Категорията „отношение“ като структурен момент на историчност във византийската философия

Author(s): Smilen Markov / Language(s): Greek, Ancient (to 1453),Bulgarian Issue: 20/2014

The metaphysical intuitions, which dominate Byzantine mental culture, favor exactly that, which is considered inferior and secondary in Neo-Platonism, namely, individual existence and movement. The concept of the ontological structure of creation is extremely dynamic. This dynamism stays behind the strategies of some of the Byzantine commentators of Aristotle for interpreting the category ‘relation’. They develop the ideas of Porphyry and Olympiodorus, who try to find a general explanatory model, in order to integrate all types of relations (potential and actual, unilateral and reciprocal) into one coherent system. John Damascene, Photios and Scholarios speculate on different patterns for presenting the last six categories in Aristotle’s list as derivative from the first four. They introduce two important ontological principles, when dealing with the category ‘relation’: 1) relations are manifestations of the essential energy, which is immanent to the essence and is a constant existential activity; 2) created essences are relational, which is why the hypostatical identity, although not relational in itself, is properly expressed through them. By Maximus Confessor one can reconstruct the metaphysical dimensions of these analytical transformations. For him relation is a guarantee and a tool for overcoming the divisions of the world and for its deification. Responsible for this transition is the cognitive capacity of man, which internalizes all the relations of being, thus realizing the eschatological goal of human history.

Страници из... Гергана Динева "Раждането на личността" (София: УИ „Св. Климент Охридски“, 2018)

Author(s): Gergana Dineva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 8/2018

O TEMĂ MAJORĂ A GÂNDIRII FILOSOFICE OCCIDENTALE: ELEMENTELE OPUSE ALE REALITĂŢII ŞI UNITATEA ACESTORA

Author(s): Claudiu Baciu / Language(s): Romanian,Moldavian Issue: 4/2019

This article outlines the efforts of the Western philosophers to find the hidden unity lying behind the world of the opposites. It starts by discussing the Pre-Socratic concept of an original matter. Here such unity was only posited and not yet fully understood. Next, the article addresses the more specific views of Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus, who endeavored to explain the persistence of the real forms within the decaying world. Finally, it presents the way in which Christianity elaborated a new concept of the divine Creator that marked both the Western medieval tradition and the European modernity radically.

Septynios Šventosios Dvasios dovanos ir jų sąveika su dorybėmis pagal šv. Tomą Akvinietį

Author(s): Jolita Balčiūnaitė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 37/2004

St. Thomas Aquinas describes the gifts of the Holy Spirit as a help for a moral Christian life. It is through the gifts of the Holy Spirit that perfection of human nature occurs, as the gifts themselves are perfections, which incline a person to follow the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, this inspiration is God’s special help for a person springing from the abundance of God’s goodness. They let the Holy Spirit act in a person freely and spontaneously and are a kind of permanent right of the Holy Spirit to interfere in the life of a baptised person. Analysing the activities of each gift separately, St. Thomas Aquinas divides them into contemplative and practical, taking into consideration the powers of the human soul, i.e., the powers of reason and appetite. Thus every gift of the Holy Spirit makes perfect a certain power of the human soul so that the Holy Spirit can embrace all spheres of human activity. St. Thomas Aquinas includes the gifts of the Holy Spirit in an integral structure of virtuous life, where seven gifts of the Holy Spirit interact with seven virtues: four cardinal virtues and three divine or theological virtues. Finally, it is revealed that according to St. Thomas Aquinas, gifts and virtues act in a person differently. The gifts of the Holy Spirit, with their activity descending from God, bring human actions to perfection in a supernatural way, contrary to virtues which bring human actions to perfection in a natural way. That is why a Christian reaches his final purpose - eternal life - not only by practising virtues, but first of all by cooperation with the Holy Spirit and letting It act through Its gifts.

Teologijos Suma I-II, 90-93 klausimai apie teisę

Author(s): Thomas Aquinas / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 35/2003

Redakcijos vardu atsiprašau skaitytojų, kad praeitame žurnalo numeryje dėl techninių priežasčių buvo išspausdinta tik dalis planuoto ir jvade aptarto Teologijos sumos teksto. Todėl šiame numeryje turime pradėti nuo 91 klausimo vidurio (ketvirtojo artikulo), o toliau svarstyti 92 klausimą. Jeigu skaitytoją sudomintų mano glaustos pastabos dėl šių klausimų, jis turėtų atsiversti ankstesniojo žurnalo numerio 204 puslapj. [...]

Šv. Tomo Akviniečio teologinės kalbos reikšmingumas

Author(s): Marija Oniščik / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 34/2003

This article deals with the problem of meaning in the language of theology. The author’s considerations are based on methods of analytical philosophy, especially on the insights of Bertrand Russell. The Thomistic concept of God is shown as problematic and the possibility of speaking about God as being determined by human epistemological conditions. Speaking of Unknowable God presupposes the use of apophatic language. However, Aquinas’ theory of language lets him solve the dilemma which arises between affirmative and negative theology. The way of speaking about God proposed by Aquinas is analogy, which enables him to establish a kind of harmony between doctrinal and mystical aspects of theology. At the end of the article, the hypothetical character of existential propositions concerning God in Aquinas is investigated.

Viduramžių autobiografas Petras Abelaras

Author(s): Dalia Marija Stančienė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 34/2003

The philosopher and theologian Peter Abélard (1079-1142) was the first Medieval thinker who exposed human subjectivity as material for contemplation and the foundation for knowledge acquisition. According to M.-D. Chenu, this way Abélard awakened medieval consciousness. He contributed considerably to metaphysics, logic and ethics, and took an active part in the famous discussion concerning universals, enriching it by several questions: What is there in things which enables us to give them common names? If there are no actually existing universals, what do common names designate? If the things signified by universals cease to exist, would their names still mean the notion we have of these things? etc. He gave a new basis to ethics by valuing the intentions more than the results. An intention which itself is good can have as its effect a deed bad in itself, or inversely; but the moral act which a good intention dictates is always a good act, just as the one a bad intention dictates is always bad. But his most controversial achievement was bringing dialectics in theology in order to check the dogmas of the Church.

Sv. Tomo Akviniečio teologinės kalbos reikšmingumas

Author(s): Marija Oniščik / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 33/2003

The article deals with the problem of meaning in the language of theology. The author’s considerations are based on methods of analytical philosophy, especially on the insights of Bertrand Russell. The Thomistic concept of God is shown as problematic and the possibility of speaking about God as being determined by human epistemological conditions. Speaking of Unknowable God presupposes the use of apophatic language. However, Aquinas’ theory of language lets him solve the dilemma, which arises between affirmative and negative theology. The way of speaking about God proposed by Aquinas is analogy, which enables him to establish a kind of harmony between doctrinal and mystical aspects of theology. At the end of the article, the hypothetical character of existential propositions concerning God in Aquinas is investigated.

Мисията на свободните изкуства: една възможна интерпретация

Author(s): Oleg Georgiev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 25/2019

In this paper, I am questioning the opinion that the Liberal Arts are traditionally perceived as a necessary instrument for “shaping culture”. In this context, it is not by accident that in the last two centuries one of the widespread ideas is to link the development of the Liberal Arts with the concept of culture itself. This view clears the path for the interpretation of egkuklios paidea (Εγκύκλιος Παιδεία) as a common culture, which pre-empts the authentic notion of culture. It prompts the development of a point of view on Liberal Arts, which presents them as part of a self-legislating and self-deploying process known as ‘culture’. In my view, though, a different philosophical analysis of the Liberal Arts reveals that during the Antiquity they primarily assisted the individual in contemplating the structure of being and partially in developing a specific mode of knowledge – phronesis, i.e. practical rationality. Practical rationality is both a way and a condition for personal achievement of moral virtues and personal improvement, rather than some sort of a cultural integration. It is therefore of significant importance to open the possibility for examining phronesis as ground for objective interpretation of the Ancient philosophical ethical and political consciousness.

Aquinas’ evaluation of the assertion „quantum intendis, tantum facis“ as relevant to sinful actions

Author(s): Lingchang Gui / Language(s): English Issue: 25/2019

The criticism against the absolute validity of the assertion quantum intendis, tantum facis is an integral component of Aquinas’ doctrine of moral intention. This paper aims to investigate this criticism within the domain of sinful actions according to Aquinas’ division of sins. The quantum-tantum assertion is only valid regarding the mortal sins directly against God, which do not involve any effect of sensual suffering according to their species, whereas these kinds of sins cannot bear any degree of gravity: the loss of the connection with God is radical. Meanwhile, the mortal sins with sensual suffering as effect and the venial sins as the corresponding imperfect form do not follow the assertion and possess varied degrees of gravity: their sinful gravity depends not only on the intentional action, but on the corresponding realization. The fact that, among sins, the validity of the quantum-tantum assertion varies because of the sins’ relation to sensual effect indicates that sinful action, with or without a sensual effect, is involved in the species of sinful acts.

The will to think. Peter Olivi and the role of the will in intellectual process

Author(s): Simeon Mladenov / Language(s): English Issue: 25/2019

The current text tries to explore possible connections between will and intellectual process in the context of the work of Peter John Olivi. Olivi presents the will in an innovative light, which provides the basis for later authors such as John Duns Scotus or William of Ockham. Olivi’s claim is that the will is a totally active power, which is the first mover of the soul and its other powers. The self-evidential freedom that the will possesses makes it responsible furthermore for its own self-reflexivity. Olivi goes even further to claim that the reflexivity of the rest of the soul’s powers depends on the self-reflexivity of the will. Based on this, the paper traces different passages, in which Olivi speaks about the free control, which we can observe having in our thoughts – freedom in terms of judgment, discerning, choosing an object for our knowledge, etc. Important for this discussion is Olivi’s understanding of intentionality and more particularly his concept of “aspectus”. The intellectual-volitional acts stand in the context of a broader intentional directedness of the human being towards the outside world. We would like to trace in what way this intentional directedness might be freely controlled from the will, so that different epistemological processes could be enabled to take place.

Защо Творецът играе на зарове или за връзката между синхронната контингентност и изкуството

Author(s): Gergana Dineva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 25/2019

This paper aims to be a discussion-opener. It is making a statement that should be examined further about the very plausible connection between the contemporary crisis in aesthetics as a philosophical discipline and the breaking of the philosophical relation between the idea of contingency as a condition for the human autonomous act and the art. This idea is based on the interrelation between the free will and the dignity of the person, as understood within the metaphysics of ens morale, and the value of any creative act.As an introductory demonstration of this interrelation, we propose the short but important elaboration on what is an act of art by Francisco Suárez in his De bonitate et malitia humanorum actuum (sect. 1, n. 17.). There we see that the value of the act of art acquires a double significance – on the one hand, the designation of an object as a work of art depends entirely on the conscious autonomous intention of the artist to create it, and on the other hand – the evaluation of each object of art depends on the knowledge and the will invested uniquely by the author in this particular object as a result of a unique creative act. In order to clarify the context of Suárez’ view, we also explicate the essence of the synchronic contingency, developed earlier by John Duns Scotus.

Vůle Boží ve františkánské spiritualitě

Author(s): Willibrord-Christian van Dijk / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2020

Quoiqu’il en soit des jeux d’influence et de dépendance doctrinale, l’ordre franciscain dans son ensemble, et les Capucins en particulier, tendant à une harmonisation entre l’action (ascétique ou apostolique) et la contemplation, qui est sand doute une façon de mettre la volonté de l’homme au service de la plénitude de la volonté de Dieu. Mais il ne s’agit pas simplement et uniquement, dans cette réflexion de la volonté de Dieu, d’un plan moral ou strictement ascétique: c’est toute la vie spirituelle, jusqu’aux plus hauts sommets de l’union mystique, qui est en cause, pasticulièrement lorsqu’il s’agit de l’expérience et de l’enseignement de religieux tels que ce Benoît de Canfield ou Laurent de Paris.

Revitalizacija antičke i srednjovjekovne filozofije u mišljenju Josefa Piepera

Author(s): Franjo Mijatović / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 4/2019

In the article, we will try to present the fundamental meaning and significance of philosophizing, more precisely the philosophical act, of the Christian thinker Josef Pieper. He sees the reason for the revitalization of antique and medieval philosophy in the possibility of a far-wider understanding of the entirety of the world which concerns the entirety of being in all its (non)occurrence. While contemporary philosophy held debates on the truth between hermeneutic and analytical philosophy, Pieper remains loyal to his antique and medieval teachers, especially Plato and Aquinas. Although Pieper’s thought is deeply imbued with thoughts of the said two, it is in no way, which is the aim this article, limited to the mere repetition or compilation of what was said long ago. In this regard, Pieper argues that a tradition, such as the Platonic and the Thomist, can be an example to all other traditions, and serve as the real model of human rational philosophical research, and philosophizing as a possibility of divine-human event in search of the truth.

Hannah Arendt az ágostoni szeretetfogalomról

Author(s): Erzsébet Kerekes / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2019

In 2019, 90 years have passed since the publication of the doctoral thesis entitled Der Liebesbegriffbei Augustin. Versuch einer philosophischen Interpretation, written by Hannah Arendt under the supervision of Karl Japsers, and 2020 marks 1590 years since the death of St. Augustine. On the occasion of these anniversaries, we investigated the influence of St. Augustine on Hannah Arendt’s work. The philosophical analysis of the Augustinian concept of love made by Hannah Arendt in her doctoral thesis has decisively influenced the complete work of the thinker, the elaboration of the basic concepts, and the specific philosophical problems.

Kilka uwag o logice przekonań religijnych

Author(s): Marek Lechniak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2020

An article is an introductory analysis of concept of religious belief in the language of logic. In its first part, there is a comparison of the concept of religious belief with the concept of scientific belief, next part is a presentation and analysis of Bocheński’s conception of rationality of religious beliefs (and their justification), and the third part of article is an attempt of analysis of Aquinas conception of faith (in Sth II-II) in the light of contemporary logic.

Obzori andaluzijske filozofije

Author(s): Rusmir Šadić / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 12/2020

Whether we see in philosophy the Heideggerian-existentialist attempt to establish a difference between Being and being, or in the spirit of the philosophy of existence of the Jasper’s illumination of man’s existence in its bond to transcendence, the Husserlian endeavor of a phenomenological return to the very essence of things, or in the Deleuzean insight into the construction of concepts, we find all these elements within what we denote by Islamic philosophy. Within the long and rich history of Muslim philosophical thought, Andalusian philosophy represents the pinnacle of classical Islamic philosophy, whose best intellectual offshoots will be embodied in the works of Ibn Bajja, Ibn Tufayl, Ibn Rushd, Ibn ‘Arabi, Moses Maimonides, and numerous other thinkers. The paper that follows aims to explain the phenomenon of ‘Andalusian philosophy’, taking into account the results of recent research published in scientific studies in the West.

За свободата на волята. Отново. (Парадоксът на Августин)

Author(s): Gergana Dineva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 26/2020

The present text outlines one possible interpretation of the Augustinian concepts of freedom and free will. What at first glance seems paradoxically incompatible within Augustine’s position, could be viewed as a result of his attempt to bring into line in the most consistent way the teachings of Scripture, especially of the New Testament, with the inherited powerful substantial-naturalist philosophical tradition of the Ancient thought. It is this specific hybridity of Augustine’s context that allows him to create a solid bridge between the classical Platonic-Aristotelian onto-realist philosophy of man and the Late Medieval philosophy of man as an ens morale.

За възможността-битие

Author(s): Nicolaus Cusanus / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 26/2020

Translation from the original Latin of the treatise by Nikolaus von Kues, Trialogus de possest.

Отвъд спиритуализма и мистицизма – антропологическата алтернатива

Author(s): Georgi Kapriev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 26/2020