Δοκίμιο & Πολιτισμός

A great way into one of the greatest philosophers of all time' Nigel Warburton, Five Books Why has Aristotle had such an astounding influence on the world? What are his key ideas? What can he still teach us today?The Lyceum in Athens, now a ruin, has a claim to be the most significant place in human history. It is the site of Aristotle's school. Here the philosopher taught and discussed the answers to the deepest mysteries of the human condition, and changed the way we think. Today, it can be difficult to fully comprehend the staggering influence of Aristotle's lessons. Yet his observations about the world around him and his reflections on the nature of knowledge laid the foundations for all empirical science. His study of rational thought formed the basis of formal logic, the cornerstone of philosophical investigation. His examination of Greek city-states gave us political science, while his analysis of drama remains a mainstay of literature courses around the world. Acclaimed philosopher John Sellars takes us on a journey through Aristotle's thought, vividly bringing to life his key ideas, and demonstrating that the famous philosopher's capacity for curiosity continues to offer us all a vision of more fulfilled lives. The lessons of Aristotle, he shows, still have much to teach us today.

The essays in this volume give the international academic community as broad a picture as possible of the historical development of and the main trends in the history of art in Greece, along with the level of educational achievements in that field. The study of modern European art history has been systematically developed as a specialist discipline both in academia and in the public sphere in Greece since the late 1970s onwards. In recent decades, the history of Western art has begun to be regularly taught in Greek universities, both at undergraduate level and in postgraduate and doctoral programmes. During the same period, an increasing number of Greek art historians have been trained in undergraduate and postgraduate courses at prestigious universities mainly in France, the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States, thus contributing, if they return to work in their native land, to a multifaceted updating of the theoretical and methodological tools of art history in Greece. The ideological issues and objective difficulties of establishing art history into an academic discipline in Greece are presented in great detail in the pages of this volume, while the theoretical and methodological directions taken both in historiography and in academic teaching, are also thoroughly examined. Alongside these, there is some discussion on the attempts made over the last twenty years to form a permanent academic community through positive action, such as holding regular conferences, academic colloquia and lectures, under the aegis of the Association of Greek Art Historians.

"Appiah is a writer and thinker of remarkable range... [He] has packed into this short book an impressive amount of original reflection... A rich and illuminating book."-Thomas Nagel, New York Review of BooksIdealization is a fundamental feature of human thought. We build simplified models to make sense of the world, and life is a constant adjustment between the models we make and the realities we encounter. Our beliefs, desires, and sense of justice are bound up with these ideals, and we proceed "as if" our representations were true, while knowing they are not. In this elegant and original meditation, Kwame Anthony Appiah suggests that this instinct to idealize is not dangerous or distracting so much as it is necessary. As If explores how strategic untruth plays a critical role in far-flung areas of inquiry: decision theory, psychology, natural science, and political philosophy. A polymath who writes with mainstream clarity, Appiah defends the centrality of the imagination not just in the arts but in science, morality, and everyday life. "Appiah is the rare public intellectual who is also a first-rate analytic philosopher, and the characteristic virtues associated with each of these identities are very much in evidence throughout the book."-Thomas Kelly, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

The West has taken to meditation with great enthusiasm. We contemplate. We concentrate. We embrace mindfulness techniques and a multitude of mantras. We have undertaken to "do" meditation. The Aspects of Meditation series is comprised of brief, precious texts in which Osho shows us the core of meditation is not about sitting silently or chanting a mantra. It is, instead, a question of understanding the subtle workings of the mind. In Book 2, Osho explores the purpose of meditation: to discover the self.

The West has taken to meditation with great enthusiasm. We contemplate. We concentrate. We embrace mindfulness techniques and a multitude of mantras. We have undertaken to "do" meditation. The Aspects of Meditation series is comprised of brief, precious texts in which Osho shows us the core of meditation is not about sitting silently or chanting a mantra. It is, instead, a question of understanding the subtle workings of the mind. In Book 3, Osho explores different states of unconsciousness and the ways in which they can transform awareness of the here and now.

The West has taken to meditation with great enthusiasm. We contemplate. We concentrate. We embrace mindfulness techniques and a multitude of mantras. We have undertaken to "do" meditation. The Aspects of Meditation series is comprised of brief, precious texts in which Osho shows us the core of meditation is not about sitting silently or chanting a mantra. It is, instead, a question of understanding the subtle workings of the mind. In Book 4, Osho examines health and illness, disease and well-being as outgrowths of our sense of self and connection to our mind.

At Sea is a book of 15 different paintings of the sea. These works are about leaving, turning your back on your homeland with a longing for overseas. Being 'at sea' is a bit like making a painting: you are not sure if and where you will arrive. The subject and the handling of the paint in these works is within the tradition of Dutch seascapes of the 1600s. But what we see is a sea of today. In this space the only human presence is that of the viewer.

Paris, near the turn of 1932-3. Three young friends meet over apricot cocktails at the Bec-de-Gaz bar on the rue Montparnasse. They are Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and their friend Raymond Aron, who opens their eyes to a radical new way of thinking..."It's not often that you miss your bus stop because you're so engrossed in reading a book about existentialism, but I did exactly that...The story of Sartre, Beauvoir, Camus, Heidegger et al is strange, fun and compelling reading. If it doesn't win awards, I will eat my copy". (Independent on Sunday). "Bakewell shows how fascinating were some of the existentialists' ideas and how fascinating, often frightful, were their lives. Vivid, humorous anecdotes are interwoven with a lucid and unpatronising exposition of their complex philosophy...Tender, incisive and fair". (Daily Telegraph). "Quirky, funny, clear and passionate...Few writers are as good as Bakewell at explaining complicated ideas in a way that makes them easy to understand".

Athens is an historical anomaly. Excavations date itsfirst settlement to over seven thousand years ago, yet itonly became the capital of Greece in 1834. During theintervening centuries it was occupied by almost everymobile culture in Europe: from its earliest likelysettlers, tribes from what is now Albania, to Nazi forcesduring the second World War, and in between by successivewaves of Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Slavs, Goths,Venetians, French, Catalans, Turks, Italians, Bulgariansand the clans of various kings and tyrants of theregion's early city-states. There has been a structure onits 'high city', the acropolis, since at least the bronzeage, although it was subsequently altered by successiveoccupiers, becoming a fort, castle, temple, mosque,church and even a harem. its 'Golden Age' peaked in thefifth century BCE, with the great building projects ofPericles and Themistocles, and its later history is oneof a city already nostalgic for its past, although at atime when other European cities had yet to beginconstructing a past.