This paper looks for deepening the connections among peace, intercultural dialogue, and communalism in the light of Ubuntu, an ethical concept that emphasizes the alliances constructed between people and the relations...This paper looks for deepening the connections among peace, intercultural dialogue, and communalism in the light of Ubuntu, an ethical concept that emphasizes the alliances constructed between people and the relations established by them, and is seen as fundamental to the African thought of the groups that adopt Bantu languages. It develops an original exercise in diatopical hermeneutics--a methodology proposed by Raimon Panikkar, taking as the main goal to approach the Western ethical and political thought to the epistemic and ontological category of Uhuntu, recognized in the Zulu maxim umuntu n#umuntu npabantu （a person is a person through other persons）. It chooses as the basis of such study some contemporary thinkers as L^vinas, Bauman, Ramose, Chuwa, Kunene, and Nussbaum, who show a common concern with reverting a context of war and disregard of the integrity of human beings, connected to an ethics of alterity, zealous of the values of conviviality and respect for the cultural differences. It reveals the political dimension of Ubuntu and the impacts of this conception on the process of facing the problems of human rights in post Apartheid South Africa. Grounded on such transdisciplinary reflexion, it tries to point through a path to the implementation of policies for peace based on interculturality and communalism within different cultures.展开更多
The proposed paper focuses on art as a form of cultural expression and it presents data based on ethnographic information of famous Pakistani musical theatres in Lahore, Province of Punjab. Most description of the per...The proposed paper focuses on art as a form of cultural expression and it presents data based on ethnographic information of famous Pakistani musical theatres in Lahore, Province of Punjab. Most description of the performing arts is written by men with an exclusive male perspective. Little or no attempt has been made to explore women lives in performing theatre apart from their assigned role as physical crowd-pullers. This study presents how symbols are used to communicate, as each member of theatre community uses entire repertoire to convey messages, manual gesticulations, body gestures, facial expressions, dance patterns, a particular dress etc. at the cultural level. The central idea of this study is how artists use the body in performance to imagine and enact culture, values, humor, selfhood, and the complex relations among them. It discusses their real backstage life experiences and problems faced as well how and what type of contact they maintain with their audience and admirers. What are their moral values and what kind of social dilemmas they face, how the sexuality of theatre women is being controlled, their fears emotions, distress of theatre women etc. are the major research questions. In short, this anthropological inquiry takes into account all relevant social, cultural, political, economic, and religious dimensions of performing art.展开更多
This paper examines the expression of being from the syntactic perspective in the framework of Cassirer＇s philosophy of language in his Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. It first introduces the debate about the validity ...This paper examines the expression of being from the syntactic perspective in the framework of Cassirer＇s philosophy of language in his Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. It first introduces the debate about the validity of the question of being between the logical and ontological perspectives, represented by J. S. Mill＇s attempt to annul the question and Heidegger＇s counter argument. It then moves to the syntactic perspective by using Aquinas＇ statement that in every apprehension being should be present, and then reconsiders the function of copula in a sentence. The main part of this article follows Cassirer＇s argument by picking up the so-called ＂war of the giants＂ between the Heraclitean flux and the Parmenidean immovable being in the context of language in Plato＇s three dialogues, namely Cratylus, Theaetetus, and Sophist. It then moves on to Cassirer＇s Kantian scheme of analysis to handle the Platonic question, and argues that words and sentences are different moments of unit formation in our consciousness. It concludes with Cassirer＇s argument of the priority of sentence over words, and that the concentration merely on the copula is a limited approach to the question. The purpose of this paper is to show Cassirer＇s contribution to the problem of being by shifting the attention from semantics to the syntax and by breaking new ground from neo-Kantianism, and offers an approach to understand the role of language in our knowledge of the objective world which is neither purely nominal nor realist.展开更多
The present article focuses on Heidegger＇s productive appropriation of Aristotle＇s rhetoric. It pays special attention to the lectures of 1924, Basic Concepts of.4ristotelian Philosophy, and its later influence on t...The present article focuses on Heidegger＇s productive appropriation of Aristotle＇s rhetoric. It pays special attention to the lectures of 1924, Basic Concepts of.4ristotelian Philosophy, and its later influence on the phenomenon of idle talk exposed in Being and Time. First, a brief overview is given of Heidegger＇s early rediscovery of Aristotle＇s political and practical writings. Second, special attention is given to his ontological reading of Aristotle＇s practical and political writings, focusing on the sphere of communicability and publicness inherent to opinions. And third, the paper describes the positive and negative aspects related to the phenomenon of idle talk sketched out in Being and Time, a phenomenon which condensates a good portion of his early interpretations of Aristotelian rhetoric.展开更多
Among the few philosophers who dedicated philosophical reflection on the problem of technology, Hans Jonas would be the leading one. Still in a close affinity with Martin Heidegger, his teacher, Jonas argued that mode...Among the few philosophers who dedicated philosophical reflection on the problem of technology, Hans Jonas would be the leading one. Still in a close affinity with Martin Heidegger, his teacher, Jonas argued that modem technology bore some annoying characters. In line of this anxiety, Jonas suggested the importance of protecting life as an integral part of the ethical project he intended to build. Departing from his basic notion that human life is never separated from other organic life, Jonas has opened a wider space for ethical responsibilities towards life of the whole cosmos. In what sense is his notion of the responsibility towards the whole life should be understood is one of the aim of this paper. Baring in mind that Jonas developed his concept on life and human responsibility towards it as an argumentation against the development of technology, the social context in which modem technology finds its root is worthed to be discussed. It is concluded that separating ethics from ontology as many theorists and philosophers did so far has strengthened the old notion of human autonomy with its defects, and by that, the destruction of life seemed to be accepted as a consequence of it.展开更多
Firstly, this paper is to illustrate through the analysis of Aristotelian texts that two kinds of necessity involved in the teleological account, the necessity απλωζand the necessity εξυποθεσεωζare rel...Firstly, this paper is to illustrate through the analysis of Aristotelian texts that two kinds of necessity involved in the teleological account, the necessity απλωζand the necessity εξυποθεσεωζare related to an achievement of an endaccording to two thoroughly different ontological and logical grounds. Secondly, it is to bring the irreducibility of the teleological to non-teleological into organic development to unprecedented light so as to show how the ontological predominance of the finality over the material necessity may be adequately expressed by a logical implication, if it is appropriately stated and well distinct from other similar logical connectives such as the material implication and the biconditional if-and-only-if.展开更多
In his commentary on the Platonic Parmenides, the Neoplatonist philosopher Proclus （ca. 411-485） offers a systematic defense of the objective existence of the Forms by means of the use of distinctive arguments, four...In his commentary on the Platonic Parmenides, the Neoplatonist philosopher Proclus （ca. 411-485） offers a systematic defense of the objective existence of the Forms by means of the use of distinctive arguments, four of which are ontological. In contrast with Aristotle, Proclus clearly accepts that the Forms exist as principles of the world and not as posterior concepts describing the common elements of the sensible entities. Thus, he argues first that the ontological presuppositions of the sensible beings are placed in the area of the self-subsistent beings, which correspond to the categories of the Second Hypothesis of the Parmenides. The Forms belong to this area as well. In this respect, Proclus refers to the way of production of the sensible beings, aiming at a strict definition of this process. Secondly, he proves that the existence of the Forms, which possess ontological completeness, is prior to the existence of the sensible things. This is possible since the Forms are generated by the Demiurge of the whole world, by means of an internal reflection upon himself. Thirdly, in order to prove that the sensible world cannot be attributed to mere chance, he argues that the external activity, i.e., the creation of the world, depends on the internal activity, i.e., the development of the Forms in the divine intellect. Fourthly, he implements the concept of hierarchy in the realm of the Forms, through an extensive reference to the ontological priority of the imparticipable over the participable. Thus, he shows how the existence of the primary and intelligible Forms is prior to that of the substantiated Forms. Interestingly enough, the above-mentioned arguments exercised considerable influence on the commentaries of the members of the school of Ammonius, son of Hermias.展开更多
Most commentators use the term ＂modern philosophy＂ for the post-Descartes era--an era of unprecedented growth for the modern sciences and, especially the empirical sciences. Even assuming that the feud between the r...Most commentators use the term ＂modern philosophy＂ for the post-Descartes era--an era of unprecedented growth for the modern sciences and, especially the empirical sciences. Even assuming that the feud between the rationalists and the empiricists during this period yielded no other benefits, it was beneficial enough to turn ＂experience＂ into an important pillar of the acquisition of knowledge in the subsequent philosophy. It was this ＂experience-mindedness＂ that drove away the Aristotelian ＂essentialist＂ perspective and replaced it with ＂nominalism.＂ By describing the genesis and emergence of the ＂nominalist-empirical＂ perspective in analytic philosophy as one of the branches of the human sciences, this article strives to advance the claim that philosophical thinking continues to flourish in the absence of ＂realist thinking about universals＂ and that philosophizing does not fundamentally rest on universals.展开更多
文摘This paper looks for deepening the connections among peace, intercultural dialogue, and communalism in the light of Ubuntu, an ethical concept that emphasizes the alliances constructed between people and the relations established by them, and is seen as fundamental to the African thought of the groups that adopt Bantu languages. It develops an original exercise in diatopical hermeneutics--a methodology proposed by Raimon Panikkar, taking as the main goal to approach the Western ethical and political thought to the epistemic and ontological category of Uhuntu, recognized in the Zulu maxim umuntu n#umuntu npabantu （a person is a person through other persons）. It chooses as the basis of such study some contemporary thinkers as L^vinas, Bauman, Ramose, Chuwa, Kunene, and Nussbaum, who show a common concern with reverting a context of war and disregard of the integrity of human beings, connected to an ethics of alterity, zealous of the values of conviviality and respect for the cultural differences. It reveals the political dimension of Ubuntu and the impacts of this conception on the process of facing the problems of human rights in post Apartheid South Africa. Grounded on such transdisciplinary reflexion, it tries to point through a path to the implementation of policies for peace based on interculturality and communalism within different cultures.
文摘The proposed paper focuses on art as a form of cultural expression and it presents data based on ethnographic information of famous Pakistani musical theatres in Lahore, Province of Punjab. Most description of the performing arts is written by men with an exclusive male perspective. Little or no attempt has been made to explore women lives in performing theatre apart from their assigned role as physical crowd-pullers. This study presents how symbols are used to communicate, as each member of theatre community uses entire repertoire to convey messages, manual gesticulations, body gestures, facial expressions, dance patterns, a particular dress etc. at the cultural level. The central idea of this study is how artists use the body in performance to imagine and enact culture, values, humor, selfhood, and the complex relations among them. It discusses their real backstage life experiences and problems faced as well how and what type of contact they maintain with their audience and admirers. What are their moral values and what kind of social dilemmas they face, how the sexuality of theatre women is being controlled, their fears emotions, distress of theatre women etc. are the major research questions. In short, this anthropological inquiry takes into account all relevant social, cultural, political, economic, and religious dimensions of performing art.
文摘This paper examines the expression of being from the syntactic perspective in the framework of Cassirer＇s philosophy of language in his Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. It first introduces the debate about the validity of the question of being between the logical and ontological perspectives, represented by J. S. Mill＇s attempt to annul the question and Heidegger＇s counter argument. It then moves to the syntactic perspective by using Aquinas＇ statement that in every apprehension being should be present, and then reconsiders the function of copula in a sentence. The main part of this article follows Cassirer＇s argument by picking up the so-called ＂war of the giants＂ between the Heraclitean flux and the Parmenidean immovable being in the context of language in Plato＇s three dialogues, namely Cratylus, Theaetetus, and Sophist. It then moves on to Cassirer＇s Kantian scheme of analysis to handle the Platonic question, and argues that words and sentences are different moments of unit formation in our consciousness. It concludes with Cassirer＇s argument of the priority of sentence over words, and that the concentration merely on the copula is a limited approach to the question. The purpose of this paper is to show Cassirer＇s contribution to the problem of being by shifting the attention from semantics to the syntax and by breaking new ground from neo-Kantianism, and offers an approach to understand the role of language in our knowledge of the objective world which is neither purely nominal nor realist.
文摘The present article focuses on Heidegger＇s productive appropriation of Aristotle＇s rhetoric. It pays special attention to the lectures of 1924, Basic Concepts of.4ristotelian Philosophy, and its later influence on the phenomenon of idle talk exposed in Being and Time. First, a brief overview is given of Heidegger＇s early rediscovery of Aristotle＇s political and practical writings. Second, special attention is given to his ontological reading of Aristotle＇s practical and political writings, focusing on the sphere of communicability and publicness inherent to opinions. And third, the paper describes the positive and negative aspects related to the phenomenon of idle talk sketched out in Being and Time, a phenomenon which condensates a good portion of his early interpretations of Aristotelian rhetoric.
文摘Among the few philosophers who dedicated philosophical reflection on the problem of technology, Hans Jonas would be the leading one. Still in a close affinity with Martin Heidegger, his teacher, Jonas argued that modem technology bore some annoying characters. In line of this anxiety, Jonas suggested the importance of protecting life as an integral part of the ethical project he intended to build. Departing from his basic notion that human life is never separated from other organic life, Jonas has opened a wider space for ethical responsibilities towards life of the whole cosmos. In what sense is his notion of the responsibility towards the whole life should be understood is one of the aim of this paper. Baring in mind that Jonas developed his concept on life and human responsibility towards it as an argumentation against the development of technology, the social context in which modem technology finds its root is worthed to be discussed. It is concluded that separating ethics from ontology as many theorists and philosophers did so far has strengthened the old notion of human autonomy with its defects, and by that, the destruction of life seemed to be accepted as a consequence of it.
文摘Firstly, this paper is to illustrate through the analysis of Aristotelian texts that two kinds of necessity involved in the teleological account, the necessity απλωζand the necessity εξυποθεσεωζare related to an achievement of an endaccording to two thoroughly different ontological and logical grounds. Secondly, it is to bring the irreducibility of the teleological to non-teleological into organic development to unprecedented light so as to show how the ontological predominance of the finality over the material necessity may be adequately expressed by a logical implication, if it is appropriately stated and well distinct from other similar logical connectives such as the material implication and the biconditional if-and-only-if.
文摘In his commentary on the Platonic Parmenides, the Neoplatonist philosopher Proclus （ca. 411-485） offers a systematic defense of the objective existence of the Forms by means of the use of distinctive arguments, four of which are ontological. In contrast with Aristotle, Proclus clearly accepts that the Forms exist as principles of the world and not as posterior concepts describing the common elements of the sensible entities. Thus, he argues first that the ontological presuppositions of the sensible beings are placed in the area of the self-subsistent beings, which correspond to the categories of the Second Hypothesis of the Parmenides. The Forms belong to this area as well. In this respect, Proclus refers to the way of production of the sensible beings, aiming at a strict definition of this process. Secondly, he proves that the existence of the Forms, which possess ontological completeness, is prior to the existence of the sensible things. This is possible since the Forms are generated by the Demiurge of the whole world, by means of an internal reflection upon himself. Thirdly, in order to prove that the sensible world cannot be attributed to mere chance, he argues that the external activity, i.e., the creation of the world, depends on the internal activity, i.e., the development of the Forms in the divine intellect. Fourthly, he implements the concept of hierarchy in the realm of the Forms, through an extensive reference to the ontological priority of the imparticipable over the participable. Thus, he shows how the existence of the primary and intelligible Forms is prior to that of the substantiated Forms. Interestingly enough, the above-mentioned arguments exercised considerable influence on the commentaries of the members of the school of Ammonius, son of Hermias.
文摘Most commentators use the term ＂modern philosophy＂ for the post-Descartes era--an era of unprecedented growth for the modern sciences and, especially the empirical sciences. Even assuming that the feud between the rationalists and the empiricists during this period yielded no other benefits, it was beneficial enough to turn ＂experience＂ into an important pillar of the acquisition of knowledge in the subsequent philosophy. It was this ＂experience-mindedness＂ that drove away the Aristotelian ＂essentialist＂ perspective and replaced it with ＂nominalism.＂ By describing the genesis and emergence of the ＂nominalist-empirical＂ perspective in analytic philosophy as one of the branches of the human sciences, this article strives to advance the claim that philosophical thinking continues to flourish in the absence of ＂realist thinking about universals＂ and that philosophizing does not fundamentally rest on universals.
