pythagorean-influenced Platonism found in the Phaedo and Gorgias.
Treatise XVII of the Commentaries on the Republic, dealing with Aristotle’s objections to the aspects of the central books of the Republic from book II of the Politics, will be used as a starting point because it is a relatively straightforward exposition grounded in the original Platonic and Aristotelian texts. This paper will not be examining Aristotle’s arguments against Plato per se, but will rather try to examine the specifically Proclean views that emerge from the Platonic/Aristotelian debate and use those as a launching-point for further exploration of Proclus’ political philosophy.
The aim of this paper is to examine the Elements of Physics, mainly from an epistemological perspective. I will begin by noticing the Platonic, Euclidean and Aristotelian aspects of the work. The work is distinctive in that it is almost entirely composed of direct paraphrases from the Physics VI and VIII and De Caelo I of Aristotle with no additional commentary and is presented in the format of a textbook in the style of Euclid’s Elements, which is a kind of logical structure that is a familiar part of Proclus’ philosophical repertoire.
The Paper is divided into four sections:
1- Epistemological context of Aristotle and Euclid
2- Comparison with Aristotle's Physics and De Caelo
3- Comparison with Elements of Theology and Commentary on Euclid's Elements; Analysis of Neoplatonic elements
4- Historical influence and relevance to philosophy of science
Turning to the text, The Salvation, ‘’Metaphysics,’’ II. 12, it is stated that ‘’at any one and the same time there cannot be for anything that is possible in itself a cause that is possible ad infinitum’’ (II.12.2). Here he’s saying that a possible being cannot have an infinite amount of causes at the same time. Because if that infinite totality of causes would itself have either an internal cause or an external necessary cause. It can’t be internal, because it would either be (a) necessary, which is not an option because everything internal to that totality is possible; then (b) an internal possible cause – which is not an option because that would make it a part of the totality and a part can’t be a cause of the whole. So if that cause is not internal, then it has to be external. It can’t be possible, because all of the possible causes have been established in that inner totality. Therefore it has to be necessary. He concludes the argument by stating that:
Thus, things existing possibly terminate in a cause existing necessarily, in which case not every effect that exists as something possible will have simultaneously with it a cause that exists as something possible, and so an infinite number of causes existing at a single time is impossible. (II.12.2)
This argument can be considered as a subsidiary conclusion to Avicenna’s main argument for the proof of God’s existence (McGinnis 166-67). There are considered to be four main categories of arguments: (1) the metaphysical proof from necessity; (2) the proof from movement; (3) the proof from causality; (4) the proof from ontology (Netton 172-73). The themes are similar to the discussions on the problem of infinite causal regress as discussed for example in book two of Alexander of Aphrodisias’ On Aristotle’s Metaphysics. I think that he is essentially concerned with establishing a logical argument that integrates a hierarchy of ontological causality rather than simply natural causality. In that sense, it could be considered similar to the ‘’a posteriori cosmological arguments’’ of the quinque via of ThomasAquinas (Netton 173).
Threre will be comparison to the myths of Cybele-Attis, Isis-Osiris, Demeter-Persephone, Mary-Christ according to a mixed-model comprised mainly of Eliade, Burkert, Propp.
A - Brief Overview of the Inanna – Dumuzi Myth Cycl
1. The Courtship / Sacred Marriage.
2. Inanna’s Descent to the Underworld / Dumuzi’s Death.
3. Lamentations / Return of Dumuzi
B. Comparison with Mystery-Religion myths
1-Consort with Fertility Goddess.
2- Royalty and Shepherding.
3- Death and Journey to the underworld.
4- Symbiotic fertility and seasonal cycles.
5- Ritual Lamentations and searching.
6- Ascent from Underworld / Revival of Dead.
7-Divine Couple and Sacred Marriage. Marriage
C- Symbolic interpretations
a- Gnostic Symbolism.
b- Platonic Symbolism.
c- Structuralist approach.
d- Psychological Interpretation.
Additionally, various shades of red in relation to various fabric materials are possibly used to create further allusions to blood imagery (Goheen 115). These elements generally appear in the context of scenes with sacrifice rituals and ceremony (or allusions thereof); as Walter Burkert has observed of the Agamemnon, ''through it the language of sacrificial ritual runs like a leitmotiv'' .
The blood-soaked net used to kill Agamemnon, which is equated to a robe, very significantly reappears in the scene where Orestes kills Clytemnestra and Aegysthus (Cho. 972-1043). In his impassioned speech prior to the arrival of the Furies, it becomes the key symbol of his father's murder. Post-Freudian psychoanalytical theorist Melanie Klein equates this episode with a paranoid-psychotic disturbance. Following Freud, she develops a suggestive theory based on the Orestes trilogy, designating it an ''inverted Oedipus Complex''.
The play ends with a procession of women (Eum. 1015-1045). Tellingly, the members are wearing robes of a red (phoenix) colour, which can be linked with the purple tapestry, metaphorically indicating a ''conversion of the (darkly ) lethal carpet into a (perhaps more brightly tinted) symbol of blessing '' (Goheen 125). The examples here then conceivably give an indication of how Aeschylus uses elements of ritual and colour, as well as organic natural elements such as blood that resonate at several levels, from the concrete to the psychological to the metaphysical, thus giving into the complexity of human nature.
A.Description of the iconographic and decorative aspects of the vase, which depicts a scene of three woman and a man in a ritual scene. One woman holds a thyrsus and tympaneum and there is a tripod.
B. Analysis of the elements in relation to the history and development of Greek vase art. Mayo has observed that ‘’death, marriage, and the mysteries is a frequent triad in South Italian and Sicilian vase-painting’’ (283). These aspects will be examined, in the context of feminine themes, to see if they can shed light on the imagery and function of the vase.
1. Feminine aspects
2. Marriage aspects
3. Funerary aspects
4. Dyonisian aspects
5. Orphic aspects
C. Interpretation. Ariadne has often been linked with Aphrodite (Otto 182-85). Figure 29 (de Grummond 92) is a wall painting from Pompeii depicting Dionysus and Ariadne watching a contest between Pan and Eros, aptly illustrating the combination of the worlds of Dionysus and Aphrodite. Figure 30 (Lissarague in Masks 21), from a fifth century Bell krater, depicting what could be a puberty initiation scene, illustrates Dionysus and Ariadne in a ritual context. The Maenad holding the rabbit, a well-known fertility symbol could be an aspect linking Ariadne to Aphrodite.
The portrait on the Montreal Centuripe vase could serve to indicate that the deceased identified herself with Ariadne, as her features resembles the Ariadne figure on the body. The head can be related to the ascension of Aphrodite in a role of chthonian goddess (Calinescu in Mayo 143), and possibly related to Ariadne’s divinization after her revival by Dionysus, where Zeus placed her crown in the heavens (Seyffert 64). As shown in figures 11-14, Centuripe imagery has been related to the Dionysus and Ariadne figures of the frieze of the Villa of Mysteries.
This brief study purports to examine the important theological/narrative role she played through a comparative examination of three important examples of the several ‘Enthroned Virgin’ or ‘Madonna and child in Majesty’ iconographic images at Chartres; namely, the Right Porch Tympaneum of the West Façade, the North Rose Window, and the ‘Blue Virgin’ stained glass window.
At the same time, the world is subject to the entropic forces of death and decay. And so as well as trying to recognize and imitate divine immanence in the world, Hinduism strives to face the reality of death and decline by renewal; and this renewal is realized by re-enacting, re-connecting with the primordial acts of divine creation and the essential eternal archetypes. This is the transcendent aspect and it is realized primarily through ritual and sacrifice. ‘’The orderly arrangement of the cosmos is like the ritual construction of the sacrificial altar, which subsequently re-enacts creation’’(Rodrigues 2006, 48). This essay will show how the divine manifests its imminent and transcendent nature by looking at the themes of Vedic cosmology, temple ritual, and the union with the divine in the Baghavad Gita.
Moreover, one can notice signs of integration of more archaic traditions, possibly deriving from shamanistic Bon heritage. Samuel notes that as ‘’ time went on, the Kadampa came to occupy a similar place to the hereditary shamans of the Nyingmapa and Bonpo as performers of rituals for the lay population’’ (470), and that what ‘’Atisa brought to Tibet, however, was a combination of the clerical and shamanic approaches. His activity was the first important step in the establishment of a Buddhist tradition that would combine both elements’’ (470).
Cette dissertation propose en première partie, d’explorer la pratique de la vénération ancestrale et leurs liens avec les relations familiales à travers l’histoire de la Corée : La période préhistorique, la période des trois royaumes, la dynastie Koryo, et la dynastie Choson. Ensuite je vais dégager les principes essentiels des traditions de vénération familiale et ancestrale coréennes en examinant les valeurs familiales néo-confucéennes, les rôles familiaux dans le contexte de la vénération ancestrale et les éléments de bases des rites ancestraux
Dans la deuxième partie, je vais examiner la question des changements dans la société coréenne dans la l’époque moderne. Par la suite, je vais regarder comment les différentes formes religieuses ont répondu à ces changements. La religion chrétienne (catholique et protestante), les nouvelles religions, ainsi que le confucianisme et le bouddhisme seront examinés. Je vais terminer en m’attardant sur la question de l’avenir de la vénération familiale et ancestrale en corée.