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Creation and Moral Order

Sean M. McDonough

in Christ as Creator: Origins of a New Testament Doctrine

Even a cursory look at the statements concerning Christ and creation shows that they were formulated primarily by way of analogy with the relational aspect of Christ's redemptive work. Just as God ... More

Even a cursory look at the statements concerning Christ and creation shows that they were formulated primarily by way of analogy with the relational aspect of Christ's redemptive work. Just as God saves people ‘through Christ’, so he created the world ‘through Christ’. Such a move was facilitated by the inextricable links between creation and redemption in the Hebrew Bible. But it is also part of a broader pattern in the ancient world, where cosmic order and social order were regularly seen as closely allied concepts. A variety of texts, from Sumerian hymns to Hellenistic philosophical treatises, are cited to demonstrate this point.Less

The Next Principle’ The Next Principle’ Metaphysics A 3–4, 984b8–985b22

Gâbor Betegh

in Aristotle's Metaphysics Alpha: Symposium Aristotelicum

This chapter examines the way Aristotle describes in A 3–4 (984b8–985a29) the reasons and motivations, which, on his interpretation, lead his predecessors to introduce a new type of principle that ... More

This chapter examines the way Aristotle describes in A 3–4 (984b8–985a29) the reasons and motivations, which, on his interpretation, lead his predecessors to introduce a new type of principle that could function as the efficient cause. By bringing in parallel texts from Physics I and On the Parts of Animals I, it is argued that, for Aristotle, the trajectory of the discovery of the truth is after all less deterministic than what the language of Metaphysics A 3 might suggest. The paper aims to show, moreover, that what is discovered is not so much new types of Aristotelian causes but rather distinctions among types of principle.Less

Intelligence as Cause: Philebus 27c–31b

Hendrik Lorenz

in Plato's Philebus: A Philosophical Discussion

In the text examined in Chapter 6, Socrates and Protarchus assign the life that combines intelligence and pleasure to the mixed kind (27d); and Socrates and Philebus assign the unmixed life of ... More

In the text examined in Chapter 6, Socrates and Protarchus assign the life that combines intelligence and pleasure to the mixed kind (27d); and Socrates and Philebus assign the unmixed life of pleasure to the unlimited kind (27e–28a). The interlocutors then turn to the question of which kind to assign intelligence to. That question is answered by means of an elaborate argument in favor of thinking that it is intelligence that is the cause of good order both at the cosmic level and in the human domain. On this basis, intelligence is assigned to the kind of cause. The chapter is organized around what is taken to be the main interpretive and philosophical questions that the section raises. The most important and interesting of these questions pertain to Socrates’ microcosm–macrocosm parallel (29a–30d) and its role in the argument for thinking that intelligence belongs to the kind of cause.Less

An Early Redefinition of Progress's Destination

in On the Future of History: The Postmodernist Challenge and Its Aftermath

History reflected the cosmic ordering process in its three stages. In the first stage, instincts and the environment cooperated in shaping the initial, not-yet-fully developed human beings into a ... More

History reflected the cosmic ordering process in its three stages. In the first stage, instincts and the environment cooperated in shaping the initial, not-yet-fully developed human beings into a natural social whole. The second stage was one of increasing differentiations in all aspects of life resulting in a period of instability—that of history. At first glance, this period offered no improvement as it resulted from the disintegration of the harmonious whole. That third stage brought what later would be called posthistoric postmodernity. The historical forces, which had caused all the instability, lost their capacity to bring about noteworthy change.Less

Creating Assyria in Its Own Image

Marian H. Feldman

in Communities of Style: Portable Luxury Arts, Identity, and Collective Memory in the Iron Age Levant

The chapter proposes that practicing a consistent style, distinct from the varied stylistic practices of the Levant, helped to bolster Assyrian state consolidation as a community of culturally ... More

The chapter proposes that practicing a consistent style, distinct from the varied stylistic practices of the Levant, helped to bolster Assyrian state consolidation as a community of culturally conversant courtiers. It first articulates the traits that have defined an Assyrian state style, considering aspects of homogeneity across media, technique, scale, and context. Then a case study of images of booty and tribute highlights the oppositional nature of the Assyrian style that defines itself chiefly in contrast to others. The strong, coherent, and consistent style produced by the Assyrian state was part of an active strategy for maintaining a memory of conquest over the vanquished Other, at the same time neutralizing the Other so it could no longer threaten Assyria. Thus the rendering of otherness acted to establish norms of “being Assyrian” through a process of stylistic Assyrianization that emptied the Other of its own stylistic identity. The controlled and orderly nature of the Assyrian style further suggest an underlying allusion to cosmogonic myths of creation, in particular that of Enuma Elish, such that the creation of an Assyrian world through a pervasive style coextends with the divine world and cosmic order.Less

Housing the Powers: Self-Actuation and Cosmic Design

Marilyn McCord Adams

in Housing the Powers: Medieval Debates about Dependence on God

Medieval Aristotelian science treats perceived always-or-for-the-most-part functional regularities among macro-objects here below as explananda that require grounding in causal powers. This chapter ... More

Medieval Aristotelian science treats perceived always-or-for-the-most-part functional regularities among macro-objects here below as explananda that require grounding in causal powers. This chapter traces and discusses ways in which that played out, focusing mainly on the works of Godfrey of Fontaines, Henry of Ghent, and John Duns Scotus. The Aristotelian defaults are to house functional powers in the macro-objects that exhibit the regularities and to lodge explanatory powers in transcendent objects only when that fails. Because some causal powers seem mutually incompatible, Aristotelian science offers us a sublunary universe populated with interacting substances of different natural kinds. Godfrey mounts bold arguments that if self-actuation were allowed anywhere, there could be no principled reason for not finding it everywhere. Henry and Scotus counter with instructive distinctions. But Scotus’ understanding of cosmic ordering leaves a question why we should not find self-actuation everywhere, as Leibniz later did.Less

Cosmological Oaths in Empedocles and Lucretius1

Myrto Garani

in Horkos: The Oath in Greek Society

This chapter focuses on the Lucretian phrase foedera naturai, or ‘the covenants of nature’, tracing it to a ‘broad oath’ (or rather two oaths) spoken of in the philosophical poetry of Empedocles. It ... More

This chapter focuses on the Lucretian phrase foedera naturai, or ‘the covenants of nature’, tracing it to a ‘broad oath’ (or rather two oaths) spoken of in the philosophical poetry of Empedocles. It examines how the specific political image of the oath functions within Empedocles's cosmological poems, analyses the relationship between his two extant fragments, DK31 B30 and DK31 B115, and considers how the oath is deployed only in the first as a metaphor to describe cosmic order. The chapter then turns to Lucretius's cosmological poem De Rerum Natura, arguing that he evokes the similar imagery of Empedocles. In particular, it shows that Lucretius, when he presents the image of a universe organised according to fixed agreements, the foedera naturae, looks back directly to Empedocles's metaphor of the oath as his model.Less

Snow in Arcadia: rewriting the English lyric landscape

Anne Sweeney

in Robert Southwell: Snow in Arcadia: Redrawing the English Lyric Landscape, 1586-95

This chapter discusses Southwell's efforts to rewrite the landscape of English lyrics, first examining English courtly poetry, which was introduced during the 1580s. It was also during this time that ... More

This chapter discusses Southwell's efforts to rewrite the landscape of English lyrics, first examining English courtly poetry, which was introduced during the 1580s. It was also during this time that the poetic landscape reflects the lack of cosmic order and moral truth. The chapter shows that Southwell was trying to improve the imaginary landscape of the English national poetic agenda, and notes how the changes in his environment affected his poetry. It also compares Southwell with Nicholas Breton, which reveals the layers of hidden meaning in Southwell's obvious simplicity.Less

Apprehension in the Timaeus: Plato’s Nervous Narrator

Harry Berger

in The Perils of Uglytown: Studies in Structural Misanthropology from Plato to Rembrandt

This chapter offers a reading of Plato’s Timaeus, a dialogue that deals with the creation of the cosmos and the human being. Timaeus elaborates on the mathematical, musical, and geometrical bases of ... More

This chapter offers a reading of Plato’s Timaeus, a dialogue that deals with the creation of the cosmos and the human being. Timaeus elaborates on the mathematical, musical, and geometrical bases of cosmic order. In the tripartite plan of exposition, he first describes the work of reason in creating the world soul and body, time, living creatures, and the human soul. He then proceeds to the work of necessity in an account that seems barely able to domesticate a vision of elemental violence. In the third section, Timaeus shows how reason and necessity have to work together to bind and contain an unruly human creature full of the stuff of chaos, a creature whose makeup reflects the pleonexia of its origins. This chapter considers the idea that the Timaeus is “a place of doctrinal safety,” Socrates’s description of the city of Kallipolis at the beginning of the Timaeus, and how Timaeus’s account of the creation of the cosmos advances the Kallipolitan agenda.Less

Introduction

in Shizi: China's First Syncretist

This book presents the first full English translation of China's first overtly Syncretist text, the Shizi. As an early form of Chinese Syncretism, the Shizi presents a simple blending of philosophies ... More

This book presents the first full English translation of China's first overtly Syncretist text, the Shizi. As an early form of Chinese Syncretism, the Shizi presents a simple blending of philosophies that were current c. 300 BCE. As such, it offers a glimpse into several themes that probably enjoyed a broad consensus during this watershed period in China's intellectual history. Authored by Shi Jiao (c. 390–330 BCE), the Shizi engages topics ranging from the cosmic order to the importance of learning, the utility of timeliness, the exploits of sage-rulers, and the logic of results-based practicality. This book describes the content and history of the Shizi, contextualizes the text within its intellectual milieu and its relevance to modern academia, and analyzes its main themes. It also traces the transmission of the Shizi from its earliest attestation down through the last of its several reconstructions. The book concludes with an annotated translation of the Shizi.Less

The Environment: How to Understand It and What to Do about It

Katie McShane

in The Environment: Philosophy, Science, and Ethics

This chapter focuses on the definition of the term “environment” as studied in environmental philosophy. Traditionally, an organism’s environment can be defined as that organism’s surroundings or the ... More

This chapter focuses on the definition of the term “environment” as studied in environmental philosophy. Traditionally, an organism’s environment can be defined as that organism’s surroundings or the interaction between them. This definition consequently includes other human beings, human-built objects, and non-human parts of the natural world. On the other hand, environmental philosophy utilizes a narrower view of the environment, i.e. “the environment simpliciter,” which refers only to certain aspects of the surroundings of human beings. Although environmental philosophy is a recent development, the philosophical study of man’s surroundings has been present throughout the history of philosophy. While early philosophers studied the environment to discover human nature and its place in the cosmic order, contemporary Western philosophers were more concerned with the development and systematization of the sciences. This book addresses inquiries regarding the environment encompassing various areas of contemporary philosophy.Less

Philological and Epistemological Remarks on Enoch’s Science: Response to Papers by Seth Sanders and James VanderKam

Loren T. Stuckenbruck

in Ancient Jewish Sciences and the History of Knowledge in Second Temple Literature

This chapter comments on papers by Seth L. Sanders and James VanderKam, both of whom identify and problematize our understanding of the Astronomical Book of Enoch as a product of emerging Jewish ... More

This chapter comments on papers by Seth L. Sanders and James VanderKam, both of whom identify and problematize our understanding of the Astronomical Book of Enoch as a product of emerging Jewish tradition that drew upon and departed from received traditions found in the Bible, Ancient Near East, and Hellenistic ideas. It considers the degree to which the Astronomical Book relates to ancient “science”, and whether revelation is always understood as essentially passive or whether there was a role for observation. It also examines the question of the practical role of the Astronomical Book in time-keeping and ritual and finally, whether this cosmic order was interpreted as eternal or itself a temporary part of a larger historical structure.Less