This article examines part of the development of North African Manichaeism, with a specific focus on Aduersus Manichaeos, an anti-Manichaean tretaise attributed to Evodius of Uzalis. Evodius, a friend of Augustine of Hippo, probably wrote Aduersus Manichaeos in the years 425. The treatise constitutes an important source on North African Manichaeism, written two decades after the major anti-Manichaean works of Augustine. A preliminary section discusses Evodius’ sources. Unlike Augustine he was not a former member of the Manichaean movement, and his (...) Adversus Manichaeos lacks the insiders’ knowledge of Augustine’s treatises. Nevertheless, it will be argued that Evodius had prepared himself thoroughly in order to write his anti-Manichaean treatise. The subsequent section offers an overview of testimonia on the Manichaean canon in the Latin world. These testimonia seem to suggest —that over time— the North African Manichaeans held one particular letter of Mani, the Epistula Fundamenti, in high esteem. The concluding section briefly addresses the genre, status, contents and circulation of Mani’s letter. (shrink)

La noción de teología natural es clave dentro de la obra de Agustín que, en tanto romano formado a partir de las coordenadas del canon clásico, construye dentro de su obra los dispositivos necesarios para dar entrada legítima, aunque parcial, a elementos grecorromanos que habrán de orientar su propia argumentación en el territorio de las letras cristianas. El octavo libro de su tratado _La ciudad de Dios_ nos permite observar la extracción de aquella noción de su ámbito de procedencia, especialmente (...) los textos de Varrón y Cicerón, que tienen a su vez sus antecedentes en la tradición filosófica académica y estoica, su adaptación al horizonte de significado bíblico-cristiano y su uso interesado dentro de este. La operación llevada a cabo por Agustín nos deja entrever su conocimiento y capacidad de manipulación de la tradición letrada romano-republicana, además de ciertas concepciones procedentes de la vulgata doxográfica vigentes en su contexto, tales como las de “escuelas” y “sucesiones” filosóficas. Nos interesa enfocar, sobre todo, los juegos de amalgamas y corrimientos semánticos que ensaya Agustín sobre el perfil de Sócrates, con unos fines muy puntuales, y que nos llevan a observar, asimismo, la circulación de ideas en el espacio romano del norte de África, para el cual disponemos de algunos antecedentes de interés, como los textos de la apologética en lengua latina de Tertuliano y Minucio Félix, entre los siglos II y III. (shrink)

El conflicto donatista, de gran incidencia en el África romana de los siglos IV y V, puso de manifiesto los supuestos sobre la coexistencia que poseían las partes antagonistas. La postura donatista se sostiene en acontecimientos históricos (la entrega de los Libros Sagrados a las autoridades), pero también en las eclesiologías de Tertuliano y Cipriano de Cartago. Inciden en éstas la concepción de la iglesia como iglesia de los mártires y la presunción de la inminencia del fin de (...) los tiempos. Esta concepción realiza una hermenéutica del lugar, ya que África es afirmada como el único lugar del cristianismo, por contraposición a todos los otros lugares, donde ya el cristianismo no existe, y una hermenéutica del tiempo, pues la historia y su posibilidad de libertad parece haberse detenido en virtud de los actos que se han efectuado. San Agustín propone el criterio dialógico de la ciudad como posibilidad práctica de la coexistencia y la libertad. (shrink)

Este artículo examina la manera en que el diseño específico de las casas de baños de la Antigüedad tardía en la provincia romana de la Cirenaica, base de operaciones para la conquista islámica de Ifrīqiya, influyó en el desarrollo de los hammams en el norte de África y en al-Andalus. Los restos arqueológicos de los baños bizantinos/tardoantiguos y los primeros hammams son puestos en comparación para demostrar las grandes similitudes de su trazado general y dentro de este, del (...) diseño del caldarium en particular, lo que apunta a la pervivencia de los esquemas de construcción que sobreviven hasta el día de hoy en los hammams marroquíes. La característica más distintiva era la estancia rectangular para el baño de calor, calentada por un solo horno, y flanqueada por dos exedras que albergaban sendas bañeras rectangulares. Este diseño de hammam «occidental» era marcadamente distinto de los hammams contemporáneos en Oriente, que a su vez continuaron con el diseño tradicional de los baños públicos romano-bizantinos orientales. Contrariamente a lo que se presuponía, este artículo demuestra que el diseño «occidental» no se originó en los primeros momentos del Marruecos medieval y de al-Andalus, extendiéndose posteriormente hacia el Mediterráneo oriental, sino que se originó en el norte del África romano-bizantino, extendiéndose hacia el Oeste, para regresar, a través de la circularidad cultural, al lugar de origen con nuevas adaptaciones. (shrink)

1. t. Viduramžiai, Renesansas, Naujieji amžiai.

Keď sa ľudia nachádzajú medzi inými, správajú sa viac prosociálne, morálne a štedro. Čo však môže ovplyvniť ich správanie v momente, keď sú sami? Aby sa správali ako medzi inými? Jedna z možností môže byť vyvolať pocit, že sa niekto pozerá. Tento účel môže splniť aj obyčajné zrkadlo. Naše výskumy podporujú vplyv zrkadla na dodržiavanie pravidla na súboroch dospelých a detí. V obidvoch experimentoch prítomnosť zrkadla zvyšovala šancu na dodržiavanie stanoveného pravidla. Ako však niečo tak jednoduché ako zrkadlo môže ovplyvniť (...) správanie? Jeden z prístupov tvrdí, že vizuálny stimul spustí automatickú percepciu „niekto sa pozerá“, aj napriek tomu, že je to iba odraz v zrkadle. Ďalší možný prístup vychádza z predpokladu, že na seba upriamená pozornosť vyvoláva sebauvedomovanie, pričom sa zviditeľňuje prípadný rozpor medzi konaním a štandardom. Porušenie pravidla v takom momente by mohlo ohroziť sebaúctu. V treťom prístupe autori vychádzajú z princípu negatívnej spätnej väzby. Nakoniec by sme radi spomenuli naše experimenty a navrhli ďalšie možnosti skúmania v tejto oblasti. (shrink)

The motive for late eighteenth-century proto-technics of photography and cinema was never quite mimetic representation: it was generating autonomous impressions of natural phenomena within the tradition ofNaturphilosophie. The article analyses a series of connections between ‘natural hieroglyphs’ (von Lichtenberg), Jacques-Alexandre-César Charles’s ‘megascope’, Wedgwood’s pre-photography, Lavater’s silhouettes and antecedents of Marey’s ‘graphic method’. The goal is to document precursor ideas, devices, setups and frameworks of photoimaging medias to show that the genealogy of photography and cinema intersected through many polymath transverses within (...) the ambit of natural philosophy (and the context of slavery). (shrink)

Spätestens seit der berühmten Anekdote vom Bild der schönen Helena gilt körperliche Schönheit als ein Kunstprodukt. Für sein Bildnis der Helena soll der griechische Maler Zeuxis die fünf hervorragendsten Jungfrauen ausgewählt und von jedem Modell den jeweils schönsten Körperteil gemalt haben. Nach dieser Vorstellung ist vollkommene Schönheit erst durch einen künstlichen Eingriff zu erzielen; das gilt sowohl für den lebendigen Körper als auch für sein künstlerisches Abbild. Kunst und Körperpflege stehen damit in einem spannungsvollen Wechselverhältnis. Denn die Grundlagen und Mittel (...) zur Erzeugung und Steigerung von körperlicher Schönheit, die in beiden Bereichen zur Verfügung stehen, überschneiden, ergänzen und beeinflussen sich. Das Buch beleuchtet dieses Wechselverhältnis anhand ausgewählter Grundlagentexte in deutscher Übersetzung, ergänzt um fundierte Kommentare zum historischen Kontext. (shrink)

Clouds are therefore a fine metaphor for intermediary and automatic beings… Trees too are clouds: only, they are slower at occupying space. In the new landscape of media archaeology—especially variantology, which insists on ramified rather than convergent developments—media, too, appear to be imperceptibly changing from stable trees into metastable clouds. If we accelerate that motion, then the whole McLuhan-Kittler-Parikka media forest of semi-separate specimens starts to look like a self-rearranging ballet—a murmuration across species. At a certain historical rate, in other (...) words, problems of media ontology and phylogenesis tend to turn into animated sequences in which individual or individuated media.. (shrink)

The topic of safeguarding against sickness grew in importance during the COVID-19 pandemic. People’s health was more at risk, yet not all had the same capacity and options to deal with it. Therefore, this article focuses on the under-researched topic of choice of strategies and individual practices for safeguarding against one’s sickness among micro-entrepreneurs (with 1–10 employees) before and during the pandemic, namely on the example of Czechia. We analyse 30 qualitative interviews with micro-entrepreneurs to demonstrate how their social location (...) affects the attainability of strategies and individual practices for that purpose. It is primarily their family role (breadwinner vs caregiver) that, along with socioeconomic status, either limits or opens choices of strategies and individual practices or combinations thereof. Although the COVID-19 pandemic posed a high health risk to the entire society, it did not bring the micro-entrepreneurs to revise their often-risky choices in safeguarding against sickness. In contrast, it highlighted some specifics of micro-enterprises, e.g. their unclear organisational structure, which proved a high risk in the context of the health crisis. (shrink)

The academic History of Philosophy in Lithuania in three volumes will be published by the Institute of Culture, Philosophy and Art. The first presented volume covers the development of Lithuanian philosophy from the 16th to the 18th centuries. It includes late medieval and Renaissance philosophy, the second scholasticism and modern philosophy. The first Lithuanians to be introduced to philosophy were young members of the gentry who studied in European universities at the end of the 14th century. The recently baptized Lithuania (...) strove to adopt Western culture and to present itself as a Western state. Some graduated from the universities as bachelors or masters of philosophy and returned to their country. At the end of the 14th century, Vilnius Cathedral School was founded. The elements of logic were probably taught there. The growth of the political and economic power of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania brought about the need for higher education. That need was significantly increased by the growing activity of various religious orders. In 1507 the Dominicans started teaching philosophy and theology to their novices. They were able to teach late medieval philosophy in its thomistic interpretation. We can regard 1507 as the year Lithuania benefited form a new phenomenon, professional philosophy, and the Dominicans as its initiators. They taught not only the disciplines of late medieval philosophy but also the basics of the other sciences. The Dominicans, and later the Jesuits, Franciscans, Bernardines, Carmelites, Trinitarians and other monastic orders, enriched intellectual life in Lithuania by teaching philosophy in their schools. (shrink)

The academic History of Philosophy in Lithuania in three volumes will be published by the Institute of Culture, Philosophy and Art. The first presented volume covers the development of Lithuanian philosophy from the 16th to the 18th centuries. It includes late medieval and Renaissance philosophy, the second scholasticism and modern philosophy. The first Lithuanians to be introduced to philosophy were young members of the gentry who studied in European universities at the end of the 14th century. The recently baptized Lithuania (...) strove to adopt Western culture and to present itself as a Western state. Some graduated from the universities as bachelors or masters of philosophy and returned to their country. At the end of the 14th century, Vilnius Cathedral School was founded. The elements of logic were probably taught there. The growth of the political and economic power of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania brought about the need for higher education. That need was significantly increased by the growing activity of various religious orders. In 1507 the Dominicans started teaching philosophy and theology to their novices. They were able to teach late medieval philosophy in its thomistic interpretation. We can regard 1507 as the year Lithuania benefited form a new phenomenon, professional philosophy, and the Dominicans as its initiators. They taught not only the disciplines of late medieval philosophy but also the basics of the other sciences. The Dominicans, and later the Jesuits, Franciscans, Bernardines, Carmelites, Trinitarians and other monastic orders, enriched intellectual life in Lithuania by teaching philosophy in their schools. (shrink)

The article presents the results of two experimental studies in which I investigated the effect of the situational context and action vs. state orientation on perseverance and efficacy in task performance. The results of Study 1 confirmed that in a context which supports autonomy - as opposed to one which induces external control - people are much more likely to be not only more persistent and effective in their actions but also much more interested in the performed task. Interest in (...) the performed task seems to also be - to some extent- a mediator in the relationship between persistence and efficacy. The results of Study 2 confirmed that a context, which supports autonomy positively, affects both persistence and efficacy. At the same time, the study shows that in a context, which supports autonomy, action-oriented people are more persistent and efficient in their actions than are state-oriented people. What is more, in an autonomy-supporting context, action-oriented people have a more positive attitude towards a given task than do state-oriented people. (shrink)

This article uses the current ‘refugees/migrants crisis’ and Brexit as illustrative of the numerous challenges the European Union faces today when it comes to its identity and the construction of a ‘European citizenship’. By discussing the proliferation of borders on the European continent and by analysing the sociological significance of such proliferation, the article argues that Europe is experiencing an ontological and epistemological rather than an existential crisis that relates to its incapacity to acknowledge, and critically engage with, its fundamental (...) neo-colonial and neo-liberal matrix. The article argues that the stalemate experienced by the European Union with respect to its regional and global relevance can only be overcome by bringing to the surface buried or disqualified knowledges about ‘who counts as European’ beyond whiteness. (shrink)