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Winter can be terrible for war
28
Jun
In a videoconference with the G7 in this Monday (06/27),
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for the war to cease until winter, always a harder period for troops and for regions at war, this indicates two concerns: an intensification of battles in autumn (in the southern hemisphere it is the spring, from September to December) and possible difficulties in the supply of gas and food in the period.
On the Russian side, the gas supply cut, which has an obvious financial sacrifice, could mean a collapse in heating systems, domestic and industrial use in the region.
The G7 meeting started Sunday (26/06) with the countries: USA, UK, Germany, Italy, Canada, France and Japan, and the videoconference was held on the 2nd. Fair (27/06), the president also denounced the Russian attack on a crowded mall in the Cremenchuk region, with more than a thousand people.
The battles are still tough in the Dombass region, although there is Russian advance, the cost in troops, armaments and morale has been high for both sides, in short, there is a growing hatred and a possibility of peace increasingly distant.
In a political effort, the president of Russia will make his first trip abroad visiting two former Soviet states: Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, and then he will still meet with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, there are no statements on the subject of the talks, but with It’s certainly a geopolitical issue (see map).
But behind this trip there is a more worrying objective, Putin’s concern with borders, in this case with the countries of Asia, indicates both nostalgia for the former Soviet Union and a long-term warlike concern, this has a dark outline for the future. of humanity.
Of course, there is no one-sided warmongering, also the NATO response has been harsh as Sweden and Finland officially hand over the request for entry into NATO, Moldova and Georgia is also preparing its entry, while Ukraine lives waiting for a late entry.
The scenario is extremely worrying for autumn in Eastern Europe, which is spring in the Southern Hemisphere, a growing concern about the supply of food and oil agitates the entire world, but the biggest nightmare is the war itself and its contours.
Few and heroic voices unite for peace (see our post), the concern about polarization is now worldwide.
The rise of Covid 19 remains
20
Jun
There is no great consensus among experts on the current 
increase in the number of hospitalizations, as some point out that the statistics may be higher than those that appear in the surveys, either because of the omission of data in some states or because of asymptomatic cases that do not enter. in statistics or are treated as self-medication.
The various waves had successes and failures, and greater caution is now expected from the authorities.
Infectologist Júlio Croda from Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz-Brazil) stated that one factor was the flexibility in relation to protection measures and another was the seasonal effect of autumn and winter, which we are now just entering, so we concluded it should be extended until August.
Regarding underreporting, infectious disease specialist Rosana Richtmann from Hospital Emílio Ribas in São Paulo, Brazil, said that self-testing in pharmacies helped in terms of the ease of detecting Covid, but underreporting increased, with this the number of cases, which is important for control of the pandemic is limited and can lead to unsatisfactory measures to contain the contagion.
Even considering all this, the 4th. wave continues to advance and for the ninth consecutive day registers an increase, however hospitalizations and deaths must be clearly reported and many health bodies omit them, especially public bodies that are responsible for disclosing them.
A new strain XQ has been monitored in the country since March, isolated cases have already been detected in States of Brazil: Santa Catarina, São Paulo and Minas Gerais, in Rio Grande do Sul local transmission has already been identified in different cities, until the beginning of June there were 25 cases there.
Also abroad there are already cases in the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy, the XQ strain is a combination of the BA.1 and BA.2 variants is more infectious (about 10%), but there are no conclusive results of its lethality.
It doesn’t take an expert to know that as long as there are no serious preventive measures and rigorously applied, the virus continues to circulate and both the contagion and new variants will continue, more incisive attitudes are expected from health control bodies
Being and action
15
Jun
Being is not inactivity, because it is being that determines its action,
but the pure project on action empties being, it is activism or “vita activa”, the one that Husserl, Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, and more recently Byung Chul Han question about the absence of vita contemplativa, the interior.
It is not about subjectivity, because it is precisely the separation between objective and subjective being that is the first great impulse for the emptying of being, it is not also about the social being, it is what is projected in man’s consciousness, in the intention that it directs to the object, to the external life.
The “vita activa” (life in action) was thus expressed by Hanna Arendt: “The expression vita activa, comprising all human activities and defined from the point of view of the absolute stillness of contemplation, therefore corresponds more to the Greek askholia (occupation, restlessness) with which Aristotle [defines] all activity, which the bio politikos of the Greeks. The expression vita activa is permeated and overloaded with tradition. It is as old as our tradition of political thought, but no older than it. The expression itself, which in medieval philosophy is the consecrated translation of Aristotle’s bios politikos, already occurs in Augustine where, as vita negotiosa or actuosa, it still reflects its original meaning: a life dedicated to public and political affairs” (Arendt, 2007, p.23), in this explanation by Arendt there is also a complete translation of the political animal.
What action is for Arendt, is not that of activism or voluntarism, but that which takes place “between” men, depends on intersubjectivity (the relationship of interiorities), which she says thus: “the end, the last of the elements of vita activa addressed by Arendt is action. Action is the element of interpersonality and the environment of intersubjectivity, that is, it occurs between men. Therefore, because it is developed between people, the action is observed in a prominent way from labor and work, such elements do not influence it.
So what considers the human condition of action is plurality, he says textually: “Considering that action is an activity of free men in the public sphere, it is an expression of human plurality. Its realization depends on the coexistence between different individuals. However, since action requires an interactive diversity, it particularizes men. It promotes the appearance of individualities and enables the construction of identities. Now, man will never be able to manifest his uniqueness in isolation. Nobody shows what it is in the personal sphere of intimacy. Only when he is with others can man reveal what he is” (ARENDT, 2007, p.189).
But Hannah Arendt considers modernity in crisis only from the beginning of totalitarianism and the events of the two world wars, and in our view the problem already arises in rationalist/idealist thinking.
ARENDT, Hannah. (2007) A condição Humana. (The Human Condition). 10th ed. Rio de Janeiro: ed. Forense Universitária. .
New tension pole: Taiwan
14
Jun
In the midst of the war in Ukraine, the battle of Severodonesk
continues with Russian advance, which promises greater protection to the separatist republic of Donbass, with no prospects for agreement, a new pole of world tension involving the West and the socialist republics is heading towards Taiwan.
The attempt at tension between the People’s Republic of China, which is Mainland, and Taiwan, which is on the island of Taiwan, which has separated from China since the defeat of Chiang Kai Shek by the socialist supporters of Moa Tse Tung, is getting closer and closer.
Let’s understand history, founded in 1912, the Republic of China embraced a large part of Mainland China and Mongolia, at the end of the second world war with the surrender of Japan, the country annexed the islands of Formosa and Penghu (fishermen) to its jurisdiction, when the Kuomintang (KMT) lost the war to the communist party led by Mao Zedong in 1948, Chiang Kai-Shek’s government took refuge in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, and founded the Republic in Taiwan.
China never accepted this separation, but Taiwan’s political and political parties, such as former presidents Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian, considered that there was no need for a formal declaration of independence, however this became controversial in front of countries in the UN.
UN resolution 2758 of 1971 expelled the Republic of China (Taiwan) and gave the seat to the People’s Republic of China which lost its membership in all intergovernmental organizations related to the United Nations, such as the International Court of Justice, where international rights are discussed.
But the vote on the resolution was not unanimous (pictured) and many countries want to recognize the Republic of China, which maintains its independence, being one of the four Asian tigers with a strong economy, especially in the part of microelectronics components.
The tension is enormous and the idea that the People’s Republic of China will attack Taiwan is almost certain.
Being, clearing and unveiling
08
Jun
Every material, human and substantial question developed in the Enlightenment humanism provoked a veiling of Being, in which the external questions are more important and thought out than the interior ones, even though from Kant to Hegel the question of the spirit has been dealt with, it has always resulted in a dualism between active life (exterior) and contemplative life (interior), the latter translated as subjectivity (which belongs to the subject) and the former as objectivity.
For Heidegger it goes further, because it touches on the deep question of truth, it is in it that Western metaphysical thought was decided and developed, for this the thinker took up the question that the Greeks called “aletheia”, commonly translated simply as truth, but the suffix a-léthea, indicates negation, thus unveiled or as Heidegger preferred to translate it: unveiled.
The veiling is linked to the “presence” [on], which is the presence and the light, synthesized in the question that drives Plato’s thought in the myth of the cave, coming to light, coming out of the cave, in times of darkness, it means finding the clearing and unveiling it.
The presence of light, summarized in the question of Eidos, which was translated in the West by the word idea, cannot forget that for the Greeks the big question is to remain in the light, or to get out of the objective/subjective dualism that is to have the light of Being, not only inwardly, but in outward acts.
When questioning the end of philosophy as a task of thought, the act of questioning while thinking becomes pure interpretation of “data”, it is no longer a question of “[on” (presence) but what is present only as a thing, which for Heidegger from phenomenology is an adjective of “light”, while thinking is an “open free”, which has nothing in common, not even from the point of view of language, he wrote in this question: “of course, in the sense of open free , has “nothing” in common, neither from a linguistic point of view, nor in terms of the thing that is expressed with the adjective “luminous”, which means clear” (HEIDEGGER, 1979, p. 79).
It’s not about abolishing tradition, it played a role in history, but unveiling it, bringing it to light.
It is, therefore, about free thinking about the world, in permanent exercise of the world view.
Heidegger, Martin. (1979) “O fim da filosofia e a tarefa do pensamento” (The End of Philosophy and the Task of Thought”. In: Os pensadores. Brazil, São Paulo: Abril Cultural, pp. 79.
Covid 19: responsibility and risks
06
Jun
It is not easy to give bad news, however when dealing with serious diseases and health problems one cannot omit or fail to provide accurate diagnoses and data on diseases and social problems.
There is a relative tolerance for the Covid 19 data, but the observation of friends and relatives around us is not difficult to notice a new increase in cases of Covid-19, the current strain, a variant of the omicron is less lethal then the number of deaths (in Brazil) remains around a hundred.
The data from this last week, which had been increasing, reveal a small drop, but it is worrying that in 8 states the data were not provided, two of them are the states of São Paulo and Bahia, according to them there were problems in the data of the Ministry of health.
The peak in these days from the 29th to the 31st, if we go back 10 days from the infection of the virus, falls precisely during the off-season Carnival, as we defend in the post, monitoring and health protocols could not let their guard down, which was said by some responsible infectologists.
The public bodies that control large agglomerations want a return to normality, of course we all want it, in times of threat of war, efforts to maintain society with a healthy economy and supply becomes imperative, but it cannot cost lives.
A bet that there will be no new lethal variants and that Covid 19 is giving in has no real data to confirm this, if you listen to serious infectologists and sanitarians, the precaution is right.
Looking at the data from our neighbors, Chile has registered a greater number of new cases in the last two months, reaching 7,550 new infections last Thursday (26/05), in Uruguay there is a 50% increase in positive diagnoses (data of Jovem Pan radio-Brazil) and the health authorities of Paraguay already admit the arrival of the fourth wave of the disease.
The fact that the variant is less lethal is comforting, but it can’t be a reason to be unconcerned.
It´s up to the health´s authorities to be responsible and indicate the risks and protocols for the current situation.
The Spirit for the Religion
03
Jun
One of the important features as a starting point in Hegelian
thought is the concept of religion, and in it the final stage of the construction of the subjective thought of idealism, which after moving from the subject to the object, creates an idea of representation in itself and for yes.
We have already said that a guiding thread is the idea of supersumption, which represents the consciousness of the movement of what opposes the object and the need for something of itself and for itself “ideal”, remembering from the previous post that the supersumption is an interaction between thesis and antithesis.
The concept of the self, which goes from the subject to the object and the self that transcends this path, does not contain the “other”, alterity, as thought in Christian ontology:
“The presence of an object is the presence of another, determined as the non-divine being, the finite world, finite consciousness. This finitude of the other is articulated in nature itself or in the spirit in itself, or in consciousness or in the spirit for an other”. (AQUINO, 1989, p.242).
Therefore, the contradiction already presents itself before the question of a divine “spirit”, Holy as Christianity presupposes, is in the consciousness of itself, and the question of the representation of the object.
The for-itself is not a beyond, but a return to the transcendent in-itself, a closure in itself, for this reason it does not contain the other, so the idea of subject is what differentiates from religion, it is the question of Being, a Being that it is Other, and not a for-itself that turns to the in-itself.
Thus, having observed this junction that refers to the presence of an object and another, both establish a relationship with consciousness, but consciousness itself is only interiority while the for-itself admits a beyond, since from the Greek this suffix means this, as parallax (beyond position), paradox (beyond opinion), etc.
In terms of representation, consciousness is in relation both to the world and to another consciousness, they still remain in the world, but a for-itself means beyond the world, beyond sensible and palpable reality, not only in the idea, but as To be.
A spirit thus thought transcends being and being-with-Other, making another-Being, which for many religions is the spiritual world, in which there is a Being par excellence.
The Christian trinitarian relationship is a for-itself-Beyond-Being, or a Being par excellence, therefore a Holy Spirit, which relates to the Being-in-the-World that is consubstantiated with the pure divine Being.
It is then beyond the supersumption, there is no thesis and antithesis, but each Being is in the Other, in the trinitarian reasoning: Jesus is consubstantiated in the Father, generated by the Holy Spirit, who is relationship with the Being.
The Christian Trinitarian relationship is perichoretic, that is, each being “interpenetrates” the other and there is communion.
Jesus reveals this perichoretic relationship to the apostles (Jn 20:21-22(: “Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”,” the divine reality in the human soul.
AQUINO, M. F. O Conceito de religião em Hegel (The concept of religion in Hegel). Brazil, Sao Paulo: Loyola, 1989.
Spirit and dualistic ontology
01
Jun
Since the thought of Permenides and Heraclitus, Western 
philosophy oscillates between Being and Becoming, without either having a clear answer to the question of the spirit, or we fall into the subjectivism of the Soul that comes from Neoplatonists like Plotinus, who said that only the Soul is One, or we fall into a modern dialectical vision: thesis, synthesis and antithesis, which is the result of Becoming.
Among the authors who tried to break with this dualism is Bergson, who introduces the question of the spirit in his thought, trying to deconstruct the ontology outlined from the 20th century. XVII attacking the old theory of knowledge, which elaborates concepts and properties sustained in the denial of time and in the concept of duration linked to Ser.
Bergson’s thought, roughly speaking, is a traditional metaphysics starting from the pre-Socratics’ options between Being and Becoming, and he chooses substantiality (permanence) and idea (fixity) as pillars of his thought, so “search for the reality of things”. over time, beyond what moves” (Bergson, 1959, p. 1259) (see the cone in picture).
It can be said that the problem in Bergson’s reflection lies in the genetic analysis of representation, and this in turn is linked to the clash of dualism itself in the philosophical tradition, especially the modern one, that is, the critique of the opposition between “realism x idealism”.
After discussing the issue of Memory and Matter, the high point of his philosophy, he falls into the trap of Western thought defining the terms of the problem in terms of “images” (for some authors it would be the middle way between the thing and its perception in the “being”), and in this way, incapable of the excesses of the “material thing”, intends to “spiritual representation”.
Thus the image is a presence in the senses allowing the naive and direct description of the experience (or perception) of matter, it can be said that the new dualism is tied to the meaning of the spiritual representation, and thus one could break with the dualism body and soul (or mind).
The question of representation permeates his thought, so spirit is just a resource for it, in his Essay this is made clear by the division of the chapters: if the first deals with the “Selection” for representation, the second and third will analyze the “recognition” while the fourth will deal with the metaphysical conception of matter, by defining it as totality and extensive continuity (reminiscent of the Cartesian res-extensive) and presents it as a solution to the problem of dualism, the “delimitation and fixation of images”.
So Kant’s transcendence between subject and object is just put another way, so the question of Spirit is just an ingenious ruse, but it doesn’t resolve idealist dualism.
BERGSON, H. (1959) Oeuvres Edition du Centenaire. Paris: PUF.
Serenity and true peace
19
May
We have already posted a history of peace: Romans Pax, peace 
of Westphalia agreement between Catholics and Lutherans on the secularity of the state and the perpetual peace of Kant, each one who thinks of structures and peace agreements that have not shown by the ineffectiveness of being able to establish peace.
We enter into ontological aspects with the question of Serenity proposed by Heidegger, which includes aspects of origin and territoriality of peoples, these are almost always the factors that are decisive for peoples to go to war, but little thought in peace agreements.
If we almost always live under some tension, it is important to understand if a peace is possible beyond human issues, which of course must be resolved, as they need men who are truly peaceful and have ontologically resolved this issue internally and help humanity in the ways that lead to lasting peace.
Heidegger’s philosophy develops how much man has advanced in reason, technique and science, but it has lost its own foundation of Being reduced to the Being (the thing without a soul), it loses its originality (differentiation from originality only because it deals more with original peoples of the Americas), he thus begins his own essence (he sees it only as subjectivity) and loses the power of re-presentation that comes from it, he loses an essence that is not secondary, but primordial.
In his conclusion to Serenity, Heidegger contrasts the immediacy and lack of meditation that we have today: “There are, therefore, two types of thinking, both in their own way, respectively, legitimate and necessary: the thinking that calculates and the reflection (of the Nachdenken) who meditates. […] a thought that meditates arises as little spontaneously as the thought that calculates. Thought that meditates sometimes requires great effort. It requires a long workout. It needs even more delicate care than any other true craft. However, like the farmer, he also has to know how to wait for the seed to emerge and mature” (HEIDEGGER, 1955, p. 13-14).
Serenity, meditation on the need for it to understand the originality of each Being, of its presence in a certain Region, requires more than a momentary exercise, it must be lasting and aim at eternity.
In the biblical reading we find the deepest lesson of Jesus to his disciples about peace (Jn 14: 27): “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you; but I do not give it as the world does. Do not let your heart be troubled or intimidated”, is a lesson also for the peaceful and for those who love peace.
HEIDEGGER, Martin. Serenity. Translation by Maria Madalena Andrade and Olga Santos. Lisbon: Instituto Piaget, original version is from 1955.
Reason, Belief and War 2
22
Apr
The relationship of science and belief in Bourdieu’s lesson: “The paradoxical
enterprise that consists in using a position of authority to speak with authority, to teach a lesson, but a lesson of freedom … would be simply inconsequential, or even self-destructive , if the very ambition to make a science of belief did not presuppose belief in science” (Bourdieu, 1994, p. 62), can be better expressed by the principle of transdisciplinarity.
Establishes the Arrábida Transdisciplinarity Charter in one of its principles: “Considering that the contemporary rupture between an increasingly cumulative knowledge and an increasingly impoverished inner being leads to the rise of a new obscurantism, whose consequences, at the individual and social level, are incalculable”. (Freitas, Morin and Barsarab, 1994)
The idea of science based on calculus (including economics) or the physics that makes it possible to advance in the mystery of the infinite universe, with wormholes, black holes and dark matter, cannot do without the mystery that is beyond what man has already conquered.
On the political side, the belief in the modern state that would replace God and could establish perpetual peace (Kant’s philosophical project) as well as science as the summit of “reason” has already shown its limits, as has the fundamentalist faith, which already was with the Pharisees in the time of life, land of Jesus, has limits of ignoring science, even wanting a science of belief, the paradox presented by Bourdieu.
Neither Kant’s perpetual peace nor advanced scientific studies made it possible to avoid war and the world is once again on the verge of a new humanitarian catastrophe, and it is also worth noting that religious fundamentalism cannot abolish it like the “Decalogue of Assisi for Peace” signed in Assisi on March 4, 2002, although they still defend it today.
The Pharisees wanted Jesus to be involved in the war against Rome, which will take place in the 70s of the Christian d.C., with the destruction of Jerusalem and its Holy Temple as predicted in the prophecies, not because Jesus wanted it, but because of the war that men wished.
After the Jewish Passover, and the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus which was our Passover, Jesus appears to the disciples and the apostle who did not believe Thomas was with them, the first greeting of Jesus is: “Peace be with you” (Mt 20, 21), breathes the Holy Spirit on them and told Thomas that he wanted material proofs of his resurrection: “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Reach out your hand and place it in my side. And do not disbelieve, but be faithful” (Mt 20,27) and happy will say those who believe without having seen.
Kant, I. (2008) Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Project. trans. Arthur Mourao. Ed. University of Beira Interior. Portugal: Covilhã.
Freitas, L., Nicolescu, B. and Morin, E. (1994)Letter of Transdisciplinarity. Convent of Arrábida.
