- PhD Program in Philosophy
& PhD Program in Classics
Graduate Center, City University of New York
365 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York, 10016
USA
www.aristotelophile.com
- Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind, Analytic Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Epistemology, Classics, and 11 moreAncient Greek Music, Philosophy Of Religion, Theism, Aristotle, Medieval Philosophy, Philosophical Theology, History of Religion, New Testament, History of Philosophy, Philosophy Of Language, and Ethicsedit
- Professor of Philosophy and Classics Emeritus at the City University of New York. Research and publications in Ancien... moreProfessor of Philosophy and Classics Emeritus at the City University of New York. Research and publications in Ancient Philosophy and Moral and Political Philosophy, with a recent foray into the question of the authenticity of the Gospels. Regular website: aristotelophile.comedit
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Aristotle's Ethica Eudemia (Eth. Eud.) and Ethica Nicomachea (Eth. Nic.), as is well known and much discussed, contain three books in common (Eth. Eud. 4–6 = Eth. Nic. 5–7). Less well known, at least until Dieter Harlfinger alerted... more
Aristotle's Ethica Eudemia (Eth. Eud.) and Ethica Nicomachea (Eth. Nic.), as is well known and much discussed, contain three books in common (Eth. Eud. 4–6 = Eth. Nic. 5–7). Less well known, at least until Dieter Harlfinger alerted scholars to the fact in 1971, is that some of the manuscripts of Eth. Eud. do, contrary to the then prevailing consensus, contain the text of these common books. Even less well known is that Harlfinger's discovery was anticipated some 50 years before by Walter Ashburner, who had uncovered this fact about Eth. Eud. MSS in the Laurentian library of Florence. Ashburner's anticipation of Harlfinger, however, is not the real value of his article. Its value rather is that it contains collations of readings for the common books, and thereby gives us an excellent resource for examining the text of the common books as this text is contained in exclusively Eth. Eud. MSS. The Eth. Eud. tradition of the common books has hitherto received little attention....
Research Interests:
No Velho Testamento Deus expressa, atraves do profeta Samuel, ideias sobre o governo humano, similares as de Socrates na Republica de Platao. Ambos defendem que a melhor organizacao politica e aquela na qual nenhuma pessoa ou classe... more
No Velho Testamento Deus expressa, atraves do profeta Samuel, ideias sobre o governo humano, similares as de Socrates na Republica de Platao. Ambos defendem que a melhor organizacao politica e aquela na qual nenhuma pessoa ou classe domina, mas aquela onde cada um rege a si mesmo atraves de um principio interno de justica. Uma “anarquia” justa deste tipo nao e apenas a melhor, mas tambem possivel de ser alcancada. Ao menos em certos periodos os filhos de Israel a obtiveram. Deveriamos imita-los.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Aristotle's Ethica Eudemia (EE) Book 2 Chapter 2 contains, at lines 1220b10–11, a well-known crux in the phrase ἐν τοῖς ἀπηλλαγμένοις. The context makes clear that Aristotle is using this phrase to refer to some writing or other, but... more
Aristotle's Ethica Eudemia (EE) Book 2 Chapter 2 contains, at lines 1220b10–11, a well-known crux in the phrase ἐν τοῖς ἀπηλλαγμένοις. The context makes clear that Aristotle is using this phrase to refer to some writing or other, but scholars have been puzzled both about what the phrase means and what writing it refers to.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
A revised translation of the Prologue to Duns Scotus' Ordinatio. Part of the project to revise a translation of the whole of the Ordinatio. All current revisions are available on my website at: https://aristotelophile.com/current.htm
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Resumo: O artigo tem por foco o problema de como aos modos gregos antigos (harmoniai) puderam ser atribuídos a tão amplos e diversos efeitos morais e emocionais pelos autores antigos. A interpretação moderna padrão dos modos gregos torna... more
Resumo: O artigo tem por foco o problema de como aos modos gregos antigos (harmoniai) puderam ser atribuídos a tão amplos e diversos efeitos morais e emocionais pelos autores antigos. A interpretação moderna padrão dos modos gregos torna impossível ler os autores antigos literalmente. Uma solução satisfatória ao problema, contudo, está disponível a partir de um livro de Kathleen Schlesinger sobre os modos, injustamente caluniado. Este artigo explica, com o auxílio de diagramas, os aspectos fundamentais da solução de Schlesinger e por que devemos levá-la a sério.
Research Interests:
In Pr. 19.48 we read, in Mayhew's translation, the following: Why do choruses in tragedy sing neither in Hypodorian nor in Hypophrygian? Is it because these harmoniai have the least melody, which is most necessary to the chorus? Now the... more
In Pr. 19.48 we read, in Mayhew's translation, the following: Why do choruses in tragedy sing neither in Hypodorian nor in Hypophrygian? Is it because these harmoniai have the least melody, which is most necessary to the chorus? Now the Hypophrygian has a character of action, and this is why in the Geryone the marching out and the arming (episodes) are composed in this manner, while the Hypodorian has a magnificent and steadfast character, and this is why of the harmoniai it is most suited to kithara song. But these (harmoniai) are both inappropriate to the chorus, and more suitable to the (actors) on the stage. For the latter are imitators of heroes; but in the old days the (chorus) leaders alone were heroes, while the people, of whom the chorus consists, were humans. And this is why a mournful and quiet character and melody are appropriate to it; for (the chorus) is human. Now the other harmoniai have these, but the Phrygian has them least, since it is inspirational and Bacchic, (and the Mixolydian certainly has them most of all). Under the influence of this (harmonia), therefore, we are affected in a certain way; and the weak are affected more than the strong, which is why even this one is appropriate to choruses; but under the influence of the Hypodorian and Hypophrygian we act...
Research Interests:
In Nicomachean Ethics book 5 chapter 7 (or Eudemian Ethics book 4 chapter 7), Aristotle introduces the topic of natural justice. His brief and elliptical discussion has provoked much controversy. It seems to confuse the issue rather than... more
In Nicomachean Ethics book 5 chapter 7 (or Eudemian Ethics book 4 chapter 7), Aristotle introduces the topic of natural justice. His brief and elliptical discussion has provoked much controversy. It seems to confuse the issue rather than do anything to clear it up. The natural just, if there is such a thing, must be the same everywhere, for nature is the same everywhere, as Aristotle concedes with his example of fire that burns upwards here and in Persia. Yet he goes on to argue that there is nothing naturally just the same everywhere for everyone, but that the natural, at least for us human beings, always changes. There are clues in the passage in question that scholars have focused on in order to unravel Aristotle’s meaning. But there is one clue that scholars have hitherto almost entirely ignored (an exception is Dirlmeier, who
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In the Aristotelian corpus of writings as it has come down to us, there are four works specifically on ethics: the Nicomachean ethics, the Eudemian ethics, the Magna moralia (or Great ethics), and the short On virtues and vices. Scholars... more
In the Aristotelian corpus of writings as it has come down to us, there are four works specifically on ethics: the Nicomachean ethics, the Eudemian ethics, the Magna moralia (or Great ethics), and the short On virtues and vices. Scholars are now agreed that the first two are genuinely by Aristotle and most also believe that the Nicomachean is the later and better of the two. About the Magna moralia, there is still a division of opinion, though probably most scholars hold that it is not genuine. Those who hold it is genuine suppose it to be an early work or a redaction of an early work made by a later Peripatetic. As for On virtues and vices almost everyone holds it to be a spurious work written some two centuries after Aristotle's death. However, the arguments scholars give for these opinions are entirely unconvincing. In fact, they beg the question by assuming the conclusion in order to prove the conclusion. My own contention is that all the hard evidence we have compels us to ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Philosophy and Routledge
Research Interests: Philosophy and Routledge
In this follow up to The Eudemian Ethics of Aristotle, Peter L. P. Simpson centers his attention on the basics of Aristotelian moral doctrine as found in the Great Ethics the definition of happiness, the nature and kind of the virtues,... more
In this follow up to The Eudemian Ethics of Aristotle, Peter L. P. Simpson centers his attention on the basics of Aristotelian moral doctrine as found in the Great Ethics the definition of happiness, the nature and kind of the virtues, pleasure, and friendship. This work's authenticity is disputed, but Simpson argues that all the evidence favors it. Unlike the Nicomachean and Eudemian Ethics, Aristotle wrote the Great Ethics for a popular audience. It gives us insight less into Aristotle the theoretician than into Aristotle the pedagogue. For this reason, the Great Ethics has distinct advantages as an introduction to Aristotelian ethical thinking: it is simpler and clearer in its argumentation, matters such as the intellectual virtues are made suitably secondary to the practical focus, the moral virtues come through with a pleasing directness, and the work's syllogistic formalism gives it a transparency and accessibility that the other Ethics typically lack. Arius' Epitome, which relies heavily on this work, helps confirm its value and authenticity. Because the Great Ethics is generally neglected by scholars, less has been done to clear up its obscurities or to expose its structure. But to ignore it is to lose another and more instructive way of approaching and appreciating Aristotle's teaching. The translation is prefaced by an analytic outline of the whole, and the several sections of it are prefaced by brief summaries. The commentary supplies fuller descriptions and analyses, sorting out puzzles, removing misunderstandings, and resolving doubts of meaning and intention. This book is a fresh rendition of the work of the preeminent philosopher of all time.
Research Interests:
The article focuses on the problem of how the Ancient Greek musical modes or harmoniai could have had the widely diverse emotional and moral effects attributed to them by ancient authors. The standard modern interpretations of the Greek... more
The article focuses on the problem of how the Ancient Greek musical modes or harmoniai could have had the widely diverse emotional and moral effects attributed to them by ancient authors. The standard modern interpretations of the Greek modes render it impossible to take the ancient authors literally. A satisfactory solution to the problem, however, lies ready to hand in an unfairly maligned book on the modes by Kathleen Schlesinger. This article explains, with diagrams, the basics of Schlesinger’s solution and why we should take it seriously.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Aristote accuse Platon dans les Lois d’etablir une oligarchie du petit nombre de riches, bien qu’il pretende etablir un melange de democratie et de monarchie. Le regime etabli est en effet une oligarchie quoique cachee, dans le but de... more
Aristote accuse Platon dans les Lois d’etablir une oligarchie du petit nombre de riches, bien qu’il pretende etablir un melange de democratie et de monarchie. Le regime etabli est en effet une oligarchie quoique cachee, dans le but de tromper la populace. Ces dispositions constitutionnelles cachent une tromperie supplementaire, car elles servent elles-memes de masque a la philosoph-archie. En fait, finalement, les Lois arrivent, comme Aristote le disait, a etre exactement semblables a la Republique.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Ernest Barker wrote two books on the political thought of Plato, both of which were also directly related to his study of the political thought of Aristotle. This essay examines the way Barkers readings of Plato changed, first from the... more
Ernest Barker wrote two books on the political thought of Plato, both of which were also directly related to his study of the political thought of Aristotle. This essay examines the way Barkers readings of Plato changed, first from the earlier to the later of his two books, and then from the later of these books, written during WWI, to his translation of Aristotles Politics, written during WWII. The contention is that, as Barker himself partly confessed, WWI led him to read hopes into Platos works that he not had before and that he abandoned in WWII. This shift in reading Plato was essentially a shift in Barkers allegiance to political Hegelianism (of the sort he imbibed from T.H. Green), which, while it intensified during WWI, had given way entirely to a thoroughly English Whig Constitutionalism by the end of WWII. The abandonment of Hegel enabled Barker to reach not only a better understanding of Plato in his Aristotle book but also a better and more wry understanding of Germa...
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Philosophy and PHRONESIS
Research Interests:
... 2 . I use the phrase 'Irish Republican Army' (or the initials) for convenience. I principally mean to refer to the provisional IRA and INLA (Irish National Liberation Armya splinter group of theprovisional). The so-called... more
... 2 . I use the phrase 'Irish Republican Army' (or the initials) for convenience. I principally mean to refer to the provisional IRA and INLA (Irish National Liberation Armya splinter group of theprovisional). The so-called official IRA appear to be no longer militarily active. 3 ...
Research Interests:
Proper criticism requires proper targeting. Legutko argues that libertarianism destroys communities and that my theory, which combines libertarianism with communitarianism, must therefore be wrong. But the libertarianism Legutko... more
Proper criticism requires proper targeting. Legutko argues that libertarianism destroys communities and that my theory, which combines libertarianism with communitarianism, must therefore be wrong. But the libertarianism Legutko criticizes is not the same as the libertarianism for which I argue. He has therefore done nothing to show that my combination of libertarianism and communitarianism is impossible, whether in theory or in practice.
Research Interests:
Arguments for and against liberalism are vitiated by failing to distinguish between states (which have millions of citizens) and communities (which have only a few thousand citizens). The state should be liberal or minimal, but the... more
Arguments for and against liberalism are vitiated by failing to distinguish between states (which have millions of citizens) and communities (which have only a few thousand citizens). The state should be liberal or minimal, but the community should not. The state is an alliance of communities for mutual defense and is concerned with matters of defense alone. Two reasons are given for this conclusion, one from Aristotle and one from Hobbes (though Hobbes's argument has to be corrected in two important respects). The community, by contrast, is a moral community and should not be liberal. Two arguments are also given for this conclusion, one from the naturalness of the family and one from the need for moral education. Once state and community have been thus distinguished and described, standard arguments both for and against the liberal state are seen to be correct but misdirected.
Research Interests:
The text of Aristotle's Ethica Eudemia (EE) is often in need of emendation, especially because of the particular fault in the manuscripts of misreading one letter for another or misdividing letters to form words. Scholars have already... more
The text of Aristotle's Ethica Eudemia (EE) is often in need of emendation, especially because of the particular fault in the manuscripts of misreading one letter for another or misdividing letters to form words. Scholars have already done fine work in correcting many of these errors (especially at the beginning of 8.1), but more needs to be done. A second problem with the text does not have to do with matters of spelling or grammar (or even of punctuation), but rather with those of philosophical sense. For, as scholars have noted, the EE is marked by considerable compression of thought, and this compression leads scholars to propose changes where, on further consideration, it can be shown that not change of words but change of comprehension is needed.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
A discussion, on the basis of waking realism, of the real existence of goodness and of a supreme eternal being that would fittingly be identified as and called God. Goodness is not reducible to an attitude or a projection or a... more
A discussion, on the basis of waking realism, of the real existence of goodness and of a supreme eternal being that would fittingly be identified as and called God. Goodness is not reducible to an attitude or a projection or a prescription (or a 'value' that is in no way a 'fact') but reducible rather to very being itself. The idea is an old one and is presented here not as new but as presented anew (as many old ideas need presenting). Accompanying and completing it, and completing the project of waking realism, is a defense of the existence of God -- a theistic God, not a deistic or a pantheistic God. This idea too is old but again is presented and argued here anew. Such a God would be Waking Realism writ large.
Research Interests:
There is no mind/body problem of the sort found in physicalism. Nor is the solution panpsychism or idealism. The body is not anything without a structuring form, and in the case of living bodies this form is what is called soul. The soul... more
There is no mind/body problem of the sort found in physicalism. Nor is the solution panpsychism or idealism. The body is not anything without a structuring form, and in the case of living bodies this form is what is called soul. The soul has powers, as growth, movement, perception. The mind is another power of the soul. It has several acts, as in particular forming concepts, propositions, and inferences. The latter two can be reduced to some extent to rules and be managed or manipulated mechanically. The first cannot be. It is an act of intentional identity. Conceptualization is a grasp of the logos, the 'word', of being and can only be done by a mind, and not also by a machine (cf. Searle's Chinese Room). Some of the paradoxical arguments of the Ancient Greek thinker Gorgias in his notorious treatise on Nothing are analyzed and shown to constitute, in effect, a proof of this fact.
Research Interests:
A discussion of the phenomenon of motion or change and an argument that there is a kind of motion, self-motion, that is irreducible to the natural motion studied by physics, irreducible to any sort of coerced or compelled motion, and... more
A discussion of the phenomenon of motion or change and an argument that there is a kind of motion, self-motion, that is irreducible to the natural motion studied by physics, irreducible to any sort of coerced or compelled motion, and therewith also irreducible to mechanical motion. Self-motion is distinctive of life and has a distinctive principle that has traditionally been called soul. The chapter argues for the objective reality of soul in all living things.
Research Interests:
When microscopic things combine to form macroscopic things, as atoms to form living bodies, there is a change in the substance of the atoms so that their being is no longer atom-being but living body-being. The similarity of such atoms in... more
When microscopic things combine to form macroscopic things, as atoms to form living bodies, there is a change in the substance of the atoms so that their being is no longer atom-being but living body-being. The similarity of such atoms in a living body to atoms outside it is material only, for the atoms in a living body have properties they do not and cannot have outside it. Outside it they are not the same beings. The same goes for any parts when separated from the natural wholes of which they are parts. The idea of 'transentification' is coined to name and explain this fact.
As part of the statement and defense of direct or waking realism (that the real world is what we directly perceive through our senses), this chapter gives a defense of traditional hylomorphism, or the view that material things are more... more
As part of the statement and defense of direct or waking realism (that the real world is what we directly perceive through our senses), this chapter gives a defense of traditional hylomorphism, or the view that material things are more properly the form that determines what they are than the material parts that make them up. Such defense is at the same time a rejection of reductionism, especially of the physicalist kind.
Research Interests:
Aristotle's Ethics Eudemia (EE) and Ethica Nicomachea (EN), as is well known, contain three books in common (EE 4-6 = EN 5-7). The text of these books as found in EE mss. however is little known.(1) Happily a collation of them in several... more
Aristotle's Ethics Eudemia (EE) and Ethica Nicomachea (EN), as is well known, contain three books in common (EE 4-6 = EN 5-7). The text of these books as found in EE mss. however is little known.(1) Happily a collation of them in several mss. was published by Walter Ashburner early in the 1900s.(2) These collations are the more valuable because taken from (among others) the one ms. that in the learned stemma of Dieter Harlfinger(3) appears as the archetype for all the rest. The following translation of these Common Books is of the text as reported by Ashburner with footnotes drawing attention to differences between the EN and EE versions. Many of these differences are of little consequence; others are not. A discussion of some of the more significant ones can be found in my article: "Aristotle's EE: the Text and Character of the Common Books as found in EE mss." Classical Quarterly, 2019, volume 69, pp. 1-15. The translation of Book Four begins on page 2; of Book Five on p.25, and of Book Six on p.41. Note that the headings, subheadings, and summaries are additions by the translator meant to aid the reader. They are not part of the Greek or the translation proper.
Research Interests:
Esta es una versión no publicada del prólogo y el primer capítulo del libro Goodness and Nature. Peter Simpson es profesor titular del Departamento de Filosofía del CUNY. Ha enseñado en la Universidad Católica de América, en Washington... more
Esta es una versión no publicada del prólogo y el primer capítulo del libro Goodness and Nature. Peter Simpson es profesor titular del Departamento de Filosofía del CUNY. Ha enseñado en la Universidad Católica de América, en Washington DC; en el University College de Dublín, Irlanda; y en el Manchester Polytechnic, Reino Unido.
Research Interests:
Such enquiries are like puzzling over the question whether we are now asleep or awake. All such questions have the same force. These people demand that a reason shall be given for everything… But their mistake is what we have stated it to... more
Such enquiries are like puzzling over the question whether we are now asleep or awake. All such questions have the same force. These people demand that a reason shall be given for everything… But their mistake is what we have stated it to be; they seek a reason for that for which no reason can be given; for the starting-point of demonstration is not demonstration. (Aristotle, Metaphysics 4.6.1011a6-13.) The supposition of this book is that we are now awake and that we are directly experiencing the real world outside us, the world within which we live and move and have our being. This world moreover, because it is directly perceived, not only exists but exists more or less the way we perceive it to exist. No serious question can arise about whether it really exists and as we perceive it to exist; the answers to such questions are immediate and immediately known; they are not inferred from anything more immediate or more known. The sort of questions instead that do arise and excite our interest and stimulate our curiosity do not concern the 'that' of the world, but the 'what' and the 'how' of it, and the 'why' and the 'wherefore' and the like. Such alone, then, are the questions that, on the basis of this supposition, it makes sense to ask and not ask. But while the supposition of the book is thus clear, it may at once seem that the supposition cannot be sustained. For it seems plain that our experience, however immediate it may appear to be, is in fact not so but is subject rather to several hallucinations and illusions, or to cases of seeming to perceive things that are not in fact there or of seeming to perceive things that, even if there, are not there as they are perceived to be. Illusions is the word often used to refer, as it were, to piecemeal errors, errors that call into question particular senses on particular
Research Interests:
Such enquiries are like puzzling over the question whether we are now asleep or awake. All such questions have the same force. These people demand that a reason shall be given for everything… But their mistake is what we have stated it to... more
Such enquiries are like puzzling over the question whether we are now asleep or awake. All such questions have the same force. These people demand that a reason shall be given for everything… But their mistake is what we have stated it to be; they seek a reason for that for which no reason can be given; for the starting-point of demonstration is not demonstration. (Aristotle, Metaphysics 4.6.1011a6-13.) The supposition of this book is that we are now awake and that we are directly experiencing the real world outside us, the world within which we live and move and have our being. This world moreover, because it is directly perceived, not only exists but exists more or less the way we perceive it to exist. No serious question can arise about whether it really exists and as we perceive it to exist; the answers to such questions are immediate and immediately known; they are not inferred from anything more immediate or more known. The sort of questions instead that do arise and excite our interest and stimulate our curiosity do not concern the 'that' of the world, but the 'what' and the 'how' of it, and the 'why' and the 'wherefore' and the like. Such alone, then, are the questions that, on the basis of this supposition, it makes sense to ask and not ask. But while the supposition of the book is thus clear, it may at once seem that the supposition cannot be sustained. For it seems plain that our experience, however immediate it may appear to be, is in fact not so but is subject rather to several hallucinations and illusions, or to cases of seeming to perceive things that are not in fact there or of seeming to perceive things that, even if there, are not there as they are perceived to be. Illusions is the word often used to refer, as it were, to piecemeal errors, errors that call into question particular senses on particular
Research Interests:
It has been an abiding opinion in many nations and thinkers that music has great power to affect the morals of listeners for good and ill. This paper, written to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Paul Rahe's Republics Ancient and Modern,... more
It has been an abiding opinion in many nations and thinkers that music has great power to affect the morals of listeners for good and ill. This paper, written to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Paul Rahe's Republics Ancient and Modern, analyses how modern Western music in all its forms is, because of the tempered scale, profoundly corrupt and corrupting, and a powerful tool of tyranny.
Research Interests:
The Text of the Common Books (EN 5-7 and EE 4-6) compared in the EN of Susemihl/Apelt (1912) and in the EE of mss. Laur.81.15 Note 1. Laur.81.15 (regarded by Harlfinger as the archetype) is labeled C by Ashburner, 'Studies in the. he... more
The Text of the Common Books (EN 5-7 and EE 4-6) compared in the EN of Susemihl/Apelt (1912) and in the EE of mss. Laur.81.15 Note 1. Laur.81.15 (regarded by Harlfinger as the archetype) is labeled C by Ashburner, 'Studies in the. he labels A and Laur.81.20 he labels B. Ashburner collated all three relative to the Susemihl/Apelt EN text (Teubner 1912). This text frequently gets the Bekker line divisions wrong, so that using Ashburner's collations relative to the Bekker text can be misleading. The collations here were therefore taken relative to the Teubner text but the line divisions were then corrected to follow Bekker. The Teubner text is not digitally available so the downloadable Bywater OCT text of 1894 was used and adapted to fit the Teubner. Any differences between the Teubner and Bywater that have been missed will have to be changed to give a fully accurate account of the text of C as collated by Ashburner. Note 2. Book 4 of EE begins on page 34 recto of Laur.81.15, which is available online at http://teca.bmlonline.it/TecaRicerca/index.jsp Enter Plut.81.15 in the search box. For ease of search, the pages of this ms. are inserted in the margins at the relevant point in the printed text. So, for example, (34r) refers to page 34 recto and (34v) to page 34 verso.
Research Interests:
A defense of the traditional view, against the historical critical method, that the Gospels are the authentic eyewitness memoirs of the original apostles.
Research Interests: Theology, New Testament, Biblical Studies, Gospels, Synoptic Gospels, and 11 moreAncient Texts, New Testament and Christian Origins, Biblical Interpretation, Biblical Exegesis, New Testament Textual Criticism, Textual Criticism and Editing, New testament exegesis, Philosophical Theolgoy, Metholdology, Historical Critical Methodology, and Historical-Critical Method
From the book cover: This book deconstructs the story of liberalism that John Rawls, author of Political Liberalism, and many others have put forward. Peter L.P. Simpson argues that political liberalism is despotic because it denies to... more
From the book cover:
This book deconstructs the story of liberalism that John Rawls, author of Political Liberalism, and many others have put forward. Peter L.P. Simpson argues that political liberalism is despotic because it denies to politics a concern with the comprehensive human good; political illiberalism overcomes this despotism and restores genuine freedom. In Political Illiberalism, Simpson provides a detailed account of these political phenomena and presents a political theory opposed to that of Rawls and other proponents of modern liberalism. Simpson analyses and confronts the assumptions of this liberalism by challenging its view of liberty and especially its cornerstone that politics should not be about the comprehensive good. He presents the fundamentals of the idea of a truer liberalism as derived from human nature, with particular attention to the role and power of religion, using the political thought of Aristotle, the founding fathers of the United States, thinkers of the Roman Empire, and contemporary practice. Political Illiberalism concludes with reflections on morals in the political context of the comprehensive good. Simpson views the modern state as despotically authoritarian; consequently, seeking liberty within it is illusory. Human politics requires devolution of authority to local communities, on the one hand, and a proper distinction between spiritual and temporal powers, on the other. This thought-provoking work is essential for all political scientists and philosophy scholars.
This book deconstructs the story of liberalism that John Rawls, author of Political Liberalism, and many others have put forward. Peter L.P. Simpson argues that political liberalism is despotic because it denies to politics a concern with the comprehensive human good; political illiberalism overcomes this despotism and restores genuine freedom. In Political Illiberalism, Simpson provides a detailed account of these political phenomena and presents a political theory opposed to that of Rawls and other proponents of modern liberalism. Simpson analyses and confronts the assumptions of this liberalism by challenging its view of liberty and especially its cornerstone that politics should not be about the comprehensive good. He presents the fundamentals of the idea of a truer liberalism as derived from human nature, with particular attention to the role and power of religion, using the political thought of Aristotle, the founding fathers of the United States, thinkers of the Roman Empire, and contemporary practice. Political Illiberalism concludes with reflections on morals in the political context of the comprehensive good. Simpson views the modern state as despotically authoritarian; consequently, seeking liberty within it is illusory. Human politics requires devolution of authority to local communities, on the one hand, and a proper distinction between spiritual and temporal powers, on the other. This thought-provoking work is essential for all political scientists and philosophy scholars.
Research Interests:
This book entitled Goodness and Nature is concerned with the question of naturalism in ethics. Naturalism is the view that good and bad, right and wrong, are real matters of fact or knowledge that can in principle be determined by some... more
This book entitled Goodness and Nature is concerned with the question of naturalism in ethics. Naturalism is the view that good and bad, right and wrong, are real matters of fact or knowledge that can in principle be determined by some reference to ‘nature’. This question is among the most important that any student of modern moral philosophy has to face. This book’s search for a solution to its difficulties, however, has required going outside the limits within which that question was originally posed. In fact, it is one of the principal messages of the book that it is these limits themselves that constitute most of the problem. The effort to think beyond the limits of modern moral philosophy has, in my case at any rate, proved to be also the effort to think back into an ancient tradition of philosophy which flourished for so many centuries beforehand, and which modern philosophers have largely rejected. For this reason this book is an unashamedly ancient book. It might even be called an essay in discarded ideas. There are, of course, differing views about how to approach the problems raised by modern moral philosophy. It is my conviction that a return to ancient ideas is the most helpful and the most fruitful, as will, I hope, become evident from the way my argument develops from the first to the final chapters. The ancient tradition that I am following provides, I contend, just the concepts and distinctions necessary to resolve the puzzles that have gathered themselves about the question of naturalism. These puzzles are genuine and philosophically instructive; that is why they need to be faced and answered squarely. To argue round them, or to dismiss them before getting to grips with them, is to run the risk of hindering philosophical understanding. Accordingly, the early chapters of this book are concerned with writings that appeared and provoked most controversy several decades ago. For this seeming anachronism I make no apology; it is in these writings that the puzzles find their most instructive, not to say classic, expression. A Supplement to this edition of Goodness and Nature is appended in a separate file. The Supplement that did not appear in the book when it was first published but its addition is meant to provide more of the background and evidence for the argument presented in chapter 5 of the book, the chapter entitled ‘Historical Origins’. That chapter can, to be sure, stand by itself in its place in Goodness and Nature independently of the Supplement. But since it makes claims, and presents a progression of thought, that are relatively controversial within the context of the debate about naturalism in ethics, it may excite an interest and a skepticism that some readers may wish to have more fully satisfied or answered. The Supplement is meant to supply that wish. The chapters and their contents cover the same ground as was covered in chapter 5 of Goodness and Nature but in greater detail, ranging over a fuller review of the important thinkers, and spelling out more of the relevant elements and implications. The Supplement can, therefore, stand by itself too, and need not just be read as an addition to Goodness and Nature (even though it contains several references to that book). In any event, interested readers should find on the Contents page of the Supplement enough information about what the Supplement contains to guide as well as, one hopes, to spark interest.
The book with supplement is also available from my website aristotelophile.com and in print from Amazon.com
The book with supplement is also available from my website aristotelophile.com and in print from Amazon.com
Research Interests:
Interview about theocracy with Kevin Barrett on his Radio Show, Truth Jihad. December 1, 2019
http://www.unz.com/audio/kbarrett_peter-simpson-on-why-theocracy-is-better-than-secular-liberalism/
http://www.unz.com/audio/kbarrett_peter-simpson-on-why-theocracy-is-better-than-secular-liberalism/
Research Interests:
Radio broadcast with Guy Rathbun about oligarchy and illusions of freedom in the US Constitutional system
Research Interests:
Interview with Christ Hedges about Political Illiberalism, broadcast by Russia Today
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
A review of Tobias Hoffman's book: Johannes Duns Scotus. Freiheit, Tugenden und Naturgesetz. Uebersetzt, eingeleitet und mit Anmerkungen versehen