Mark Shiffman | Villanova University (original) (raw)
Address: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
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Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique / French National Centre for Scientific Research
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Papers by Mark Shiffman
Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium of Ancient Philosophy, Nov 19, 2021
I here examine the underlying order of Plutarch’s Isis and Osiris, following compositional cues t... more I here examine the underlying order of Plutarch’s Isis and Osiris, following compositional cues the author uses to highlight its themes, in order to draw out distinctive features of Plutarch’s philosophical agenda. After placing the text in the context of Plutarch’s general themes and his other main Platonic-hermeneutical works, I follow the indications of key framing devices to bring to the surface his structuring concerns first with the erotic character of the cosmos, in which human eros is at home, and second with the intentions of ancient lawgivers to civilize human communities, both of which he sees represented in the Isis myth. The text thus exemplifies both Plutarch’s recovery of the unity in Plato of metaphysics and political philosophy and his manner of achieving that recovery through a coordinated threefold hermeneutics of wisdom traditions and human and cosmic phenomena.
Trump and Political Philosophy, 2018
Plutarch’s analysis of statesmen and regimes through analogy and dis-analogy makes him a promisin... more Plutarch’s analysis of statesmen and regimes through analogy and dis-analogy makes him a promising guide for reflection on what the election of a man like Trump reveals about the condition of contemporary America and its constitutional order. Examination of the Roman republican regime, and especially the role in it of the office of tribune, sheds light on a deficiency in the American constitutional order that Trump has exploited. Placing post-Cold War America in parallel with post-Punic War Rome reveals similarities in the conditions that set the stage for Trump and those that prompted the populist agenda of the Gracchi, as well as in their rhetorical appeals. Trump is no Caesar, but raises the specter of the possibility of a Caesar.
Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, 2010
International Political Science Abstracts, 2018
Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium of Ancient Philosophy, 2021
I here examine the underlying order of Plutarch’s Isis and Osiris, following compositional cues t... more I here examine the underlying order of Plutarch’s Isis and Osiris, following compositional cues the author uses to highlight its themes, in order to draw out distinctive features of Plutarch’s philosophical agenda. After placing the text in the context of Plutarch’s general themes and his other main Platonic-hermeneutical works, I follow the indications of key framing devices to bring to the surface his structuring concerns first with the erotic character of the cosmos, in which human eros is at home, and second with the intentions of ancient lawgivers to civilize human communities, both of which he sees represented in the Isis myth. The text thus exemplifies both Plutarch’s recovery of the unity in Plato of metaphysics and political philosophy and his manner of achieving that recovery through a coordinated threefold hermeneutics of wisdom traditions and human and cosmic phenomena.
Journal for Peace and Justice Studies, 2011
Philosophical Review, 2007
Greek Roman and Byzantine Studies, 2010
Civil Religion in Modern Political Philosophy
Polis: The Journal for Ancient Greek Political Thought, 2010
The idea and practice of limited government begins with Christianity. Pagan antiquity could not i... more The idea and practice of limited government begins with Christianity. Pagan antiquity could not imagine such a thing, because there was no distinction between religion and governance.
Leo Strauss was a dialectical thinker, in the Platonic sense; he persistently sought to penetrate... more Leo Strauss was a dialectical thinker, in the Platonic sense; he persistently sought to penetrate to the roots of the divergent thoughts of the great thinkers in political philosophy, to render more manifest the philosophical dialogue embedded within that great tradition. These reflections on Strauss proceed in the same spirit. Their aim is to understand Strauss within the history of philosophy, and to make explicit the ways in which he diverges from important alternatives.
Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium of Ancient Philosophy, Nov 19, 2021
I here examine the underlying order of Plutarch’s Isis and Osiris, following compositional cues t... more I here examine the underlying order of Plutarch’s Isis and Osiris, following compositional cues the author uses to highlight its themes, in order to draw out distinctive features of Plutarch’s philosophical agenda. After placing the text in the context of Plutarch’s general themes and his other main Platonic-hermeneutical works, I follow the indications of key framing devices to bring to the surface his structuring concerns first with the erotic character of the cosmos, in which human eros is at home, and second with the intentions of ancient lawgivers to civilize human communities, both of which he sees represented in the Isis myth. The text thus exemplifies both Plutarch’s recovery of the unity in Plato of metaphysics and political philosophy and his manner of achieving that recovery through a coordinated threefold hermeneutics of wisdom traditions and human and cosmic phenomena.
Trump and Political Philosophy, 2018
Plutarch’s analysis of statesmen and regimes through analogy and dis-analogy makes him a promisin... more Plutarch’s analysis of statesmen and regimes through analogy and dis-analogy makes him a promising guide for reflection on what the election of a man like Trump reveals about the condition of contemporary America and its constitutional order. Examination of the Roman republican regime, and especially the role in it of the office of tribune, sheds light on a deficiency in the American constitutional order that Trump has exploited. Placing post-Cold War America in parallel with post-Punic War Rome reveals similarities in the conditions that set the stage for Trump and those that prompted the populist agenda of the Gracchi, as well as in their rhetorical appeals. Trump is no Caesar, but raises the specter of the possibility of a Caesar.
Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, 2010
International Political Science Abstracts, 2018
Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium of Ancient Philosophy, 2021
I here examine the underlying order of Plutarch’s Isis and Osiris, following compositional cues t... more I here examine the underlying order of Plutarch’s Isis and Osiris, following compositional cues the author uses to highlight its themes, in order to draw out distinctive features of Plutarch’s philosophical agenda. After placing the text in the context of Plutarch’s general themes and his other main Platonic-hermeneutical works, I follow the indications of key framing devices to bring to the surface his structuring concerns first with the erotic character of the cosmos, in which human eros is at home, and second with the intentions of ancient lawgivers to civilize human communities, both of which he sees represented in the Isis myth. The text thus exemplifies both Plutarch’s recovery of the unity in Plato of metaphysics and political philosophy and his manner of achieving that recovery through a coordinated threefold hermeneutics of wisdom traditions and human and cosmic phenomena.
Journal for Peace and Justice Studies, 2011
Philosophical Review, 2007
Greek Roman and Byzantine Studies, 2010
Civil Religion in Modern Political Philosophy
Polis: The Journal for Ancient Greek Political Thought, 2010
The idea and practice of limited government begins with Christianity. Pagan antiquity could not i... more The idea and practice of limited government begins with Christianity. Pagan antiquity could not imagine such a thing, because there was no distinction between religion and governance.
Leo Strauss was a dialectical thinker, in the Platonic sense; he persistently sought to penetrate... more Leo Strauss was a dialectical thinker, in the Platonic sense; he persistently sought to penetrate to the roots of the divergent thoughts of the great thinkers in political philosophy, to render more manifest the philosophical dialogue embedded within that great tradition. These reflections on Strauss proceed in the same spirit. Their aim is to understand Strauss within the history of philosophy, and to make explicit the ways in which he diverges from important alternatives.
Rougemont finds the roots of modern nihilism in the troubadour poetry of medieval Languedoc, whic... more Rougemont finds the roots of modern nihilism in the troubadour poetry of medieval Languedoc, which is shaped by the Gnostic Christian heresy of the Cathars and in turn shapes the rhetoric of transgressive passionate love in subsequent western literature.
The projects of Lucretius and Hobbes share a common basic feature: both authors understand the ta... more The projects of Lucretius and Hobbes share a common basic feature: both authors understand the task of their philosophy of nature to be the elaboration of a coherent schema of material causal relations, and both think that such a schema will relieve us of the need for religious explanations, especially by addressing the fears that attach us to those religious explanations. This therapeutic aim for the construction of an image of nature's workings is one of the half-hidden wellsprings of the conviction that science and religion are inherently in conflict with one another.