This article assesses Joyce's early pronouncements on beauty, goodness and truth, written un... more This article assesses Joyce's early pronouncements on beauty, goodness and truth, written under the aegis of St. Thomas Aquinas. Joyce seemed unaware that Aquinas already examined the relation between these characteristics of being, regarding them as identical in reality but ...
Aristotle's inquiry into human nature is manifold and far-reaching. Each aspect of his philosophy... more Aristotle's inquiry into human nature is manifold and far-reaching. Each aspect of his philosophy 1 discloses an understanding of man as unique-distinguished by his diversity. Aristotle's man merits Odysseus' homeric epithet -πνιύηξνπνο‖; his creative and adaptive character is superficially confirmed by the titles of Aristotle's various treatises. A cursory review indicates that man is a living, breathing, animal endowed with soul; he investigates the world and deliberates how he himself should live, pondering his actions as represented dramatically by the tragic poets. Aristotelian man sleeps, dreams, and is anxious about old age; living in a political state and fascinated by the animal world, he looks to the heavens in hope of discerning his destiny.
Throughout his life James Joyce evinced keen interest in a variety of philosophical approaches. D... more Throughout his life James Joyce evinced keen interest in a variety of philosophical approaches. During his student years he was a dedicated pupil of Aristotle and Aquinas. His early distrust of Platonism left him suspicious of Idealism. Empiricism was unacceptable because of its scepticism, and his short-lived attraction to Pragmatism turned to scorn because of the manner it debased the ideal of truth. For various aspects of their philosophies Joyce held Giordano Bruno, Giambattista Vico, and Nicholas of Cusa in high regard. He admired Bruno as the father of modern philosophy; Vico probed the tangled web of thought and language into which Joyce would delve more deeply; Cusanus provided the logic of contradiction and harmony of opposites which allowed him to conceive of Finnegans Wake.
The Origin of Species introduced a mode of thinking that in the end was bound to transform the lo... more The Origin of Species introduced a mode of thinking that in the end was bound to transform the logic of knowledge, and hence the treatment of morals, politics and religion. -John Dewey 1 Darwin's theory has no more to do with philosophy than any other hypothesis in natural science. -Ludwig Wittgenstein 2
My paper examines a number of questions arising from Aristotle's definition of man as a political... more My paper examines a number of questions arising from Aristotle's definition of man as a political animal. Is the term "political" exclusive to humans? When affirmed of animals is it to be understood literally or metaphorically? Is the definition biological, rational, or metaphysical? In what sense may the polis be described as natural, if it does not conform to Aristotle's definition of φύσις ? How may the primacy of the state be reconciled with the fact that the citizen is somehow independent, with autonomous activities and an individual purpose?
Asked what his first decree would be, were he to become emperor, Confucius allegedly replied that... more Asked what his first decree would be, were he to become emperor, Confucius allegedly replied that he would fix the meaning of words. It is easy to appreciate the good intentions of the eastern sage; Aristotle may have had something similar in mind when he stated that a word which does not have a single meaning has no meaning. 1 This expresses a central truth about the nature of language, thought and reality; not, however, the full truth, since language does not lend itself to such Procrustean fixity; Aristotle recognised this better than most. Only a tyrannical philosopher king could legislate as suggested by the anecdote concerning Confucius. Perhaps the clearest challenge to such a decree is analogy; this occurs most commonly as metaphor, which is surely one of the most marvellous feats of language. Bereft of metaphor, everyday language would remain flat and univocal, each word atomically attached to a single object. Indispensable to our way of understanding and articulating the world, metaphor is richly revealing of the relationship between knowledge and reality. It deeply penetrates our way of perceiving and expressing the world. John Middleton Murry did not exaggerate when he remarked: "To attempt a fundamental examination of metaphor would be nothing less than an investigation of the genesis of thought itself." 2 "Metaphor" means literally "transfer" or "transport." The word is used as such by Herodotus, who relates that the Athenian tyrant Pisistratus "removed all the dead that were buried within sight of the temple and carried them to another part of Delos." 3 He also uses the word to describe the use of levers for the lifting of stone in the construction of pyramids. 4 These are both strongly physical and visible uses of the term. The first, as it were, "metaphorical" use of the word-as a noun-is found in the orator Isocrates, who describes the wealth of stylistic means enjoyed by poets, compared to the dearth of literary devices available to prose writers: "The poets are granted many methods of adorning their language, for besides the use of normal words they can also employ foreign words, neologisms, 1 Metaph. Γ, 4, 1006b8: τὸ γὰρ µὴ ἕν σηµαίνειν οὐθὲν σηµαίνειν ἐστίν. 2 J. M. Murry, 1931, p. 2. 3 I, 64.2-3: τοὺς νεκροὺς µετεφόρεε ἐς ἄλλον χῶρον τῆς ∆ήλου. 4 II, 125, 4.
the great twentieth century German thinker, commented that the philosopher should also be a good ... more the great twentieth century German thinker, commented that the philosopher should also be a good mountain climber. It was not clear whether this was intended literally or figuratively; it is true metaphorically but also uniquely in the physical sense. When I read this remark, written on a photograph of the philosopher in the Swiss Alps, I was particularly pleased; I have often experienced an affinity between two of my favourite activities, hillwalking and philosophy. There is an apt parallel between the physical action of one and the spiritual activity of the other. Mountaineering offers a suitable analogy especially for metaphysics, which could be defined as philosophy at its widest-the search for an all-embracing vision of the world, from the most radical to the most sublime. The Greek words 'meta' and 'physis' convey the quest for a perspective upon reality in its totality, going beneath and beyond the world of visible nature.
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