Sins, Vices and Virtues

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2 Sins, Vices and Virtues

3 At the Interface Series Editors Dr Robert Fisher Lisa Howard Dr Ken Monteith Advisory Board James Arvanitakis Katarzyna Bronk Jo Chipperfield Ann-Marie Cook Peter Mario Kreuter S Ram Vemuri Simon Bacon Stephen Morris John Parry Karl Spracklen Peter Twohig Kenneth Wilson An At the Interface research and publications project. The Evil Hub Sins, Vices and Virtues 2013

4 Sins, Vices and Virtues: Dialectical Tensions in Moral Concepts Edited by Inter-Disciplinary Press Oxford, United Kingdom

5 Inter-Disciplinary Press The Inter-Disciplinary Press is part of Inter-Disciplinary.Net a global network for research and publishing. The Inter-Disciplinary Press aims to promote and encourage the kind of work which is collaborative, innovative, imaginative, and which provides an exemplar for inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission of Inter-Disciplinary Press. Inter-Disciplinary Press, Priory House, 149B Wroslyn Road, Freeland, Oxfordshire. OX29 8HR, United Kingdom. +44 (0) ISBN: First published in the United Kingdom in ebook format in First Edition.

6 Table of Contents Introduction Joshua Farris and vii Part 1 General Perspective on Sins, Vices and Virtues: Today and Yesterday The Notion of A in Ancient Greek Thought 3 Apostolos N. Stavelas Aristotle on the Virtue of Phronesis: Practical Wisdom 11 Mary Stefanazzi Sin and Virtue in the Ethics of Peter Martyr Vermigli Simon J. G. Burton Part 2 Understanding Sin and Evil The Christian God and the Problem of Evil 31 Creationist-Souls, Original Sin and Christian Theism 41 Joshua Farris The Ecological Sin: An Offence against Transcendence 51 The Deadly Sin of Lust and the Impossible Penitential 61 Book of the 19 th Century Moreno Bonda Felix Culpa: The Crucifixion as the Greatest Sin and the 73 Greatest Good in Georges Bataille Eva Part 3 Understanding Virtue and Good Self-Deception, Globalization and Magnanimity 83 José M. Garrido Bermúdez What s So Small about Tolerance? 93

7 Towards an Architecture for the Teaching of Virtues, 101 Values and Ethics Berise Heasly Part 4 Sin and Virtue in Literature and Film Performing Virtue: The Troublesome Virginity of the 115 Virgin Mary in Medieval Cycle Plays in England Sin and Sin: On the Relativity of the Fifteenth-Century 125 Concept of Sin in William Caxton s Translation of the of Antioch (1495) and Sir Gowther (ca. 1470) - The Hidden Half: Studying the Shadow in Edgar Allan Poe 137 and martireo, and I bear witness: 147 The Transfigurative Powers of Suffering in Djuna Barnes Ery Shin Natural Born Sinner: The Making of the Antichrist in the 157 Omen Trilogy of Films

8 The Notion of Aeschron in Ancient Greek Thought Apostolos N. Stavelas Abstract If we are to examine vice and malice by going through specific philosophical texts, we may, for example, remember that, according to Iamblichus, the Pythagoreans were the first to consider disorderliness and asymmetry as attributes of evil under the same pattern. For the Megareans, malice and evil were identified with villainies infidelity, possessiveness, irrational animosity, cowardice and folly under the first of these categories, differentiating them from acts of insanity and injustice, which they classif impetus as disablement of the soul and they classified it among the passions. Moreover, we should consider the texts in the tradition of the pseudo-aristotelian treatise De virtutibus et vitiis, which gives us a very detailed account of vices dualism of Greek thought, and employs the Platonic tripartition of the soul; he works up an analytic stratification of vices as manifestations of the evil soul, of the evil act, of the evil feelings and of the evil behaviour. According to him, vice debauchery or incontinence. Each one of these instances is further resolved into its constituent elements, building up a full table of modules of the soul. In each occasion soul is suffering from injustice, from privation of freedom and from pettiness. In this chapter, and within the above framework of concepts, I shall focus especially on the notion of aeschron turpitude, as ascertained in a number of Greek, mainly philosophical, texts. Key Words: Greek philosophy, base, vice, malice. ***** While in poetry aeschron inc, 1 in rhetoric it is conceived of in its historical content and terms, as the act of not complying with the exemplars of our ancestors. In the tradition of staseis it is conceived analogica constituents of an argument. But in most of the oratorical texts it is examined in its relation and identification with shamefulness. Aristotle devotes a whole passage in his Rhetoric on the conception of shamefulness. According to him, men

9 4 The Notion of Aeschron in Ancient Greek Thought are not ashamed either before those whose opinion in regard to the truth they greatly despise for instance, no one feels shame before children or animals or of the same things before those who are known to them and those who are not; before the former, they are ashamed of things that appear really disgraceful, before strangers, of those which are only condemned by convention. 2 For Sopater, aeschrotes should always be related with the reflection of so ethics, aeschron is described in contrast to the is the decorum of men, decorum is the perfection of every person and lack of decorum, is both the privation and the abundance of it. Demosthenes refers to Emboussa, a minor deity and a case, in which aeschron is identified with impiety. In the tradition of Hermogenic texts the notion is indicated as contrasted to the g that has to be healed. It needs to be obscured, baseness of those references in oratory, the lack in natural dignity of which has to absence of references to things that should not be mentioned. 3 If one is now to especially examine this notion as an aesthetic and, particularly, as an ethical type of evil, he has to go through certain references in the texts of the classical philosophical tradition. It is noticeable that Plato identified aeschron not with non-being, but with spiritless corporeality in the sense of a mere depiction of the soul. In Phaedo he described the destiny of the soul with rather gloomy colours. Base and mean are determined by him as injustice and insubordination to Gods and people who are superior to us. Within this context aeschron is also related in Hippias Major impiety 4 In Protagoras he refers to mean and base as akin to each other. For him, every man acting in this style acts without the knowledge that his actions are mean and base 5 ; ignorance and uneducated manner generate aeschron, either as disgraced courage or as disgraced fear. 6 In Menexenus Plato refers to our possessions and industries as base and mean, giving the example of wealth bearing beauty to someone else and not to the person itself. 7 A line of thought, accordi described in relation to virtue and good, seems to have been also adopted by Alcibiades, after identifying equality with justice, he states that aeschron coalesces with the asymmetric, as they both are attributes of the unequal, in relation to the impropriety denoted. 8 In the tradition of Aristotle s texts one may follow two lines of thought as for the conception of aeschron Physics and one

10 Apostolos N. Stavelas the primary text, paraphrases and commentaries on Physics Simplicius, Johannes Philoponus and Gennadius Scholarius. In the tradition of these texts aeschron is surveyed in a way analogue to that followed in the aeschron from aeschrotes, calling aeschron. 9 Gennadeius founds his analysis on Aristotle s statement that matter is recognizable analogically; the question at stake is, how one can become aware of matter and primary matter. In Gennadeius analysis aeschrotes the good is conceivable by the use of analogical method as something per se 10 and not as something occurring by a relative distinct form or by the need for it, as Philoponus had formerly noticed. 11 Gennadeius clarifies that the nature of the incidentally aeschron differs from that of aeschrotes since it desires good as the object of its corruptive power, while aeschrotes, being of a different nature, that of the state of logos or species, does not have such a need. 12 He explains that, as it also happens with lack and privation, aeschrotes is irrelevant to the modification and to the movement of nature, autonomously conceivable from its species or from the species of nature in general. 13 In a more sophisticated style Simplicius had clarified that aeschrotes is aeschron per se, that aeschron and good are not opposed to each other, but that the desire of aeschron for the good is in terms of the affinity between the two concepts. 14 In his ethical writings Aristotle examines aeschron in relation to the purposive someone, while having in his power to act honourably and refrain from base, chooses the latter option; in this case he is not virtuous. Commenting on the opposition between baseness as blameworthy and goodness as praiseworthy, Aristotle states in Ethica Eudemia evil should be blamed nor involuntary good acts should be praised, while only voluntary acts and choices are to be scorned or praised respectively; as it is not easy to apprehend the quality of one s purpose, we are forced to judge his character from his actions; therefore, activity is termed as rather desirable, but purpose is termed as rather praiseworthy. 15 In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle develops the notion of purposive choice by referring to eph (, a term including under the same description both the sense of purposive choice and the sense of responsibility for our choice of 16 At the same time the Stagirite states that match the benevolent deeds of the others towards one s self or by one s self towards the others. 17 5

11 6 The Notion of Aeschron in Ancient Greek Thought For Aristotle, shamefulness portrays the man as base one is of such a nature that h he should therefore think of himself in a lenient mode, since actions to cause ly be conditionally virtuous in the sense that a good man would be ashamed, in the case of acting accordingly but virtues are not conditional. And though shamelessness and not shrinking from shameful actions is base, this does not prove that it is virtuous for someone to be ashamed, when he acts shamefully any more than self-restraint is a virtue, and not rather a mixture of virtue and vice. 18 Aspasius, commenting on splitting them into voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary ones depend on our personal choice, while the involuntary are considered in the sense of an external cause of motion and motivation, such as fear, blackmail, dilemmas, etc., and in accordance to the difference in purposive choices made by the subjects involved. 19 Base actions request for him patience and forgiveness, apart from praise or scorn, so as to avoid further evil consequences. Acting under the pressure of fear is the case, where suffering aeschra is justified by a virtuous end. In any case, Aspasius discerns between reason conceived 20 Finally, according to the author of Divisiones Aristotelae, baseness (aeschrotes is a bodily disorder. his disorder has rather the sense of irregularity than of dissoluteness. It is accredited in the form of 21 As a conclusion one may say that aeschron is a type of evil, that it is not disgraceful itself, but that it is something that usually entails something disgraceful and shameful. As Epictetus noted, one has first to learn what things are shameful, and then claim to become a philosopher. He has to learn that what is shameful is blamable and that what is blamable must be something, which deserves to be blamed. 22 He has also to learn, as Alexander added, that pleasures deriving from aeschra lead to regret. 23 Notes 1 Wilhelm Dindorf, ed., Scholia in Euripidis Hippolytum, in Scholia Graeca in Euripidis tragoedias, Vol. 1, ed. Wilhelm Dindorf ( Press, 1863 scholium 411, 4.

12 Apostolos N. Stavelas 7 2 William D. Ross, ed., Aristotelis ars rhetorica (, 1384 b Anonymi, Commentarium in librum, in Rhetores Graeci, Vol. 7.2, ed. Christian Walz (, 849, Plato, Hippias Major, in Platonis Opera, Vol. 3, ed. J. Burnet (Ox 293 b 7. 5 Plato, Protagoras, in Platonis Opera, Vol. 3, ed. J. Burnet (O 345 e 3. 6 Ibid., 360 b 6. 7 Plato, Menexenus, in Platonis Opera, Vol. 3, ed. J. Burnet on 246 e 2. 8 Leendert G. Westerink, ed., Proclus Diadochus: Commentary on the First Alcibiades of Plato -, 326, 7; De malorum subsistentia, in Procli Diadochi tria opuscula, ed. Helmut Boese, 51, Heinrich Schenkl, ed., Themistii in Aristotelis physica paraphrasis, Vol. 5.2 of Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca, s.n. (, 33, Georgios Gennadius (Scholarius, Prolegomena in Aristotelis Physicam ex auctoribus diversis, in Oeuvres complètes de Georges (Gennadios) Scholarios, Vol. 8, eds. M. Jugie, L. Petit and X. 1, 156, Hieronymus Vitelli, ed., Ioannis Philoponi in Aristotelis physicorum libros tres priores, Vol. 16 of Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca, s.n. 194, Georgios Gennadius (Scholarius arii in Aristotelis De physico audito, in Oeuvres complètes de Georges (Gennadios) Scholarios, Vol. 8, 209, Gennadius Scholarius, Prolegomena, 1, 156, Hermann Diels, ed., Simplicii in Aristotelis physicorum libros quattuor priores commentaria, Vol. 9 of Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca, s.n. (Berlin Reimer, 1, 251, F. Susemihl, ed., Aristotelis ethica Eudemia 1228 a Ingram Bywater, ed., Aristotelis ethica Nicomachea (Oxford Clarendon Press,, 1113 b Ibid., 1120 a Ibid., 1128 b Gustav Heylbut, ed., Aspasii in Ethica Nicomachea quae supersunt commentaria, Vol of Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca, s.n. 60, 25-61, 15.

13 8 The Notion of Aeschron in Ancient Greek Thought 20 Ibid., 61, Hermann Mutschmann, ed., Divisiones quae vulgo dicuntur Aristoteleae, 1906, 55, Heinrich Schenkl, ed., Epicteti dissertationes ab Arriano digestae, 3, 26, 7, 5-9, Ivo Bruns, ed., Alexandri Aphrodisiensis praeter commentaria scripta minora, Vol. 2.2 of Supplementum Aristotelicum, s.n. (Berlin Reimer, 146, 7. Bibliography Anonymi. Commentarium in librum. In Rhetores Graeci, Vol. 7.2, edited by Christian Walz, Stuttgart Cotta, Bruns, Ivo, ed. Alexandri Aphrodisiensis praeter commentaria scripta minora. Vol. 2.2 of Supplementum Aristotelicum, s.n. Berlin Reimer, Bywater, Ingram, ed. Aristotelis ethica Nicomachea. Oxford Clarendon Press, Diels, Hermann, ed. Simplicii in Aristotelis physicorum libros quattuor priores commentaria. Vol. 9 of Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca, s.n. Berlin Reimer, Dindorf, Wilhelm, Scholia in Euripidis Hippolytum. In Scholia Graeca in Euripidis tragoedias, Vol. 1, edited by Wilhelm Dindorf, Georgios Gennadius (Scholarius. Prolegomena in Aristotelis Physicam ex auctoribus diversis. In Oeuvres complètes de Georges (Gennadios) Scholarios, Vol. 8, edited by M. Jugie, L. Petit and X. A. Siderides, la bonne presse, audito. In Oeuvres complètes de Georges (Gennadios) Scholarios, Vol. 8, edited by M. Jugie, L. Petit and X. A. Siderides, presse, Heylbut, Gustav, ed. Aspasii in Ethica Nicomachea quae supersunt commentaria. Vol of Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca, s.n.

14 Apostolos N. Stavelas 9 Mutschmann, Hermann, ed. Divisiones quae vulgo dicuntur Aristoteleae. In Platonis Opera, Vol. 3, edited by J. Burnet, s.p. Clarendon Press, Platonis Opera, Vol. 3, edited by J. Burnet, s.p. Clarendon Press, In Platonis Opera, Vol. 3, edited by J. Burnet, s.p. Clarendon Press, malorum subsistentia. In Procli Diadochi tria opuscula, edited by Helmut Boese, and De Gruyter, Ross, William D., ed. Aristotelis ars rhetorica. Schenkl, Heinrich, ed. Epicteti dissertationes ab Arriano digestae., ed. Themistii in Aristotelis physica paraphrasis. Vol. 5.2 of Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca, s.n. Susemihl, F., ed. Aristotelis ethica Eudemia.. Vitelli, Hieronymus, ed. Ioannis Philoponi in Aristotelis physicorum libros tres priores. Vol. 16 of Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca, s.n. Westerink, Leendert G., ed. Proclus Diadochus: Commentary on the First Alcibiades of Plato. North-Holland Publishing Co., Apostolos N. Stavelas is a Researcher in the Research Centre on Greek Philosophy of the Academy of Athens. He is also teaching Philosophy of Education and History of Educational Ideas in the Departments of Special Education and of Pri

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