State and Nature: Studies in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy

Published by De Gruyter 2021

State and Nature

Studies in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy

Edited by: Peter Adamson and Christof Rapp

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110730944

Overview
Contents

About this book

A much-maligned feature of ancient and medieval political thought is its tendency to appeal to nature to establish norms for human communities. From Aristotle's claim that humans are "political animals" to Aquinas' invocation of "natural law," it may seem that pre-modern philosophers were all too ready to assume that whatever is natural is good, and that just political arrangements must somehow be natural. The papers in this collection show that this assumption is, at best, too crude. From very early, for instance in the ancient sophists' contrast between nomos and physis, there was recognition that political arrangements may be precisely artificial, not natural, and it may be questioned whether even such supposed naturalists as Aristotle in fact adopt the quick inference from "natural" to "good." The papers in this volume trace the complex interrelations between nature and such concepts as law, legitimacy, and justice, covering a wide historical range stretching from Plato and the Sophists to Aristotle, Hellenistic philosophy, Cicero, the Neoplatonists Plotinus and Porphyry, ancient Christian thinkers, and philosophers of both the Islamic and Christian Middle Ages.

Author / Editor information

Peter Adamson and Christof Rapp, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Table of Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Part I: Plato and Aristotle
Human Nature and Legal Norms: Antiphon the Sophist as Anonymous Target in Plato’s Republic IX Oliver Primavesi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Natural Born Philosophers Dominic Scott Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	35
Normative Naturalism in Aristotle’s Political Philosophy? Christoph Horn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
Whose State? Whose Nature? How Aristotle’s Polis is ‘Natural’ Christof Rapp Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
Aristotle on Freedom, Nature, and Law Fred D. Miller and David Keyt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
Aristotle on the Rationality of Women: Consequences for Virtue and Practical Accountability Béatrice Lienemann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	135
Part II: Hellenistic Philosophy
Cynic Origins of the Stoic Doctrine of Natural Law? René Brouwer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
The Normativity of Nature in Epicurean Ethics and Politics Tim O’Keefe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Nature and Psychology in Cicero’s Republic Philipp Brüllmann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
Unnatural Law: A Ciceronian Perspective Raphael Woolf Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
Natural Law and Casuistic Reasoning in Roman Jurisprudence Caroline Humfress Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
Part III: Late Antiquity
Human Nature and Normativity in Plotinus Christopher Isaac Noble Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	269
On Justice in Porphyry’s On Abstinence Miira Tuominen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	293
Early Christian Philosophers on Society and Political Norms George Karamanolis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	317
Part IV: Medieval Philosophy
Against Nature: Two Critics of Naturalism in the Islamic World Peter Adamson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	343
“Like Ants in a Colony We Do Our Share”: Political Animals in Medieval Philosophy Juhana Toivanen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	365
Ockham on Human Freedom and the Nature and Origin of Lordship Jenny Pelletier Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	393
Index of Names Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	415
Index of Subjects Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	419

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Specialists and advanced students with an interest in political theory or history of philosophy
Pages
- Front matter: 11
- Main content: 424
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 2
- Tables: 1
Keywords: Political Philosophy; Naturalism; Aristotle; Natural law

eBook

Published: April 19, 2021
ISBN: 9783110730944

Hardcover

Published: April 19, 2021
ISBN: 9783110735437

Paperback

Published: December 19, 2022
ISBN: 9783111121970