List of Philosophical thoughts in ancient Iran subject articles

Open Access Article

1 - The Relationship between Beauty and the Good in Plato’s Ontology
Hossein Ghafari Behnaz Parvini

Based on various interpretations, the relationship between the good and beauty in Plato’s philosophy fluctuates between being identical and different, and these interpretations lead to different consequences in Platonic ethics and aesthetics and suggest different relati More

Based on various interpretations, the relationship between the good and beauty in Plato’s philosophy fluctuates between being identical and different, and these interpretations lead to different consequences in Platonic ethics and aesthetics and suggest different relationships between the good and beauty and his metaphysics. Many interpreters believe that the truth and the good are the same in Plato’s view, while the relationship between beauty and the good is not clearly known to them. Through a study of the features of each of these two entities in various dialogs and contexts and the arguments adduced to describe the relationship between them, one can not only learn about the quality of this relationship but also determine the borderlines of Platonic aesthetics and, as a result, discover the place of beauty as the truth of being in this philosopher’s ontology. In this study, based on Plato’s prescriptive method in his seventh letter regarding the knowledge of every subject, the writers deal with the relationship between beauty and its equivalent concepts, such as pleasure, harmony, proportion, order, and unity. Then, by responding to the questions related to the difference of the good from beauty, they demonstrate that the other definitions and meanings of beauty can be interpreted in the same way, and that the truth of beauty is the same as the good in the sense of unity. Finally, they conclude that beauty is the cause of existence and the end of everything. Therefore, ethics and aesthetics are considered to be two dimensions of Plato’s unitary ontology. Manuscript profile

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2 - Ammonius Hermiae and the Historical Impact of his Thought
Maryam Salem

Neo-Platonic philosophers, in addition to advocating Plato’s philosophical and theological school and commenting on his works, also paid attention to Aristotle and explored his philosophy and theology alongside his logic and ethics. This gave rise to the development of More

Neo-Platonic philosophers, in addition to advocating Plato’s philosophical and theological school and commenting on his works, also paid attention to Aristotle and explored his philosophy and theology alongside his logic and ethics. This gave rise to the development of a tradition among some of them to try to reconcile the ideas of these two philosophers with each other and demonstrate that there is no internal and external inconsistency between them. One of the prominent philosophers involved in this practice was Ammonius, the son of Hermiae, who, in spite of his anonymity during his own time, managed to exercise a great influence over the philosophical schools which emerged after him. This influence is quite noticeable initially on Islamic philosophers, particularly on Farabi, and then on Christian theologians. This paper aims to briefly introduce his character and some of his ideas. Manuscript profile

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3 - The Idea of Order in the History of Greek Philosophy: A Study of the Epistemological-Ontological Aspects of Order in Plato’s Political Philosophy
Abdulrasul Hasanifar Hamzah Alimi Cheraghali

One of the issues which has united the ontological, epistemological, and anthropological dimensions of philosophical thought in the course of history and has continually affected and determined the related social and political directions and general trends is “order”. I More

One of the issues which has united the ontological, epistemological, and anthropological dimensions of philosophical thought in the course of history and has continually affected and determined the related social and political directions and general trends is “order”. In other words, order enjoys three ontological, epistemological, and anthropological aspects with respect to political life in society and can function as the basis for the interpretation and formation of the history of philosophy. In Greek philosophy, order is one of the philosophical principles which, due to its influence over different schools of philosophy and philosophers during the whole history of philosophical thought, enjoys an important and unique role and status. The issue of order in Platonic philosophy proved to be a turning point in this regard. Accordingly, in this paper it has been tried to explore the philosophical concept of order from its epistemological, ontological, and anthropological aspects in the history of Greek philosophy ,in general, and in Platonic philosophy, in particular. The writers have also aimed to demonstrate its influence and directive role in Plato’s political philosophy. Therefore, following an analytic-descriptive method, they firstly cast a historical glance at the concept of order in the works of pre-Platonic thinkers. Then they investigate his general philosophy and, particularly, his political philosophy with respect to the above-mentioned dimensions while emphasizing his desirable political and educational systems based on his idea of order. Their findings indicate that a philosophical thought based on order might begin with a mythological and naturalist view; nevertheless, with the later development of human thought, it shifts its attention to a kind of order with mathematical, cosmological, and metaphysical tendencies. Following this process, the Platonic natural and mathematical view of order unites with a divine and virtuous view of order. Consequently, as both the context and basis of other virtues and also as the ultimate goal of philosophy, it develops a political-social form in connection with law. Manuscript profile

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4 - Life in Harmony with Nature in the View of Three Stoic Philosophers: Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius
Mohammad Javad Esmaeili Sina Masheyekhi

The main slogan of Stoic philosophy is “Life in Harmony with Nature”, which also signifies the unity between physics and ethics in stoics’ ideas. The study of the roots of this slogan in the view of Stoic philosophers; from Zeno of Cilium, the founder of Stoic philosoph More

The main slogan of Stoic philosophy is “Life in Harmony with Nature”, which also signifies the unity between physics and ethics in stoics’ ideas. The study of the roots of this slogan in the view of Stoic philosophers; from Zeno of Cilium, the founder of Stoic philosophy to Marcus, Aurelius, the last Stoic philosophers, indicates the expansion of the semantic domain of “Life in Harmony with Nature”, as follows: 1) individual nature in the sense of harmony with the rational faculty; 2) general nature in the sense of harmony with fate and those affairs which are beyond our control, and 3) social nature in the sense of harmony with society and social laws. Interestingly enough, in Stoic ethics there are some terms for each of these semantic domains in relation to natural sciences; for example, self-preservation, kindness, common sense, and providence in the world. This paper mainly focuses on the problem of functions of “Life in Harmony with Nature” in Stoic ethics based on the ideas of Seneca, Epictetus, and Aurelius as recorded in their existing works. Finally, it concludes that Stoic philosophers, particularly the three mentioned above, mainly emphasize the Stoic concept of “Life in Harmony with Nature” in order to create a unity between Man’s inner order and the general order of nature and society. This is because, in this school of philosophy, Man is a part of the whole and must use this relationship in order to attain happiness and harmony between themselves, society, and the whole. Manuscript profile

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5 - Logos and Motion in Heraclitus
Seyyed Mohammad Reza Hosseini Khameneh Seyyed Mohammad Reza Hosseini Khameneh

Heraclitus is usually recognized as a philosopher who believes in the motion and becoming of all things. He also maintains that there is a kind of conflict among opposites, which finally leads to their unity. However, not much attention is paid to the fixed principles t More

Heraclitus is usually recognized as a philosopher who believes in the motion and becoming of all things. He also maintains that there is a kind of conflict among opposites, which finally leads to their unity. However, not much attention is paid to the fixed principles that exist in his philosophy. The most important of all of them is logos, which is also referred to by some other terms such as fire, God (theos), etc. Logos is a fixed divine principle which establishes harmony among all things, and a philosopher is an individual who hears the words of logos and acts accordingly. Therefore, it can be said that, in addition to the becoming of worldly things, Heraclitus also speaks of unity and consistency in his philosophy. Manuscript profile

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6 - Theory of Continuity in Stoic Physics
Mohammad Javad Esmaeili Sina Masheyekhi

This paper investigates the theory of continuity in Stoic physics based on some concepts such as pneuma (the soul), hexis (disposition), and tonos (tension) and refers to its consequences. Moreover, it demonstrates that Stoic philosophers have provided an organized anal More

This paper investigates the theory of continuity in Stoic physics based on some concepts such as pneuma (the soul), hexis (disposition), and tonos (tension) and refers to its consequences. Moreover, it demonstrates that Stoic philosophers have provided an organized analysis of the relationships among the animate and inanimate components of nature. This issue in Stoic physics is based on the theory of lack of vacuum in nature and its component parts. This theory connects the active elements in nature – God and the rational faculty – with the passive elements – non-organic nature. Therefore, through an analysis of the natural principles of Stoic philosophy, this paper initially explains the active element in physics, i.e. pneuma, and its various forms in nature including: a) its highest form or the rational faculty in human beings; b) its weaker form or hexis in the non-organic nature. Then it deals with the concept of continuity based on pneuma and demonstrates it empirically. Finally, it compares the theory of continuity based on Muslim philosophers’ interpretation of Stoic philosophy. Manuscript profile

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7 - The Purple Philosopher: Life, Thoughts, and Writings of Porphyry
Mehdi ‘Azimi

Porphyry or porphyries (meaning clad in purple) is the name of one of the most prominent exponents of Neo-Platonic Philosophy. Both the philosopher himself and his school exercised an undeniable influence over Islamic philosophy in the past. His doctrine of the five uni More

Porphyry or porphyries (meaning clad in purple) is the name of one of the most prominent exponents of Neo-Platonic Philosophy. Both the philosopher himself and his school exercised an undeniable influence over Islamic philosophy in the past. His doctrine of the five universals can be seen in the preface of all logical books of the Islamic period in a more analytic and extensive fashion. His theory of the union of the intellect and the intelligible was first degraded by Ibn Sina and then accepted and expanded by Mulla Sadra. Becoming God-like as the end of ethics was a doctrine which Porphyry had borrowed from his master Plotinus, and which Muslim thinkers unanimously accepted. Moreover, a taint of Porphyry’s belief in transmigration can be observed in some of the words of Farabi and Ibn Sina. However, both of them rejected the Greeks’ idea of transmigration. Porphyry placed logic at the top of the educational system of the Neo-Platonic School, which influenced Muslim Neo-Platonists’ attention to logic. He believed in the fundamental agreement between Plato, Aristotle, and perennial philosophy, both of which clearly affected Farabi’s ideas in particular. Manuscript profile

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8 - Understanding of Truth in Pre-Socratic Philosophers
Sa‘id Shapouri

The pre-Socratic philosophy of ancient Greece begins with Milesian philosophers and their search for the origin and arche of the world. By stating that nature likes to hide itself, Heraclitus was the first thinker who tried to learn about the truth. Parmenides was also More

The pre-Socratic philosophy of ancient Greece begins with Milesian philosophers and their search for the origin and arche of the world. By stating that nature likes to hide itself, Heraclitus was the first thinker who tried to learn about the truth. Parmenides was also one of the most important thinkers who, in his quest for understanding the truth, explained the way towards attaining it by showing the ways of opinion and truth in his instructional poem. Continuing the trend of pre-Socratic philosophy, the materialist Anaxagoras did not add anything to this perception of the truth; however, he mentioned that, due to their weak senses, human beings are not capable of identifying the truth. Atomists, too, did not add anything to previous ideas more than saying that the truth is hidden in a whirlpool, and we know nothing about it. All these ideas finally reach a common point by concluding that the understanding of the truth has always coupled with such words as physis, lethe, and aletheia. Manuscript profile

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9 - Aristotelian Model of Defining Science
Mehdi Nazemi Ardakani Hamed Mustafawi Fard

Thematic distinction is the oldest method of distinguishing sciences from each other, so that some believe that it is the only method used for this purpose. Taftazani and Lahiji claim that mutikallimun are unanimous that different sciences can be essentially distinguish More

Thematic distinction is the oldest method of distinguishing sciences from each other, so that some believe that it is the only method used for this purpose. Taftazani and Lahiji claim that mutikallimun are unanimous that different sciences can be essentially distinguished from each other based on their subject matters. Accordingly, they believe that the distinctions among sciences arise from the distinctions among their subjects, and by attaining aspects, they mean the aspects of the subject’s preparedness for accepting the predicate. However, in a more accurate sense, philosophers argue that, in the field of exact and demonstrative sciences, what consolidates the unity of a science is its subject matter. In the same way, ‘Allamah Tabataba’i explicitly states that the distinction criterion for exact and demonstrative sciences in their subject, and for mentally-posited sciences it is their end and purpose. In contrast, in the view of the critics of the model of “thematic distinction of sciences”, research findings indicate that sciences consist of a few propositions that have been completed over time. Therefore, their subjects were not even known to their founders and, that is why they were not capable of discussing their states. They argue that, even if we accept the Aristotelian model, we should say that many of the debates regarding the distinctions among sciences originate in confusing exact and mentally-posited sciences with each other and generalizing the principles of exact sciences to mentally-posited ones. Manuscript profile

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10 - A Study of Heidegger’s Interpretation of Dialectic in Plato’s Dialog of the Sophist
Sadiqah Moosazadeh N‘alband

The term dialectic has a Greek root and enjoys a historical background as long as that of philosophy itself. This term has been employed by most philosophers at all times and has undergone some changes in terms of meaning in line with the differences in the views of di More

The term dialectic has a Greek root and enjoys a historical background as long as that of philosophy itself. This term has been employed by most philosophers at all times and has undergone some changes in terms of meaning in line with the differences in the views of different philosophers. The present paper aims to recount, examine, and evaluate Heidegger’s interpretation of the word “dialectic” as used by Plato. Heidegger’s interpretation of Plato’s dialectic is other than the common interpretations provided by most interpreters. While examining the interpretations given by the philosophers preceding him, Heidegger enters a dialog with them and believes that he has observed the norms of justice in this dialog while granting some freshness and beauty to their interpretations through employing a specific composing style and arrangement of ideas. At the same time, he has remained loyal to the interpreted text. In fact, while having a dialog with philosophers (particularly, Plato and Aristotle) and interpreting their views, Heidegger tries to remain objective and portray a new and unprecedented picture of their thoughts. In this paper, the writers have evaluated Heidegger’s loyalty to the thoughts of his intended philosopher (Plato) and, while exploring Platonic dialectic in the light of Heidegger’s philosophy, review the latter’s interpretation of this particular idea. Manuscript profile

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11 - The Relationship between Language and Reality in Plato: An Interpretation of Plato’s Cratylus in the Light of the Three Allegories in Republic
Hassan Fathi Aboubakr Soleymanpour

Before Plato, the thinkers dealing with the problem of language viewed it as a dual phenomenon. In Aristotle’s eyes, language is a mysterious entity which functions not only as a link connecting the gods and human beings but also as a body of laws for revealing the trut More

Before Plato, the thinkers dealing with the problem of language viewed it as a dual phenomenon. In Aristotle’s eyes, language is a mysterious entity which functions not only as a link connecting the gods and human beings but also as a body of laws for revealing the truth. For Heraclitus, language enjoys a code-like aspect similar to logos, which is mainly a phenomenon referring to the truth rather than a tool for explaining and analyzing it. On the other hand, for Parmenides, language is a deceptive phenomenon which is the product of a kind of social contract as well as a problem in the sensible world which, by itself, is not of much value. Sophists also consider language to be an arbitrary and relative phenomenon which merely functions as a medium of speech and entails no absolute truth by itself. Given this historical background, Plato set out to explore the problem of language. He developed a view in Cratylus which completed the mentioned historical background. For him, language is a deceptive and imperfect phenomenon; a phenomenon which he investigated in Cratylus based on its essence and its relationship with reality. He maintains that, since language is an artificial entity, it is essentially imperfect and, hence, incapable of providing any knowledge regarding reality. He believes that language can only be used to reflect the reality as accurately as possible, is ontologically posterior to reality, and is only temporally prior to it in terms of its instructional feature. In other words, according to Plato, one cannot attain knowledge through language because it is an artificial phenomenon which, at its best, can manifest the reality in an imperfect form. Manuscript profile

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12 - Dramatic Conflict between Law and Justice in Plato’s Crito
Abdulrasul Hasanifar Seyyed Mohsen Alavipour

The influence of the philosophical and physical life and, ultimately, death of Socrates over the history of philosophy is a turning point and a topic of deliberation for many thinkers. He is believed to be one of the few thinkers who has clearly demonstrated the concomi More

The influence of the philosophical and physical life and, ultimately, death of Socrates over the history of philosophy is a turning point and a topic of deliberation for many thinkers. He is believed to be one of the few thinkers who has clearly demonstrated the concomitance and unity of theory and act. Socrates’ ethical propositions, which are clearly manifest in the practical aspects of his life, have promoted a number of challenges that are presently among the most important socio-political problems of our society and the world. One of such challenges and living problems in political thought is obeying the law and state decrees and its relationship with justice. This problem has been dramatically evaluated and tested by Socrates in the dialogue of Crito. While focusing on this work, in the present paper the writers aim to explore the dramatic conflict between law and justice through analyzing its various aspects. In fact, following a hermeneutic method, they inquire about the relationship between the law and justice even when the former is unfair and costs the life of human beings. Manuscript profile

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13 - A Comparative Analysis and Explanation of the Creation of the World in the View of Ionian Philosophers
Mohammad Akvan

The creation of the world, which is an important and contradictory problem with an eventful historical background, has always attracted the attention of human beings and aroused their enthusiasm and curiosity since ancient periods. This problem has been investigated in More

The creation of the world, which is an important and contradictory problem with an eventful historical background, has always attracted the attention of human beings and aroused their enthusiasm and curiosity since ancient periods. This problem has been investigated in four epistemological areas: mythological cosmology, philosophical cosmology, monotheistic worldview, and scientific cosmology. Each of these disciplines has dealt with the creation of the world and its phenomena based on its own principles and methodology and introduced its particular bases of cosmological system. In this study, the process of the creation of the world and natural phenomena has been probed in the philosophical-cosmological view of Ionian philosophers, including Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes. In doing so, the author initially examines the principles of the quality of going beyond a mythological view towards a philosophical approach regarding the problem of creation through focusing on the historical trend of the development of theogonic view into a cosmogenic one, the quality of the change of personal explainers into non-personal ones, leaving mythological particularism behind and developing universal philosophical concepts, and then compares their methods and methodological approaches. Thales and Anaximenes have both explained the issue of creation based on the “change and evolution” of the prime matter of “water” and “air”, and Anaximander has done so based on the “separation” of objects from the first principle of apeiron. Thales and Anaximenes consider all existents and objects as the qualities of prime matter, while Anaximander grants an objective existence to qualities and deems them to be among real existents. Toward the end of this paper, the author tries to provide answers to the questions of how the structure and nature of the world and natural phenomena are formed in the view of Ionian philosophers, how existents and objects are created and annihilated, and whether there is a single origin and a prudent intellect called the Divine Element beyond all changes and evolutions, the turning of material elements into each other, and the detachment of objects. Manuscript profile

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14 - A Comparative Analysis of Heraclitus’ Flux, Parmenides’ Stability, and Plato’s Ideas
Reza Bazeli Mahdi Monfared

The issue of ontology and the problem of authentic and unauthentic types of being have always been debated by philosophers since the time of ancient Greece until now. Among Greek philosophers, Heraclitus, Parmenides, and Plato enjoy particular significance because of th More

The issue of ontology and the problem of authentic and unauthentic types of being have always been debated by philosophers since the time of ancient Greece until now. Among Greek philosophers, Heraclitus, Parmenides, and Plato enjoy particular significance because of their particular theories. Heraclitus believed in flux and everlasting change of things and denied stability in being. By contrast, Parmenides denied change and believed in stability and unchangability in being. These two opposite theories were later reformulated in Plato’s theory of Ideas. He developed his particular theory by benefitting from these two theories and employed Heraclitus’ continuous flux in the world of sensibles and Parmenides’ stability of being in the world of Ideas. The present paper comparatively examines the problem of existence from the viewpoint of these three philosophers in order to clarify Plato’s agreement with his two predecessors. A comparison of the ontological views of these three Greek philosophers revealed that Parmenides’ theory of stability (way of truth) and Heraclitus’ theory of unity can be matched with Plato’s world of Ideas. Moreover, the writers conclude that Heraclitus’ theory of flux and Parmenides’ ways of inquiry are compatible with Plato’s world of sensibles. Manuscript profile

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15 - foreword
Hossein Kalbasi Ashtari

Neo platonic tradition has especial characters in history of philosophy. In this paper I explain 4 character of this school.

Neo platonic tradition has especial characters in history of philosophy. In this paper I explain 4 character of this school. Manuscript profile

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16 - Eros and its Semantic Change in Proclus
Said Binayemotlagh Mohammad Javad Sabzevari

This paper initially deals with the meaning, place, and role of eros in the view of Proclus and, then, presents the changes that he created in the meaning or role of this concept by bringing it close to its rival Christian concept of ágape. Although Proclus himself neve More

This paper initially deals with the meaning, place, and role of eros in the view of Proclus and, then, presents the changes that he created in the meaning or role of this concept by bringing it close to its rival Christian concept of ágape. Although Proclus himself never acknowledged this semantic change in any of his books and believed that what he had done was in conformity with Platonic philosophy. Here, the writers demonstrate that, given his intended meaning of eros, there is no opposition between this concept and ágape, and they are, rather, consistent with each other. Manuscript profile

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17 - Heraclitus, Ethics, and Knowledge
Majid Mollayousefi Maryam Samadieh

Heraclitus was one of the important pre-Socratic philosophers who had some scattered notes on ethics. In order to understand his ethical views, in addition to referring to his existing notes, it is necessary to pay attention to the context in which his philosophy was fo More

Heraclitus was one of the important pre-Socratic philosophers who had some scattered notes on ethics. In order to understand his ethical views, in addition to referring to his existing notes, it is necessary to pay attention to the context in which his philosophy was formed. Heraclitus was under the influence of two traditions of his time. The first was the influence of Homer and early poets and philosophers, such as Solon, Bias of Priene, and the like, who were distinctively characterized by believing in human-like Gods or anthropomorphism. The other was the influence of a new scientific and technical tradition which was developed during the same century in Miletus under the influence of some figures such as Thales and Anaximander, who were mainly concerned with cosmology, that is, an understanding of the quality of the creation, survival and, finally, annihilation of the world order. In fact, Heraclitus’s philosophy can be viewed as a bridge between these two different traditions. Since he considered the world order and human order to be the same, it can be said that his main purpose and concern was explaining the status of human beings in the physical world and not the physical world itself. The ethics of Heraclitus, similar to those of other ancient Greek philosophers, described a kind of ethics of virtue, the core of which comprised virtue and happiness. In the field of virtue, he dealt with both moral virtues and intellectual virtues. Regarding moral virtues, through distinguishing bodily joys from non-bodily joys, he ultimately rejected excessive acts and introduced moderation in joys as the criterion for human behavior. With respect to intellectual virtues, Heraclitus also relied on the knowledge of wisdom and acknowledged that wisdom does not simply mean to have vast knowledge; rather, it means a kind of conscious and well-scrutinized knowledge which conforms to logos. As a result, he mainly emphasized intellectual rather than ethical virtues. Finally, he viewed man’s happiness a result of knowing and behaving in line with logos. Manuscript profile

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18 - Components of Plato’s Critical Approach to Poetry and Poets
Meysam Dadkhah Ali Naqi Baqershahi

In his Republic, after denouncing Athenian poetry and poets in certain sections, Plato decrees their deportation from his Utopia in the 10th book of the same work. At the same time, however, Plato’s own works abound in poetic concepts, and wherever he talks about poets, More

In his Republic, after denouncing Athenian poetry and poets in certain sections, Plato decrees their deportation from his Utopia in the 10th book of the same work. At the same time, however, Plato’s own works abound in poetic concepts, and wherever he talks about poets, he uses a language which is both hesitant and respectful. Accordingly, this paper is intended to provide some answers to the following questions: which truth underlies such a paradoxical attitude? How could Plato’s approach to poets be explained? What is the main object of Plato’s criticism: Athenian poets’ use of poetry or the essence of poetry itself? Or, should one seek for the response elsewhere and perhaps find the problem in the addressees of poetry? The authors believe that, if one agrees that one of the important elements of poetry in Athens was to believe in an epistemological aspect for sophist teachings, and if one assumes that, beyond ontological and epistemological discussions, Plato’s first problem is basically politics and the establishment of an organized political system, it can be concluded that, in this Utopia, the Athenian poetic tradition and its specific features are not consistent with Plato’s political ideas. The reason is that if one considers paedeia or a system of education to be necessary for the establishment of Utopia, if the intended paedeia is based on mythology and sophists’ teachings as its epistemological origin, it will be doomed to failure from the beginning. Moreover, one can approach this problem from the epistemological aspect of Plato’s philosophy and speak of the distinction between aesthetic beauty, as we know it today and as it is manifest in works of art, and the Ideal beauty or the same truth, as intended by Plato. In his view, the aesthetic view of beauty is a subcategory of Ideal beauty; hence, by the word “beautiful”, he does not merely mean the values that are involved in today’s concept of aesthetics. Rather, he has ethical and epistemological values in mind as well. Therefore, the discussion of the dismissal of poets from Utopia must be revisited under the category of general and particular senses of beauty. Manuscript profile

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19 - Happiness and Contemplation of Beauty in Plato’s Symposium
Hamidreza Mahboobi Arani

Diotima’s speech in Plato’s Symposium is one of the most important parts of his works. The present paper exclusively examines the last of Diotima’s speech, where Plato uses some words and phrases focusing on the relationship between happiness and contemplation of beauty More

Diotima’s speech in Plato’s Symposium is one of the most important parts of his works. The present paper exclusively examines the last of Diotima’s speech, where Plato uses some words and phrases focusing on the relationship between happiness and contemplation of beauty. Diotima claims that, only when a philosopher or lover (here, in love with Sophia) reaches the peak of his love and begins his contemplation of beauty, he could attain knowledge, happiness, and true eternity, but the question is, “How could this claim be interpreted?” The purpose of the author in this paper is to attract the attention of readers to the interpretive point that Plato’s understanding of the meaning of contemplation of beauty should be perceived in the context of an ethical and political program and in relation to the practical life of a citizen rather than within a purely abstract and theoretical inferential framework. The first part of this paper explains the intended problem through an investigation of different sections of Diotima’s speech. In the second part, with particular attention to Alcibiades’ speech, the author demonstrates that, in order to learn about Plato’s understanding of this problem, one must pay particular attention to the various dimensions of this speech. Finally, he concludes the paper by presenting an interpretation of Diotima’s last words based on a general reading of Symposium and, specifically, Alcibiades’ character and words. Manuscript profile

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20 - Philoponus and the Development of his Philosophical Thoughts
Farhad Assadi

Philoponus, the neo-Platonic Alexandrian philosopher of later periods, had become so knowledgeable in most sciences of his period that some gave him the nickname of all-knower (‘allamah). However, this was not the only distinctive feature of this thinker of Alexandrian More

Philoponus, the neo-Platonic Alexandrian philosopher of later periods, had become so knowledgeable in most sciences of his period that some gave him the nickname of all-knower (‘allamah). However, this was not the only distinctive feature of this thinker of Alexandrian school. His philosophical thoughts underwent such massive fluctuations that some have praised his courage in criticizing and rejecting the views of his predecessors at the level of a hero and considered him as the forerunner of critical thinking, while some others have introduced him as a coward and greedy thinker who, for fear of his life and love of material things, yielded to the coercions of the Christian-Roman government and gave up his own philosophical achievements. The present paper aims to unveil the secret character of this philosopher with reference to the invaluable works of contemporary researchers and take a step, however small, in providing a profound and correct understanding of the development of philosophical thought in the history of philosophy. One of the cases that the writers highlight in this paper is the quality of the interactions between the Alexandrian school and the powerful Christian government. During this period, the context was provided for the growth and development of a number of philosophers and commentators, such as Philoponus, who disseminated Aristotelian philosophy. However, the most important achievement of this paper is probably an investigation of Philoponus’ critical approach to the views of Aristotle and his predecessors as well as a comparative study of his most important philosophical views during two periods of his academic activities. Here, the authors focus on some of his opposing and sometimes contradictory views which created great debates in their own time and exercised particular impact on the development of philosophical thought, including Islamic philosophy, in different societies. Manuscript profile

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21 - The Relationship between Gods and Man in Greek Philosophy
Abdulrasul Hasanifar Sajjad Chitforush

Man’s behaviors and acts in each period are directly influenced by the ontological views and philosophical and religious principles of that period. Therefore, in order to understand the nature of such behaviors and acts, one might initially learn about the dominant onto More

Man’s behaviors and acts in each period are directly influenced by the ontological views and philosophical and religious principles of that period. Therefore, in order to understand the nature of such behaviors and acts, one might initially learn about the dominant ontological and epistemological principles of the time. One of such principles which is necessary for understanding human behavior and acts in each period pertains to the prevailing view of being and God, which directly affects one’s conduct in society. Given the necessity of cross-cultural knowledge in the contemporary era, the profound relationship between the Greeks and Iranians, and its effects on different aspects of their thoughts, the knowledge of the Greeks’ philosophical and behavioral principles could play a key role in the study of this cultural relationship. Accordingly, the present paper investigates the ontological views of the Greeks, their philosophical principles and, particularly, their views of God and the soul and the effect of such views on their behaviors and acts. In doing so, the authors have examined the ideas of three thinkers of the Greek era, namely, Homer, Socrates, and Plato, following an interpretive method. The results of this study indicate that the Greeks’ view of God in each period changed under the influence of the views of the thinkers of the time. In fact, Homer, Socrates, and Plato held distinct ideas in this regard. In Homer’s mythical view, Gods are like human heroes with human attributes and in transaction with human beings. However, in Socrates’s eye, God is a being who guides human beings and communicates with them through demons. Finally, in Plato’s philosophy, where polytheism moves toward monotheism, God, as the Idea of Good, is a transcendent Being who determines Man’s destiny and promulgates laws for their individual and social lives. Manuscript profile

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22 - Plato’s Mathematical Ontology in Islamic and Western Interpretations
Mohammad Saket Nalkiashari Ali Naqi Baqershahi

Mathematics has always been considered to be among certain sciences; however, the objects of mathematical knowledge have continually occupied the minds of mathematicians and philosophers of mathematics. The theory stating that the objects of mathematics consist of a num More

Mathematics has always been considered to be among certain sciences; however, the objects of mathematical knowledge have continually occupied the minds of mathematicians and philosophers of mathematics. The theory stating that the objects of mathematics consist of a number of certain immaterial and separate affairs which are independent of the world of the human mind and thought has been attributed to Plato, and several realist philosophers who, in spite of all their differences, have been called neo-Platonists. Commentators of Plato have failed in providing any clear and consistent interpretation, whether in terms of ontology or semantics, of his philosophy of mathematics, which has resulted in some misunderstandings in this regard and some ambiguity in his whole philosophy. When completing his PhD dissertation at the University of Bristol, Paul Pritchard presented an interpretation of Plato’s ontology, according to which the objects of mathematics are the same sensible things. Here, the allegory of the divided line has been interpreted differently, and the existing ambiguities have been removed. In this paper, the authors have examined this interpretation and compared it with other interpretations of Plato’s ontology of mathematics. They also refer to its effects on Plato’s philosophy of mathematics in general and reveal that, unlike its traditional interpretation, his philosophy of mathematics does not conflict with Benacerraf’s identification problem. Moreover, the authors demonstrate that, based on Mulla Sadra’s arguments, the theory of Ideas is a completely consistent theory in terms of ontology and, thus, Plato’s philosophy of mathematics is a consistent body of philosophy. Manuscript profile

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23 - The Relationship between Weakness of Will and Ethical Life in Aristotle: A Glance at Socrates’ View and Aristotle’s Critique of Weakness of Will
Simin Kheirabadi Ali Akbar Abdol Abadi

“Weakness of will” is one of the fundamental concepts in Aristotle’s ethics, a thorough understanding of which requires an understanding of its meaning and use in his views. In this paper, following a descriptive-analytic method, the authors initially refer to the lexic More

“Weakness of will” is one of the fundamental concepts in Aristotle’s ethics, a thorough understanding of which requires an understanding of its meaning and use in his views. In this paper, following a descriptive-analytic method, the authors initially refer to the lexical roots of the expression of “weakness of will” in Greek and, then, try to explain Socrates’ idea of weakness of will and Aristotle’s critique of this view. Next, given some of the referents of the concept of weakness of will in Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics, they seek to demonstrate why human beings sometimes act against their ethical knowledge. Later they provide Aristotle’s analysis of the phenomenon of weakness of will as one of the obstacles to living an ethical life and argue that sometimes it stands in contrast to rationality. As a result, while being aware that something is ethically wrong or right, an individual, under the influence of their misplaced desires, might act unethically or cease to act ethically. In Aristotle’s view, a necessary condition for the rationality of ethical necessity is for human beings to benefit from “practical wisdom”. He also believes that if the intellect leads the other human faculties at the level of act, individuals will certainly choose and do the right thing. Manuscript profile

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24 - Man’s Intellectual and Intuitive Knowledge of the One and the One’s Knowledge of Himself and other than Himself in Plotinus’ Philosophy
Asadullah Heydarpour Kiya’i

The present paper explores whether, based on Plotinus’ view, man can have a demonstrative and inferential knowledge of the One. It also tries to provide answers to the questions of whether he can describe and explain Him, whether he is capable of having an intuitive and More

The present paper explores whether, based on Plotinus’ view, man can have a demonstrative and inferential knowledge of the One. It also tries to provide answers to the questions of whether he can describe and explain Him, whether he is capable of having an intuitive and presential knowledge of the One, what kind of knowledge the One has of Himself, and, finally, whether this knowledge is of an intellectual demonstrative nature or of an intellectual-intuitive type. Plotinus believes that man is not capable of attaining a theoretical concept and intellectual-demonstrative knowledge of the One. Therefore, he cannot provide a description and explanation for Him. Nevertheless, he will be able to have intuitive knowledge and presential knowledge of the One under certain conditions. In this case, he will become one with the One in some way. Demonstrative thinking, which is concomitant with plurality in its essence, has no way into the essentially simple and pure One. Accordingly, He is intuitively self-conscious, and since He is the Origin of everything, and since everything is present in Him, He is aware of other than Himself in the same way that He is aware of Himself. Manuscript profile

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25 - Humanism in Sophists and Great Greek Philosophers:A Study of their Common and Different Ideas
Hasan Bolkhari Qahi Mina Muhammedi Vakil

The Sophists were the first ancient thinkers who considered the issue of man as the main subject of philosophy. They were the first to change the direction of philosophical research from phusis to nomos. Almost at the same time and a short while after the rise of the So More

The Sophists were the first ancient thinkers who considered the issue of man as the main subject of philosophy. They were the first to change the direction of philosophical research from phusis to nomos. Almost at the same time and a short while after the rise of the Sophists, in spite of their disagreements with and fundamental oppositions to these thinkers, Socrates, Plato, and also Aristotle introduced man as the primary concern of philosophical theories. This was the main commonality between the views of the Sophists and ancient philosophers. On the other hand, there is also a kind of formal proximity between Socrates and the Sophists in terms of their method of dialectics and discourse. However, since Socrates considers a fixed criterion for knowledge which is free from sense impressions, he criticizes Protagoras’ statement as to “Man is the measure of all things”, and argues that Protagoras focuses on individual man and considers the truth to be relative. In this way, a comparative study of the ideas of the Sophists and philosophers reveals that both groups followed the same subject and method but had different purposes. The Sophists’ purpose was teaching, while philosophers sought their end in knowing the truth. This paper aims to discover the differences and similarities between these two approaches. In doing so, it initially deliberates accurately over their distinctive ideas and then clearly explains that some of the philosophical findings of the Sophists, in spite of their historical notoriety, have exercised some lasting effects on contemporary philosophy. In other words, by changing the direction of philosophy’s attention to the problem of man, in a sense, they developed the basis for modern philosophy. Manuscript profile

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26 - Duality of Mind-Body in Homer, Plato, and Aristotle
Yashar Jeirani

The present paper explores the mind-body problem in Homer, Plato, and Aristotle. Here, the writers claim that the opposing ideas of Plato and Aristotle concerning the ontology of body and soul is ultimately rooted in the dualist interpretation of the ontology of the sou More

The present paper explores the mind-body problem in Homer, Plato, and Aristotle. Here, the writers claim that the opposing ideas of Plato and Aristotle concerning the ontology of body and soul is ultimately rooted in the dualist interpretation of the ontology of the soul in the mythical era, particularly in Homer’s period. In other words, the philosophical opposition between Plato and Aristotle concerning the ontology of the soul and body has its origin in Homerian dual and opposing interpretation of the concept of the soul. In addition, by substantiating this view, the writers have tried to take a small step towards understanding the relationship between the mythical legacy of ancient Greece and its period of humanistic philosophy, particularly that of Plato and Aristotle. Manuscript profile

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27 - Epistemological Place of Phronesis and its Importance in Aristotle’s Philosophy of Ethics
Ali Nazemi Ardakani Reza Davari Ardakani Malek Hosseini

Phronesis or practical wisdom is one of the intellectual virtues which Aristotle has defined as a predisposition for continuously becoming involved in practice while thinking wisely about good and evil affairs. The outcome of this predisposition or phronetic act is the More

Phronesis or practical wisdom is one of the intellectual virtues which Aristotle has defined as a predisposition for continuously becoming involved in practice while thinking wisely about good and evil affairs. The outcome of this predisposition or phronetic act is the product of a kind of philosophical thinking which, in addition to viewing certain established principles, attends to madīna (polis) as a cradle for the development of acts; to finite, particular, and changing affairs as the subject of knowledge, and to Man as a free agent. The irregularity and, at the same time, legitimacy of phronesis provides individuals with a strategy not to surrender to fixed and strict scientific laws as the only legitimate tools of knowledge acquisition. Through making a methodological distinction between sophia or theoretical wisdom and phronesis, Aristotle has in fact founded the independence and irreducibility of practico-ethical knowledge about what is correct; practical deliberation cannot be reduced to logical arguments. In Aristotle’s ethical philosophy, accidental knowledge, as the knowledge of finite, particular, possible, and changing affairs, is a complement to essential knowledge, which pertains to pre-eternal and universal affairs and primal and fixed basic principles. Sophia and phronesis can lead to happiness only in case they function as the two sides of the same coin. Manuscript profile

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28 - The Relationship between Platonic and Aristotelian Philosophies in Alexandrian (Ammonian) Philosophy
Roohollah Fadaei Ahmad Asgari

Since the first century BC, Platonic philosophy has always been in conflict with Peripatetic philosophy. Here, the main trend which tried to reconcile these two schools with each other reached its culmination in Ammonius Saccas’ philosophy. The same idea was fully reali More

Since the first century BC, Platonic philosophy has always been in conflict with Peripatetic philosophy. Here, the main trend which tried to reconcile these two schools with each other reached its culmination in Ammonius Saccas’ philosophy. The same idea was fully realized in Porphyry’s school, following which Platonic philosophers devoted particular attention to reconciling the views of Plato and Aristotle. However, Sureyanus and Proclus did not agree with this trend and criticized Aristotle with respect to some important issues. They also maintained that some of his views were in contrast to those of Plato. According to Proclus, Aristotle had denied the world of Ideas and had failed to grasp the concept of the Divine efficient cause, thus limiting His agency to the final cause. He also maintained that Aristotle had promoted the intellect to the level of the first origin and absolute one, which was by itself an unforgivable mistake and diversion. In contrast, in the light of the efforts made by Ammonius Hermiae and his students, the Alexandrian School of Philosophy was developed. This School aimed to reconcile the philosophical Schools of Plato and Aristotle with each other following a systematic process and, finally, managed to do so in the best way possible. As one of the most prominent philosophers of this field, Simplicus, under the influence of Ammonius Hermiae, interpreted what Proclus deemed as the points of departure between the views of Aristotle and Plato in a way that they turned into their points of agreement. He did this not because of his personal preferences but due to the existing philosophical necessities. Manuscript profile

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29 - Priority of Sophia to Phronesis and its Significance in Aristotle’s Philosophy of Ethics
Ali Nazemi Ardakani Reza Davari Ardakani Malek Hosseini

The relationship between phronesis or practical wisdom and Sophia or theoretical wisdom and, at another level, the relationship between ethical virtues and intellectual virtues are among the important subjects in Aristotle’s philosophy of ethics. Their importance is due More

The relationship between phronesis or practical wisdom and Sophia or theoretical wisdom and, at another level, the relationship between ethical virtues and intellectual virtues are among the important subjects in Aristotle’s philosophy of ethics. Their importance is due to the fact that not only in case of the priority of phronesis to sophia, contradiction will arise between Aristotle’s teachings in Metaphysics and Nichomachean Ethics, but also because it seems that such a priority will eventually lead to a kind of diversion from prime philosophy and, hence, considering human being as the noblest subject in philosophy. Of course, Aristotle himself disagrees with this position. This paper mainly inquires whether in Aristotle’s philosophy priority belongs to sophia or phronesis, and what the significance and consequences of the priority of one over the other is. The authors argue that, although phronesis has a supreme place in his philosophy, it is sophia which enjoys fundamental priority. On the other hand, in Aristotle’s system of thought, eudaimonia or the highest human good cannot be attained unless through possessing phronesis and Sophia at the same time. Hence, it seems that, in order to learn about the ultimate goal of philosophy, it is necessary to further deliberate over the concepts of sophia and phronesis and their relationships with each other and with other virtues. Manuscript profile

List of articles (by subject) Philosophical thoughts in ancient Iran