The article offers a new approach for the exploration of media and television studies by extracting the television-philosophy implicit in Samuel Beckett’s television play … but the clouds …. The reading focuses on the immanent logic of the play seen as a televisual and an intermedial whole, instead of constructing it as an intertextual tapestry of references. The article argues against a popular interpretation of Beckett as the artist of failure. The reading of …but the clouds… as illustrating the failure (...) of memory and as a comment on the televisual loss of pro-filmic referentiality is subsequently also contested. On the contrary, it is argued that the play in a self-reflexive positive gesture explores both the ontology of the television-image and the ontology of memory as a process of conjuration by presenting a successful emergence of the televisual Image-in-itself. (shrink)

In philosophy of religion, there are few more frequently visited topics than the problem of evil, which has attracted considerable interest since the time of Epicurus. It is well known that the problem of evil involves responding to the apparent tension between 1) belief in the existence of a good, all powerful, all knowing God and 2) the existence of evil—such as personal suffering embodied in the experience of cancer. While a great deal has been written concerning abstract philosophical theories (...) that academics use to explain the existence of evil, much less has been written about how religious lay people make sense of evil and suffering. What explanations, meanings, and perceptions do they hold concerning the religious significance of evil? What can theologians and philosophers learn from these lay experiences? Our interdisciplinary team designed an experiment to identify the religious significance that personal suffering held for a group of religious cancer sufferers. We interviewed twenty-nine self-identified evangelical Christians who had received a cancer diagnosis at some point in their lives for our experiment. Since all interviewees identified as Christians, it was expected that they would assent to belief in a theistic God. It was also expected that each interviewee would assent the existence of evil and see their cancer experience as a dramatic and personal instance of an evil event. The explicit existential threat of cancer guarantees that the individual has much at stake in the experience. Furthermore, the pain and suffering that typically accompanies either the cancer itself or cancer treatments make it a compelling example of evil experienced in a very personal way. Finally, even when successfully treated, the ongoing threat of potentially fatal recurrence looms over the sufferer for years to come. We asked 17 questions related to the religious significance of their cancer experience in each interview and coded these interviews looking for five distinct types of explanations for/meaning of evil: trusting God in mystery, free will, moral development, spiritual growth, and growth in human relationships/community. These categories were meant to correspond loosely to five philosophical responses to the existence of evil.Our interviews included several important results. First, 79% of interviewees had at least one answer that fit into the ‘trust God in mystery’ category of responses with 48% using this category of responses as their most frequently cited theme. This result could be interpreted as a kind of generic theodical response: God has a good, but unknown reason for allowing evil/suffering. Alternatively, another possible interpretation is that at least some of these interviewees intuited something similar to skeptical theism, since it claims that if one understands the type of God proposed by theism and possesses an accurate view of human cognitive capacities, it is apparent that there is no real tension to be resolved between theism and the existence of evil. Some of our interviewees seemed to believe not only that the answer to why evil exists is mysterious, but that they simply could not have the necessary perspective to judge what kinds of purposes God might have for allowing this painful episode in their lives.While it was unsurprising that religious sufferers would find it important to trust God in ambiguous difficult circumstances, more surprisingly, we found that 52% of our respondents did not judge that their cancer experience was at all in tension with their religious beliefs. Whereas a broad range of philosophers and theologians acknowledge that there is at least an apparent conflict between the existence of a good, all-powerful God and the existence of evil, most of our interviewees did not even perceive an apparent tension between theistic beliefs and their painful cancer experiences that would be in need of additional reconciliation.There are at least two ways this result might be interpreted. First, our interviewees might hold additional beliefs that make the existence of evil easier for them to accept. After all, these interviewees were not ‘bare theists’ who held only to the existence of God, but presumably held a broad range of religious beliefs which may already serve to reconcile the existence of evil: that growing closer to God is more important than earthly life itself, that in evil in this life allows us a greater appreciation of a blessed eternity, or simply that ‘God works for our good in mysterious ways.’ Thus, a fully developed Christian worldview may already accommodate the existence of evil in a way not fully appreciated by philosophers.Another possible interpretation is that at least some of our interviewees were not adequately reflective to perceive the tension between their religious beliefs and their experience of suffering. There is at least some reason to doubt this explanation as an overarching interpretation of this result since our interviewees were generally well educated with the median participant holding at least a Bachelor’s degree, and most were ongoing participants in a cancer support group ensuring long-term ongoing engagement with their cancer experience.A final significant finding is that a high portion of our interviewees, 83% reported specific examples of beneficial personal growth—moral, spiritual, or relational— that resulted from their cancer experience. When asked about their cancer experience’s broad effect upon their lives in these areas they volunteered at least one example of a benefit they received in these areas. Depending on one’s accompanying value theory and whether such benefits might have been otherwise achieved, they might provide a morally sufficient reason for the existence of suffering. Our interviewees frequently described experiencing the kind of benefits at the heart of John Hick’s soul making theodicy and Eleonore Stump’s ‘spiritual growth’ theodicy, providing at least some corroborating evidence for such views. Experiences common to our interviewees were similar to what such theodicies would predict. (shrink)

El siguiente artículo tiene como objetivo indagar los cambios generacionales ocurridos en la militancia del sindicato docente neuquino ATEN (Asociación de Trabajadores de la Educación de Neuquén) en torno a la última gran huelga de 2007, en la que fue asesinado el maestro Carlos Fuentealba. A partir de entonces, se puede delimitar una trayectoria política generacional contemporánea en la militancia gremial de ATEN, tomando como punto de partida previo la primera gran huelga docente ocurrida en 1997. Considerando el impacto retrospectivo (...) que ocasionó la última acción huelguística (2007), y sobre el análisis de entrevistas orales y documentos sindicales, el artículo demarca los períodos históricos en que las nuevas generaciones comprenden la construcción de su identidad y despliegan su militancia al interior del sindicato. Nuestra hipótesis es que el modo traumático en que fue experimentada la última gran huelga arroja luz sobre transformaciones previas que venían operando en la subjetividad de las nuevas generaciones de docentes, las que indican un cuestionamiento a las prácticas que constituyeron la novel tradición de este sindicato. (shrink)

Il volume si presenta come un manuale di riferimento sul pensiero di Umberto Galimberti, una miscellanea di studi cui ha contribuito un alto numero di studiosi di diverse discipline. Questo libro indaga il lungo arco del lavoro galimbertiano: dal pensiero simbolico, dalla fenomenologia alla psichiatria, fino ad approdare alla riflessione sull'età della tecnica e alla consulenza filosofica.

Personal freedom, «living as you like», was a cardinal principal of Athens’ democracy and nearly always a daily reality for its citizens. Yet despite Athens’ ideologies and often extraordinary tolerance, what some consider significant violations of freedom also occurred; in particular, the Athenians reportedly prosecuted many intellectuals . All this has raised doubts about personal freedoms at Athens. Did these freedoms exist? Many deny it, including Isaiah Berlin in his famous essays On Liberty. Many modern democracies are guided by the (...) principle of the primacy of the individual over the state, and the paramount importance of protecting individual liberties. But among the Athenians the community came first. The thread linking Athenian violations of their deeply felt democratic ideology of «living as you like» was the priority of community interests. Drunkenness, wasting money, even doubting the gods were not regulated, if no one else was harmed. But the community came first. The Athenians punished those who harmed the polis. Private citizens were left free to live as they wished. (shrink)

The author discusses the problem of homosexuality in the Hellenic period. The presented analyses are not only historical as the author shows in detail reviewing the evidence of homosexual behaviour, but he also discusses the forms and meanings of that behaviour. He is specially interested in the axiological context. He tries to recreate the system of evaluations according to which these sexual activities were seen as positive and shows the borderline beyond which homosexuality was condemned.

On the eminence and dignity of parents; in the light of Koran and Hadith (Islamic traditions), also Muslim ethics.

Une mention d’Athéna Archegetis dans un passage fragmentaire du papyrus P.Hib. I 15 conduit à déterminer l’histoire de l’épithète, attestée dans la tradition littéraire et épigraphique entre la fin du ve siècle et la période impériale. À partir de la fin du iiie siècle avant J.-C., l’usage d’archegetis s’étend à d’autres divinités qu’Athéna en dehors d’Athènes (Magnésie, Xanthos, Éphèse, Samos, Attaleia, Myra…). Cette étude passe en revue et reconsidère la documentation disponible sur ce terme afin d’en préciser — quand c’est (...) possible — le sens et les fonctions, surtout (mais pas seulement) en contexte athénien. En règle générale, l’épithète souligne le caractère identitaire d’une divinité particulière en un moment de changement ou de renouveau politique ou religieux. (shrink)

Presume-se que pensadores tenham começado a ser considerados como filósofos nos últimos decênios do séc. V a.C. Se for assim, nenhum dos intelectuais das épocas posteriores, de Tales a Empédocles, que fomos educados a honrar como filósofos, o foram considerados em vida. Teriam recebido o nome de “filósofos” como honra a posteriori, a partir de 330 e 345 a.C. No presente artigo, o autor analisa o modo como Tales era honrado como um dos sophoi em Atenas.

In this article we are trying to show the Shestovs point of view at the origins and nature of rationalistic philosophy which he names "philosophy of Athens". It's very important part of Shestov philosophy, for it helps him to explain the true situation of a modern man in the world. For Shestov the Greek philosophy was not the result of astonishment, but fear. Fear of unknown, chaotic reality. In order to get rid of that man started to search for certainty (...) and order, both on the ground of metaphysics and ethics. The only appropriate instrument here was Reason with his necessary and immutable truths. For Shestov the whole history of Greek philosophy in general is a process of gradual rationalization of the world. (shrink)

In his commentary on Plato’sCratylus, Proclus interprets the dialogue not as a mere work on logic or linguistics, but as having a full psychological and theological import.Late ancient Platonists had already proposed a similar reading for another Platonic dialogue,i.e.theParmenides. In that case too they rejected the logical interpretation, and aimed to find in the text the description of the hierarchy of reality, particularly of the highest beings. As a result, theParmenideswas seen as the accomplished expression of Plato’s theology.Proclus too draws (...) a comparison between theCratylusand theParmenidesin order to stress their theological significance. He also contrasts Plato’s dialectic with Aristotle’s dialectic. Proclus’ interpretation of dialectic is best understood if it is compared to the doctrines of his master Syrianus and of one of his co-disciples,i.e.Hermeias, at the Platonic school of Athens in the 5th centuryad.Contrary to what is sometimes assumed, in this milieu Platonists were not always committed to the task of reconciling the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle. As it happens, they could strongly disagree with and even attack Aristotle, and side with Plato. In particular, they greatly valued Plato’s dialectic, which they viewed as the correct form of reasoning and at the same time as a theory of the utmost theological significance. On the other hand, Aristotle’s dialectic was considered as “bare” logic,i.e.as a mere set of logical rules and arguments with no specific contents.On the basis of a problematicCratylus’passage Proclus defends a theory of truth according to which not only propositions, but also names can be true or false. This allows him to view names as substitutes of propositions. This is particularly the case in the application of the four dialectical methods of definition, division, demonstration and analysis. Proclus’ approach arguably provides a basis—to pagan as well as Christian tradition—for the study of divine names as a part of theology, for the name of a god is held to reveal its attributes. (shrink)