This book is available either individually, or as part of the specially-priced Arguments of the Philosphers Collection.

On educational thoughts of Rabindranath Tagore, 1861-1941, Bengali litterateur and Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948, Indian statesman and nationalist.

En Político (268d-277a) la historia ficticia de la reversión periódica del universo expresa la existencia en el universo de dos fuerzas o tendencias en concurrencia: la que orienta al mundo y al hombre hacia su télos, que es lo más perfecto, y la tendencia hacia el desorden y la confusión, es decir, la puramente mecánica y azarosa. Finalidad y mecanismo las dos tendencias que están presentes en Timeo, reaparecen en el libro de Leyes bajo la forma de un alma buena (...) y un alma mala. La primera es la que da cuenta del movimiento racional del mundo, en tanto que la segunda es causante de su movimiento alocado e irregular (897c-d). En Político las dos tendencias o fuerzas rectoras del universo alternan su predominancia, están en tensión. Y es la medida de esa alternancia la que salva al mundo de la destrucción y hace que se mantenga el equilibrio. Ese juego de tensiones traduce la existencia de una proporcionalidad en el seno del universo, gracias a la cual el mundo es precisamente un kósmos. En el Timeo el equilibrio resulta de la persuasión que la inteligencia ejerce sobre la necesidad, orientándola hacia lo mejor. También en Leyes reaparece esta idea, en X 906a ese equilibrio consiste en una tensión entre lo racional y lo irracional que hay en el universo. (shrink)

First Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

First Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This article aims to analyze the discussion of justice in Book I of Plato's Republic. At first, it should be noted that the way Book I is built makes it very close to the Platonic dialogues of the youth, the controversy remaining in relation to its writing as an independent text or preface deliberately elaborated. In Book I Plato maps the common meanings of justice and deconstructs them in an intellectual path that responds to the traditional notions of morality and (...) to the already degenerated political perspective of the sophists. With this, it signals the need to transcend the domains of mere opinion, in the name of a superior foundation for justice, universal and with a rational seal. The process of conceptual purification and contextual delimitation perpetrated in the first Book helps to understand the complex ethical, metaphysical and political-educational reflections of the Republic, reason that leads us to infer the essentially propaedeutic character with which Book I it was elaborated. (shrink)

A noção de justiça tem tido sempre uma função importante na história da humanidade e particularmente na Antiguidade. Nas civilizações pré-clássicas, a justiça é sinónimo de ordem e depende da vontade e da legitimidade que é conferida pelos deuses. No mundo clássico, na Odisseia, Homero alude à justiça, embora o poeta que na época arcaica mais se ocupa deste valor tenha sido Hesíodo. Autores posteriores, como Platão, Aristóteles, Epicuro ou Cícero, entre outros, abordam esta questão, ainda que...

What is love? Why do we idealize those whom we love? How do we choose whom to love? Are some kinds of love better than others? Each age returns to these questions with renewed perplexity. Gerasimos Santas examinees the two greatest theoretical architectures of love, side by side. It provides a thorough critical description and comparison of these theories, allowing a sophisticated dialogue to emerge between the two thinkers. In the first half of the book Professor Santas reconstructs and explains (...) Plato's theories of eros and philia: erotic love, familial love and friendship. He attempt to show that Plato's was a unified theory in which erotic love has a special connecion with creativity and beauty. He then discusses Freud's notion of love as distinct from, though based on, his general theory of sexuality. He discusses in detail Freud's explanations, before and after narcissism, of idealization and choice of beloved. Freud too, it emerges, had a unified theory of love: all love has its origins in the libidinal instincts of infancy and childhood. The book concludes by showing that, despite Freud's claim that his theory of love is 'Platonic', the two theories are instructively different. (shrink)

This article explores Edgar Morin's contribution to our understanding of the nature of being human and its implications for our understanding of, and approach to, the future. The notions of being, self, and community are addressed in terms of a planetary "community of destiny," and the processes of natural and social evolution.

This edited collection examines the ethical, legal, social and policy implications of genome editing technologies. Moreover, it offers a broad spectrum of timely legal analysis related to bringing genome editing to the market and making it available to patients, including addressing genome editing technology regulation through procedures for regulatory approval, patent law and competition law. In twelve chapters, this volume offers persuasive arguments for justifying transformative regulatory interventions regarding human genome editing, as well as the various legal venues for introducing (...) necessary or desirable changes needed to create an environment for realizing the potential of genome editing technology for the benefit of patients and society. (shrink)

On the human rights, justice and morality in India.

The problem of economic justice is the division and distribution of income and wealth. Is a just distribution an equal distribution, or are some unequal distributions just, and if so which ones? We critically examine what the ideal theories of justice of Aristotle and Rawls say or imply about a just distribution of wealth and income in the best of circumstances. Rawls’ contractarian view takes strict equality to be the benchmark of justice; Aristotle’s teleological theory claims that the equality appropriate (...) to distributive justice is proportional, equality of ratios among persons’ shares of a good and their respective merits for that good. The applications of the two theories result in different distributional outcomes. Aristotle’s justice principle will result in unequal outcomes if the merits of persons are unequal and in equal outcomes if the merits are equal. An example of the latter is his best polis and constitution--its ideal citizens will have superlative and equal merits and they will justly receive equal political and economic shares. Although he supports reducing economic inequalities in actual cities, serious inequalities in resources will remain. Rawls’ basic principle of justice will produce equal shares. But democracies allow great inequalities in wealth and income, presumably recognizing that some inequalities promote the common good; everyone is better off when some economic incentives are rewarded. But which economic inequalities are just? Rawls in his second principle of justice identifies the most widely held way of answering this question. (shrink)

_Understanding Plato’s Republic_ is an accessible introduction to the concepts of justice that inform Plato’s Republic, elucidating the ancient philosopher's main argument that we would be better off leading just lives rather than unjust ones Provides a much needed up to date discussion of _The Republic_'s fundamental ideas and Plato's main argument Discusses the unity and coherence of _The Republic_ as a whole Written in a lively style, informed by over 50 years of teaching experience Reveals rich insights into a (...) timeless classic that holds remarkable relevance to the modern world. (shrink)

What is love? Why do we idealize those whom we love? How do we choose whom to love? Are some kinds of love better than others? Each age returns to these questions with renewed perplexity. Gerasimos Santas examinees the two greatest theoretical architectures of love, side by side. It provides a thorough critical description and comparison of these theories, allowing a sophisticated dialogue to emerge between the two thinkers. In the first half of the book Professor Santas reconstructs and explains (...) Plato's theories of eros and philia: erotic love, familial love and friendship. He attempt to show that Plato's was a unified theory in which erotic love has a special connecion with creativity and beauty. He then discusses Freud's notion of love as distinct from, though based on, his general theory of sexuality. He discusses in detail Freud's explanations, before and after narcissism, of idealization and choice of beloved. Freud too, it emerges, had a unified theory of love: all love has its origins in the libidinal instincts of infancy and childhood. The book concludes by showing that, despite Freud's claim that his theory of love is 'Platonic', the two theories are instructively different. (shrink)

_The Blackwell Guide to Plato’s Republic_ consists of thirteen new essays written by both established scholars and younger researchers with the specific aim of helping readers to understand Plato’s masterwork. This guide to Plato’s _Republic_ is designed to help readers understand this foundational work of the Western canon. Sheds new light on many central features and themes of the Republic. Covers the literary and philosophical style of the _Republic_; Plato’s theories of justice and knowledge; his educational theories; and his treatment (...) of the divine. Will be of interest to readers who are new to the _Republic_, and those who already have some familiarity with the book. (shrink)

This volume explores Plato and Aristotle's theories about good things, goodness, and the best life for human beings, and draws comparisons between ancient and modern theories of good and justice.

A partir de las reflexiones que en su O cosmopolitismo do pobre desarrolla Silviano Santiago, propondremos un enfoque alternativo al actual modelo de enseñanza nacional, o nacionalista (cuya sinonimia asumimos), de las literaturas, las culturas e incluso de las lenguas. Para ello, procedemos a problematizar-deconstruir la estructura ideológica nacionalista (Anthony Smith, Hobsbawm, Anderson), defendiendo las ventajas científicas y políticas de un enfoque transterritorial de los estudios culturales, lingüísticos y literarios.

Those considering careers in medicine and other health and humanitarian disciplines as well as those concerned about the growing presence of militarized ...

Biophilia is a concept that has been much utilized as a foundation for an environmental or “land” ethic. E.O. Wilson characterizes it as a genetic disposition that links human survival to valuing living systems. J. Baird Callicott argues that human sentiments are naturally directed to all living systems and beings and this sentiment has evolutionary value. This author contends that if biophilia is to be a viable foundation for such an ethic, it must be conceived more abstractly and broadly as (...) an interconnecting feature of biotic systems. The foundation for such a conception can be found in Aristotle’s ethics, wherein his discussion of friendship, philia, can provide a theory of interspecies obligation. Although Aristotle’s focus in the Nicomachean Ethics is human relations, he makes it clear that this sentiment can be felt towards other living beings. This paper develops a broader conception of philia that includes interspecies relationships and then reconceives the modern concept of biophilia as a form of interspecies philia. It goes on to argue, using Aristotle’s theory of obligation as reciprocity within friendship, that such a re-conception of biophilia might provide another approach to founding an environmental ethic on a theory of sentiment. (shrink)

Em busca da felicidade do indivíduo, Epicuro aborda os diversos aspectos que considera contribuírem para ela: prazer, quietude, conhecimento, segurança, amizade, justiça. Neste texto pretendemos, de forma sucinta, mostrar de que modo estes vários elementos se relacionam entre si e, sobretudo, de que modo o conceito de justiça deste filósofo contribui para a felicidade humana, não sendo um conceito tradicional.