Binghamton University The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB) The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter 10-2015 SAGP SSIPS Abstracts 2015 Anthony Preus Follow this and additional works at: https://orb.binghamton.edu/sagp Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, Ancient Philosophy Commons, and the History of Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Preus, Anthony, "SAGP SSIPS Abstracts 2015" (2015). The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter. 428. https://orb.binghamton.edu/sagp/428 This Announcement is brought to you for free and open access by The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). It has been accepted for inclusion in The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter by an authorized administrator of The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). For more information, please contact [email protected]. The 33rd annual joint meeting of The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy (SAGP) with The Society for the Study of Islamic Philosophy and Science (SSIPS) Abstracts Collection October 23 - 25, 2015 Fordham University, Lincoln Center, New York 113 West 60th Street, New York, NY 10023 Corner of Columbus (9th) Avenue and West 60th Street Sponsored by Fordham University The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy (SAGP) The Society for the Study of Islamic Philosophy and Science (SSIPS) Jamshed Aizov, CEO, Economist, [email protected] 5I Round Table Symposium: Adaptation of Medieval Islamic Theology to the 21st Century Central Asian Secular State Original Islamic Theology –analogous to its Judaic and Christian traditions- embeds a number of directives in economics suited for the medieval period. However, through the concept of ijtihad Islam also allows adaption of its praxis to actual contemporary arena. To that end, a number of predominately Muslim nations, opt for a secular type state-and not an Islamic Republic based on the so- called fundamentalists principle. The participants in this symposium discuss both the philosophical foundation of Islamic Theology- especially in context of Suras revealed prior to 1622 (Hijra) and adaptability of Islamic economic to contemporary 21st Century global village. Bilge Akbalik, University of Memphis, [email protected] 6B “Why is Impiety Such a Danger to the Political Community? Religion as an Institution in the Laws” The Laws is Plato’s latest, longest and, arguably, the most convoluted dialogue. Chiefly a work on, in modern terms, “political philosophy,” the text presents accounts of certain other topics of philosophical interest in connection to the nature and features of an ideal political community. Among these, the relationship between the human and the divine realms is of major importance. Accordingly, the full significance of the account of the divine presented in the Laws manifests itself only when it is appreciated that the proof of the existence, goodness and justice of gods presented, most extensively, in the Book X functions as a contributory preamble for the actual penal code. Hence, despite the proof of the priority of the soul over matter and its connection to the existence of god/s are significant on their own right as well, within the general framework of the project of the Laws, these accounts occupy a substantially functional place. This function, I suggest, is best understood in terms of its role in constituting a rationale for the penal system of the state, a type of, I suggest, ethically informed cosmological argument for the existence of political order. In order to articulate this functional role, in this paper, I will first offer an exposition of the relations between souls, gods and motion in the cosmos. In the second section, I will elucidate the forms of impiety that are identified by Plato through the mouth of the Athenian. Finally, in the last section, I will attempt to articulate why impiety is considered such a danger to the political community. I will argue that the articulation of the theological element in the Laws makes sense insofar as religion is construed as an institution that serves the wellbeing and maintenance of the state. I will suggest the significance of this institutional role is best understood in terms of a rhetorical strategy that is adopted in the Laws that posits the realm of the divine as almost synonymous with that of the political. Much more importantly, as it is expressed by the Athenian, “serving the laws” is the way to “serve the gods” per se (7672.) Pious action is regarded as the basis for respect for the law and communal life, which is both the ground for the maintenance of social and political order and a part of the order in the cosmos. Hence, along the same lines, crimes against the state are treated as if they are equivalent to crimes against the gods (impiety) and observing the laws is taking to be on a par with observing the commands of gods. I suggest that religion is operating in such a way by offering support for the communal life in the society at an ethical level, by operating as the protector of the most important aspect of the political society that is described in the Laws; communal life. Aphrodite Alexandrakis, Barry University, [email protected] 3B ***IN HONOR OF JOHN ANTON*** “The Role and Effect of Paideia as Culture in Clasical Greece: The Case of Classical Art as Part of Paideia” In the Laws (657e-659b), the Athenian suggests that the standard of artistic (poetic) value is not the degree of pleasure it gives to casual spectators, but the joy it inspires in the best spectators, namely, those who are trained (educated) - ικανως πεπαιδευμενοι -, or the one who is supreme in both, perfection (αρετη) and culture – παιδεια. This paper discusses the notion of paideia/culture as used in the Platonic Classical Athenian educational system and the ideas involved. Did those ideas influence the various forms of Classical art? Mohammadreza Amjadi, Academy of Sciences, Dushanbe, Tajikistan, [email protected] 2B “The Unification of the personal with the Universal in the Ethics of Zoroastrian Theology” A number of ethical theories fail to bridge the gap between a personal intentional ethics and a universal extensional ethics. This research documents and evaluates the specific features of Zoroastrian ethics – a genesis of Nietzsche’s ethics of will to power- which harmonizes the will of the individual with a cosmic good will. Our major focus is the nature of evil “Ahriman” –not as a substantial entity- like the devil of monotheistic creeds –but as a privation of will to power. Jacob Archambault, Fordham University, [email protected] 3C “Three Medieval Accounts of the Subject Matter of Logic” This paper examines three different Medieval approaches to the subject matter of logic along with the interrelations between them. The first approach associates the subject matter of logic with acts of understanding; the second identifies the subject matter of logic with the syllogism; the third, with the argument. Versions of the first approach are championed by Thomas Aquinas, who takes the subject matter of logic to be beings of reason, and Avicenna, who identifies the subject matter of logic with second intentions. The second answer is endorsed by Duns Scotus as well as Walter Burley. An early version of the third thesis is posited by Albertus Magnus, who finds support for it in Alfarabi and Algazel, and later defended by John Buridan. Generally speaking, the first answer was dominant among commentators in the period from the beginning of the systematic study of Aristotle’s logical works to the final quarter of the thirteenth century. The second period was dominant from the last quarter of the thirteenth to the beginning of the fourteenth century. The third answer was the most common among authors from the middle to later fourteenth century. This paper begins by explicating the reasons given by different authors for taking the subject matter of logic to be what they take it to be. Second, it identifies the underlying logic whereby these larger shifts from the dominance of one answer to another occurred. In the first part of the paper, I present records gathered from over fifty thirteenth and fourteenth century manuscripts determining the standard order of reading of Aristotle’s logical works in and around Paris, along with the different changes that one finds over time. Next, I present the arguments given by Aquinas, Scotus, Burley and others for their respective positions on the subject matter of logic. In the second part of the paper, I show that the shifts from one answer to another can be accounted for by larger shifts regarding the notion of a subject matter itself. In the earliest phrase, ‘subject’ is taken to refer to that which is directly addressed in all of the different branches of logic. In the middle period, however, the subject matter of a science is taken to be that which it is principally concerned with. Lastly, the final period seems to (perhaps intentionally) conflate these two approaches to the meaning of a subject matter: for instance, on the one hand, Buridan takes argumentation to be that which all the books of standard logical study are ordered toward; on the other, part of his rationale for rejecting the account of Scotus is to broaden this principal subject matter of logic to include non-syllogistic arguments; he also speaks of this same subject matter as being studied in the study of the integral parts (e.g. statements) that make up the subject matter of the other books in the logical curriculum (e.g. the De Interpretatione). Kelly Arenson, Duquesne University, [email protected] 1F “Would an Epicurean Marry?” In De Rerum Natura, Lucretius argues that love is straightforwardly negative: lovers inflate their beloved’s physical and intellectual qualities, rendering the former blind to their partner’s true character, and lovers become jealous and vengeful.