Aither je odborný elektronický časopis zařazený do databází ERIH+ a Scopus. Je vydáván Filozofickou fakultou Univerzity Palackého v Olomouci ve spolupráci s Filosofickým ústavem Akademie věd ČR. Vychází dvakrát ročně. Každé druhé číslo je mezinárodní (International Issue) a jsou v něm publikovány cizojazyčné články (především v angličtině, ale i v němčině a francouzštině). Časopis je registrován pod číslem ISSN 1803-7860.
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Aither 23/2020 (International issue no. 7):6-9 | DOI: 10.5507/aither.2020.001
Aither 23/2020 (International issue no. 7):10-22 | DOI: 10.5507/aither.2020.002
This paper tries to analyse basic problems of art-production in renaissance and early modern art (particularly in painting, but implicitly also in sculpture and architecture) from a philosophical point of view. The fundamental questions are: how do distances and directions interact? What role plays, if one turns away from mathematical-geometrical acts of measuring, the position - locally and temporally - of an individual? Is there any influence of the philosophical problem of singularity on art? One possible and most interesting horizon where answers could be given and found, is the horizon of perspectivity.
Aither 23/2020 (International issue no. 7):24-38 | DOI: 10.5507/aither.2020.003
In Liber de nihilo Charles de Bovelles probes the meanings of 'nihil / nothing' in several registers: semantic, logical, metaphysical/theological, and symbolic. Yet a consistent concern is the relation of 'nihil' to God and creation, since God reportedly creates "ex nihilo." This essay focuses on the work's concluding chapters, where Bovelles analyzes the dialectic of affirmation and negation in naming God. Here 'nihil' ends a descending series of affirmative divine names, "truly proclaiming and mysteriously announcing that nothing is God (nihil esse deus)." 'Nihil' then becomes the first term denied...
Aither 23/2020 (International issue no. 7):40-57 | DOI: 10.5507/aither.2020.004
The report of a dream about a disembodied soul in Cicero's Somnium Scipionis (Dream of Scipio) is a narration of a heavenly journey that reflects a belief in the existence of a perfect harmonic world beyond the world of the senses. During the Renaissance it was used by many scholars to understand the transitory nature of earthly life and to find peace of mind. By comparing Marsilio Ficino's interpretation of Scipio's Dream with the one of Girolamo Cardano I will argue in this article that their fictional reports of heavenly journeys led to entirely different interpretations of the meaning of life. While Ficino, in his interpretation,...
Aither 23/2020 (International issue no. 7):58-85 | DOI: 10.5507/aither.2020.005
The paper presents an analysis of imaginary quantity before Gauss based on the notion of continuity and symbolic representation. Its aim is to uncover subtle roots of the "impossible", "sophisticated" or "absurd" entities that, as we claim, stem from the Renaissance notion of nature and from the "symbolic turn" which occurred in that period. In order to grant impossible quantities a reasonable (operational) meaning, it is necessary to establish an equation (formal continuity) between real and imaginary. It is possible only if the real is in a sense subsumed within the symbolic which holds paradigmatically for the notions of number and magnitude. For,...
Aither 23/2020 (International issue no. 7):86-111 | DOI: 10.5507/aither.2020.006
This article traces one of the main lines of argument in Giordano Bruno's only comedy. I will suggest that even though they occupy opposite places in the kaleidoscope of truth and hood, the antagonists Gioanbernardo, the mastermind, and Bonifacio, the fool, are embodiments of two aspects of an homogeneous physical reality that is accessible to human beings only through polyvalent images. I will suggest a specific pictorial representation of these two aspects, namely Christ and St. John the Baptist, as children. I shall also suggest that Bruno in the Candelaio uses the persona of this saint to point to his nolana filosofia. In such ways, the Candelaio...
Aither 23/2020 (International issue no. 7):112-143 | DOI: 10.5507/aither.2020.007
In his motto, Giordano Bruno places his philosophy in the tradition of the wisdom of Solomon and the philosophy of Pythagoras. But the procedure proves to be problematic. Bruno neither correctly reproduces the wording of the book Ecclesiastes, nor does he explain the identification of biblical and Greek-Pagan teaching. The question arises how Bruno understands his sources. It turns out that the interpretation of the Book of Ecclesiastes takes place early in the intercultural context of the contact between the Bible and philosophy. As a result, the biblical text experiences significant shifts in meaning, which are taken up and continued in the course...
Aither 23/2020 (International issue no. 7):144-156 | DOI: 10.5507/aither.2020.008
In defending the infinity of the universe, Giordano Bruno's philosophy relies fundamentally upon the investigation into God's almightiness. The paper puts specific attention on some of the most authoritative texts of mediaeval Christian theology and their sources. It aims to forestage the interrelation between Bruno's use of these doctrines, his notion of the infinite, and his view on Christ in particular close relation to his trials.