Arquivo para a ‘Noosfera’ Categoria
The current debate on justice
26
Aug
Heir of John Rawls, Michael Sandel is successful, he says what 
he says to many others who are successful: “Those who are successful tend to think it’s thanks to themselves”, certainly if they weren’t a professor at Harvard, they wouldn’t give assisted lectures by thousands of people, and could not speak of polarization without a clearer definition of its own position.
His book A tyranny of merit (Editora Civilização Brasileira, released in September 2020), drew the attention of progressive sectors, but there is a veiled criticism of these sectors, accused of “embracing, in response to the challenges of globalization, a culture of merit that led to a legitimate resentment of the working classes, of disastrous consequences that were manifested, even in the management of this pandemic” (Daily El País, September 2020).
It has the merit (making a paradox) of saying what is obvious, that without a policy of quotas and breaking the barriers of inequalities (including the cultural one that he points out) there is no possibility of mobility for the underprivileged, but the line of thought de Sandel is rooted in the readings of John Rawls, and his work “Liberalism and the Limits of Justice” (Gulbenkian, 2005) is proof of this, and both were colleagues at Harvard.
In the early 1980s, Rawls himself cited Sandel’s communitarian critique as “the most scathing of all” and although he called into question “deontology with a human face” (see the roots of this thought in the previous post), it was an inherent thought. to the Rawlsian theory of a “deontological liberalism” combined with a “reasonable empiricism”, the terms can be found in Sandel’s work.
In order to obtain a “liberal policy without metaphysical constraints”, Sandel called on his colleague Rawls, ultimately, to abandon the deontological argumentation of an “unencumbered self”, “incapable of self-respect” and “self-knowledge, in any morally serious sense”, see that there is an objectivism within what Hegel calls ethics.
Rawls himself had already been led to reformulate his political liberalism, starting from the context of reasonable pluralism and moving away from a comprehensive moral theory of justice.
Sandel’s lectures are successful in the US and now also abroad, and also in his case it is nothing other than the fruit of meritocracy (Harvard in this case), but his works must be read carefully.
SANDEL, Michael. (1982) Liberalism and the Limits of Justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. In Portuguese (2005): Liberalism and the Limits of Justice. Trans. C.P. Amaral. Lisbon: Gulbenkian.
Polycrisis and hard words
20
Aug
We have already talked about the crisis of thought, the excess of very
special people who lose sight of the whole, the idealist prison, which was born in a pre-Socratic idealism, as Popper pointed out, and an emptiness of the capacity to renew thought.
Morin’s proposal to reform thought is to open the drawers of thought and articulate them in a complex model (from the Latin complexus, which is woven together) outside of “specialty” and conceptualism.
What before seemed like a warning is now present in several speeches besides ecologists: the planet shows signs of exhaustion, extreme temperatures, even in places where it seemed impossible: cold in the southern hemisphere and intense heat in the northern hemisphere, also animal life is perishing, the current news is the almost extinction of the emperor penguin, which were large colonies.
The planetary core also manifests itself, the number of volcanoes and earthquakes grows, Haiti calls for help after a new earthquake and a hurricane that weakened even more that poor country.
The return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan, the military in Myanmar and other neo-totalitarianism, all these seem harsh and pessimistic words, of course we always hope, it is not humanity’s first crisis, but perhaps this is the most global and the most general of all and could become a civilizing crisis, in the midst of a pandemic that persists, and it is neo-denial to say that it has passed, the new variants are threatening, and the WHO itself and many scientists are warning.
Perhaps a barely perceptible level is that of religiosity, in addition to the disrespect for various beliefs, there is internally a crisis that we can call a “despiritualized ascesis”, using a word from Peter Sloterdijk, which we translate here by its root, ascesis “without” admitting The spirit.
It says a biblical passage in which Jesus is questioning his disciples who thought his word was too harsh (Jn 6:61-63):
“Knowing that his disciples were murmuring about this very thing, Jesus asked: “Does this offend you? And when you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? The Spirit gives life, the flesh does nothing. The words I spoke to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe”.
He is speaking to his disciples and to those who believe, and if he does not have spirituality, he does not have Faith.
Modern sophistry and the crisis of democracy
19
Aug
Through the posts we develop the crisis of thought and modern
sophisms, no longer based on justifications of power, but to promote new neo-authoritarian models of power, it is psychopolitics as developed by Byung Chul Han, which is beyond Foucault’s biopolitics.
On the reform of thought Edgar Morin developed an extensive work that is summarized in his book “The well-made head: rethinking the reform, reforming thought”, with two important aspects, in addition to the reformed thought itself: ecological thinking and overcoming of the mechanistic model.
A century after the triumph of quantum physics, the model of our thinking is still Newtonian, mechanistic and dualistic, the quantum model admits a third excluded, in which matter pulsates and there is a third state between one point of matter and another, called na In tunneling effect physics, he enshrines Werner Heisenberg’s initial view of the uncertainty principle and rediscovers the wave nature of matter and not just light, which is also massless matter.
Edgar Morin uses this concept of uncertainty to reform reform, that change we all want but which is still focused on two poles, and induces much of modern thought towards fundamentalisms that admit reforms neither an excluded third nor a third way.
These strands make the planet move towards an unprecedented political crisis of democracy, neo-authoritarian governments, such as Myanmar and now in Afghanistan, and planet dictatorships already almost consolidated throughout the West, threatening the emergence of new and even more radical ones.
Edgar Morin says in his book: “An intelligence incapable of perceiving the context and the planetary complex becomes blind, unconscious and irresponsible” (Morin, 2014) and will later say: ““[…] a way of thinking, capable of uniting and solidarize separate knowledge, it is capable of unfolding in an ethics of union and solidarity among humans. A thought capable of not being confined to the place and the particular, but of conceiving the sets … would be able to favor a sense of responsibility and citizenship” (Morin, 2014).
See “would be able to” in Morin´s phrase, possible but difficult in the current stage.
MORIN, Edgar (2014) A cabeça bem-feita: repensar a reforma, reformar o pensamento. Rio de Janeiro: Bertrand Brasil.
Crisis of thought and cynical reason
17
Aug
Modern thought is still strongly linked to idealism, there are several points to
question Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, two points that I consider central: the subject and object dualism (called the infernal dichotomy by Bruno Latour) and the transformation of eidos Greek in an abstract idea, almost all contemporary Western philosophy is heir to Kant.
The crisis of Greek “democracy” (questionable because slaves and women did not participate) happened amidst the crisis of sophistic thinking, founded on relativism and the justification of power, the art of rhetoric and oratory and the power of argumentation was worth more than the truth.
There, too, another infernal dichotomy is born: between nature (phýsis) and culture (nómos), after all, what is nature and what we mean by culture when we distance it from experience and techné.
Sloteridjk is one of the rare Western philosophers who will question without losing the rationalist and progressive slant, both the classic current models of argumentation and Adorno and Horkheimer, Sartre and Foucault, neither escapes nor Heidegger, who in a way is also heir, by questioning his Charter on Humanism, and thinking about what humanism actually is today.
What you call culture, for example, can show the contradiction, giving the example of China where you can eat dog meat and in India you can’t eat beef, which is a sacred animal.
The point that I consider most central is the explanation of modern relativism, since this was also the foundation of the Greek sophists, there everything that referred to practical life could be changed, so both religion and politics were considered cultural factors and could be modified is convergent, according to Sloterdijk with modern thought, according to his analysis of the concepts of cynicism and kynisms, its founder Antisthenes of Athens (445-365 BC) preached a simple life as a wild life (in nature, the word kynós means dog), the figure of Diogenes in his barrel is the most emblematic (in the painting above, Jean Leon Gerome).
Although a disciple of Socrates, unlike Plato, he opted only for the stereotype of the master, as opposed to educating and organizing an “episteme”, he will make everything simple and relative.
The context of these sophists was the city-state and the democracy of Athens which was in crisis.
The second part of Sloterdijk’s book is a critique of applied cynicism, structured in four parts: physiognomic, phenomenological, logical and historical.
Sloterdijk, P. Critique of Cynic Reason, trans. Marco Casanova et al., Brazil, SP: Estação Liberdade, 2012.
The orgic birth
13
Aug
How modern knowledge can give birth to a new world, overcome
the humanitarian crisis (which is beyond the pandemic), overcome the crisis of thought warned by so many thinkers Bachelard and the new science, Husserl and the crisis of scientific thought, Morin and the crisis of humanitarian thought, which Sloterdijk also criticized by revising Heidegger’s “Letter on Humanism”.
Reviewing the three changes, in antiquity Socrates through Plato gave birth to the episteme that surpassed the sophist model and Plato organized the model of the city-state, with the limitations that did not entitle women and slaves, a model that collapses along with the Roman empire, we inherited the law from them, but in what was translated the natural law: in the social contract.
The modern republic comes precisely from a discussion of what human nature is, the anthropocentrist model ignored the Being and its relationship with the Being, it is not just about the relationship with Nature, but with human nature itself, which is also a phenomenon.
We have already posted here about the orgic change, the relationship with nature itself and with ours, which Sloterdijk calls “matrix in grêmio” (picture), an appropriate name for Christian eschatology, where there is the female figure as the promoter of this orgic change, the relationship tense with nature that will bring profound changes in the planet and in the human relationship.
What we developed in our previous post about aorgic mutation was the necessary overcoming of anthropocentrism, the nature of nature (developed in Edgar Morin’s Method I), the place of man in nature (the title of one of Teilhard Chardin’s books) and many others point out that anthropocentrism is a paradox, we are co-dependent and co-participants of Nature.
But nature shows signs of agony, climate change is just a symptom, the very structure of the planet (volcanoes, earthquakes, etc.) can profoundly and dangerously alter the planet, remember the Fukushima and Chernobyl disasters, and polarization behind the danger of war.
In Christian eschatology, the book of the Apocalypse of St. John reads (Rev. 12-19a-12): “The Temple of God in heaven was opened and the Ark of the Covenant appeared in the Temple. Then a great sign appeared in heaven: a Woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars”.
Theologians and exegetes shuffle over this passage, of course the figure of Mary comes to the fore, but the temple of God is nothing more than the universe and nature, including human nature, and the crown of twelve stars, the doses tribes of Israel, but curiously the European flag has two stars too, and metaphorically I would say that it represents a more united world, in the initial European model because it also suffered cracks like the English Brexit.
The orgic change is a possibility not a fatality, and everything depends on human action, as the centenary philosopher Morin says, one can hope and believe in change.
Birthing knowledge and phenomenology
12
Aug
The definition of the phenomenology method as a form of knowledge
is according to the philosophy dictionary (Abbagnano, 2000, p. 437) as “description of what appears or science that has as its objective or project this description”, with the phenomenon being “what appears or manifests itself” (idem).
The German philosopher Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) developed it as a radical way to review methodologies and concepts of science with logical and positivist assumptions, starting from how things (the concept of object is also surpassed here, it is linked to the subject) have its appearance to consciousness, and from there “going towards things in themselves” (HUSSERL, 2008, p. 17).
Intentionality is the fundamental mark in phenomenological consciousness, it is always turned outwards, towards something, but it is neither substance nor envelope, it is an intuition, an apodictic evidence, and this is the birth of phenomenology.
The first step of this method to “search” the phenomenon is the phenomenological reduction (epoché), a suspension of our concepts or preconceptions, placing them in parentheses, since it is impossible to separate the subject from the object, when something appears will manifest itself now.
Starting from this “suspension of judgment” (it is used by other currents of thought), scrutinize the phenomenon in its “purity” and avoid what would be a “natural attitude” in the apprehension and analysis of the phenomenon, then carry out an eidetic reduction or variation ( the idea in the Greek sense is an image rather than a concept), it passes through a psychological level and a transcendental level.
Here, becoming something like “pure consciousness”, Husserl calls it “phenomenological attitude”, it allows new perspectives (Abschattungen) and several profile variations (Abschatung), the German roots are important, because it is perceived that one is a “variation” of the other is eidos.
It is precisely in this eidetic variation that something takes place in consciousness that goes from the perceived object (noesis) to the noema, a complex of predicates and modes to be given by experience.
The thing that presents itself to my consciousness is not only abstract, it does not have its existence denied, what Husserl defends is that we have a perception of something (object for idealism), which is only supported by the possibility of different profiles (abschatung) that he is apprehended. We are left with two questions whether this is separate from its materiality (hylé for the Greeks) and whether it is possible to think of this consciousness as consciousness of the world, transcendence in history.
HUSSERL, E.(2008) The crisis of European humanity and philosophy. Brasil, Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS.
From metaphysics to ontology
05
Aug
There is no dishonorable resource of using metaphor to
affirm metaphysics, as Ricoeur asked, the Thomist resource “did not stop at the solution closest to the Platonic exemplary adopted in the commentary on Book I of the Sentences, still under the influence of Alberto the Great” (Ricoeur, 2005, p . 421).
Aquinas, when working on being, potency and act (his great categories), conceives an order of descent “in the series being, substance and accident” observes Ricoeur, “according to which one receives the other esse et rationem”, and thus establishes another analogy as described in Distintio XXXV (q. 1, ar. 4):
“There is another analogy [besides the order of priority] when a term imitates another as much as it can, but does not match it perfectly, and this analogy is found between God and creatures” (Aquino apud Ricoeur, 2005, p. 421), and explains Ricoeur it is necessary to understand this feature of a common term between God and creatures, and this can be explained thus:
“Between God and creatures there is no similarity through something common, but through imitation, from which it is said that the creature is similar to God, but not the other way around, as Pseudo-Dionysius says” (idem).
This participation by similarity means that “it is God himself who communicates his likeness: the diminished image ensures an imperfect and inadequate representation of the divine exemplar” (Ricoeur, 2005, p. 422), and this has a weakness: “the total disjunction between attribution of names and categorical attribution” (idem), thus the theological discourse “loses all support in the categorical discourse of being”.
The resource already pointed out above being as an act and power, direct similarity is still close to univocity, so Aquino observes that exemplary causality, due to its formal character, must be subordinated to efficient causality, the only one that founds the communication of underlying being analog assignment. The discovery of being as an act then becomes the ontological foundation of the theory of analogy” (RICOEUR, 2005, p. 422).
The discourse is too philosophical, and I simplify it here: God is pure being in act and potency, the creature is being in act and can be in potency, so Thomas Aquinas develops this.
Aquinate in De Veritate distinguishes two types of analogy, one proportional (proportio), for example a number and its double, and another one of proportional relation (proportionalitas) which is a similarity of relation, in numbers, for example, 6 is to 3 as 4 is to 2.
Of course this is not just mathematics, Ricoeur does this as a didactic resource, the infinite and the finite are disproportionate, but it can be said (divine science is for God, what human science is for the created” (Ricoeur, 2005, p. 423) and which is a quotation from Thomas Aquinas’ De veritate.
Ricoeur, P. (2005) Metáfora viva. trad. Dion David Macedo. BR, São Paulo: Edições Loyola.
Man will not live on bread alone
30
Jul
We wrote in last week’s post, we are the “multiplication of loaves”,
which undoubtedly has the aspect of sharing, but that the supernatural aspect was forgotten by many, reducing something “ineffable” to a situation of solidarity, and this is what we are developing around lack of spirituality, and or de-spiritualized ascesis, the term is from Peter Sloterdijk, of course.
Sloterdijk’s definition is clear: “As an exercise I define any operation that preserves or improves the actor’s qualification to perform the same operation next time, whether it is declared as an exercise or not” (Sloterdijk, 2009, p. 14), and if applies our interpretation because he speaks and personal trainers, but they can also be eloquent preachers, media philosophers or any other type that does “exercises” to motivate and pull people out of sameness, but it’s only momentary.
He announces in his book an anthropotechnic turn, and what we are here is to demonstrate an ontoanthropotechnic clearing, that is, that it is not incompatible with the ontology of Being, here in the sense of asceticism and spirituality, it is explained here by a passage biblical
Let’s go back to biblical hermeneutics, after the biblical one that is in the synoptic gospels (Mt 14:13-21, Mk 6:31-44, Lk 9:10-17 and John 6:5-15), Jesus wants to get away from the crowd because they wanted to make him a human “king” (it’s in the passages), the crowd comes back and goes after him, and the Master inquires (John, 26-27):
“Verily, verily, I say to you: you are looking for me not because you saw signs, but because you ate bread and were satisfied. Strive not for the food that is lost, but for the food that lasts until eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For this is who the Father marked with his seal”.
There is no condemnation because they wanted to eat, but Jesus asks for an “ascesis”, an effort for food that is not lost, and this is “who the Father marked the seal”, ascesis finds spirituality, it demands more food: “the bread of heaven,” that which nourishes the soul.
If only a human and earthly interpretation was possible in the passage of the multiplication of the loaves, now the pedagogy of Jesus performs the necessary hermeneutics to understand it.
SLOTERDIJK, Peter. (2009) Du musst Dein Leben ändern. Über Antropotechnik Frankfurt, Suhrkamp.
Spirituality and ascesis
29
Jul
There is no deep spirituality without an ascesis and true
spiritual elevation takes time and training, the Buddhist master Dalai Lama stated: “Developing strength, courage and inner peace takes time. Don’t expect quick and immediate results under the pretext that you’ve decided to change. Every action you take allows that decision to become effective within your heart.”
It is therefore necessary to develop a virtuous circle where some sacrifices and abstinence are necessary, it does not mean abandoning material issues, but the balanced and conscious use of what is being desired, whether it is a simple inner peace or a high degree of religiosity, the detachment of affections must be done in steps and with balance.
Communication with the transcendent Being is also a good relationship with human beings who go through our lives, from the most complicated to the most generous, all are our neighbors.
Meditation, physical and mental balance, harmony of the environment in which we live, can and should be simple, sensible and daily communication of what we want to donate as our thinking, the study and research of great masters of thought and spirituality and finally what is the highest desire of a spirituality: the ascesis to the divine, the supernatural and the Whole.
Ascesis is a path like this, not without falls and never without difficulties, if it is without difficulties, the great spiritual masters teach, perhaps it is not a true ascesis (Picture of Rembrandt´s Frame).
Finally, there can be ascesis without spirituality, they can improve health, enrich and beautify the environment around us, but they do not really mean an elevation of the soul.
Praying, meditating and dialoguing with everyone and everything around us, it is not crazy to dialog with nature, with animals and with the universe, everything is divine creation and everything “speaks” of the divine.
