Many recent discoveries have confirmed the importance of Orphism for ancient Greek religion, philosophy, and literature. However, its nature and role are still very controversial. The key problem of its relationship to Christianity has been discussed by ancient and modern authors from many different viewpoints, albeit too often tainted with apologetic interests and unconscious projections. This free and thorough study of the ancient sources sheds light on these questions and illuminates the complexity of the encounter between Classical culture and Jewish-Christian (...) tradition. New perspectives on the relationship between Classical and Jewish-Christian culture On the avowed subject of Orphism Author is specialist within the field. (shrink)

This article argues we can better interpret key aspects of Plato's Phaedo, including Socrates' cryptic final words, if we read the dialogue against the background of Greek manumission. I first discuss modes of manumission in ancient Greece, showing that the frequent participation of healing gods reveals a conception of manumission as “healing.” I next examine Plato's use of manumission and slavery as metaphors, arguing that Plato uses the language of slavery in two main ways: like real slavery, metaphorical slavery could (...) be good, if it reflected a natural hierarchy, or bad, if it entailed an inversion thereof. Accordingly, metaphorical manumission from good and bad “slavery” are shown to be bad and good, respectively. Finally, I reread Plato's Phaedo, showing that Socrates, a willing “slave” of the gods, seeks the “manumission”/healing of his soul. It is in exchange for his complete “manumission,” attainable only through the death of his body, that Socrates offers a cock to the healing/manumission god Asklepios. (shrink)

Peut-on continuer à considérer les canons d’Elvire comme appartenant à un seul concile ? L’historiographie française la plus répandue jusqu'a ce jour a répondu affirmativement à cette question. Depuis la fin du siècle dernier, on assiste a un débat très anime sur l’authenticité et l’unité des Actes dits d’Elvire. Les différentes thèses se partagent entre deux approches totalement opposées : l’une soutient l’unité des Actes, sans refuser qu’ils aient pu être remanies au cours de leur transmission historique ; l’autre, a (...) la suite de l’article pionnier de M. Meigne (1975), défend le caractère composite des Actes, qui constitueraient une collection de dispositions juridiques hétérogènes. L’article présente l’état actuel de la recherche sur le concile d’Elvire ainsi que les enjeux principaux du débat. (shrink)

Structural geologic models are widely used to represent the spatial distribution of relevant geologic features. Several techniques exist to construct these models on the basis of different assumptions and different types of geologic observations. However, two problems are prevalent when constructing models: observations and assumptions, and therefore also the constructed model, are subject to uncertainties and additional information is often available, but it cannot be considered directly in the geologic modeling step — although it could be used to reduce model (...) uncertainties. The first problem has been addressed in recent work. Here we develop a conceptual approach to consider the second aspect: We combine uncertain prior information with geologically motivated likelihood functions in a Bayesian inference framework. The result is that we not only reduce uncertainties in the ensemble of generated models, but we also gain the potential to learn additional features about the model parameters. We develop an implementation of this concept in a probabilistic programming framework, in which we extend the functionality of a 3D implicit potential-field interpolation method with geologic likelihood functions. With schematic examples, we show how this combination leads to suites of models with reduced uncertainties and how it provides a deeper insight into parameter correlations. Furthermore, the integration into a hierarchical Bayesian model provides an insight into potential extensions of the method, for example, the interpolation functional itself, and other types of information, such as gravity or magnetic potential-field data. These aspects constitute promising paths for future research. (shrink)

Se pretende analizar el concepto de muerte en diversas partes de la filosofía de Schelling, haciendo especial énfasis en las Stuttgarter Privatvorlesungen para establecer que el filósofo emplea este concepto con diversas acepciones, lo cual le lleva a englobar el ámbito de la esencia y de lo ente como ámbitos de muerte siempre con son considerados aisladamente. Ha de haber entre estos dos parámetros una instancia mediadora que conecte estos ámbitos inconmensurables, tratándose en este caso del carácter apofántico del verbo. (...) Esta labor de mediación es la que disuelve la muerte y la que introduce la vida en el espacio que dejan los dos primeros segmentos recíprocos. (shrink)

This paper analyzes the reasons behind what it calls the erosion of democracy under George W. Bush's presidency since September 11, 2001, and claims that they are twofold: first, the erosion in question can be attributed to a crisis of the state and the belief that security is its only genuine function. In other words, the erosion of democracy is an erosion of the very idea of the public sphere beyond security and war. Secondly, the erosion of the ethical sphere (...) goes hand in hand with an extraordinary resurgence of what, still following Hegel, I call "morality," and which privileges the subjective over the objective, or moral feeling over institutions and the law. (shrink)