In the History of Philosophy, the atomistic physics of Epicurus and of Democritus have been consi... more In the History of Philosophy, the atomistic physics of Epicurus and of Democritus have been considered as very similar.1 Con trary to the more conventional view, Marx considers this similarity
Bochumer Philosophisches Jahrbuch Fur Antike Und Mittelalter, Dec 31, 2008
Commentators do not take Socrates’ theses in the Hippias Minor seriously. They believe it is an a... more Commentators do not take Socrates’ theses in the Hippias Minor seriously. They believe it is an aporetic dialogue and even that Socrates does not mean what he says. Hence they are unable to understand the presuppositions behind Socrates’ two interconnected theses: that those who do wrong and lie voluntarily are better than those who do wrong unintentionally, and that no one does wrong and lies voluntarily. Arguing that liars are better than the unenlightened, Socrates concludes that there are no liars. Instead, there are only those who know and those who don’t. The unenlightened cannot lie, and alien volitions, desires, or emotions are unlikely to mislead and deceive those who know, i. e., the wise. Why, then, is a thinker like Socrates ready to defy the experience and moral convictions of his contemporaries and even our own to such an extent?
Resumen: En Israel hay una pugna entre quienes sostienen una política de confrontaci&oacut... more Resumen: En Israel hay una pugna entre quienes sostienen una política de confrontación o de balance nuclear y los que sostienen una política de reconciliación e integración regional. Los primeros bregan por acuerdos que se basen en principios de disuasión. Los últimos buscan soluciones que permitan acuerdos de paz que impidan a largo plazo basar la seguridad en disuasión nuclear a fin de crear un Medio Oriente libre de armas no-convencionales. Para ambas políticas Irán es un país clave. Esta confrontación no es paralela a las clásicas distinciones entre formaciones partidarias que se identifican por ideologías de izquierda o de derecha. Hay coincidencias operativas entre partidarios de ideologías incluso opuestas, y controversias entre partidarios de una misma ideología. Pese a atenerme exclusivamente a la política israelí, es casi obvio que cada facció...
Plato and Protagoras : , Plato and Protagoras : , کتابخانه دیجیتال و فن آوری اطلاعات دانشگاه امام... more Plato and Protagoras : , Plato and Protagoras : , کتابخانه دیجیتال و فن آوری اطلاعات دانشگاه امام صادق(ع)
JHegel says that "when enquiry is made as to the kind of predicate belonging to [a] subject,... more JHegel says that "when enquiry is made as to the kind of predicate belonging to [a] subject, the act of judgement necessarily implies an underlying concept [Begriff]; but this concept is expressed only by the predicate."1 According to this, some concept of the subject must precede ...
JHegel says that "when enquiry is made as to the kind of predicate belonging to [a] subject,... more JHegel says that "when enquiry is made as to the kind of predicate belonging to [a] subject, the act of judgement necessarily implies an underlying concept [Begriff]; but this concept is expressed only by the predicate."1 According to this, some concept of the subject must precede predication. This circularity can be formulated as follows: If the statement (Urteil) is the "factory" in which concepts are pro duced, how is it that the concepts precede the statement and are not merely produced within it in their function as subjects? And, on the other hand, if the subject is not, prior to predication, a con cept?if it has by itself no meaning?how can a predicate be matched to it? There would, in fact, be nothing to match. We are caught in a circular thesis that requires for its elucidation a fresh analysis of the relationship between concept and statement. According to Hegel, concepts are statements and statements are syllogisms. Indeed, concepts are produced within...
THE aim of this paper is to explain a paradox in Plato's philosophy. On the one hand, Plato reduc... more THE aim of this paper is to explain a paradox in Plato's philosophy. On the one hand, Plato reduces virtue to knowledge; on the other, he rejects the possibility of knowledge or at least has serious doubts that it exists. I shall propose in this paper that the definition of virtue as knowledge is a logical outcome of Plato's denial of the particular aspect of knowledge as cognitive relation. This paper may also be considered as an attempt to resolve the Hintikka-Santas polemic about whether there is a difference in Plato's philosophy between the function of knowledge and its object. ([3], [6] pp. 1-71). The first part of this paper consists in a critical exposition of Plato's rejection of cognitive relation as a function of knowledge. The second part is devoted to an account of Plato's assumptions in this regard. In the third section of the paper I shall show how, on the basis of these assumptions, Plato reduces virtue to knowledge. And finally, in the last section of the essay, I shall compare my interpretation of this issue with other modern interpretations, especially those of Gerasimos Santas and Jaakko Hintikka. 142 ODEDBALABAN bring home the point. These consist of hypothetical instances of similar self-referral in the case of the senses, of desires, wishes, emotions and opinions, and of magnitudes, weights and measures. These he sets out in a series of rhetorical questions and statements that take the following form: About the senses, he asks: Is there "a sort of vision which is not the vision of things that we see in the ordinary way, but a vision of itself and of the other sorts of vision, and of the lack of vision likewise; which, while being vision, sees no colour, but only itself and the other sorts of vision?" (Char. 167 C9-D3). And is there "any sense of the senses and of itself, but insensible of any of the things of which the other senses are sensible?" (Char. 167 D9-12). And about desires he asks: Is there "any desire which is the desire, not of any pleasure, but of itself and of the other desires?" (Char. 167 E5-8). Of whishes, he asserts: There is no wish "that wishes no good, but wishes itself and the other wishes" (Char. 167 E7-10). About emotions, he asks: Is there "any fear which fears itself and the other fears, but has no fear of a single dreadful thing?" (Char. And about opinions, he inquires: Is there "an opinion which is an opinion of opinions and of itself, but without any opinion such as the other opinions have?" (Char. 168 4-5). And, finally, of magnitudes, he observes: "If we could find a greater which is greater than other greater things, and than itself, but not greater than the things beside which the others are greater, I take it there can be no doubt that it would be in the situation of being, if greater than itself, at the same time smaller than itself" (Char. 168 B11-C3).l It should be remarked, however, that among these reflective instances Plato distinguishes between the contradictory and the paradoxal cases (Char. 168 E3-8). Thus magnitudes that refer to themselves are contradictory and therefore wholly untenable. The remainder are merely paradoxical, and Plato is content, for the time 167 E13-168 16). ~ ' Socrates also considers the cases of "motion moving itself'' and "heat burning itself" (Char. 168 El(L169 2). * Infallible and fallible are the criteria applied by Plato to distinguish between knowledge and opinion. See Rep. 477E.
Dans le Charmide, il ya un écart évident entre l'intérêt de Platon pour la question de la co... more Dans le Charmide, il ya un écart évident entre l'intérêt de Platon pour la question de la connaissance de la connaissance et son affirmation que la connaissance - l'objet de la connaissance de la connaissance - ne peut être connue. Dans cet article, je soutiens que pour saisir ...
So let us leave the Platonists to wander off down a blind alley Poor simpletons, they think they ... more So let us leave the Platonists to wander off down a blind alley Poor simpletons, they think they will find the secret of discourse about time in the link with eternity. Whereas I, who am powerless in the face of eternity, would prefer to ask: what link can be retained, in discourse about time, between past, present, and future? If there is some link, can the three kinds of time break free of their mutual bonds? Can predicting the future, a time that will be but has never existed before, be disconnected from what determines the future as a product of what already exists and what has already existed? Can the past be what it once was or will it always be what each age decides it should have been? Put this way, these questions lead to never-ending discussions in which each argument seems to retain its validity. So may I take the liberty of imposing some limits on the questions based on a dual distinction: the difference between a theoretical question and
This work takes a basic phenomenological distinction (between the object and the process of consc... more This work takes a basic phenomenological distinction (between the object and the process of consciousness) and examines it both from a historical perspective, and as it applies to the social and political realm. Self-consciousness not only has a cognitive meaning but also constitutes the human subject according to the specific way in which consciousness is grasped. Historically, the author shows that many of the problems that have appeared in the history of the study of human consciousness and self consciousness could either have been avoided altogether or greatly clarified if only both sides of the situation had been seen in conjunction with one another. The author shows how this conceptual clarification can be applied to specific problems concerning the nature of consciousness and to the social and political realm.
This book offers a thought-provoking analysis of the controversial Camp David II peace negotiatio... more This book offers a thought-provoking analysis of the controversial Camp David II peace negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis in July 2000 and the ensuing political events. The author's understanding of Middle Eastern politics is fresh and unconventional. Oded Balaban argues that the true political positions in the conflict do not coincide with traditional divisions between left and right, East and West, Israeli and Palestinian. Although his insights are surprising his reasoning is always rigorous and logical. This book is recommended to all those interested in new approaches to political analysis.
In the History of Philosophy, the atomistic physics of Epicurus and of Democritus have been consi... more In the History of Philosophy, the atomistic physics of Epicurus and of Democritus have been considered as very similar.1 Con trary to the more conventional view, Marx considers this similarity
Bochumer Philosophisches Jahrbuch Fur Antike Und Mittelalter, Dec 31, 2008
Commentators do not take Socrates’ theses in the Hippias Minor seriously. They believe it is an a... more Commentators do not take Socrates’ theses in the Hippias Minor seriously. They believe it is an aporetic dialogue and even that Socrates does not mean what he says. Hence they are unable to understand the presuppositions behind Socrates’ two interconnected theses: that those who do wrong and lie voluntarily are better than those who do wrong unintentionally, and that no one does wrong and lies voluntarily. Arguing that liars are better than the unenlightened, Socrates concludes that there are no liars. Instead, there are only those who know and those who don’t. The unenlightened cannot lie, and alien volitions, desires, or emotions are unlikely to mislead and deceive those who know, i. e., the wise. Why, then, is a thinker like Socrates ready to defy the experience and moral convictions of his contemporaries and even our own to such an extent?
Resumen: En Israel hay una pugna entre quienes sostienen una política de confrontaci&oacut... more Resumen: En Israel hay una pugna entre quienes sostienen una política de confrontación o de balance nuclear y los que sostienen una política de reconciliación e integración regional. Los primeros bregan por acuerdos que se basen en principios de disuasión. Los últimos buscan soluciones que permitan acuerdos de paz que impidan a largo plazo basar la seguridad en disuasión nuclear a fin de crear un Medio Oriente libre de armas no-convencionales. Para ambas políticas Irán es un país clave. Esta confrontación no es paralela a las clásicas distinciones entre formaciones partidarias que se identifican por ideologías de izquierda o de derecha. Hay coincidencias operativas entre partidarios de ideologías incluso opuestas, y controversias entre partidarios de una misma ideología. Pese a atenerme exclusivamente a la política israelí, es casi obvio que cada facció...
Plato and Protagoras : , Plato and Protagoras : , کتابخانه دیجیتال و فن آوری اطلاعات دانشگاه امام... more Plato and Protagoras : , Plato and Protagoras : , کتابخانه دیجیتال و فن آوری اطلاعات دانشگاه امام صادق(ع)
JHegel says that "when enquiry is made as to the kind of predicate belonging to [a] subject,... more JHegel says that "when enquiry is made as to the kind of predicate belonging to [a] subject, the act of judgement necessarily implies an underlying concept [Begriff]; but this concept is expressed only by the predicate."1 According to this, some concept of the subject must precede ...
JHegel says that "when enquiry is made as to the kind of predicate belonging to [a] subject,... more JHegel says that "when enquiry is made as to the kind of predicate belonging to [a] subject, the act of judgement necessarily implies an underlying concept [Begriff]; but this concept is expressed only by the predicate."1 According to this, some concept of the subject must precede predication. This circularity can be formulated as follows: If the statement (Urteil) is the "factory" in which concepts are pro duced, how is it that the concepts precede the statement and are not merely produced within it in their function as subjects? And, on the other hand, if the subject is not, prior to predication, a con cept?if it has by itself no meaning?how can a predicate be matched to it? There would, in fact, be nothing to match. We are caught in a circular thesis that requires for its elucidation a fresh analysis of the relationship between concept and statement. According to Hegel, concepts are statements and statements are syllogisms. Indeed, concepts are produced within...
THE aim of this paper is to explain a paradox in Plato's philosophy. On the one hand, Plato reduc... more THE aim of this paper is to explain a paradox in Plato's philosophy. On the one hand, Plato reduces virtue to knowledge; on the other, he rejects the possibility of knowledge or at least has serious doubts that it exists. I shall propose in this paper that the definition of virtue as knowledge is a logical outcome of Plato's denial of the particular aspect of knowledge as cognitive relation. This paper may also be considered as an attempt to resolve the Hintikka-Santas polemic about whether there is a difference in Plato's philosophy between the function of knowledge and its object. ([3], [6] pp. 1-71). The first part of this paper consists in a critical exposition of Plato's rejection of cognitive relation as a function of knowledge. The second part is devoted to an account of Plato's assumptions in this regard. In the third section of the paper I shall show how, on the basis of these assumptions, Plato reduces virtue to knowledge. And finally, in the last section of the essay, I shall compare my interpretation of this issue with other modern interpretations, especially those of Gerasimos Santas and Jaakko Hintikka. 142 ODEDBALABAN bring home the point. These consist of hypothetical instances of similar self-referral in the case of the senses, of desires, wishes, emotions and opinions, and of magnitudes, weights and measures. These he sets out in a series of rhetorical questions and statements that take the following form: About the senses, he asks: Is there "a sort of vision which is not the vision of things that we see in the ordinary way, but a vision of itself and of the other sorts of vision, and of the lack of vision likewise; which, while being vision, sees no colour, but only itself and the other sorts of vision?" (Char. 167 C9-D3). And is there "any sense of the senses and of itself, but insensible of any of the things of which the other senses are sensible?" (Char. 167 D9-12). And about desires he asks: Is there "any desire which is the desire, not of any pleasure, but of itself and of the other desires?" (Char. 167 E5-8). Of whishes, he asserts: There is no wish "that wishes no good, but wishes itself and the other wishes" (Char. 167 E7-10). About emotions, he asks: Is there "any fear which fears itself and the other fears, but has no fear of a single dreadful thing?" (Char. And about opinions, he inquires: Is there "an opinion which is an opinion of opinions and of itself, but without any opinion such as the other opinions have?" (Char. 168 4-5). And, finally, of magnitudes, he observes: "If we could find a greater which is greater than other greater things, and than itself, but not greater than the things beside which the others are greater, I take it there can be no doubt that it would be in the situation of being, if greater than itself, at the same time smaller than itself" (Char. 168 B11-C3).l It should be remarked, however, that among these reflective instances Plato distinguishes between the contradictory and the paradoxal cases (Char. 168 E3-8). Thus magnitudes that refer to themselves are contradictory and therefore wholly untenable. The remainder are merely paradoxical, and Plato is content, for the time 167 E13-168 16). ~ ' Socrates also considers the cases of "motion moving itself'' and "heat burning itself" (Char. 168 El(L169 2). * Infallible and fallible are the criteria applied by Plato to distinguish between knowledge and opinion. See Rep. 477E.
Dans le Charmide, il ya un écart évident entre l'intérêt de Platon pour la question de la co... more Dans le Charmide, il ya un écart évident entre l'intérêt de Platon pour la question de la connaissance de la connaissance et son affirmation que la connaissance - l'objet de la connaissance de la connaissance - ne peut être connue. Dans cet article, je soutiens que pour saisir ...
So let us leave the Platonists to wander off down a blind alley Poor simpletons, they think they ... more So let us leave the Platonists to wander off down a blind alley Poor simpletons, they think they will find the secret of discourse about time in the link with eternity. Whereas I, who am powerless in the face of eternity, would prefer to ask: what link can be retained, in discourse about time, between past, present, and future? If there is some link, can the three kinds of time break free of their mutual bonds? Can predicting the future, a time that will be but has never existed before, be disconnected from what determines the future as a product of what already exists and what has already existed? Can the past be what it once was or will it always be what each age decides it should have been? Put this way, these questions lead to never-ending discussions in which each argument seems to retain its validity. So may I take the liberty of imposing some limits on the questions based on a dual distinction: the difference between a theoretical question and
This work takes a basic phenomenological distinction (between the object and the process of consc... more This work takes a basic phenomenological distinction (between the object and the process of consciousness) and examines it both from a historical perspective, and as it applies to the social and political realm. Self-consciousness not only has a cognitive meaning but also constitutes the human subject according to the specific way in which consciousness is grasped. Historically, the author shows that many of the problems that have appeared in the history of the study of human consciousness and self consciousness could either have been avoided altogether or greatly clarified if only both sides of the situation had been seen in conjunction with one another. The author shows how this conceptual clarification can be applied to specific problems concerning the nature of consciousness and to the social and political realm.
This book offers a thought-provoking analysis of the controversial Camp David II peace negotiatio... more This book offers a thought-provoking analysis of the controversial Camp David II peace negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis in July 2000 and the ensuing political events. The author's understanding of Middle Eastern politics is fresh and unconventional. Oded Balaban argues that the true political positions in the conflict do not coincide with traditional divisions between left and right, East and West, Israeli and Palestinian. Although his insights are surprising his reasoning is always rigorous and logical. This book is recommended to all those interested in new approaches to political analysis.
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