The limits of logical thinking
16
Aug
The full development of modern science and
technology was the realization of a program dreamed of by Francis Bacon, René Descartes and Immanuel Kant as a total domination of man over nature on a dangerous ethical threshold, manufacturing what is natural, but this comes up against two dilemmas: the natural was and (in my opinion) will always be the “unmanufactured” and by making the substance manipulable it continues to be in fact what it was naturally.
In excerpts from Heidegger’s notes between 1936 and 1946 (therefore in the final stage of the 2nd world war), the author wrote an essay called Overcoming Metaphysics, and with all his genius describes what would result in the technical and industrial production of life, wrote: “Since man is the most important raw material, one can count on the fact that, based on current chemical research [of course at the time], factories for the artificial production of human material will one day be installed. The research of the chemist Kuhn, distinguishing from planned directing the production of male and female living beings, according to their respective demands” (Heidegger, Uberwindung der Metaphysik, paragraph 26).
Adono and Horkheimer also expressed in the famous Dialectic of Enlightenment, that this “has always, in the most comprehensive sense of thought in progress, pursued the goal of removing fear from man and establishing him as master. However, the completely enlightened earth sparkles under the sign of triumphal misfortune.” (Adorno, Horkheimer, 1987, p. 25).
Habermas also spoke of this extravaganza of bad science fiction, experimental production of embryos, even a convinced atheist, in his work “Die Zukunft der menschlichen Natur. Auf dem Weg zu einer liberalen Eugenik?” complains about this vision of “partners in evolution” or even “playing God” as metaphors for the self-transformation of the species.
It is not about opposing the advancement of science, a retrograde thought present in all social circles, but about opposing bad science, bad progress that result in scourges for humanity itself.
The sense of fully recovering life, of opposing growing authoritarianism and warmongering, of proclaiming peace, sustainable development and the divine origin of human life is not just a proclamation of faith or serious and sincere humanism, it is a resistance of spirit, hope and a rationality above instrumental and agnostic logic.
Temporal power and forgiveness
15
Aug
Temporal power rarely finds space for forgiveness,
but this does not mean that it never passes through human thought and philosophy, even though in essence, forgiving is divine, and this means going beyond what is humanly thinkable.
For the philosopher Jacques Derrida: “when forgiveness is in the service of a purpose, be it noble or spiritual, such as redemption or reconciliation, that is, every time it intends to reestablish normality, social, national, political or psychological, through mourning work or therapy, it is not pure […] Forgiveness should remain exceptional and extraordinary, putting the impossible to the test, as if it interrupted the ordinary course of human temporality”, thus it remained within human limits.
There is no doubt that crimes against humanity, atrocities and barbarities are beyond the limit of “human temporality” and so is earthly power, since it is temporal, even dictators who remained in power all their lives had a tragic or disastrous end. temporal death, and some were forgotten, others even banished from popular memory.
Therefore, forgiveness must be considered as something fundamental in addition to temporal power, and it could be a regulator for periods of crises and wars, in almost all of which it is not possible to measure the degree of atrocities committed, both on the part of the “winners” and “losers” and the rational (and divine) thing would be to consider that they got themselves into a fight that they should never have entered into.
Likewise, our personal and social sorrows and disagreements, how useful and healthy a moment of serenity would be and to sit at the table of dialogue and be able to discuss unthinkable solutions, or in Derrida’s words “putting the impossible to the test”, the moment looks like this.
If we have the courage to listen to that “enemy” that we would never listen to, to give a hand to someone whose hurt or disagreement is very great, we could return to a destructive path that seems to have no return, and whose overcoming depends only on one attitude: forgiving.
Even those who will never ask us for forgiveness have lost the serenity and humanity of seeing the other beyond judgments and disagreements, there is always another being there, ontologically we only deny the Being if we refuse to listen to it and give it some credit, maybe you need this.
Forgiving is divine, whoever takes this step understands that there is another reality beyond what we imagine to be real and possible, the impossible is also within the reach of those who forgive.
Unity or dualism
14
Aug
Dualism is an essential part of modern thought,
even if little or nothing is known about philosophy, and it has penetrated deeply into the human soul and created things through contrasts, not the one that came from Plato, the shadows of the cave where we cannot see clearly and not the clearing place of Heidegger’s search to find the forgotten being in philosophy.
Byung-Chul Han, when describing modern narratives, is incisive: “the new barbarian celebrates the poverty of experience: one should not imagine that men aspire to new experiences. No, they aspire to free themselves from all experience, they aspire to a world in which they can display their external and internal poverty so purely and so clearly that something decent can result from it” (Han, 2023, p. 35) quoting Walter Benjamin .
He will then say that they “profess transparency and a lack of mystery, that is, they profess a lack of aura. They also reject traditional humanism” (pgs. 35-36), clarifies, however, that the aforementioned book by Walter Benjamin “is full of ambivalence” and in the end, after a “certain” apology, modernity (the quotation marks are mine) gives way disillusionment and foreshadows the Second World War.
We could have freed ourselves from this “disease of modernity” (as Freud wrote) but Benjamin’s skepticism makes sense again, quoted in Han: “We became poor. We abandoned all the pieces of human heritage one after another, we had to pawn them many times for a hundredth of their value to receive in exchange the small coin of “current”…” (pgs. 37-38).
We talk about peace while we fight wars, we talk about unity and we are deeply divided, we talk about democracy and we come out in support of autocratic attitude and government, and perhaps the greatest of all sophistry, we intend to eliminate poverty and misery by filling our pockets, there is no coherence between discourse and attitude, it is about creating good narratives, and this started from the division between what is specific to the subject (not subjectivity but his soul) and the object (not objectivity, but the material use of what he produces life).
There is a lack of an “aura”, complains Byung-Chul Han, perhaps a spiritual one, the resistance of Edgar Morin’s spirit makes sense, but it is necessary to find a true meaning for this, what most men call religion is nothing other than justifying personal narratives.
It is possible to rediscover unity, dialogue and peace, but it is necessary to “disarm” the spirits.
Han, B.C. (2023). A crise da narração. Brazil, Petrópolis: Ed. Vozes.
Innocence, purity and peace
13
Aug
It seems contradictory and even innocent,
in a way it is, but in a world so troubled with so many urgent problems, talking about peace, purity of feelings and behaviors is not only naive for those who believe in violent solutions, they are proving insufficient.
If we prepare for war we are convinced that it and only it is the solution, however, they produce more injustices, more inequalities and only dictators and powerful people benefit from them, they are not bothered by financial crises, innocent deaths because In your mind, only your personal safety and well-being matters.
Also authors of great works, such as Edgar Morin, who talks about the resistance of the spirit, the limitation of a tragedy of great proportions feeds sick minds in all spheres, they believe that this could be a “sign of the future”, but it is the sign of a past, also on the threshold of the First and Second World Wars, many authors warned of this, such as Karl Kraus.
The purity of children should be observed more closely, they may even fight, but soon they want to make new friends so they can play with their friends, they don’t take everything to heart and fire, unless they are encouraged by adults, and there are those who do this unfortunately.
They want the common good, wishing everyone well and wanting a more equal and peaceful world is not just any thought, it is at the foundation of every civilization that bears this name, the warlike nations and empires disappeared after a tragic decadence.
In ancient times, the Greeks spoke of the Highest Good, aretê (virtue) and the education of the citizen, the ultimate objective of both Plato and Aristotle, it was still a society of slaves and where children and women had few rights, but this goal already existed.
Desiring peace, being inspired by the purity and joy of children’s coexistence, can take us away from the perverse thoughts that surround our daily lives, from divisions, hatred and grudges.
Putting out fires
12
Aug
With the initiative of Egypt and Qatar, supported
by other countries, there is an attempt for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel that would avoid a likely retaliation from Iran for the assassination of Hamas leader, Ismil Haniyeh, in Tehran, at the end of last July .
Iran considers it possible, but demands an end to Israel’s incursions into the Gaza strip, Israel is preparing as if war were inevitable, and this would raise a new front of global war between the West and now the Arab world.
The other front in the war between Ukraine and Russia with increasing NATO involvement, Ukraine launched a surprise attack on Russian territory in the city of Kursk where intense fighting is taking place, with Russia recruiting young people for military service again.
Two worrying situations at nuclear plants also occurred this weekend, one in the city of Rostov, where a new plant was switched on and there were concerns about a unit having some malfunction, but the plant’s chief engineer, Andrey Gorbunov, said according to press sources: “we are working at maximum efficiency”, saying that it was routine maintenance.
More serious was a fire yesterday, at the facilities of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, in the south of Ukraine, this Sunday (11/08), as reported by the Reuters agency, located in a war zone, on Ukrainian territory, but under the control from Russia, both countries exchanged accusations for the fire caused, the president of Ukraine, Zelensky, claims that the situation is under control and radiation levels are normal.
Evgeny Balitsky, an official stationed by Russia in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region, accused Ukraine of starting the fire by shelling the nearby town of Enerhodar, and Russian officials said the plant “suffered serious damage for the first time” from the attack.
Thus, the danger of wars, which produce enormous losses and human lives, the risk of an “accident”, a hasty or cruel attitude, such as murders, can trigger irreversible processes and create an irreversible global climate of wars and horrors.
The hope that peacekeeping forces, and in the case of competent technical force plants, will avoid greater tragedies than those that wars already cause, deaths and human despair of civilians and innocent people.
Love and beyond pain
09
Aug
Pain is not the resignation of absolute
interiority: “the subject who works on identity, returning to himself in his interiority, assimilating the world, is incapable of pain” (pg. 329), while other thinkers stopped in anguish or in the search through difference or even through the subject destined for an “absolute spirit”, Heidegger sees in pain a “fundamental affective tone of melancholy” (Han, 2023, pg. 329), it is the tone of being… of finitude… of finite thought, “is the identical feature that, as the basis of a certain formal manner, supports every fundamental tonality occupied by some content, the main feature that, as the same, is the basis of the respective tuning mode” (Han, 2023, pg. 330).
There is no reason for pain other than a separation from something that transcends it, says a Brazilian song “those who did not suffer for love, did not love”, but this relationship can be reversed if we can see the divine as Pure Love, He also through pain loves us out of love, perhaps it is its ultimate essence, like the Christian symbol of the cross.
All philosophy tells us about being separated from something, a search for something, the desire for infinity and agape happiness (those that are not lasting are only palliative), thus the name of Han’s book “The palliative society”, speaks of pain today.
There is an attraction in this type of essence, the relationship between pain and love, not because of a suffering or masochistic spirit, but precisely because of the separation of infinity, plenitude and pure Being, and only the existence of Pure Being can attract us to this kind of love.
A striking quote from Han is: “The modern loss of faith, which concerns not only God and the afterlife, but reality itself, makes human life radically transitory.”, the Korean-German philosopher is much closer of Buddhism than of Christianity, but understands an essential relationship that exists in this Love/Pain, in this Being/Non-Being, not in a dualistic way, but in an intimate relationship like true Love.
So if there is a precedence in the relationship, it is Pain and Love, but not as a denial of life but as its maximum affirmation.
Han, B.C. (2023) Coração de Heidegger: sobre o conceito de tonalidade afetiva em Martin Heidegger. Transl. Rafael Rodrigues Garcia, Milton Camargo Mota. Brazil, Petrópolis: Vozes.
Pain and the divine
08
Aug
The book chapter on the Voice in Byung-Chul
Han’s “Heidegger’s Heart: On the Concept of Affective Tonality”, this Voice could be final (the chapter too), but as Heidegger saw it it was more of an inner Voice than a relationship with the divine, and Han was faithful to him, for him it is part of the development of the Being, also when talking about pain, a subject that Han dealt with in the “Palliative Society: pain today” (we made some posts), remembering the way we treat the pandemic and other scourges in a society that does not want to look at this side of life: suffering and pain.
Not by chance, Heidegger addresses this when elaborating on Parmenides, where ontology is reduced to Being is and non-Being is not, to a logic A and not-A, with no third hypothesis, there Heidegger speaks of “a certain death (sacrificial ) of the human being: “But the supreme form of pain is the dying of death, which sacrifices the human being for the preservation of the truth of being” (Han, 2013, pg. 321), so the sacrifice is not here, as “Does sacrifice have its own essence and does not need objectives or benefits? ” (idem) and so this should be guided by something beyond the earthly, the merely human.
Han, quoting Foucault, asks that “is it a matter of a certain agony to awaken thought from an “anthropological sleep”?” (idem), perhaps an anthropotechnical awakening or even as we chose an onto-anthropotechnical awakening, since the forgetfulness of being is not just a philosophical category, there is something transitory in it, not infinite and not open.
When addressing the emptiness of modern man, also based on the reading of Foucault, Han recalls that Heidegger, when resuming the metaphysical category “subjectum”, which in “its essence is modern man is the “subject” and it is exactly here that Heidegger “criticizes implicitly anthropological thought” (pg. 322), it is according to Heidegger: “the continuation of Cartesianism”, Han quoting him: “With the interpretation of man as subjectum. Descartes creates the metaphysical assumption for future anthropology of all types and orientations” (pg. 323), the categories subject and object are characteristic of modernity.
Thus it is not man’s opposition to beings, but modernity’s mistaken opposition to language: “concern for language would be concern for death. Giving language back to man would therefore mean giving him back death, his mortality” (pg. 324), and it is also not about the ‘being’ or ‘non-being’ of the human being” (pg. 325-326 ).
For Heidegger, the subject is reflected in the world; “the image of the world is in a way its own mirror image” (pg. 326), which is why it hides the being, whereas pain “tears apart subjective interiority. It is not completely lost. Pain is associated with a peculiar concentration, which, however, is not established as a subjective interiority” (pg. 327).
Although the author and Heidegger do not say so, this is why “idealistic sleep” exists, where subjectum and being are divided, and “in pain, thinking is concentrated on what gives thought… in the concentrated dispersion of pain, the thinking by turning outward learns the exterior by heart – this side of knowledge and science, which would enable assimilating internalizing learning” (pg. 327).
It is important to highlight the calculating economy seen by Heidegger: “Pain is from ‘because’, not from ‘due to’… mourning does not lament, it does not seek to fill the place that was left empty… mourning without mourning is only conceivable outside of economics (VIII.3)” (quoted in Han, pg. 328).
Han B.C. (2023) Heidegger’s Heart: on the concept of affective tonality in Martin Heidegger. Trans. Rafael Rodrigues Garcia, Milton Camargo Mota. Brazil, Petrópolis: Vozes.
What is love after all
07
Aug
In a polarized world and now on the verge of 
regional wars that can escalate, talking about love seems innocuous and has no reflection on reality, but there are good works produced by humanity.
Paul Ricoeur wrote and we have already posted about this a few times about Le socius e le prochain (The partner and the neighbor), separating interests from true love for others.
However, Hannah Arendt’s work, although not definitive regarding love, the advisor Karl Jaspers himself expressed this about his doctorate “Love in Saint Augustine”, developed and appropriated some fundamental categories on the subject, of course we are not talking about erotic nor familial love.
According to author George McKenna, in a review of her thesis, Arendt tried to include a revision in her “The Human Condition”, but it is not very clear in Arendt’s book that, despite this, it has good development.
If this love can also be expressed in ancient Greek literature, such as agape love, which differs from eros and philia in this literature, from a Christian point of view the best development made is in fact that of Saint Augustine.
First because he separated this concept from good x evil Manichaeism, a dualism still present in almost all Western philosophy due to idealism and puritanism, then because he was in fact raptured upon discovering divine love, he wrote: “Late I loved you, O beauty so ancient and so young! Too late I loved you! Behold, you lived within me and I was looking for you outside!” (Confessions of Saint Augustine).
Then man must love his neighbor as God’s creation: […] man loves the world as God’s creation; in the world the creature loves the world just as God loves it. This is the realization of a self-denial in which everyone, including yourself, simultaneously reclaims your God-given importance. This achievement is love for others (ARENDT, 1996, p. 93).
Man can love his neighbor as a creation by returning to his origin: “It is only where I can be certain of my own being that I can love my neighbor in his true being, which is in his createdness.” (ARENDT, 1996, p. 95)
In this type of love, man loves the divine essence that exists in himself, in others, in the world, man “loves God in them” (ARENDT, 1996, 9
The biblical reading also summarizes the law and the Christian prophets like this (Mt 22, 38-40): “This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is similar to this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’. All the Law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Love contains all the virtues: it does not become conceited or angry, it knows how to see where the true signs of happiness, balance and hope are found, even in a troubled world.
ARENDT, Hannah. Love and Saint Augustine. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
What justice and peace we want
06
Aug
In the previous post we talked about peace and
freedom, peace is not the Pax Romana that meant the submission of the defeated, those who practice injustice need to divert life from its natural course in the lives of people, they need to change humanism by transforming it into something perverse , transform ancient cultures into a strange culture, remove from it what is most original and true, disrespect the poor and helpless by confusing it with desires for power and greed typical of oppression.
Few men try to avoid these traps, with this the idea that a “successful” person means that they were lucky, “blessed” or through strategies they knew how to accumulate wealth, but there are also perverse structures that benefit from power, and many of them are in the power structure, which is why it is a source of influence.
But there is another path, that of inheritance, throughout history only the winners tell their glories, “to the Vencedor the potatoes” says the character Quincas Borba (figure) in Machado de Assis’s novel (brazilian writer) with the same name, where he develops the idea of humanitas, which sees war as a form of selection of the fittest, thus justifies the oppression and impoverishment of the wronged.
The character Quincas Borba is a kind of atheist philosopher, who became rich after inheriting the assets of an old uncle, a resident of Barbacena, State of Minas Gerais, where he stayed in this city for a while before dying.
The one who will enjoy the fortune left by Quincas Borba will be Rubião, a modest inhabitant of the interior of Minas Gerais, who receives his fortune and decides to go and live in Rio de Janeiro, thus speaking of migration from the interior to the big cities, not from the perspective of the poor. who go in search of work, but the rich who go in search of a good life.
Rubião goes to the city and will try to apply the Humanitas philosophy developed by Quincas Borba and this is actually the theme of the book.
In addition to the literary and historical aspect of the novel, characteristic of the time (the novel Quincas Borba was published for the first time in 1891), Rubião, at the same time that he enjoys an easy fortune, is a victim of his provincial credulity, of which his friends who welcome him in the “big city” they will enjoy it.
The theme is universal, even if painted with historical Brazilian colors, in addition to the injustices towards the poor and helpless, the tricks and machinations that also take away the possessions of people who, having earned easy money, don’t know how to use it well and get lost in traps set by greedy false friends.
Thus, freedom cannot be conditioned by perverse structures or autocratic forms of power, it must actually contemplate the justice of the simple and humble, the trap of liberalism is also present in Balzac’s novel Eugenie Grandet.
Assis, Machado. Quincas Borba. Rio de Janeiro, 1891. (see pdf in portuguese)
Global tension grows
05
Aug
The death of the leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh,
in the middle of Iranian territory by “a short-range missile” that was in Iran for the inauguration of the new president of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian, raised tension between Israel and Iran to the highest level, and the Iran’s response will be inevitable.
The sending of the former commander of troops in Ukraine, Valerri Zaluzhnyi, to be ambassador to the United Kingdom, also raises serious concerns not only due to the proximity of the British government, which will certainly remain informed of military actions, the new ambassador outlined a dark and painful for the future of the war in Eastern Europe.
Ukraine received the expected F-16 fighter jets (photo) to reinforce its air defense, thanks to Norway, the Netherlands and Denmark, apparently the donors of this shipment, however it is still waiting for others, the political result is a greater involvement of forces from other countries in the war.
Countries in the Balkans and Scandinavia have already begun compulsory conscription for military service fearing an expansion of the war.
Latin America is also suffering from the controversial Venezuelan election, the AP news agency obtained photos of almost 79% of the election minutes and would prove the election of the opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzáles, while the CNE, Maduro’s body for counting the ballots, gave the dictator as winner.
There were several protests on the streets, and according to Maduro himself there are already more than 2,000 people detained, with deaths and injuries in the demonstrations that are repressed by the military forces.
There is always hope for those who believe in peace, respect for cultural, religious and political differences, improvement in income distribution and help for needy populations. The problems of today’s world are justice and freedom, war only worsens these conditions.
