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The course of training in philosophy has been opened in 1992–93 year. Now it has full term accreditation for 6 years and it is on the 2th place in the national ranking of specialties. 14 young doctors in Philosophy graduated in Veliko Turnovo. Our Faculty has been accepted as national and international center of philosophical researches and education.
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Piero della Francesca is best known as a painter but he was also a mathematician. His treatise De prospectiva pingendi is a superb example of a union between the fine arts and mathematical sciences of arithmetic and geometry. In this paper, I explain some reasons why his painting is considered as a part of perspective and, therefore, can be identified with a branch of geometry.
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Generally, the historical moment of separating the moral of politics is placed upon the appearance of Machiavelli's writings. There is, however, in the same century, a less famous French thinker, Jean Bodin (1530-1569), who performs the same operation as Machiavelli, a writer analyzed by André Glucksmann. After Bodin, the idea of sovereignty is what allows us to explain why the state is preserved as existence. The state is good because it exists, because it survives, and it does not exist because it would be good. So political philosophy frees itself from all servitude to Ethics. On the other hand, under the conditions of nuclear arming, politicians can not totally abstain from the moral norms called upon to regulate political relations. Thus Max Weber's idea is that the politician has to practice an ethic of responsibility, that is, to seek to provide as much as possible the consequences of his actions and to assume responsibility for his decisions.
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The study deals with apophatic theology, which in today's secular philosophical world, but also in theology, is experiencing something of a renaissance because it allows us to criticize our inadequacy in understanding God and, at the same time, brings us to the limits of the possibilities of knowledge. It is particularly concerned with the analysis of apophatic moments and the idea of annihilation, as discussed by the Capuchin Benedict of Canfield (1562 – 1611) in his Regula perfectionis, pointing out the affinities of thought with the works of Bonaventure, to whom the Capuchin reform returned in a special way, as its primary theological and philosophical authority. It also seeks to trace these apophatic moments in medieval and Renaissance Franciscan discourse.
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The article is devoted to the Latin poem De spledidissimo Christi Jesu triumpho carmen by Martin Kromer who was one of the biggest writers of the Polish Renaissance. A theme of the work is time when Jesus Christ became alive again three days after his death. The theme are also miraculous events which took place after his Resurrection. The poet is supplementing records of the Gospel, introducing into his poem the action which isn’t complicated. He is talking about guards who stood by the grave. He is also describing the reaction of the nature which expressed its sadness because of the death of the Saviour. In the context of the report on the Resurrection, the poet is referring to the figures of ancient world belonging both to mythology, as well to history. In his artistic work Kromer isn’t presenting typical Apocrypha, he proposes a different perspective, having only character of the Apocrypha.
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The Assayer of Galileo Galilei is a classic of Italian literature. This is not only because of its formal qualities - in fact The Assayerbelongs to the most important current of Italian literature, which aims at drawing the map of what people know and what people do not know (I. Calvino). The Assayer was written in the context of the discussion on comets, and responds, paragraph by paragraph, to the Libra astronomica ac philosophica firmed by Lotario Sarsi (the pen-name of Orazio Grassi). Many authors have commented this book, so important for the methodology of modern science, and Galileo's rhetoric was always indicated as one of the most significant components of this 'opera'. From the formal (i.e. rhetorical) point of view The Assayer is an example of the judicial, defensive speech. Nevertheless, in the book one can notice the presence of the epideictic speech, to which belongs the famous tale/apologue of sound. In this essay a rhetorical and narratological analysis of the apologue in question is proposed. Different interpretations of the tale are discussed, and the special attention is paid to the argument attributed to the pope Urban VIII. The tale seems to be the founding narrative of the way in which the scientist confronts himself with the nature - the point which A. Banfi expressed in his conception of copernican model of man.
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Giordano Bruno (1548 – 1600) is regarded as the principal representative of the infinite and homogenous universe. Bruno has a modern rational mind by no means. However, his doctrine has so deeply influenced the reconstruction of a modern understanding of the material of universe and human body. His process of rebuilding the cosmology and humanity consists in learning the individual’s psychical condition and the relations between society and man. The links between the components of the brunian organic universe can be generated spontaneously from “love-Eros” for the mundane life of its infinite expansion. And in his organic universe, Bruno considers and desires all beings to be alive, all to be animated.And from this doctrine, his predilection for the magic is derived, which is based precisely on the presupposition of a universal “panpsychism” aiming to take possession of the natural world with artifices.
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The article presents Giordano Bruno's life and philosophical thoughts. The review is directed towards his determination of the One and the conflict he faced before his opinion, that is, life in the period when the Inquisition determined life or death in relation to the thinking of individuals. Bruno sought to survive free and persevering in the struggle for his thought, because living a life filled with dogmas and institutional “truths” is not a free life, and what is life if we spend it in a cave.
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Many contemporary social epistemologists take themselves to be combatting an individualist approach to knowledge typified by Descartes. Although I agree that Descartes presents an individualist picture of scientific knowledge, he does allow some practical roles for reliance on the testimony and beliefs of others. More importantly, however, his reasons for committing to individualism raise important issues for social epistemology, particularly about how reliance on mere testimony can propagate prejudices and inhibit genuine understanding. The implications of his views are worked out more fully by some of his immediate successors; I examine how François Poulain de la Barre, and (briefly) Mary Astell analyze the social conditions for epistemic agency in a Cartesian vein.
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The paper discusses Leibniz’s project for a lingua universalis undertaken in his first period, 1666- 1679, when he was enthusiastic about the possibility of creating a universal language based on the “alphabet of human thought”, which he viewed as the “most important instrument for the perfection of the human mind”. The article analyzes the main issue confronted by the young Leibniz, i.e., the creation of a list of “primitive notions”, also discussed by Descartes in his letter to Mersenne from 20th November 1629. Leibniz’s response to the issues raised by Descartes is outlined together with how he resolved them by means of the theory of so-called “blind thought” (cogitatio caeca). The article concludes with a brief account of the influence these ideas in Leibniz’s work had on the 19th century pioneers of modern logic.
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The reflections on civilization, barbarism, and their intricate relationship, which were put forward in ancient Greece, from Herodotus to Aristotle, had a longterm impact. In the mid-16th century debate which took place in Valladolid, between Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda and Bartolomé de Las Casas, about the status of the native populations of the New World, the Latin translations of Aristotle’s Politics, and its comment by St. Thomas Aquinas, proved to be especially relevant for both opponents. Were Indian natives comparable to Aristotle’s “natural slaves”? Was the war against them comparable to hunting wild beasts? The paper focuses on the debate and its contemporary implications.
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The intense and dichotomous relationship between orientalism and classicism that has been created over the last decades of the XX century, reaches new dimensions through the rapid scientific growth, the discoveries of new historical sources and artifacts, and, most importantly, through the paradigms change in many scientific disciplines. This development is also influenced by the rapid and multifaceted societal transformations in the intensively globalizing world of the new millennium. In this context, the paper explores the new understandings of these two important conceptions in the research of the past, and their redefined scope and relation in the light of the globalization theories and through the paradigm of ancient globalization.
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Resumen: A lo largo de la Edad Media cristiana, la concepción del amor oscila entre dos extremos que provienen de la contradicción básica entre el cuerpo y el espíritu, y la condena de la sexualidad basada en ella: el amor es, o bien una de las virtudes más nobles, o un pecado mortal. En la literatura, la resolución del conflicto entre el anhelo espiritual y el deseo físico culminó en la concepción específica de la relación amorosa de la poesía trovadoresca. En la España del siglo XV, la auténtica ‘atmósfera trovadoresca’ se propagó y, luego, degeneró en las convenciones del código del amor cortés que dominan la poesía cancioneril y la novela sentimental, y que fueron magistralmente desenmascaradas y parodiadas en La Celestina (1499) de Fernando de Rojas. La presente contribución se centra en el papel ambiguo de la misericordia (pietas) como factor del que depende la evolución del proceso amoroso. Es a esta actitud emocional, que se expresa con mayor frecuencia en el contexto cristiano, a la que apela también el amante en los discursos dirigidos a su dama. La etiqueta cortesana sigue, en este aspecto, a la doctrina cristiana, dictando a la dama actos de compasión partiendo de la suposición de que el amante no abusará de su confianza. Los ejemplos seleccionados de las obras literarias demuestran cómo la ambigüedad del uso de las metáforas en el diálogo entre los amantes potenciales abre más o menos deliberadamente interpretaciones en las que prevalecen los motivos lascivos de ambos participantes. Abstract: Throughout the entire Christian Middle Ages, the concept of love is torn between two extremes arising from the basic contradiction between body and soul, and the condemnation of sexuality based on it: love is either one of the highest virtues or a deadly sin. In literature, the resolving of the conflict between spiritual longing and physical lust reached pinnacle in the specific concept of love relationship between man and woman in the troubadouresque lyric. In 15th century Spain, the genuine ‘trubadouresque ambience’ reached full swing and declined in conventions of the courtly codex which permeate the cancioniero poetry as well as the sentimental novel, and which are masterfully exposed and parodied in Celestina (1499), a novel in dialogue by Fernando de Rojas. Our contribution is focused on the ambiguous role of mercy (pietas) being the element which determines the disentanglement of love process. This emotional attitude, most often expressed in the Christian context since Christianity makes an appeal to believers to be compassionate towards the suffering and dead Christ and therefore expect Him to be merciful towards them, is also appealed by a courtly lover in addressing his beloved one. In this perspective, the courtly etiquette followed the Christian teaching and demanded acts of mercy from a lady, however, on condition that a man would not betray her trust. Furthermore, the selected examples of literary works show how the abundantly ambiguous metaphoric of mercy in the dialogue between the two potential lovers opens up more or less intentionally a wide area of interpretations among which the first place is taken by salacious urges of both participants.
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This article looks at the personality of Pjetër Bogdani in the light of the documentation of the respective time. Firstly, it investigates the contribution of archive and historical research about the precursor of the renaissance of culture and thought. Secondly, Pjetër Bogdani is viewed in the tradition of Albanian linguistics, literary and textology studies. A special attention is paid to the contribution of antic philosophy and classical literature in a cultural perspective. Furthermore, this study treats issues of test reception in a multidisciplinary optic concerning Pjetër Bogdani as a bibliophile and exegete in a bilingual work (Cuneus prophetarum, Patavii, 1685). Finally, I emphasize the work of Pjetër Bogdani in support to the study of European literature, but even to the consolidation of Albanian philobiblical writing tradition.
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Kada Platon u Sofistu kaže da je “teško i mučno uloviti rod sofista (218 d) onda se on, ne htijući, negativno određuje od brzopletih i jednoznačnih interpretacija. Nije s toga čudno što, shvatajući kompleksnost (za)datog, sugeriše Teetetu da, ponajprije, okušaju metodu istraživanja na drugom lakšem predmetu... Bez obzira, dakle, što ih izrijekom naziva majstorima u protivurječenju (225b), šesti oblik u kojem se manifestuje sofističko umijeće, iako prijeporno, kao da protivurječi Platonovoj osnovnoj nakani.
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It was the intimate affinity of van Ruusbroec's works with the attunement of Franciscan thought that attracted the Capuchin author of The Rule of Perfection. And that is the real reason why we have included here this aptly chosen translation of the final two chapters of De septem gradibus amoris. From the Latin translation by Vavrincus Surius of 1552, which is part of the critical edition of Jan van Ruysbroeck's collected works (De septem gradibus amoris. Opera omnia IX (ed. R. Faesen). Turnhout: Brepols, 2003. CCCM 109, pp. 204-222.) translated and with a short introduction by Ladislav Tkáčik.
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Most of the historians of philosophy know about the correspondence between Elizabeth and Descartes only due to the problem which princess had suggested to philosopher, regarding the relation of body and soul. Not that many people, however, know that their letters also concerned manifold of subjects: those of geometry, physics and medicine, as much as ethical and political questions. Undoubtedly, their correspondence testifies about origination and alteration of some of the Descartes‘ philosophical thoughts, but by far it reveals how educated and talented his correspondent was, and we can only regret because woman of such profile, besides these letters, did not leave a philosophical work.
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Descartes’s epistemology is rooted in his profound interest in and respect for what might be called intellectual experience, especially lucid intellectual experience. (Lucid intellectual experience is my term for what Descartes calls perceiving clearly and distinctly.) This interest, it seems to me, was shared by Descartes’s rationalist successors Spinoza and Leibniz. In the first part of this paper, I locate the phenomenon of lucid intellectual experience, focusing on Descartes and Spinoza. I try to show if we do not give enough attention to the character of such experience, we risk losing touch with a central motivation behind their respective epistemologies. In the second part of the paper, I consider intellectual experience in the context of skeptical doubt, particularly radical doubt. Although Descartes and Spinoza are often taken to be opposed here, I think they share more than is commonly appreciated.
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The modern period was a historical space characterized by an effervescence of ideas, in both the field of science and the fields of arts, philosophy or literature. On the other hand, however, this was a period of social unrest, of conflicts, which were meant to change the old order with a new one, moulded on the new values. The emergence of utilitarianism and classical liberalism, with the discourse based on the importance of freedom, equality, individual development, but also the usefulness of the human being on the social level, cumulated with other changes of that epoch, directed researchers to the social universe and the problems of ordinary people, leading to the emergence of the social sciences. The present study aims to illustrate, in a concise manner, the significance that modern philosophical ideas, artistic currents and values had on the development of human- centred sciences.
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