Philotheos

Leonardo Da Vinci’s Notebooks. From Neo-Platonism to Physicalism. The epistemological thinking of Leonardo Da Vinci does not continue the tradition of Neo-Platonic thought, but surpasses it in order to abandon it. Generally, it comes to a rupture with the authorities of Antiquity and the Middle Ages. But, on close reading of the Notebooks of Da Vinci, some structural and morphological parallels with the Neo-Platonic principles and ideas become apparent, which the Renaissance man converted to laws of nature. The presence of these correspondences indicates the existence of a transition phase, when the new way of thinking progressively replaces the previous one. The physicalistic view of reality is gaining ground as the metaphysics was replaced by the study of the sensible world as an autonomous reality.Ο επιστημονικός τρόπος σκέψης του Λεονάρντο Ντα Βίντσι δεν συνεχίζει τη Νεοπλατωνική παράδοση σκέψης αλλά την υπερβαίνει για να την εγκαταλείψει. Γενικά, έρχεται σε ρήξη προς τις αυθεντίες της Αρχαιότητας και του Μεσαίωνα. Ωστόσο, κατά την ανάγνωση των Σημειωματάριων του είναι εμφανείς δομικές και μορφολογικές αντιστοιχίες με ορισμένες Νεοπλατωνικές αρχές και ιδέες, οι οποίες έχουν πλέον μεταμορφωθεί σε φυσικούς νόμους. Η παρουσία αυτών των αντιστοιχιών υποδηλώνει την ύπαρξη ενός σταδίου μετάβασης, όταν ο νέος τρόπος σκέψης υποκαθιστά ολοένα και περισσότερο τον προηγούμενο. Η φυσιοκρατική αντίληψη για την πραγματικότητα κερδίζει έδαφος, καθώς η μεταφυσική υποκαθίσταται από την αντιμετώπιση του αισθητού κόσμου ως αυτόνομη πραγματικότητα.

The discussion within philosophy regarding the extent to which our lives do or should conform to narrative form has become a polarizing one. Since the normative and ontological claims are often tightly intertwined, it is difficult to enter the discussion without aligning oneself with one pole or the other. Alternatively, views that seek to establish themselves in between these poles run the risk of seeming trivial. Galen Strawson contributed two influential articles to the field in an effort to disavow the academic community of an incredibly limited and dangerous type of Narrativity that occurs when life and story are conflated. These articles solidify the antinarrative pole of the debate, and can be interpreted as purely critical arguments intended to tear down the opposing pole. Using a close analysis of these two works alongside the work of Peter Goldie, I argue that this was not Strawson’s intent nor is it necessary to reject the narrative movement entirely in order to criticize a particular type of claim about the role of stories in human life.

To teach catholic religion to Italian pupils from 6 to 18 years may not be a very gratifying experience. However, a new option is worth being considered, I submit, namely to devote half of the time to a very simple way of doing philosophy, i.e. to offer pupils attention to their ideas, hopes and problems by means of whole hours devoted to free exchanges with them and among them. Why the teachers of Religion instead of their colleagues, no matter which? It should be clear that this is a mere accident: too often, other teachers are (wrongly, but firmly) convinced that they lack the time needed in order to consider such an opportunity.

The present study deals with a case of major depression and how that condition affected an individual’s life. In this case-study, major depression is approached to the paradigm of cognitive-behavioural therapy in terms of the event behind the condition, the irrational thinking following the event, the emotions associated to that thinking, the behaviours selected so that thoughts and emotions to be maintained. There are also discussed, the maintenance cycle between thoughts and emotions as well as the consequences referred to that individual’s choices of behaviour as to negatively reinforcing herself in staying to the condition and not doing anything to fight it back. In order that major depression to be effectively dealt with, there are suggested interventions so that the individual to be positively reinforced in changing her cognitions, emotions and behaviours. Interventions which were agreed with the client were cognitive restructuring as to changing assumptions of faulty cognitive thinking; changes in the feelings domain so that unwanted emotions to be driven out of her mind; changes in the behavioural domain so that to gaining back self-confidence and building up healthy interrelationships.