From Paideia to High Culture (Philosophy and Cultural Studies Revisited / Historisch-genetische Studien zur Philosophie und Kulturgeschichte)

The purpose of this book is to show the philosophical and anthropological foundation of the dispute about culture, especially in the perspective of the opposition between high and low culture. By analysing the most important achievements of Western philosophical reflection, from the Greeks and Romans through medieval scholasticism to Christian personalism, the author defends the concept of high culture and reveals its metaphysical significance for the human condition. The book also brings out the meaning of the concept of culture, shedding new light upon the long-disputed philosophical questions: who is the creator and subject of culture, what is culture in its essence, and what is its superior purpose? Cover Table of Contents Introduction 1 Studies in the Presence of Pseudo-Dionysian Thought in the Works of Palamas 1.1 The Consistency of the Palamite Doctrine with the Patristic Tradition of the Eastern Church 1.2 The Relation of Gregory Palamas’ Doctrine to the Thoughts of the Western Church and Protestant Theology 1.3 Research in Poland on Gregory Palamas’ Thought 2 Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite: The Person and His Thinking 2.0 Introduction 2.1 Scholarship on Pseudo-Dionysius’ Neoplatonism 2.2 The Issue of the Reception of Corpus Areopagiticum in the Eastern Church from the Sixth to the Fourteenth Centuries 2.3 Doctrinal Commentary: “Scholia” by John of Scythopolis and “Mystagogia” by Maximus the Confessor 2.4 Corpus Areopagiticum in the Byzantine Liturgy and Patristic Thought 3 Gregory Palamas and His Era 3.1 The Life and Work of Palamas Against the Background of Fourteenth-Century Byzantium 3.2 Discussions with Barlaam and Akindynos. Circumstances of the Creation of Works, Treatises and Synodal Volumes 3.3 The Dispute over Gregory Palamas’ Doctrine Against the Backdrop of Church-State Relations 4 The Issue of Knowing God in the Thought of Pseudo-Dionysius 4.1 The Patristic Tradition 4.2 Theological Discourse: Ways of Knowing God According to Pseudo-Dionysius 4.3 Onomatodoxia and Cataphatic Theology 4.4 Symbolic Theology as a Path Upward 4.5 Apophatic Theology 5 Conditions for the Possibility of True Knowledge of God According to Gregory Palamas 6 The Palamite Distinction of Divine Essence and Un-created Energies as the Basis for the Metaphysics of Light 7. The Light of Good and the Light of Knowledge in the Thought of Pseudo-Dionysius and Gregory Palamas 8. Palamas’ Metaphysics of Light in Relation to the Hierarchical and Symbolic Structure of Pseudo-Dionysius’ World 8.1 The Cognitive Dimension of Hierarchy and the Role of Symbol 8.2 The Moral Aspect of the Dionysian Hierarchy as Interpreted by Gregory Palamas 9 Christ as the Foundation of Knowledge in the Thought of Pseudo-Dionysius and Gregory Palamas 10. The Areopagite’s Thought in the Context of Palamite Anthropology 11 Unifying Vision Conclusion Bibliography "The study shows the reception of the views of Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagite by Gregory Palamas. The author presents the doctrinal context of Palamas' dispute with Barlaam from Calabria on the possibility of knowing God, the most important issue in 14th-century Byzantium. The author distances herself from many previous interpretations of this problem. She proves that, considering how much Palamas succumbed or did not succumb to the Areopagite or "corrected" his position, he has a very weak doctrinal basis. The author notices that over-emphasizing Dionysius' dependence on the Neoplatonic tradition does not lead to a solution to the problem. Palamas' teachings are placed in the context of the traditions of the Christian East and their relation to the thoughts of the Areopagite himself"-- Provided by publisher The book is a source comparative study of the views of Gregory Palamas and Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagite on man's ability to know God. The author distances herself from the opinions of other researchers who prove Pseudo-Dionysius' dependence on the Neoplatonic tradition. She asks about the place of Dionysian thought in the works of Palamas.