Roman Philosophy

In this paper we consider how the influence of the meanings of Greek concept of “ἀρετὴ” on the meanings of Latin concept of “virtus” could cause the arising of such meanings of the concept of “virtual” as “being something in essence, really” (and not formally); “factual, real”.
One of the Greek words, translated into Latin as “virtus” in antiquity and the Middle Ages, was the word “ἀρετὴ”. As a result of such a translation, the meanings of the word “ἀρετὴ” and the philosophical (first of all, Platonic) meanings of the concept of “ἀρετὴ” have enriched the meanings of the concept of “virtus”. It is most likely that the first meaning of the concept of “virtual”, that is, “being something in essence, really” (and not formally), comes from the meaning “in essence” of the English word “virtually”, connected with one of the aspects of Plato’s interpretations of “ἀρετὴ” – ἀρετὴ as the essence of a thing (Greek “ούσία”, Latin “essentia”).
Probably, the concept of “virtual” has acquired the meaning “factual, real”, through the mediation of the word “virtually” (in its meaning “in fact, factually”), from the word “actually”, which, on the one hand, means “in fact, indeed, really”, and on the other, is used as a synonym for “virtually”. It is possible that the arising of the meanings “factual, real” of the concept of “virtual” has been reinforced by the connection of the word “virtus” and its derivatives with the abovementioned “Platonic” meaning of the concept of “virtual”, that is the meaning “being something in essence”, which is in some respects close to the meaning “factual, real”.
Key words: virtual, virtus, ἀρετὴ, virtue, courage, power, semantics.

This is an updated version of the preprint "On the Reasons for the Emergence of the "Platonic" and "Aristotelian" Lines of the Development of the Meanings of the Concept of "Virtual"". According to Ekaterina Taratuta, there are two lines of constructing the meanings of the concepts based on the root vir(t)- – “Platonic” and “Aristotelian”. This paper demonstrates that the formation of the polysemanticity of the Latin concept of virtus (virtue; strength, valor, manliness), and then the concept of virtual, has been possible because of the unique semantics of the word virtus, in which there are two “dominants” – 1) virtue and 2) strength. On the basis of the first semantic “dominant”, the “Platonic” group of meanings of virtual has been formed, on the basis of the second – the “Aristotelian” one.
The first cause of the existence of the “Platonic” group of the meanings of virtual is the translation of the Greek word ἀρετὴ by the Latin word virtus in Roman philosophy, biblical texts and Greek-Byzantine patristics, as a result of which the concept of virtus has been enriched with the meanings of the Platonic and Christian concept of ἀρετὴ. The second cause is that through the Plato’s doctrine of arete-eidos the concept of virtus has been enriched with the meanings of the Platonic concept of είδος. As Hans Kremer has shown, in Plato’s doctrine eidos is the source of order and beauty, which is reflected in the empirical world as arete – virtue, goodness; thus, eidos is inextricably linked with arete. As a result, in the “Platonic” sense the virtual is understood as the eidetic, the ideal.
The first cause of the existence of the “Aristotelian” group of meanings of virtual is the translation of the Greek word δύναμις by the Latin word virtus in biblical texts and in Greek-Byzantine patristics, as a result of which the concept of virtus has been enriched with the Christian meanings of concept of δύναμις. The second cause is the translation of the Aristotelian concept of δύναμις by the Latin word potentia: the word δύναμις has become the medium, linking the words virtus and potentia and, under the influence of the latter, differences in the meanings of virtus and potentia (and especially their derivatives virtualis (virtual) and potentialis (potential)) have gradually disappeared. As a result, in the “Aristotelian” sense the virtual is understood as the potential, the possible.
Keywords: the virtual, the ideal, the potential, virtus, ἀρετὴ (virtue), είδος, δύναμις (ability / possibility), potentia (power), Plato, Aristotle.

Voor mijn bachelorscriptie heb ik onderzoek gedaan naar de filosofische dimensie van Cicero's geschriften, met name door analyse van zijn "De officiis" ("Over de plichten"). Dit is de uiteindelijke literatuurlijst die ik gemaakt hebt. Wellicht kan deze iemand nog van dienst zijn.
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For my Bachelor's Thesis in Philosophy, I investigated the philosophical dimension of Cicero's works, focusing on his "De Officiis" ("On Duties"). This is the bibliography I compiled during my research. Perhaps someone may find it of use.

Daha önce Cicero’dan Devlet Üzerine çevirisini yayımladığımız C. Cengiz Çevik, bu çalışmada Roma’nın cumhuriyet döneminde (İÖ 509-İÖ 27) siyaset ve felsefe ilişkisinin şekillenişini inceliyor. Alanında Türkçede bir ilk olan ve birincil kaynaklara dayanan bu inceleme Pythagorasçı öğretinin Roma’daki etkilerine dair rivayetler ile felsefeye karşı siyasi nitelikli ilk olumsuz tepkilerden başlayıp, özellikle de Scipio Çevresi’nde felsefenin siyasî açıdan kabulüne ve Cicero bağlamında siyaset ile felsefenin uzlaştırılmasına dek uzanmaktadır. Bu çerçevede cumhuriyet döneminde ilkin yabancı ve tehlikeli bir unsur olarak görülen felsefenin zamanla Roma’nın siyasi şartlarıyla nasıl uyumlu hale geldiği, siyasî ideallerle birlikte nasıl dönüştüğü, siyasi figürleri nasıl dönüştürdüğü ve en azından bu tür dönüşümlerin nasıl yorumlandığı üzerinde durulmaktadır. Tarihin en güçlü ve en uzun ömürlü devlet yapılarından birinin felsefi gelenekle ilişkisini değerlendiren Roma’da Siyaset ve Felsefe’nin geniş bir okur kitlesine hitap edeceğini düşünüyoruz.

Dr. C. Cengiz Çevik (1983) İstanbul Üniversitesi, Eskiçağ Dilleri ve Kültürleri Bölümü, Latin Dili ve Edebiyatı Anabilim Dalı’ndan 2007 yılında mezun oldu. 2011 yılında aynı bölümden “Seneca’nın Naturales Quaestiones Adlı Eserinde Doğa ve Ahlak Anlayışı” başlıklı yüksek lisans tezini tamamlayarak mezun oldu. 2018 yılında “Roma’nın Cumhuriyet Döneminde Siyaset ve Felsefe İlişkisi” başlıklı teziyle doktora derecesi kazandı. Temel çalışma alanı Roma düşünce tarihidir. Aynı zamanda antik düşünce ve felsefe geleneğini temel alarak farklı çağlarda siyaset, felsefe ve ikisi arasındaki ilişkiler üzerine yazılan metinlerle ilgili çalışmalarını sürdürmektedir. Cicero’nun Devleti: De Re Publica Yazıları başlıklı kitabın yazarıdır (YKY, 2017) ve Latinceden Türkçeye çeviriler yapmaktadır.

De rerum natura, Lucrèce insiste sur la permanence qui caractérise la summa summarum. Pourtant, il souligne également le changement perpétuel qui affecte toutes choses. Dans la Physique lucrétienne, la nouveauté est étroitement liée à la déclinaison, qui garantit la liberté humaine sans outrepasser les lois naturelles. La nouveauté est également présente dans la conception lucrétienne de l'histoire, qui allie cependant aux progrès techniques la permanence de la nature humaine. La seule véritable nouveauté réside donc dans la philosophie épicurienne, que Lucrèce choisit de transcrire au moyen d'une poésie nouvelle afin de répandre la lumière sur le secret des choses. Le poète associe ainsi la nouveauté poétique et la tradition issue d'Empédocle. EPITOME.-In carminibus De rerum natura, T. Lucretius Carus saepe dicit summam summarum eamdem semper manere. Scribit tamen omnes res perpetuo mutari. Nam Lucretius in Physica coniungit cum nouitate clinamen, quod seruat libertatem et simul paret naturae foederibus. Lucretius autem, cum humani generis historiam narrat, nouitatis rationem habet quia, hominum natura eadem manente, progredientis mentis experientia nouas artes semper adfert. Ergo una et uera nouitas in Epicuri ratione consistit. Quam Lucretio exponere placet nouis carminibus, quae lumina diffundant rebus occultis. Itaque poeta ueterum scriptorum morem, ab Empedocle traditum, cum poetica nouitate iungit.

Is God involved? Why do bad things happen to good people? What is up to us? These questions were explored in Mediterranean antiquity with reference to ‘providence’ ( pronoia). In Did God Care? Dylan Burns offers the first comprehensive survey of providence in ancient philosophy that brings together the most important Greek, Latin, Coptic, and Syriac sources, from Plato to Plotinus and the Gnostics.

Burns demonstrates how the philosophical problems encompassed by providence transformed in the first centuries CE, yielding influential notions about divine care, evil, creation, omniscience, fate, and free will that remain with us today. These transformations were not independent developments of ‘Pagan philosophy’ and ‘Christian theology,’ but include fruits of mutually influential engagement between Hellenic and Christian philosophers.

More than 20 years after presenting his first interpretation of the mosaic from the House of Aion in a paper entitled “Uwagi na temat mozaiki z Domu Aiona w Nea Paphos (Cypr)” (Meander 9/10, 1987, p. 421-438, in Polish, and translated to English: « The Immortality of the Human Soul and the Dionysiac Mysteries in the 4th Century Allegory [in Connection with the Interpretation of the Mosaic from the “House of Aion” at Paphos in Cyprus]»), where he proposed reading the five mythological panels (1. Leda and Zeus; 2. Dionysus on Mount Nysa; 3. The Dionysian thiasos; 4. Apollo and Marsyas; 5. The Apotheosis of Cassiopeia) as an allegory of the destiny of the human soul and body, starting with conception and ending with the liberation of the soul and its apotheosis, the author now enhances his initial interpretation with numerous reflections concerning the historical context of this work of art, created in the years 320-360.
If, according to the author, the mosaic is a “Hymn” in honour of the pagan gods, Man (his soul) and his place in the (pagan) universe, then at the same time it polemicises with the Christian faith and its God, Jesus Christ.
The author puts forward numerous new solutions relating to the mosaic’s iconography and iconology. Analysis of the mosaic also leads him to propose a solution to the as-yet unanswered question regarding the absence of images of the crucified Christ in Christian art of the 3rd and 4th centuries, up until 420/430, when the first images of Christ on the cross appear.
CONTENTS:
Introduction
1. Research to-date (recap)
2. Description of mosaic (recap)
2.1. Composition of five mythological scenes
2.2. Brief iconographic description of mythological panels
2.3. Outline of individual iconographic elements and their respective roles
2.4. The pagan gods’ air of majesty and dignity as an expression of piety
3. A few words about the pagan reaction
4. An apology of pious human life according to pagan principles and a polemic on the Christian model of Man and his theological idol, Jesus Christ
4.1. Divine intervention in the act of human conception (allusion to/polemic on the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary)
4.2. The Epiphany of Dionysus (an allusion to the Epiphany of Christ – Theou Pais)
4.3. The procession and dissemination of Dionysian order (allusion to/polemic on Christ’s entry into Jerusalem)
4.4. The error of Marsyas (polemic on/allusion to the error of Jesus the Messiah): arrest, sentencing for arrogance and lack of piety (asebeia) and condemnation to a martyr’s death
4.5. The anabasis (or anagoge psyches) of a ‘beautiful soul’ (allusion to/polemic on the Ascension of Christ)
5. A few words on the mosaic programme prior to final conclusions
Final conclusions

Dialogo filosofico condotto secondo la prassi accademica, il De natura deorum, composto negli anni del ritiro dalla vita pubblica, si configura come una vera e propria summa del pensiero di Cicerone, sia sul piano filosofico sia su quello religioso, andando a costituire così un testo di estrema importanza per tutti coloro che intendono avvicinarsi allo studio della religione romana. L’opera, di cui si fornisce in questo volume una traduzione integrale in lingua italiana corredata di introduzione e note di commento, si articola in tre libri, scritti a partire dalla fine dell’estate del 45 a.C., dedicati a Marco Giunio Bruto, ognuno dei quali dedicato all’esposizione critica di ciascuna dottrina filosofica rappresentata da tre interlocutori: l’epicureo Velleio, lo stoico Balbo e l’accademico Cotta.

The writings of Marcus Tullius Cicero are often referred to by natural law theorists. But how do various points of Cicero’s philosophy of law—and of religion, justice, and the state—compare with similar themes from Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas? In this paper, I suggest a Thomistic-Aristotelian reading of Cicero as a way to contextualize and supplement the Roman philosopher’s work with more robust insights from Aristotle and St. Thomas, and especially from Aristotle as interpreted by St. Thomas in the later light of the Incarnation. I also show that Cicero’s natural law philosophy is inconsistent when taken on its own terms. Therefore, Cicero’s natural law philosophy—as well as his philosophy of religion, justice, and the state—should be subjected to a more critical examination by natural law scholars today.

In 1887, Paul Tannery suggested that some ancient Pythagoreans defended a form of atomism against which Eleatic philosophers such as Zeno of Elea reacted. Later, Democritus and Leucippus on one hand, Plato on the other, developed atomistic intuitions in reaction to this old debate. No one would accept nowadays Tannery’s historical claim, but the philosophical content of his interpretation is still relevant for the history of atomism, especially for the Middle Ages. Indeed, according to Tannery the Pythagoreans defined atoms as points, i.e. the equivalent of units for numbers but with a position in space. This conception of a point was well known in the Middle Ages thanks to Boethius’ adaptation of Nicomachus of Gerasa’s Institutio arithmetica and other indirect sources (Macrobius, Martianus Capella, for instance) and was accepted by several philosophers and theologians. In this paper we try to follow the reception of this
concept from the 12th to the 14th century.

In the first part of this paper, I tackle the problem represented by Leo Strauss' commentary on Lucretius' poem De Rerum Natura. Therefore, I try to demonstrate how it is possible to understand Epicurean poetry as “unpolitical” political philosophy, that is, as political action on behalf of philosophy. Poetry acts as some kind of mediator between the city and philosophy, that is, by sweetening the repulsive truth concerning the nature of things. Lucretius' poem introduces therefore young readers to the philosophical way of life; at the same time, the Epicurean teaching may attract unjust and powerful men by promising them liberation from the terrors of religion. In the last paragraph, I concentrate on the peculiar knowledge of man's soul gained by poetic wisdom.

The paper analyzes the imagery of the Gigantomachy in Manilius' Astronomica, in two different functions: the first metaliterary and metascientific, the second in the form of mythical narration, identifying the intertextual relations with the Greek-Latin mythological subject and, inter alia, with the Augustan poetry and the Sublime poetic.

Abstract: Cicero’s Hortensius, undoubtedly the most famous exhortation to philosophy from the whole of Latin literature, has survived only in fragmentary form, as quotations or paraphrases in the works of different writers of Antiquity, including Seneca, Tacitus, Nonius Marcellus, Lactantius and Augustine. Despite the cautious attempts of different scholars to reconstruct this dialogue, we still do not have a definitive edition of it. Since only a small number of the known fragments can be certainly assigned to one particular place, the attempts to re-establish the plan of the dialogue and the proper order in which the fragments should be arranged still remain a source of quarrel between scholars. In this paper I propose a new arrangement of the frag. 43 from Grilli’s edition of the Hortensius, in an attempt to establish more adequately its place and meaning in the structure of the dialogue.

This paper explores the convergence of musical and architectural theory in Vitruvius’ De Architectura. Section 1 describes Vitruvius’ architectural lexicon, borrowed from Aristoxenus (I.2), and explores his description of the laws of harmony, modeled on Elementa Harmonica (V.4). Section 2 explores how Vitruvius proposes using music theory in practical architectural design, including construction of columns using architectural orders analogous to Aristoxenian genera (I.2.6; IV.1); acoustical designs for theatres (V.5); and the development of machines, including siege engines ‘tuned’ like musical instruments (X.12) and water-organs [hydrauli] constructed to execute all the different varieties of tuning (X.8). Section 3 reflects on Vitruvius’ use of analogies with a musical instrument, the sambuca, to explain his understanding of cosmic harmony and architectural form, and his possible sources (VI.1). Finally, Section 4 discusses Vitruvius’ ideas about the importance of a liberal arts education that includes study of music theory. The best architects, Vitruvius explains, can discover in music the secrets to forms they both encounter in nature and create themselves.

This chapter examines the philosophical context in which Seneca thought and wrote, drawing primarily on evidence within Seneca's works. It considers Seneca's immediate teachers, his debt to the Stoic tradition, other Greek philosophical influences, and other contemporary philosophers.

"Abstract:
Ovid's "Ars Amatoria" is meant to offer a true recantation of amor, a palinode of love that includes an apology of poetry. Palinode and apology have become necessary and urgent, for Ovid, for two reasons, which offer a double challenge.
The first challenge comes from the love poetry by his contemporaries. Elegy is lament, protest, recrimination, regret. Occasionally praise, it morphs, more
often, into blame. Supposedly intended to convey erotic passion and impatience for pleasure, it turns into an intermittent profession of pain.
The second challenge comes from the carmina of Lucretius. In those carmina,both love and poetry are crucial, and yet highly problematical, because both, poetry and love, undermine the project of an unrelenting argument on behalf of reason. Passion and fiction are a threat. The philosophical effect of such a critique is immense and terrifying.

I will set out to outline the discord between anti-erotic ratio and ars amatoria. I will then be in a position to provide a panoramic view of Ovid’s work. Ovid’s poetry, I will argue, is philosophy, the musical thinking of a lover of myths, a philómythos who, as Aristotle would put it, was a sort of philosopher, philósophos."

En el marco de numerosos cuestionamientos contemporáneos en torno de la noción de naturalezay sus vínculos y tensiones con las creencias instituidas por el accionar humano, una vuelta a los orígenes se revela como una instancia ineludible para comprender los complejos entramados que condicionaron el decurso de estas nociones en épocas posteriores. Es por ello que las Primeras Jornadas de Pensamiento Antiguo que dieron a los textos de este volumen se dedicaron al estudio de
las nociones de legalidad cósmica y legalidad humana en el pensamiento clásico, con el propósito de que fueran abordadas las distintas aristas que las conforman, desde las perspectivas filosófica, histórica y literaria. Así, al rastrear la dinámica de los discursos de la época clásica desde una mirada actual, se constata que, como en un juego especular, volver a la tensión entre naturaleza y cultura entre los antiguos es hacer filosofía contemporánea y reencontrar en gestación las mismas vicisitudes que hoy nos desafían.


Índice
Prólogo

Armando Poratti: Díke: causalidad, política y ontología arcaicas
Graciela Marcos: Hombre-medida versus dios-medida. Trazas de la polémica con Protágoras en Leyes IV
José Luis Álvarez - Las prácticas políticas y religiosas y la comprensión filosófica
Gastón Basile - La ley de Díke en las Historias de Heródoto: un enfoque narrativista
Mariana Battaglini - Estrategias para validar la legalidad: aproximaciones desde la épica homérica
Yanina Benítez Ocampo - Potencia, privación y pobreza: una aproximación al no ser de la pobreza y la
indigencia
Esteban Bieda - Lo natural no quita lo acordado. Tensiones entre phýsis y nómos según Antifonte Sofista
Emiliano Buis - Impiedad, sacrilegio y misterios femeninos: fracasos de la justicia divina en Tesmoforiantes de
Aristófanes
Luis Ángel Castello - Una radicalización del nómos: la graphè parà nómon en la Grecia clásica
María Cecilia Colombani - Hesíodo: justicia y castigo; los rostros de aletheia. En torno a la noción de
legalidad
Marisa Divenosa - Protágoras y la autoría de la Constitución de Turios
María Angélica Fierro - La inocencia del dios y la responsabilidad humana en República, X
Martín Forciniti - La desobediencia de los dioses como disolución del kósmos divino y humano”
María Teresa Gamito - Identidad y alteridad en Golpes a mi puerta de J.C. Gené como relectura de Antígona
Juan Gatti - Conflicto de legalidades en Suplicantes de Esquilo
Rodrigo Illarraga - El Ática primigenia y la Atlántida: sociedades utópicas en el Critias de Platón
Hernán Inverso - Diálogos con el contractualismo antiguo: el necio hobbesiano a la luz del tratamiento de la
anarquía en Tucídides
Adrián Lastra - Polémicas en torno de la legalidad y la autoridad política tras el sinecismo griego en la obra
sofoclea Ayax
Ezequiel Ludueña - El mito de Aristófanes en el Banquete, según Leo Strauss
Sandra Maceri - La ley platónica del bien común: el meollo del ataque popperiano
Jorge Mainero - El concepto de religión en los tratados filosóficos ciceronianos
Claudia Mársico - Formas megáricas y paradojas: el naufragio de la conexión entre hombre y naturaleza
Hernán Martignone - Conflicto entre legalidad divina y legalidad humana en el Hipólito de Eurípides
Carlos Martín - La ciudad de los individuos: la justicia social y la oikonomía de la pólis
Luciana Martínez-Laura Pelegrin - Alma y Tiempo en Física IV
Gabriel Martino - Providencia divina y circunstancias humanas en la concepción plotiniana de la acción
voluntaria
Pablo Marzocca - Las nociones de acto y potencia a la luz de la polémica con Diodoro Crono
Gariel Masip - Nómos y phýsis en Heráclito
Gabriela Müller - Dios y materia: los principios del universo y del hombre en la filosofía de Numenio
Daniel Perrone - La tesis del oikeîos lógos entendida como una respuesta nominalista al problema de los
universales
Andrés Racket - Concepciones del lógos en el Filoctetes de Sófocles
Gabriela Rossi - ¿Sostiene Aristóteles que la teleología natural es antropocéntrica?
Silvina Schvartz-Patricia Fernández - Transgrediendo la ley del Hades: Aristófanes y Calímaco
Claudia Seggiaro - Las leyes de la pólis en el Protréptico de Aristóteles
Malena Tonelli - Eros y psykhé en la interpretación plotiniana del Banquete de Platón. Un análisis de Enéada III 5
Florencia Zayas - La teoría aristotélica de las virtudes: acerca de la acción edípica como modelo de responsabilidad
humana
Gustavo Zito - El silogismo práctico en Aristóteles. Su esencia e inexistencia

Around the first half century B.C. the first Roman school of philosophy arose, which was called School of Sextii. The known members of the School were: Quintus Sextius the Elder, founding father of the School, Sextius Niger, Quintus' son, who became scholarch of the School after his father's death, Sotion, Papirius Fabianus (both teachers of Seneca the Younger), Crassicius Pasicles, a grammarian, and Celsius Cornelius, an expert doctor. The School followed the footsteps of the Hellenistic schools, and similar to these, the pursuit of happiness was its purpose. The school of the Sextii had taken to heart that part of the philosophy called physical, characterizing itself mainly as a philosophical-medical school, blending in its philosophy Pythagorean, Platonic, Cynic, and Stoic elements. The purpose of this paper is to underline the main features of the philosophical thought of the school, searching for possible new elements in its doctrine.

This thesis examines two conflicting images that can be presented in contemporary scholarship on
the classical Epicurean movement: that they are either a reclusive and isolated group, or that they
had a missionary dynamic/purpose akin to that seen in the later Christian missionary movement.
Sources for the first generation of the school are examined, and it is suggested that the Epicurean
movement held an ‘open-closed’ dynamic with regards to mission: incorporating features that both
expedite, but also restrict the inclusion of outsiders into the group. Epicurean doctrine is also probed
to find features that would either broaden or limited any missionary concept in the school.
The ‘closed’ dynamic is found to have come under pressure in subsequent generations, particularly
from Epicurean adherents on Roman soil; where popularisers, in conflict with earlier generations of
the school, sought to overtly proselytize their message. Lucretius’ intention as missionary to the
educated elite of Roman is explored, and a chapter examining the extent of Epicurean influence on
the Roman elite is also provided.