Classical philosophy in Novosibirsk Scientific Center. The pages of history

Novosibirsk school of Classics is the most eastern Russian center for the study of the intellectual heritage of the Ancient civilization. At the same time, classical scholars of the Novosibirsk scientific center is well known beyond its borders. The interest of Novosibirsk philosophers covers many areas of classical problems, mainly focusing on their philosophical aspects as well as on ancient history, culture, and science. Among the topics and directions of research are ancient mythopoetic tradition, sophistic movement, Socrates, Plato and the Academy, Platonism in general, Aristotle and the Peripatetic tradition, Hellenistic philosophy, and Late Antiquity. Among the interests characteristic of the Novosibirsk community of classical scholars is the analytical approach to the study of Antiquity, as well as the exceptional attention to such rare for the Russian science topics as ancient music, navigation, and medicine

Philosophy and the Future of Human Being

Social Philosophy is a discipline that deals with social behaviour and interprets society and its institutions according to ethical values instead of empirical relations. Bearing this in mind, I decided to explore the phenomenon of the crisis regarding the modern ethos of postmodern culture in the context of the history of classical philosophy. I have done so by relating it to new theoretical and epistemological frameworks of social, philosophical ontology on the one hand, and to the attempt to find an appropriate linguistic paradigm though philosophical semantics on the other hand that would have the potential to create an alternative ethical category. The ultimate goal is to show that philosophy becomes philosophy through the human being himself.

Waḥdat al-Wujūd as Post-Avicennian Thought: Comparing Writings on the Basmala by Ibn ‘Arabī and ‘Abd al-Karīm al-Jīlī

The article has a two main aims: situating the (post-)Akbarian ideas in the context of Islamic post-classical, esp., post-Avicennian thought and moving the field of the study ‘Abd al-Karīm al-Jīlī away from the focus on one work, al-Insān al-Kāmil, to the inclusion of a broader specter of writings regarded as minor texts. The article proposes a rhizomatic reading of the sources to re-open the field of analysis. At the same time, the article argues for waḥdat al-wujūd as a main element of post-classical Islamic discourse sharing a framework with post-Avicennian thought. Reconfiguring the field of the study of writings on waḥdat al-wujūd this will allow for an analysis of the field not an analysis of selected works. The analysis will be done by a close reading of a set of works focussed on the basmala as one of the most important formulae. This is not an analysis of the letters and its interpretations but much more of the post-classical philosophy and the relation of the Sufism of waḥdat al-wujūd to it. The article discusses the role of the writings of al-Jīlī and Ibn ‘Arabī. The analysis of the field of writings of al-Jīlī opens a perspective on waḥdat al-wujūd as an interrelated field of meanings beyond the focus on single works and its possible intertextual references.

Research of German Classical Philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy

The article analyzes the work of the staff of the Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, which relates to the study of German classical philosophy. Ideologically unbiased studies of German idealism at the Institute became possible only after it was headed by Pavlo Kopnin. The Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv became the center from which all researchers of German idealism emerged in the first half of the 1960’s. At first more attention was paid to Hegel’s philosophical system, which was reflected in the monograph of V. Shinkaruk (1964). In the mid-1970’s, Kant’s critical philosophy came to the fore, various aspects of which were analyzed in the collective monograph “Critical Essays on Kant’s Philosophy” (1975). In the early 1980’s, researchers engaged intensively in Feuerbach’s “anthropological materialism” by publishing the collective monograph “Essays on Feuerbach’s Philosophy” (1982). The works and ideas of Hegel, Kant and Feuerbach were the main subject of attention of researchers at the Institute, which was reflected in numerous publications in the journal “Philosophical Thought”. Instead, Schelling’s philosophical systems, and especially Fichte’s, remained almost neglected until 1991.

Christian mystical experience in the panorama of transformations of non-classical ontologies of being-in-time

Trajectories of intersection and divergence between philosophical and religiously mystical versions of the ontology of being-in-time are studied in the article. It is concluded that the soul is constituted in qualitatively different time than “I”. If the soul is the junction of times, then “I” lives in the place of time breaking. The exit from time to eternity is preceded by the transformation of temporality by the junction of time in the modus of the present. In mystical traditions, such a transformation can be carried out in opposite directions: both the expansion of the present and the compression of the moment. A paradoxical roll-call is stated between the experience of the present in Christian mysticism and the theme of the present in non-classical philosophy. They agree that “I” can stay in the modus of the present not with his own efforts, but only in co-existence – joint existence. In Christian experience, this is the co-existence of synergy with God. In modern post-philosophy, God is replaced by the figure of the Other. Implications of such a substitution are being investigated. The uniqueness of the Christian version of the relation between time and eternity is seen in the provision on the gradation of qualitatively different times: both “timeless time” and “creature eternity”.

In memoriam Noel M. Swerdlow

We have recently received the sad news that Noel Swerdlow (1941–2021) passed away this Saturday 24 July. Noel was a leading historian of science who specialized in premodern astronomy from the Babylonian astronomical ephemerides of the Hellenistic period across the entire range of Western astronomy to the Renaissance, focusing on the works of Regiomontanus, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo. Published Online (2021-08-31)Copyright © 2021 by the Institute for Research in Classical Philosophy and Science Article PDF Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/aestimatio/article/view/37705/28704 Corresponding Author: Alan C. Bowen, Institute for Research in Classical Philosophy and ScienceE-Mail: [email protected]

On the Magnitude of the Gods in Materialist Theology and Greek Art

In this paper, I address one characteristic of Classical Greek votive reliefs that has troubled scholars: the size of the gods. The reliefs depict mortal worshippers approaching gods and goddesses who are, almost invariably, larger in stature than the mortals. Scholars have generally explained the difference in scale to be art historical, rather than theological, in significance. Either the larger scale is a visual expression of the hierarchical superiority of the gods or the images of the gods represent over-life-size statues. In addition, it is widely accepted that votive reliefs are products of unsophisticated religious belief, ignorant of the conceptualization of an imperceptible, non-corporeal deity in Classical philosophy. In this paper, I accept the artistic proposition of votive reliefs at face value: in this genre, the gods are living, visible, material bodies, most often anthropomorphic in form and always larger in magnitude than mortals. I identify one significant parallel for this interpretation within Greek and Roman thought, namely, the conception of gods within the materialist theology developed by the late Classical writer Epicurus and, in part at least, by the fifth-century BC writer Demokritos. In the writings of the Epicureans and, it appears, the atomists, as in the votive reliefs, gods are human in form, very beautiful, self-sufficient, larger than humans in size and known by mortals through visual perception.

THE LEVEL STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE

В отличие от классической теории научного познания, где выделялось только два уровня научного знания в любой из конкретных наук: эмпирический и теоретический, в современной эпистемологии выделяют четыре качественно различных уровня научного знания: чувственный, эмпирический, теоретический, метатеоретический. Все они отличаются друг от друга по происхождению (эпистемологии), содержанию (онтологии), методам обоснования и критериям истинности(методологии). Несмотря на то, что указанные уровни относительно независимы друг от друга, все они связаны между собой при функционировании любой конкретной науки как некоей целостной системы знания. Основной методологической процедурой обеспечения ее целостности является интерпретация. Она представляет собой конструктивноволевую деятельность мышления по идентификации содержания понятий разных уровней знания. Любая интерпретация всегда заключает в себе существенный момент риска и может быть неверной. Современная неклассическая концепция уровневой структуры научного знания позволяет осуществлять более глубокий и конкретный анализ закономерностей функционирования и развития науки по сравнению с классической эпистемологией. In contrast to the classical theory of scientific knowledge, where there were only two levels of scientific knowledge in any of the specific sciences: empirical and theoretical, in contemporary non-classical epistemology there are four qualitatively different levels of scientific knowledge: sensory, empirical, theoretical and metatheory. All of them differ in their content (ontology), means of genesis (epistemology), method of justification and criteria of truth (methodology). At the same time, although all these levels of scientific knowledge are relatively independent from each other in terms of their ontology and epistemology, they are all interrelated within the framework of the functioning of any particular science as the integrity system of knowledge. The means of achieving such integrity is a procedure of interpretation (identification) of the content of concepts of different levels of scientific knowledge. It is the constructive strong-willed activity. Every interpretation always consists of essential moment of risk and may produce an error. The non-classical approach to the level structure of scientific knowledge developed in the article allows for a deeper and more specific analysis of the laws of the functioning and development of real science, than the classical philosophy of science allowed.

Between Locality and Globality: The Problems of the History of Philosophy in Lithuania

The article deals with the problem of the local and global significance of Lithuanian philosophy. We discuss questions related to the meaning of the very concept of Lithuanian philosophy and evaluation of its scope. A controversy whether to cover all philosophical works written in the territories of historical Lithuania or to include only the works of ethnic Lithuanians (or at least the works written in Lithuanian) is talked over. The problem of the priorities in determining the relevant sources of the history of philosophy in Lithuania is described by pointing to the complexity of an assessment as the importance of the text for the development of Lithuanian self-awareness or its social significance scarcely coincide with its impact on global philosophy. The question of the priority of the texts written in the national language versus the translations of the main heritage of Western philosophy is addressed. We proceed further with a description of the works and the authors related to Lithuania and at the same time relevant to the philosophy of Europe, or at least neighbouring countries. The characteristics of the creative opposition between Protestant and Counter-Reformation thinkers is given. Martinus Smiglecius book on Logics and the main figures in the reception of German classical philosophy are discussed. Finally, the philosophical aspects of Litvak Judaism and their research are referred to.

Khorasan, the Birthplace of Post-Classical Philosophy, a Land in Decline?

Post-classical philosophy in Islam developed during the sixth/twelfth century in the eastern Islamic lands, in Iraq, Iran, and what is today Central Asia. Tracing the conditions and circumstances of its development requires an understanding of the political context, the patterns of patronage, and institutions of higher education and of research during this era. This chapter offers an introduction to the political history of the sixth/twelfth century with a focus on the courts that offered patronage to philosophers, and it analyzes the proliferation of madrasas during this era and their role for higher education and research.