Paul Woodruff
Biographic Data
| ID | 1034637 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Paul Woodruff |
| GIVEN NAMES | Paul |
| FAMILY NAME | Woodruff |
| SIGNATURE | WOODRUFF P |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Sheffield |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3302-9785 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 48 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 7 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 45 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 3 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1976 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Age of onset and cumulative risk of mental disorders: A cross-national analysis of population surveys from 29 countries
BACKGROUND: Information on the frequency and timing of mental disorder onsets across the lifespan is of fundamental importance for public health planning. Broad, cross-national estimates of this information from coordinated general population surveys were last updated in 2007. We aimed to provide updated and improved estimates of age-of-onset distributions, lifetime prevalence, and morbid risk. METHODS: In this cross-national analysis, we analyse…
Learning through Love: A Lover’s Initiation in the Symposium
In the Symposium of Plato, Socrates reports that Diotima once described to him a process of initiation by which a lover rises from desiring one beautiful body to catching sight of what seems to be the Platonic form of beauty. Scholars have debated whether the lover is to make this ascent by a rational process or a non-rational one, or by both working either in concert or independently. This paper argues that love leads and guides a process in thi…
The Cambridge Companion to Thucydides
Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War is one of the earliest and most influential works in the western historiographical tradition. It provides an unfinished account of the war between Athens and her allies and Sparta and her allies which lasted from 431 to 404 BC, and is a masterpiece of narrative art and of political analysis. The twenty chapters in this Companion offer a wide range of perspectives on different aspects of the text, its i…
Psychotic-like experiences among university female students in Qatar: A qualitative-phenomenological study
Our findings support the importance of culture and religion in relation to the types and explanations that students provided when describing PLEs. Notably, it was common among those who reported having these experiences to normalize and link PLEs to real-life events. This may be a defense mechanism to protect the self against the stigma of mental illness and from being labeled as "abnormal
The Garden of Leaders: Revolutionizing Higher Education
Alexander the Great Had Aristotle
Leaders can emerge only under certain conditions; they need opportunities, experience, and education. Some famous leaders from the past have developed without formal education, but Alexander the Great studied with Aristotle. We should look at examples of leaders who changed the world without armies, however. Today, institutions of higher education can provide the necessary education, as well as opportunities and experience; they should do so inte…
Self-Ridicule: Socratic Wisdom
Socrates seeks wisdom through self-ridicule, which is a product of self-questioning. The questions he asks others are questions that he asks of himself, questions that we should be asking of ourselves. They are mischievous questions in that they bring to light comfortable presuppositions that will not stand up to investigation; taking them seriously helps us reach an understanding of our ignorance, an understanding that is the basis of human wisd…
The Ethics of Giving
Philanthropy and charitable giving support the lives of both people and institutions. Individuals express their values by where they give and how much. Yet recent philosophers have written little about the subject, aside from Peter Singer and other advocates of effective altruism, who are mostly (but not universally) consequentialist utilitarians. We have a need, therefore, to examine theories of the ethics of giving from a wider range of theorie…
Gods, Fate, and the Character of Oedipus
In both plays, character drives the actions that are represented or reported on stage. Although Oedipus and his family are living through a fate allotted to them by the gods, they show genuine agency in their actions. The only stage action that calls for a supernatural explanation is the miracle at the end of Oedipus at Colonus , when Oedipus seems to understand the voice of Zeus in the sound of thunder. Otherwise, all the actions can be explaine…
The Oedipus Plays of Sophocles: Philosophical Perspectives
Among ancient Greek plays, the Oedipus plays of Sophocles have been especially interesting to philosophers. Much of the action in each play centers on the oscillation of the main character between self-deception and self-discovery. Other important themes of the plays include destiny, responsibility, aging, and death. Oedipus Tyrannus brings out the interplay between character and fate as Oedipus seeks a malefactor who turns out to be himself. Oed…
Giving Isn’t Demanding: Philosophers' Perspectives on Philanthropy
Peter Singer argues that middle-class members of affluent countries have an obligation to give away almost all their income to fight poverty in the developing world. Others, however, argue that this view is too demanding : it is asking more of us than morality truly requires. This chapter proposes a weaker principle, the very weak principle of sacrifice: Most middle-class members of affluent countries ought, morally, to use at least 10 percent of…
Mimesis
A family of concepts labeled “mimesis” is fundamental to aesthetics, both ancient and modern. Philosophers have put mimesis to a variety of uses. Plato faults certain poets for their use of mimesis in one passage, while blaming all poets for it in another. Aristotle makes mimesis the genus to which all poetry belongs, without any hint that mimesis might need a defense. Modern philosophers and literary critics have used mimesis extensively; for ex…
Early Greek Legal Thought
Virtues of Imperfection
Rhetoric and Tragedy
All three of the great poets of ancient Greek tragedy wrote for an audience that enjoyed displays of rhetoric. Many scenes turn on attempts at persuasion, which may be couched in set speeches or in stichomythia (line-on-line dialogue). Frequently, set speeches are paired in a formal agōn (contest) and use arguments from eikos (what is likely). Set speeches often begin with artful attempts to deny that the speaker knows the art of persuasive speak…
The effect of psychological stress and expectation on auditory perception: A signal detection analysis
Both psychological stress and predictive signals relating to expected sensory input are believed to influence perception, an influence which, when disrupted, may contribute to the generation of auditory hallucinations. The effect of stress and semantic expectation on auditory perception was therefore examined in healthy participants using an auditory signal detection task requiring the detection of speech from within white noise. Trait anxiety wa…
Loyalty: Nomos Liv
"Featuring essays by scholars working in a variety of subjects, [this book] presents diverse perspectives on dilemmas posed by potential conflicts between loyalties to specific institutions or professional roles and more universalistic conceptions of moral duty. Beings with a philosophical exploration of theories of loyalty, both Eastern and Western, then moves on to examine several problematic situations in which loyalty is often a factor: parti…
Early Greek Political Thought from Homer to the Sophists
The Ajax dilemma: Justice, Fairness, and Rewards
"Paul Woodruff examines one of today's most pressing moral issues: how to distribute rewards and public recognition without damaging the social fabric ... Woodruff argues that while we can never create a perfect system for distributing just rewards, we can recognize the essential role that wisdom, compassion, moderation, and respect must play if we are to restore the basic sense of justice on which all communities depend."--Jacket.
Wisdom
This chapter first proposes a scenario where Agamemnon appreciated both Ajax's loyalty and Odysseus's cleverness, where Ajax saw the value of Odysseus, and was glad when Odysseus was rewarded. It then discusses wisdom as a kind of love, the capacity to see beauty in unlikely places and respond to it; human wisdom as understanding who you are, not merely knowing it; and wisdom as good judgment.
The Story of Ajax
This chapter tells the story of Ajax from four different points of view: Odysseus, King Agamemnon, Ajax's wife Tecmessa, and the old counselor Nestor. It asks whether any of them could have done something to prevent the loss of Ajax. It details Odysseus's reflections about how the army destroyed his friendship with Ajax; Agamemnon's belief that he did everything right; Tecmessa's concern for her husband; and Nestor's fondness for Ajax.
The Answer
This chapter discusses the advice that a student of philosophy should give to a commander in Agamemnon's position. This entails telling Agamemnon that his army should have had someone with the wisdom needed to sustain it as an effective team, along with the leadership qualities to communicate that wisdom and apply it to the case. This wisdom was justice. When the army was in danger of becoming unraveled, Odysseus possessed the wisdom as well as c…
Compassion
This chapter first distinguishes between clemency, pity, and compassion. It then discusses how Tecmessa and Odysseus both feel compassion for Ajax and how they use it in different ways. Odysseus's compassion holds him back from action upon seeing Ajax in his rage. Tecmessa's compassion rises from her ability to recognize the feelings of others. Because of her compassion, she understands Ajax's feelings along with those of the commanders. She real…
Caring about Ajax
This chapter focuses on the character of Odysseus in the story of Ajax. The story reveals that Odysseus, the man who will do anything to win, cared about Ajax. Odysseus also felt compassion for Ajax and brings respect for his honor. Odysseus can be compared to a quarterback who has respect for the offensive line. He accepts his fame with its huge rewards along with an acute awareness of his own vulnerability.
The Pyrrhonian Modes
The Pyrrhonian Modes are argument schemata for general use against dogmatism. We have records of two main lists of Modes, the Ten and the Five, which were used at various times in the history of ancient scepticism, either independently or in some sort of systematic connection. These Modes use strategies with ancient roots in such thinkers as Protagoras, Democritus, Plato, and Aristotle, but users of the Modes were not committed to positions held …
The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy
Luck and ethics' But human excellence grows like a vine tree, fed by the green dew, raised up, among wise men and just, to the liquid sky.' 1 So Pindar displays a problem that lies at the heart of Greek thought about the good life for a human being.He is a poet who has dedicated his career to writing lyric odes in praise of human excellence.This career presupposes, on the part of both poet and audience, the belief that the excellence of a good pe…
The effect of psychological stress and expectation on auditory perception: A signal detection analysis
Both psychological stress and predictive signals relating to expected sensory input are believed to influence perception, an influence which, when disrupted, may contribute to the generation of auditory hallucinations. The effect of stress and semantic expectation on auditory perception was therefore examined in healthy participants using an auditory signal detection task requiring the detection of speech from within white noise. Trait anxiety wa…
Socrates and ontology: The evidence of the Hippias major
Aristotle notes with approval that Socrates did not separate the forms.2 By this he means, at least, that Socrates did not subscribe to the existence of forms separate from their particular instances, and implies that Socrates either did not admit forms into his ontology at all, or ceded them only the shadowy status of Aristotelian forms. Aristotle's testimony in this regard fits neatly with the evidence of Plato's earlier dialogues, which of all…
Socrates on the Parts of Virtue
Socrates and ontology: The evidence of the Hippias major
Aristotle notes with approval that Socrates did not separate the forms.2 By this he means, at least, that Socrates did not subscribe to the existence of forms separate from their particular instances, and implies that Socrates either did not admit forms into his ontology at all, or ceded them only the shadowy status of Aristotelian forms. Aristotle's testimony in this regard fits neatly with the evidence of Plato's earlier dialogues, which of all…
Plato: Protagoras
The Socratic Approach to Semantic Incompleteness
The Sophistic Movement
Plato: Two Comic Dialogues: Ion and Hippias Major
The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy
Luck and ethics' But human excellence grows like a vine tree, fed by the green dew, raised up, among wise men and just, to the liquid sky.' 1 So Pindar displays a problem that lies at the heart of Greek thought about the good life for a human being.He is a poet who has dedicated his career to writing lyric odes in praise of human excellence.This career presupposes, on the part of both poet and audience, the belief that the excellence of a good pe…
Virtue Ethics and the Appeal to Human Nature
Aeschylus
Aeschylus, the first of the three great Athenian tragic poets, lived 525–456. Seven of his nearly one hundred tragedies are preserved complete, and we have fragments of several dozen others. His most complex work, the Oresteia trilogy (458), raises many of the social, political, and ethical issues of contemporary Athens, such as the nature of justice, the origins of law and order, and the relations between the sexes. Some modern scholars doubt th…
Plato's World: Man's Place in the Cosmos
This text examines the relationship between Plato's conception of the nature of the universe, and his moral and political thought. Cropsey interprets seven of Plato's dialogues - Theaetetus, Euthyphro, Sophist, Statesman, Apology, Crito and Phaedo - in light of their dramatic consecutiveness and thus as a conceptual and dramatic whole. The cosmos depicted by Plato in these dialogues, Cropsey argues, is often unreasonable, and populated by human b…
Rhetoric and relativism: Protagoras and Gorgias
Protagoras and Gorgias are the most significant of the early sophists. Although philosophy as we understand it was not their chief business, they taught views and methods of argument that have fascinated subsequent philosophers. In their own context they exhibit the spirit of the new learning, the cultural and intellectual revolution of the fifth century B.C. in Greece. This revolution - or, rather, the reaction against it - is illustrated in Ari…
The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy
The Western tradition of philosophy began in Greece with a cluster of thinkers often called the Presocratics, whose influence has been incalculable. They include the early Ionian cosmologists, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, the Eleatics (Parmenides, Melissus, and Zeno), Empedocles, Anaxagoras, the atomists and the sophists. All these thinkers are discussed in this 1999 volume both as individuals and collectively in chapters on rational theology, epistem…
Reason and Religion in Socratic Philosophy
This volume brings together mostly previously unpublished studies by prominent historians, classicists, and philosophers on the roles and effects of religion in Socratic philosophy and on the trial of Socrates. Among the contributors are Thomas C. Brickhouse, Asli Gocer, Richard Kraut, Mark L. McPherran, Robert C. T. Parker, C. D. C. Reeve, Nicholas D. Smith, Gregory Vlastos, Stephen A. White, and Paul B. Woodruff.
Socrates and the Irrational
Socrates is the hero who established in the place of the Delphic oracle the principle that man must look within himself to know what is Truth. Now, seeing that Pythia herself pronounced that utterance, we find in it a complete revolution in the Greek mind, and the fact that in the place of the oracle, the personal self-consciousness of every thinking man has come into play. This inward certainty, however, is undoubtedly another new god, and not t…
Visual broadcast in schizophrenia
Visual broadcast in schizophreniaAlthough doctors are trained to classify psychiatric symptoms (for example, as 'delusions' or 'hallucinations') within a standardised mental state examination, it is likely that some symptoms will defy such classification.Hence, if the mental state examination is not supplemented by patients' verbatim descriptions of their experiences, then novel symptoms may go unrecognised and potentially untreated.We have recen…
First Democracy
Americans have an unwavering faith in democracy and are ever eager to import it to nations around the world. But how democratic is our own "democracy"? If you can vote, if the majority rules, if you have elected representatives—does this automatically mean that you have a democracy? In this eye-opening look at an ideal that we all take for granted, this book offers some surprising answers to these questions. Drawing on classical literature, philo…
The Rule of Law (Nomos)
Socrates was a man of free thought. Because he taught some ideas that were unfavorable to the community, he was reputed to be against democracy and was sentenced to death. But Socrates merely examined the democracy of his time, and the rules of law it executed he thought of as misguided. Plato put law second to public morality. Democracy prevents anyone from being above the law, so in a sense, it could develop into a form of tyranny, the theory g…
Harmony
The harmony of Athens and her neighbours, especially with opposing Sparta, has been reflected in various forms of literature such as Aesop's The Bundle of Sticks, the Woven Fabric, and as well as in music. History on the other hand tells otherwise and claims that the inspiration for these creative works were the tragedies of civil wars, tyranny, and imperial excess that occurred with and within Athens. Without harmony there is no unity which can …
First Democracy: The Challenge of an Ancient Idea
The Life and Death of Democracy
Just like the life struggle of Demosthenes to promote democracy against the Macedonians, democracy is messy and never perfect. In a philosophical way, the democratic idea applies the flawed and human—to make it into a perfect utopia is to destroy it. This chapter discusses primitive democracy as it appeared in ancient Greek culture, in the midst of civilizations at war, including foreign conquerors and fellow city states. Athens, which upheld the…
The Necessity of Theater: The Art of Watching and Being Watched
"What is unique and essential about theater? What separates it from other arts? Do we need "theater" in some fundamental way? The art of theater, as Paul Woodruff says in this elegant and unique book, is as necessary--and as powerful - as language itself. Defining theater broadly, including sporting events and social rituals, he treats traditional theater as only one possibility in an art that - at its most powerful - can change lives and (as som…
Aristotle's Poetics: The Aim of Tragedy
This chapter contains sections titled: What Is Tragedy? Mimesis6 Understanding Katharsis17 Five Questions for Interpreters A Short History of Katharsis Interpretation The Nature of Our Question Notes Bibliography
The Pyrrhonian Modes
The Pyrrhonian Modes are argument schemata for general use against dogmatism. We have records of two main lists of Modes, the Ten and the Five, which were used at various times in the history of ancient scepticism, either independently or in some sort of systematic connection. These Modes use strategies with ancient roots in such thinkers as Protagoras, Democritus, Plato, and Aristotle, but users of the Modes were not committed to positions held …
The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Scepticism
This volume offers a comprehensive survey of the main periods, schools, and individual proponents of scepticism in the ancient Greek and Roman world. The contributors examine the major developments chronologically and historically, ranging from the early antecedents of scepticism to the Pyrrhonist tradition. They address the central philosophical and interpretive problems surrounding the sceptics' ideas on subjects including belief, action, and e…
The Ajax dilemma: Justice, Fairness, and Rewards
"Paul Woodruff examines one of today's most pressing moral issues: how to distribute rewards and public recognition without damaging the social fabric ... Woodruff argues that while we can never create a perfect system for distributing just rewards, we can recognize the essential role that wisdom, compassion, moderation, and respect must play if we are to restore the basic sense of justice on which all communities depend."--Jacket.
Philosophy (32 works) · Art (19 works) · Classical Philosophy and Thought (18 works) · Epistemology (18 works) · Political science (17 works) · Classical Antiquity Studies (16 works) · Law (15 works) · Literature (15 works) · Psychology (14 works) · Computer Science (12 works)