Page 88 - Beholding Liberty!

1.2.17
Neofytos Vamvas
Elements of the Philosophical Ethics
Venice: By Nikolaos Glykys of Ioannina, 1818 Library of the Hellenic Parliament
THE ARCHIMANDRITE NEOFYTOS VA M VA S (1776-1855), born on the island of Chios, went to Paris in 1808, where he was initiat- ed in the Society of Friends. In April 1821 he found himself on Hydra, where he met D. Ypsilantis, whom he followed as secretary to the battles he fought, his speeches filling the fighters with enthusiasm. Disap- pointed, later on, by the civil conflicts, he decided to dedicate himself completely to his educational work, teaching in the Ionian Academy, in Syros and finally, from 1837, as professor of Philosophy in the Univer- sity of Athens – he even became chancellor of the Athens University.
1.2.18
Konstantinos Koumas
Treatise of Philosophy, vol. I
Vienna: By the Printing House of Ioan. Varth. Tesevekiu, 1818 Library of the Hellenic Parliament
His work Στοιχεία της Φιλοσοφικής Ηθικής/Elements of Philosophical Ethics reflects the interest of the Neo-Hel- lenes Enlighteners in Ethics, within the wider frame of philosophy. Three works contributed to this effort: Ηθική/ Ethics by Konstantinos Koumas (1843), Στοιχεία Ηθικής/ Elements of Ethics by Veniamin of Lesvos and Στοιχεία της φιλοσοφικής ηθικής/Elements of philosophical ethics by Neofytos Vamvas (1853). The definition of ethics by Vambas as a science of the human moral values, which aims at «the rational enactment of virtue», stems from two moral principles, God and rationality. Indicative of his views is the perception of the moral illnesses as «worse and more dangerous» than the bodily ones.
KONSTANTINOS KOUMAS (1777-1836), a scholar, philosopher and translator of literature from Larissa, received his elementary education at the famous School of Tyrnavos (also known as «Ελληνομουσείο/ Greek Museum»). He studied at the University of Vienna and acquired great renown as organizer of schools in various parts of Greece.
To this four-volume work of Koumas we owe the introduction of the systematic teaching of Kant’s philosophy in the Greek schools. In the context of his critique on Condillac’s Logic, the author offers a complete overview of the German philosophical approaches, accepting the three fundamental prin- ciples of Kantian philosophy: critical method, theo- ry of transcendental composition and the existence of the moral law as a categorical imperative. On page 117 of the treatise he presents the typolo- gy of passions. As he comments on page 116, ad- dressing the reader, «You somehow have in front of you a skeleton», or «tree» of the passions with its branches, «to facilitate their summary under- standing».
88 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!