Aither is a double-blind peer review, Open Access online academic journal. It is indexed at ERIH+ and Scopus. It is published by the Faculty of Arts of the Palacký University in Olomouc in cooperation with the Philosophical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. It comes out twice a year. Every second issue is international and contains foreign-language articles (mainly in English, but also in German and French). The journal is registered under the number ISSN 1803-7860.
Aither 29/2023:6-27 | DOI: 10.5507/aither.2024.003 
In this article, I examine how Aeschylus works with the discourse of honour and shame. In most of the cases mentioned, this discourse is problematised (Sept., Ag., Suppl., Pers.) or its ambivalence can also be implied (Pers.). Aeschylus’ revision of the Homeric concept of immortal glory (κλέος ἄφθιτον) is quite clear. Both war in general and the heroes of Aeschylus’ tragedies are problematic, and the emphasis is clearly on the suffering and crushing consequences that war brings, whether for members of the ruling families or for the polis. This is probably...
Aither 29/2023:28-43 | DOI: 10.5507/aither.2023.009
The paper explores the ancient concept of shame (aidôs) as a social emotion responsible for the coherence of the human community. It examines this issue in a narrower context, using the specific example of Plato’s text. The core of the analysis is the myth of the origin of culture in Plato’s Protagoras (Prot. 320d–322d), which presents God as the giver of the basic principles of the community functioning, i.e. shame and justice (aidôs kai dikê). The broader context of the interpretation is contemporary theories of the human culture emergence, in particular a comparison with the Sisyphus, fragment...
Aither 29/2023:44-61 | DOI: 10.5507/aither.2023.010
This article explores the significance of shame in Plato’s moral psychology, specifically focusing on its position within the tripartite theory of the soul. Drawing primarily from Plato’s Republic and Gorgias, this analysis aims to shed light on the role of shame in human life. According to the tripartite theory, the soul comprises reason, spiritedness, and desire, and understanding shame’s placement within this framework offers insights into its impact on moral behaviour. As shame resides within the spirited soul, the article further explores the dynamic interaction between spirit, reason, and desire. It is shown that...
Aither 29/2023:62-79 | DOI: 10.5507/aither.2024.004
In this study, I argue that two motifs of shame are present in Plato's dialogue Phaedrus - shame (aischyné) and "reverent shame" (aidós). Yet only the latter, according to Socrates, can solidly ground life or instead ground a more serious-minded attitude to life. The ambivalent form of shame in Plato's dialogue is supported by the generally recognised difference in meanings associated with aidós and aischyné. I trace both motifs on the dramatic level of the dialogue and in Socrates' teaching in his second speech (palinode). The different expressions of shame in Socrates's and Phaedrus's characters correspond to the...
Aither 29/2023:80-101 | DOI: 10.5507/aither.2024.002
The study presents the motif of shame as an interesting and hitherto neglected intersection in the Nietzsche-Plato relationship. The first part of the essay recapitulates the function of this motif in Nietzsche’s culminating texts (mainly Zarathustra and Gay Science), while in the second part I turn my attention to the motif of shame in Plato’s work, more precisely, to the two “extreme” contexts of death (Apology, Crito) and love (Symposium). It turns out that for both authors, shame is a constitutive phenomenon that is thematized in relation to logos. Shame and logos thus stand in close and contrasting...
Aither 29/2023:102-119 | DOI: 10.5507/aither.2024.001
The article focuses on problematic aspects of Aristotle’s view on shame (aidós) and its relation to virtue. On one hand, Aristotle counts shame among emotions (pathé), and on the other he discusses it as a mean (mesotés) or state (hexis) that is not a virtue, yet still praiseworthy in certain conditions. After an analysis of relation between shame and choice (prohairesis), the article distinguishes between a positive desire of honor (timé), whose best expressions are to be found in magnanimity (megalopsychia) and love of honour (filotimia), and a negative fear of dishonour (adoxia),...
Aither 29/2023:120-134 | DOI: 10.5507/aither.2023.011
Following study analyses general features of ancient economic thought and economics. The main aim of the study is to point out that ancient economical lore has intrinsic ethical and normative dimensions inherited from moral philosophy, functioning as determinants of its main ideas and categories (performance, growth, institutions, etc.). Study is divided into three parts. The first part briefly focuses the history of ancient economic thought with its most influential authors and works. The second part analyses main ancient economic themes, concepts and theories in the works of Plato, Xenophon and Aristotle. The third part of the study summarizes the...
