This article attempts to trace the status and many manifestations of erōs in Xenophon’s ethical and political thought.It examines its meaning in the narrow sense of“love and desire”and the broad sense of“affectiv...This article attempts to trace the status and many manifestations of erōs in Xenophon’s ethical and political thought.It examines its meaning in the narrow sense of“love and desire”and the broad sense of“affective feelings and friendship in the life of the family and the polis.”The principal goal is to demonstrate the remarkable coherence of Xenophon’s concept of erōs despite the diversity of the types of manifestation and visible differences in framing between male-male and male-female relationships.In addition,it will be shown that the principle of self-mastery as a vital criterion for the evaluation of sexual conduct is subordinated to what Xenophon perceives as the primary purpose of sexual intercourse:the procreation of progeny.展开更多
Both the Mohist canon and the works of Aristotle recognize that people sometimes fail to act according to virtues, roles and duties, what in a Western context is called akrasia or ''weakness of will," an ...Both the Mohist canon and the works of Aristotle recognize that people sometimes fail to act according to virtues, roles and duties, what in a Western context is called akrasia or ''weakness of will," an important topic in both Greek and contemporary philosophy. I argue that questions of akrasia are treated different in the early Chinese and ancient Greek philosophy. Greek accounts focus on issues of will and control, while some Chinese thinkers treat akrasia as a lack of a skill, and the failure to act in the right way is less lack of will than lack of skill. I begin with a brief account of the problem of akrasia as first presented by Plato in the "Protagoras" and Republic, and developed by Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics. I then turn to akrasia in an early Chinese context, focusing on a very different Mohist view of akrasia as lack of a skill. Finally, I contrast the "skill" the Mohists find lacking with a very different account of skill in the Zhuangzi.展开更多
文摘This article attempts to trace the status and many manifestations of erōs in Xenophon’s ethical and political thought.It examines its meaning in the narrow sense of“love and desire”and the broad sense of“affective feelings and friendship in the life of the family and the polis.”The principal goal is to demonstrate the remarkable coherence of Xenophon’s concept of erōs despite the diversity of the types of manifestation and visible differences in framing between male-male and male-female relationships.In addition,it will be shown that the principle of self-mastery as a vital criterion for the evaluation of sexual conduct is subordinated to what Xenophon perceives as the primary purpose of sexual intercourse:the procreation of progeny.
文摘Both the Mohist canon and the works of Aristotle recognize that people sometimes fail to act according to virtues, roles and duties, what in a Western context is called akrasia or ''weakness of will," an important topic in both Greek and contemporary philosophy. I argue that questions of akrasia are treated different in the early Chinese and ancient Greek philosophy. Greek accounts focus on issues of will and control, while some Chinese thinkers treat akrasia as a lack of a skill, and the failure to act in the right way is less lack of will than lack of skill. I begin with a brief account of the problem of akrasia as first presented by Plato in the "Protagoras" and Republic, and developed by Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics. I then turn to akrasia in an early Chinese context, focusing on a very different Mohist view of akrasia as lack of a skill. Finally, I contrast the "skill" the Mohists find lacking with a very different account of skill in the Zhuangzi.
