The Trial of Socrates Revisited

Different sorts of people have been revisiting the trial of Socrates for almost 2,500 years: philosophers, political theorists, politicians, jurists, historians, journalists and artists. Each has his or her own agenda for reconstructing the motives of the prosecution, the thinking of the jurors, and the apparently perverse behaviour of Socrates himself. This paper examines some of the more influential approaches to Socrates (including those of his contemporaries, Plato, Xenophon and Aristophanes), and attempts to set them in appropriate contexts. By way of a conclusion, there is an exploration of the background and context to the trial itself, taking into account recent work on Athenian law, religion and punishment, closing with an attempt to explain the significance of the likely location of the law-court, within the Agora or city square of Athens.     

Derrida and fidelity to history

In the first part of this paper Hugh Rayment-Pickard challenges Mark Bevir's assumption that Derrida does not care about historical or other kinds of truth. A consideration of Derrida's early work on Husserl shows deconstruction to be a kind of skepsis or epoche launched in search of the truth. Yet deconstruction reveals the truth as ‘undecidable’, which means that Derrida's commitment to the truth must take the form of ‘faith’. The second part of the paper considers an example of definite intentional meaning given in Mark Bevir's Logic: Petrarch's ascent of Mont Ventoux. On examination, Petrach's motivation can be seen to be radically divided between secular and religious concerns, a split vividly illustrated in his imaginary dialogue with St Augustine: The Secret. Finally, Rayment-Pickard looks briefly at Derrida's own dialogue with St Augustine, ‘Circumfession’, which also argues that human intentions are irreducibly complex and plural.     

论《古诗十九首》中的生命哲理美

《古诗十九首》围绕着一个共同主题,即对生命哲理美的深切感悟,将诗意的审美设定与生命的超越思考紧密联系在一起：诗意的丰富性之中融合着深刻的人类生命的哲学冥想,生命的哲学思考中蕴涵着诗意的丰富性;永恒与有限、忧郁与欢乐及来去亲疏的矛盾在哲理的审美性和生命的理性化中展开。     

Deconstructing Context: Exposing Derrida

Deconstruction has become a theme in various strands of geographical research. It has not, however, been the subject of much explicit commentary. This paper elaborates on some basic themes concerning the relationship between deconstruction and conceptualizations of context, with particular reference to issues of textual interpretation. The double displacement of textuality characteristic of deconstruction is discussed, followed by a consideration of the themes of 'writing' and 'iterability' as distinctive figures for an alternative spatialization of concepts of context. It is argued that deconstruction informs a questioning of the normative assumptions underwriting the value and empirical identity of context.     

Philosophy of Religion in an Age of Austerity: Towards a Socially Engaged Philosophy for the Well-Lived Life

Abstract

This paper explores the shape that a socially-engaged philosophy of religion might take. Against the backdrop of the so-called "Age of Austerity," questions are being asked about the relevance of academic subjects to the world outside the academy. A functionalist view of education may well be resisted, but pursuing the question of what makes philosophy of religion relevant enables an account of the discipline to emerge that is rather different from the model that dominates analytic forms of the subject. I suggest that returning to existential themes offers a way forward for the discipline that makes it not just relevant but particularly important for current public discussions of what makes for a well-lived life.     

解读《拯救人类的哲学》

稻盛和夫的哲学立足于企业经营,但又不局限于具体的管理方法。他的哲学涉及人类面临的很多问题,例如环境保护、国际关系、文明的延续等。《拯救人类的哲学》一书是根据2009年稻盛和夫与哲学家梅原猛对谈的记录汇集成的。该书集中体现了稻盛和夫在21世纪对人类文明、国际关系、企业管理的最新看法。本文将全面解读这本书,系统地梳理稻盛和夫的文明观和政治观。     

哲学之为穷理

西方思想源于古希腊的理性传统。西方哲学从一开始就对必然性的知识有一种相当明确的追求,其与因宗教而获得的信仰,及因科学而对客观世界及其规律的认知不尽相同,在追求必然性、唯一性的体系的同时,哲学的兴趣是在探索和我们连在一起的世界的道理,而且还应是在不同的贯通的系统之间的对话,对话的目的不是要达到更高的贯通和共识,而是追求在一定程度上融贯的、不断丰满和变得厚实的思想。     

Plato's Socrates: One Among Many,but Preeminent

Abstract

Catherine H. Zuckert has written a monumental work on Plato's corpus that offers a new framework for understanding his dialogues. Not only does she trace Plato's presentation of Socrates' development over time, but she also shows how Plato uses other philosophic interlocutors to contribute to his philosophic project. Central themes include Socrates' discovery of erôs, the unity of virtue, and the place of teaching in philosophy, and the relation between intelligible ideas and sensible experience.     

The Proto-politics of Reconciliation: Lefort and the Aporia of Forgiveness in Arendt and Derrida

Reconciliation is often suspected of being an inherently ideological concept in the sense that it fosters acquiescence to a social order that is neither necessary nor desirable. In particular, it is sometimes argued that this is because reconciliation is a religious concept that has been transposed into political discourse. This transposition is seen to be inappropriate because reconciliation presupposes a prior social unity that needs to be restored when, in fact, no such unity has ever existed between historical antagonists. In this article, I argue that the presupposition of a social unity is, indeed, always in danger of becoming ideological to the extent that this unity is conflated with the nation. However, the invocation of a counterfactual social unity or ‘polity’ also potentially enables the staging of a reconciliatory politics in a way that politicises the terms of association between former antagonists.     

Agency, Discourses of Power and Collective Representations: Socrates

Conference reviewed:
Socrates Intensive Programme 2003, University Of Vienna, 26 August–4 September 2003