Ancient Philosophy

ISSN: 0740-2007

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  1. Beyond Unified Multiplicity.Ota Gál - 2023 - Ancient Philosophy 43 (1):143-167.
    This article traces the limits of the understanding of beauty as unified multiplicity in Plotinus’ Enneads vi 2 and vi 6. These treatises can be read as insisting on the significance of multiplicity for beauty and as implying a distinction between the illuminated and the unilluminated beauty of Intellect. In treatise vi 7, this distinction is made explicit and a deeper understanding of beauty as the manifestation of the Good in Intellect is introduced.
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  2.  8
    Phantastic Content.Daniel R. Harkin - 2023 - Ancient Philosophy 43 (1):119-142.
    Phantastic interpreters of the emotions in Aristotle argue that a quasi-perceptual faculty, phantasia, is responsible for grasping the relevant value content. This article argues that phantasia cannot do this work. Rather, it claims, a phantastic account either collapses into the straight-up perceptual account or it fails to offer a cognitive account at all (despite the claims made by some of its adherents). According to the first option the focal value properties, such as slights and danger, are part of perceptual content (...)
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  3.  1
    Myths of Self-Transformation in Plato’s Republic.Max J. Latona - 2023 - Ancient Philosophy 43 (1):69-87.
    The four most prominent myths of Plato’s Republic oddly share a common motif, namely, the depiction of a subterranean locale to and from which individuals are depicted as traveling. This analysis offers an account of this motif that complements the themes of the “ascent” and “descent” of the philosopher, but draws more deeply upon katabasis mythology to reveal a subtext about individual transformation that enriches our understanding of justice.
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  4.  5
    Philoponus’ Potentially Ensouled Bodies.Jorge Mittelmann - 2023 - Ancient Philosophy 43 (1):195-218.
    In commenting on Aristotle’s κοινότατος λόγος of the soul – which portrays it as ‘the first actuality of a natural body having life in potentiality’– Philoponus suggests that seeds and embryos are not potentially alive bodies, despite ‘having become ready to receive life from the soul’ (209.17). To the extent that something’s suitability to be ensouled turns it eo ipso into a potentially alive thing, Philoponus’ remark may betray a contradiction, that can be handled by tinkering with the scope of (...)
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  5.  87
    Can Flogging Make Us Less Ignorant?Freya Möbus - 2023 - Ancient Philosophy 43 (1):51-68.
    In the Gorgias, Socrates claims that painful bodily punishment like flogging can improve certain wrongdoers. I argue that we can take Socrates’ endorsement seriously, even on the standard interpretation of Socratic motivational intellectualism, according to which there are no non-rational desires. I propose that flogging can epistemically improve certain wrongdoers by communicating that wrongdoing is bad for oneself. In certain cases, this belief cannot be communicated effectively through philosophical dialogue. You can find the penultimate draft on my webpage (link below).
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  6.  1
    Genos and Eidos in Plato.Fernando Muniz & George Rudebusch - 2023 - Ancient Philosophy 43 (1):35-50.
    English translates ‘genos’ as kind and ‘eidos’ as form, which differ in meaning as much as ‘herd’ and ‘brand’ do. But there are hard passages where ‘genos’ and ‘eidos’ have appeared to be synonyms, usually given the new meaning class. We show that, although ‘genos’ and ‘eidos’ are never synonyms and continue to mean kind and form, the word ‘eidos’ can be used figuratively, as a metonym, for a genos.
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  7.  2
    The Ignorance of Xenophon’s Socrates.Sandra Peterson - 2023 - Ancient Philosophy 43 (1):21-34.
    This article responds to scholars that claim that Xenophon’s Socrates, unlike Plato’s Socrates, never professes ignorance about moral matters (§1). I cite instances when the behavior of Xenophon’s Socrates implies that he acknowledges ignorance about particular moral matters. Implied acknowledgement of ignorance amounts to implicit profession (§2). I then consider passages that are evidence that Xenophon’s Socrates professed his ignorance about ‘the greatest things’, which include ethical matters much larger than particular (§3).
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  8.  3
    Aristotle on Thought and Feeling. By Paula Gottlieb. [REVIEW]Doug Reed - 2023 - Ancient Philosophy 43 (1):293-297.
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  9.  1
    The Perceptive Soul’s Impassivity in Late Ancient Reception of Aristotle’s De anima.Robert Roreitner - 2023 - Ancient Philosophy 43 (1):219-249.
    The article reconstructs a late ancient debate concerning a dilemma raised by Aristotle’s De anima: How can an impassive soul account for perceiving qua being affected by perceptual objects? It is argued that Alexander and Themistius developed radically different approaches which can be better understood within a larger context of the dialogue between Aristotelianism and Platonism. The debate is shown to be instructive in underlining difficulties inherent in Aristotle’s account.
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  10.  4
    A Wolf in the City: Tyranny and the Tyrant in Plato’s Republic. By Cynzia Arruzza.Eric Sanday - 2023 - Ancient Philosophy 43 (1):288-293.
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  11.  15
    Acheloios, Thales, and the Origin of Philosophy. A Response to the neo-Marxians. By Nicholas Molinari.Richard Seaford - 2023 - Ancient Philosophy 43 (1):273-277.
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  12.  15
    Philosophical Breakdowns and Divine Intervention.Thomas Slabon - 2023 - Ancient Philosophy 43 (1):89-118.
    This article investigates how Plato thinks we secure necessary motivational conditions for inquiry. After presenting a typology of zetetic breakdowns in the dialogues, I identify norms of inquiry Plato believes all successful inquirers must satisfy. Satisfying these norms requires trust that philosophy will not harm but benefit inquirers overall. This trust cannot be secured by protreptic argument. Instead, it requires divine intervention—an extra-rational foundation for rational inquiry.
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  13.  4
    Pythagorean Topoi in Aristophanes’ Birds 1553–1564.Alessandro Stavru - 2023 - Ancient Philosophy 43 (1):1-20.
    I will deal with a much-discussed passage of Aristophanes’ Birds, in which Socrates is depicted as a psuchagogos, a conjurer of souls. This is the only passage in Socratic literature in which such an activity is attributed to Socrates. In the Clouds, which was staged nine years prior to Birds, Aristophanes defines Socrates’ school as the ‘thinkery of wise souls’, and the endeavors of his pupils as a ‘taking care’ of their own souls. In the Clouds, Socrates is portrayed training (...)
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  14.  2
    Sextus on Place.Anna Tigani - 2023 - Ancient Philosophy 43 (1):169-193.
    In Sextus’ discussion of ‘place’ we find an attempt to insulate the philosophical questions about the conception of place and the ordinary answers to questions about where certain things are from one another. Common moves in dialectical practice against begging the question are used to delimitate the two contexts. Contrary to Myles Burnyeat’s interpretation, I argue, through close reading of the relevant texts, that there is no inconsistency in Sextus’ attempt.
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  15.  6
    The Historiography of Philosophy. By Michael Frede.Daniel Wolt - 2023 - Ancient Philosophy 43 (1):282-288.
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  16.  5
    Plants and Vegetal Respiration in Early Greek Philosophy.Claudia Zatta - 2023 - Ancient Philosophy 43 (1):251-272.
    This essay pursues the question of vegetal respiration in Presocratics’ doctrines in contrast to Aristotle’s categorical circumscription of this vital process to the blooded animals. It finds that epithelial respiration in DK31 B100 is central to Empedocles’ conception of plants’ breathing, linked to their fructification, deciduousness, and overall life preservation. It also discusses plants’ respiration in relation to their body temperature in Menestor, then, concludes by analyzing Democritus’ psychological doctrine, arguing that the intake of fiery atoms pertained to all living (...)
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  17.  45
    Nicholas D. Smith: Socrates on Self-Improvement. Knowledge, Virtue, and Happiness. [REVIEW]Freya Mobus - 2023 - Ancient Philosophy 43:277-282.
    In this book review, I discuss Smith’s new interpretation of Socrates' epistemology of virtue, according to which (a) Socratic virtue knowledge is craft knowledge (knowing how to live well), and such knowledge comes in degrees; and (b) Socrates has a certain degree of virtue knowledge, and one does not have to be an inerrant expert to have any virtue knowledge at all. I argue that Smith succeeds in presenting Socratic philosophy in a new light, while also pointing to remaining questions (...)
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