International Baccalaureate

In normative ethical theory, computer ethics belongs to the area of applied ethics dealing with practical and everyday moral problems arising from the use of computers and computer networks in the information society. Modern scholarship usually approves deontological and utilitarian ethics as appropriate to computer ethics, while classical theories of ethics, such as virtue ethics, are usually neglected as anachronistic and unsuitable to the information era and ICT industry. During past decades, an Aristotelian form of virtue ethics has been revived in modern philosophical enquiries with serious attempts for application to computer ethics and cyberethics. In this paper, the author argues that current trends and behaviours in online communication require an ethics of self-care found in Plotinus’ self-centred virtue ethics theory. The paper supports the position that Plotinus’ virtue ethics of intellectual autonomy and self-determination is relevant to cyberethics discussions
involved in computer education and online communication.

Source: International Journal of Cyber Ethics in Education, 1 (1): 1-11, 2011.

The rapid advancement of information technology in modern societies affects the way we live, communicate, work, and entertain. Computers and computer networks formulate an information age in which traditional ethical questions are reexamined and new questions arise concerning moral standards for human behavior.  Computer Ethics: A Global Perspective presents a clear and concise introduction to the ethical and social issues sparked by our ever-growing information society at the local and global level. Designed for use as a main text in undergraduate and graduate courses that focus on computer, business, and applied ethics, the text is also ideal for the Information Technology in a Global Society course for the International Baccalaureate diploma. The text considers the impact of digitized information on individuals and societies and includes discussions on privacy, reliability, security, intellectual property, control, equality of access, and authenticity, with insights from the scientists and philosophers who have attempted to evaluate, explain, and resolve these issues. The text also discusses the social impact of information technology in different areas of human life such as business, health, education, entertainment and politics.

Filling the void in the current scholarship, Giannis Stamatellos provides the first book-length study of the Presocratic influences in Plotinus’ Enneads. Widely regarded as the founder of Neoplatonism, Plotinus (204–270 AD) assimilated eight centuries of Greek thought into his work. In this book Stamatellos focuses on eminent Presocratic thinkers who are significant in Plotinus’ thought, including Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, the early Pythagoreans, and the early Atomists. The Presocratic references found in the Enneads are studied in connection with Plotinus’ fundamental theories of the One and the unity of being, intellect and the structure of the intelligible world, the nature of eternity and time, the formation of the material world, and the nature of the ensouled body. Stamatellos concludes that, contrary to modern scholarship’s dismissal of Presocratic influence in the Enneads, Presocratic philosophy is in fact an important source for Plotinus, which he recognized as valuable in its own right and adapted for key topics in his thought.

Introduction to Presocratics presents a succinct introduction to Greek thinkers of the 6th and 5th century BCE and a thematic exploration of the topics and enquiries opened by these first philosophers and scientists of the Western tradition.

The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of ἕξις in Plotinus’ virtue ethics. It is argued that since ἕξις signifies a quality of being in a permanent state of possession and virtue is defined as an ἕξις that intellectualizes the soul, therefore, it is suggested that virtue is an active ἕξις of the soul directed higher to the intelligible world in permanent contemplation of the Forms.

The aim of this paper is to discuss the notion of privacy in Plotinus’ Enneads. The Plotinian inward turn of the soul influenced Augustine’s thought and in particular the development of his notion of the inner self as a private space. Yet it has been maintained that the Augustinian inward turn requires a double movement of the soul (first in then up) which is not found explicitly in the Enneads. I shall argue that Plotinus’ theory of the soul does involve a ‘double movement’. His ‘dual-aspect theory of the self’ is central to his psychology, and the location of the soul’s middle region (to meson) between the higher intelligible world and the lower perceptible reality is crucial to his ontology. I suggest that Plotinus’ conception of privacy is to be found in the combination of soul’s self-constitution and its conscious apprehension of being.

Thales’ and Anaximenes’ argument by analogy should be considered as one of the first incidents of inductive reasoning. The relationship between microcosm (small scale) and macrocosm (cosmic scale) reflects Thales’ hylozoism and mathematical
expertise (ex. measurement of the pyramids and predictions of the eclipses) and Anaximenes’ natural philosophy and cosmological discoveries.

The significance of the Presocratics in Plotinus’ Enneads is marked by various references and allusions to early Greek philosophers, including Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans. The importance of the evidence counters the general opinion in modern scholarship that there is only a superficial use of the Presocratic fragments in the Enneads. On the contrary Presocratic theories and terminology can be found embedded in Plotinus’ key theories of the One and the nature of being, eternity and time, matter and the ensouled bodies. The aim of this paper is to focus in particular on Empedocles and the concept of philia in the Enneads, with special reference to the treatises: III.2 [47] On Providence; IV.4 [28] On the Difficulties of the Soul II; IV.8 [6] On the Descent of the Soul into the Bodies; V.1 [10] On the three Primary Hypostases of Being and VI.7 [38] On the Forms and the Good.  I shall argue that the identification of the One with Empedocles’ philia, particularly in Ennead V.1.9, offers an interpretation of the One as dunamis panton in Plotinus’ metaphysics, and suggests that Plotinus considers Empedocles’ philia as a power to be identified with the active unity of the One manifested at different ontological levels throughout the hypostases of being.

Source: Messages and Messengers: Angeletics as an Approach to the Phenomenology of Communication, Capurro, R. & Holgate, J. (eds.). Band 5. Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag,  2011, 125-134.

This paper examines an ancient philosophical discourse on angelos (messenger) found in the thought of Plotinus (AD 204-270) – a prominent philosopher of late antiquity, widely regarded as the founder of Neoplatonism. Understanding Plotinus’ message theory involves inquiring into his epistemology, psychology and metaphysics. In the Enneads, Plotinus refers twice to angelos: firstly in his middle-period treatise “On Difficulties About the Soul” and secondly in his late treatise “On the Knowing ‘Hypostases’ and What is Beyond.” A third enlightening passage is found in the seventh chapter of his early treatise “On the Good or the One.” In these passages, Plotinus uses angelos in relation to: (1) sense-perception and the outer activity of the soul towards the perceptible world and (2) contemplation and the inner activity of the soul towards the One. The first case is discussed in Enneads IV.4.19 and V.3.3, the second in Ennead VI.9.9: Within this framework, the aim of the chapter is twofold: firstly, to present Plotinus’ concept of angelos in the Enneads and, secondly, to support the position that Plotinus’ message theory should be conceived as an early forerunner of angeletics – in which angelos plays a central role. [see pages 17-18]

Book Review Svetla Slaveva-Grifffijin, The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition 7 (2013) 121-143. G. Stamatellos, Introduction to Presocratics. A Thematic Approach to Early Greek Philosophy With Key Readings. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.

THE PRESOCRATICS. . (G.) Stamatellos Introduction to Presocratics. A Thematic Approach to Early Greek Philosophy with Key Readings. Pp.
xiv + 162, map. Malden, MA and Oxford: Wiley–Blackwell, 2012.
Nuria Scapin
The Classical Review / Volume 64 / Issue 01 / April 2014, pp 48 - 50