A Trial of Interpretation of Meister Eckhart’s Thought on God and Man through the Analysis of Its Paradoxes

Author(s): Zbigniew Kazmierczak / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2017

This article interprets Eckhart’s contradictions by presenting them as a result of an existential search for salvific power. It is shown that power is ambivalent in nature: it is the power of what is and the power of (self)overcoming (of what is). Just because power is in itself ambivalent and the process of searching for it existentialist (so not completely conscious), Eckhart’s mystical texts are full of contradictions and the German mystic is apparently not aware of it. The sample of them is shown in this article with regard to his ideas on God and man. Three other interpretations of Eckhart’s (“apophatic,” “educational,” “methodological”) are presented and argued against.

Amicitia a tyranobójstwo

Author(s): Piotr Graczyk / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2015

The text considers the relations between friendship and revolution. The author seeks inspiration for the understanding of these relations in St. Thomas’s opusculum, “On Kingship”, Negri’s and Hardt’s books and Jadwiga Staniszkis “Samoograniczająca się rewolucja” [“Self-limiting Revolution”]. Friendship helps to rebel against tyranny but the overpowering rebellion hinders the maintenance of friendship – St. Thomas suggests. The solution is a difficult art of the self-limiting of revolution, inspired by the Christian love of a neighbour and Mao Tse-Tung’s cultural revolution (within limits, of course).

An Analysis of the Proofs for the Principality of the Creation of Existence in the Transcendent Philosophy of Mulla Sadra

Author(s): Husain Agha Shiraz / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2016

The Transcendent Philosophy of Mulla Sadra was a complete philosophical system that sought to harmonize various intellectual trends that existed in the Islamic world prior to its genesis. It not only brought new philosophical discussions to the forefront but it also helped solve many of the philosophical problems that had until then not been properly resolved. One of the topics that this school of thought discussed in detail was the subject of creation. This discussion revolves around the question as to what is it that a cause essentially brings into reality? What does a cause do? In this regards there are three views. The first is the view that a cause essentially brings quiddity into reality. The next is that a cause gives existence to quiddity. Mulla Sadra was of the opinion that a cause essentially creates existence and through it, it brings quiddity into reality. In order to substantiate this idea, Mulla Sadra tried to refute the other two possible alternative options. This article seeks to analyze the proofs that he put forward to affirm the principality of the creation of existence. The majority of the proofs have been taken from Mulla Sadra's independent work on this subject, Regarding the Principality of the Creation of Existence. Many of these proofs are problematic and are not compatible with other philosophical principles. Others are sound and can be relied on to substantiate this claim. All in all, it can be said that the principality of the creation of existence is one of the necessary corollaries of the principality of existence itself.

Anomiczni Żonglerzy. Ciało polityczne i późnośredniowieczna maszyna antropologiczna

Author(s): Michal Pospiszyl / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 19/2016

The text consists of four parts. Assuming that the late Middle Ages was an era of an unusual intensity of conflicts based on religion and race, it will be shown how the notion of the Church as mystical body (Corpus Ecclesiae mysticum), which was its answer to those conflicts, arises from the conservative interpretation of the divine Incarnation. I thereby prove that the entire medieval political theology is self-established as an attempt of repressive suppression of the horizontal (and without organs) political body, created by the early Christianity. The second part is an attempt to describe an anthropological machine, whereby from the 11th century the Curia produced the radically exclusive notion of a political body, dividing the world of those days into humans (who will be saved) and none-humans, which consist of the condemned mass. The third part indicates how this process assumes the form of excommunication, which despite the fact of being created as an extraordinary measure, became the norm for the medieval masses. The last part describes the Franciscanism as a social and religious movement based on the concept of repetition of the Incarnation event – tragic from the orthodox theology point of view. In this context the hidden under the surface of the struggle for investiture, the unbreakable alliance is revealed, maintained between the Papacy and the Empire that was created to hold back the new, heterodox outbursts and the anti-imperialist line of the outlets.

Anselm of Canterbury on being and freedom. Anthropological aspects

Author(s): Simeon Mladenov / Language(s): English / Issue: 21/2015

The concept of rectitudo in the philosophy of Anselm of Canterbury is one of the important terms when we consider his view of the being. Rectitudo is the inner norm for each existing thing and as such it guarantees the being of the things. Due to rectitude all of the existing entities are keeping their state of being exactly as they were created and therefore they are both right and just – they perfectly fit with their own nature, i.e. with God’s will. Examining some chapters of Anselm’s dialogue “De veritate” we can state that there are some uncertainties considering the view that all existing things are right and just entities. Seemingly not all of the created things inevitably follow their own rectitudo and therefore some of them could cease to follow God’s will and with this to leave their state of being.Continuing this thought we find that the problem with falling away from the rightness, constituting the very being of things, could be traced in the rational willing creatures only. However, this falling away is different form men’s freedom and free choice. In the beginning of De libertate arbitrii Anselm states explicitly, that the ability to err has nothing to do with freedom nor yet with the free choice. By analogy with truth, freedom is defined in an independent from the sin manner.Tracing the main similarities starting with the truth (represented by rectitudo) and the specific definition of freedom, the text aims to show that their concurrence plays a crucial role in understanding Anselm’s anthropological thought.

Anzelmov ontološki argument kao test promjene stava o vjeri u dijalogu između Anzelma i bezumnika: Od prvog do četvrtog poglavlja Proslogiona

Author(s): Oliver Jurišic / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 1/2016

The aim of the article is to offer a reading of the four chapters of Anselmʼs Proslogion and the place of ontological argument in the dialogue between Anselm and fool. The introduction is a brief and selective consideration of Anselmʼs ontological argument in philosophy. The next section considers the place of the fool and the ontological argument in regard to Anselmʼs Monologion and Proslogion. )n the next part, the article introduces the provisional dialogue between Anselm and the fool in the first four chapters of Proslogion about the change of attitude of faith toward the capacity for reason, and in the conclusion the ontological argument is proposed as a test for this change in attitude.

Argument Tome Akvinskog za realnu razliku između esse i essentia na osnovi sudjelovanja

Author(s): Predrag Milidrag / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 03/143/2016

The article analyzes Aquinas’s participation argument for the real distinction between esse and essentia using his Expositio libri Boetii De hebdomadibus. The article defends the view that in order to prove the real distinction one has to assume or prove the existence of ipsum esse subsistens, i.e. God. In the first chapter Aquinas’ interpretation of Boethius’s texts is expounded against the background of the rational distinction between the notions of esse and essentia, and the abstract and the concrete way of signifying. The second chapter points to Aquinas’s reinterpretation of Boethius’s term forma essendi as actus essendi. The third chapter is dedicated to the argument for the real distinction against the background of simplicity and unicity of ipsum esse subsistens, to Thomas’s critique of Platonic forms, as well as to the necessity for the proof for the existence of ipsum esse subsistens as a condition for the proof for the real distinction. In conclusion the whole argument from the Expositio libri Boetii De hebdomadibus is summarized.

Aristotle’s carp as Claretus’ bird comor? Tracing the origin of one medieval term

Author(s): Hana Šedinová / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2016

The research of medieval reception of Aristotle’s knowledge of zoology confirmed that on the way through the Arabic and Latin translation to mediaeval encyclopaedias Aristotle’s treatises underwent both large and small alterations in both names and descriptions of animals. The meaning of these new names often remained unchanged; in other instances, however, medieval authors interpreted their models so incorrectly that they endowed the original animal not only with a new name but also with new features of appearance and patterns of behaviour. In the Arabic and Latin translation of Aristotle’s treatise, the original information about the fertility of the carp remained basically unchanged, but given the phonetic differences between Greek, Arabic and Latin, the original Greek name κυπρῖνος from the relevant passage of Aristotle was deformed to the form kokonior and others like it. While consulting Michael’s translation, Thomas of Cantimpré did not comprehend that the animal that lays eggs several times a year was a fish, and he put it under an altered name komor to the book on birds and located it to Arabia. Thomas’ term then appears in a slightly different form comor in Czech medieval sources.

Ars vel scientia (disciplina)?

Author(s): Oleg Georgiev / Language(s): Bulgarian / Issue: 22/2016

This article deals with the analisis of the notion of scientia and ars in the Latin West of the end of classical era. Scientia is a Latin word that has played important role in medieval philosophy. It’s use as the translation of the Greek word ἐπιστήμη, which captures Aristotle’s conception of science and has become very important in the thirteenth century. The notion in question, more or less developed by different authors and linked to an educational environment marked by the liberal arts and dialectics in particular, is shown to be generally rooted in views expressed mainly by Augustine, Boethius, Martianus Capelae, Cassiodorus and Isidore of Sevile. Scientia is construed mostly as theoretical, spiritual knowledge that is a necessary step in the quest for the ultimate intellectual state of wisdom (sapientia).

Bir Anomali Olarak Varidat: Şeyh Bedreddin’in Varidat’inin Felsefi Boyutlari

Author(s): Çetin Türkyilmaz / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 85/2016

This article deals with philosophical dimensions of various ideas in Sheikh Bedreddin’s work Varidat in relation to those of various currents of thought that are claimed to underlie Bedreddin’s work. First, Neo-platonist notions that are presumed to underpin Sheikh Bedreddin’s views will be presented with reference to Plotinus and Sühreverdi’s works, before pointing at several critical points that distinguish Varidat from the neo-platonist philosophy. At first, the basic difference between Bedreddin and Neo-platonism is based on a thought according to which a body that is a manifestation of God is never be “evil”. Besides, contrary to Sühreverdi’s view, Bedreddin wants to get rid of all transcendent conception of being in his thought. Secondly, considering those claims that Bedreddin was influenced by the Hurifi thought and materialism, the materialist standpoint (Dehrîyyun) represented by İbn Ravendi, and El-Maarri will be discussed to show how Bedreddin’s vision ties in and also differs from it. Bedreddin’s basic difference from materialism (Dehriyyun) stems from a fact that he asserts a mystical conception of being whereas materialism is based on a rationalist perspective in which all things can be explain in a rational way. In contrast to the messianic understanding of Hurufism, for Bedreddin such messianic inclinations and hopes are not important in respect of Sufi thought. Thirdly, Sheihk Bedreddin will placed at midway between the philosophies of İbn Arabi and Spinoza, and Sheikh Bedreddin will be argued to stand closer to Spinoza. On the other hand, it will also be argued that Sheikh Bedreddin departs from Spinoza particularly in terms of methodology. In conclusion, it will be claimed that Sheikh Bedreddin’s Varidat can be considered an anomaly as it stands apart from those all those views despite its resemblances.

Cel nauczania według Tomasza z Akwinu

Author(s): Marcin Sienkowski / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2013

Among the medieval teachers and orators a special place is taken by St. Thomas Aquinas. His preaching and teaching involves bascally the knowledge of wisdom – that is the knowledge of ultimate causes of reality. Looking for the causes of the world, according to Aquinas, evolves itself into indicating the ultimate aim of everything, especially that of man. The aim of all beings, which is alsounderstood as the first cause, is identified with God. Religious faith is one of the ways of knowing God. Thanks to this faith it becomes possible to know the essence of God, correspondently to the human way of existence and knowing in temporal life. Accordingly, the teaching task consists in proclaiming the truth about God as the ultimate end of man, as well as in preparing and empowering him, on the path of faith, to receive contents of God's revelation.

Człowiek jako mikrokosmos w ujęciu Hildegardy z Bingen

Author(s): Teresa Obolevich / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 1/2013

Degrees of Freedom

(Self-governance and responsibility in the Byzantine concept of will)

Author(s): Smilen Markov / Language(s): English,Greek, Ancient (to 1453) / Issue: 21/2015

The Christian concept of free will connotes responsibility of the individual subject. The fact that the Byzantine speculation on rational will contains a gradation of two levels of freedom, the latter being commensurable with the divinized state of human nature in Christ, poses the question of the cognitive and anthropological grounds of human responsibility. By focusing on some emblematic conceptualizations of the act of will in the ascetical and in the philosophical tradition, the text demonstrates that the determinants of the volitional self-government are not derived merely from the ontological characteristics of the objects of will – be it the final goals or the means leading to them. The cognitive content of the act of free will integrates a component of self-reflection. Through the γνώμη, dealt with in the second conceptual unit of the article, the individual subject modifies the mode of his interaction with the other human hypostases and with Christ. The referential framework of volitional self-reflection is the perfection of the union of soul and body in every single human existence. Instructive is the fact that the optimal values of this union, namely the virtues, are validated in a physiological discourse, and not through a set of behavioral principles. The last section of the text studies the relation between physiology and freedom in view of the holistic anthropological model.

Die Ethik des Seins oder Was für ein Mensch sollte zum Objekt der Ethik, Philosophie und der Theologie werden?

Author(s): Inocent-Mária V. Szaniszló O.P. / Language(s): German / Issue: Sup. 1/2015

This is a research about ethics and philosophy, that valorifies the ideas of Saint Thomas d'Aquino.

Doktrinarna gnoza u islamu; položaj i značaj

Author(s): Tehran Halilovic / Language(s): Serbian / Issue: 2/2014

Empirijske, racionalne i intuitivne metode u naučnim razmatranjima formulišu različite naučne discipline. Doktrinarna gnoza i filozofija predstavljaju dve racionalno-demonstrativne nauke koje razmatraju ontološka pitanja. Iako osnova njihovog gnostičkog iskustva jeste intuitivno saznanje, gnostici svoje iskustvo opisuju i obrazlažu na racionalan način, s ciljem da sadržaj takvog gnostičkog znanja u njihovim naučnim radovima bude dostupan široj javnosti. Na taj način utemeljuje se doktrinarna gnoza, koja kao i filozofija koristi opšte pojmove. Da bi se stekla jasna slika o suštini doktrinarne gnoze u islamu, u ovom radu ćemo nastojati da predstavimo osnovne karakteristike doktrinarne gnoze i odnos između nje i sličnih naučnih disciplina. Na tom planu, osim toga što će biti važno da se pojasne razlike između doktrinarne gnoze i ostalih aspekata gnostičkog saznanja u islamu, kao što su prenesena gnoza i praktična gnoza, biće potrebno obratiti posebnu pažnju na to da se jasno analizira i razlika između doktrinarne gnoze i filozofije.

Doprinosi islamskih učenjaka naučnom poduhvatu u srednjem vijeku

Author(s): Maksuda Muratovic / Language(s): Bosnian / Issue: 59/2014

This article presents the contribution of Muslim scholars in development of science in Medieval age. It is considered that Muslims have not been only guardians of ancient Greek science, but have also made original contributions in all the fields of science and scholarship. Inspired by the Islamic outlook of nature and the Qur’anic instruction to “explore the nature with a tendency to come closer to God” the Islamic science and scholarship flourished. This knowledge was transferred to Eastern Europe thus playing an important role in revitalizing the learning climate and bringing scientific research methods to Europe leading it to Renesans in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Dwa oblicza Jana Eckharta z Hochheim w świetle polskich współczesnych badań

Author(s): Mieczyslaw Markowski / Language(s): English,Polish / Issue: 1/2000

Dogłębniejsze naukowe zainteresowania zarówno łacińską jak i niemiecką spuścizną literacką magistra teologii Jana Eckharta z Hochheim datują się od 1933 roku. Polska historiografia ma w tej materii spore zasługi. Artykuł prezentuje dwa oblicza niemieckiego filozofa, wypracowane w polskiej literaturze przedmiotu.//A profound scholarly interest in both Latin and German literary heritage of master of theology Johannes Eckhart von Hochheim dates back to 1933. Polish historiography has considerable achievements it the matter. The article presents two images of this German philosopher, as seen in the Polish literature on the subject.

Filozofija i religija, dva temelja socijalne misli društva Ihvanu safa

Author(s): Muamer Halilovic / Language(s): Serbian / Issue: 3/2016

In the X century, when numerous representatives of scientific and cultural life of Muslims appeared, a secret philosophical-political group Ikhwan al-Safa was formed whose members tried to ideologically oppose the central caliphate leading political set. Believing that it is imperative that Muslim society should move towards ideals established back in the VII century the prophet Muhammad, and that Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates did not advocate those ideals, they tried in their works – published under the name of Rasa’il Ikhwan al-Safa (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity) – to clarify in detail their philosophical, social and political attitudes. The Epistles is an encyclopaedic review of almost all previously known scientific disciplines. They are 51 or 52, if we count the last one that offers a short overview of all the previous ones. In their Epistles, the Ikhwan al-Safa representatives wrote about a variety of scientific disciplines, such as philosophy, physics, astronomy, mathematics, geometry and music. Still, they did not neglect social sciences, and they extensively discussed the relationship between man and society, the role of government in the community, the issues of social justice, of bliss, the relationship between politics and religion, social life models, and many other topics. In this article we will try to look at the basic features of their social thought. It should be noted that the views of this group representatives significantly influenced the development of various scientific disciplines in Islam, and the way they worked had an impact on many theological branches such as Ismaili Muslims. In fact, in the Ismaili fortresses of Gazarhan, Lambasar, Shahdej, Tabas, and Qohestan, many historians have noted traces of covert activities of the Ikhwan al-Safa group members.

Filozofijski ulomci i zapamćenja

Author(s): Zdravko Kordic / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 91/2016

Ovi tekstovi su predviđeni kao zapisi, zapamćenja i ulomci koji su predavani još 1979./80. godine, kao i tekstovi prisjećanja i elemenata koje sam zapamtio predajući niz godina filozofiju u srednjim školama te na sveučilištu Hercegovina (Fakultetu društvenih znanosti). Naravno, nije riječ o povijesti filozofije, već o tekstovima koji su zapisani, zacrtani u mnogim udžbenicima i hrestomatijama, pa je tako ovaj tekst – čitateljski, koji može poslužiti u pojedinim slučajevima kao podsjećanje na izvođenje nekih nastavnih jedinica.

FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS ON POSSIBLE ARAMAIC ETYMOLOGIES OF THE DESIGNATION OF THE JUDAEAN SECT OF ESSENES (Ἐσσαῖοι/Ἐσσηνοί) IN THE LIGHT OF THE ANCIENT AUTHORS’ ACCOUNTS OF THEM AND THE QUMRAN COMMUNITY’S WORLD-VIEW

Author(s): Igor Tantlevskij / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2016

The author considers three possible Aramaic etymologies of the designation Ἐσσαῖοι/Ἐσσηνοί: (1) Since, according to reiterated Josephus Flavius’ accounts and the Dead Sea scrolls’ evidences, the Essenes and the Qumranites, closely associated with them, believed in predestination and foretold the future, they could be called: those, who believe in predestination, sc. the “fatalists”, “determinists”; or: those, who predict fate, i.e. the “foretellers”. This hypothetical etymology is derived from the Aramaic word ḥaššayyā᾿ (m. pl. in st. det.; resp. ḥš(᾿)(y)yn in st. abs.) reconstructed by the author from the term ḥšy/ḥš᾿ (“what man has to suffer, predestination, fortune”) after the model: C1aC2C2aC3. (2) In the present author’s opinion, the Qumran community held itself allegorically to be the “root(s)” and “stock” of Jesse, giving life to the “holy" Davidic “Shoot” (see: Isa. 11:1); or, in other words, the Qumranites appear to have considered their Yaḥaḏ (lit. “Unity/Oneness”) the personification of a new Jesse, who would “beget” and “bring up” a new David. (Cf., e.g., 1QSa, II, 11–12: “When [God] begets (yôlîḏ) the Messiah with them (᾿ittām; i.e. the sectarians. — I. T.)...”.) Proceeding from this doctrine, one can assume the etymology of the designation Ἐσσαῖοι/Ἐσσηνοί from the Aramaic-Syriac spelling of King David father’s name Jesse — ᾿Κ(š)ay. (3) The Essenes’ and the Qumranites’ aloofness from this world and their striving for interrelations with the other world could be a reason, by which they came to be regarded as “liminal” personalities and nicknamed (probably, with a tinge of irony) after the name of “rephaites” (the original vocalization seems to have been: rōfĕ᾿îm, lit. “healers”, sc. “benefactors”) of former times, whom they really recalled in some key aspects of their outlook and religious practice. In this case, the designation θεραπευταί, “healers”, — applied in Jewish Hellenized circles, primarily, in Egypt, to the members of the (ex hypothesi) Essenean communities of mystic-“gnostic” trend — could be in fact a Greek translation of the Hebrew term rōfĕ᾿îm. It also seems natural to assume that this designation of the sectarians could be interpreted/translated by the uninitiated by the word ᾿āsayyā᾿/᾿āsên, meaning “healers”, “physicians”, in the Aramaic-speaking milieu of the region of Syria-Palestine.