Arquivo para a ‘Linguagens’ Categoria
Illness, health systems and abandonment
23
Nov
Illness is part of the human experience, it is not
specific to this or that class, race or ethnicity, however the way we treat different types of humans is often disrespectful and a symptom that something is wrong in the social structure.
First, of course, there must be a system that allows access to treatments as widely as possible and safely, then comes the issue of proximity to family, friends and especially the system itself that must treat the patient and not just the disease.
The experience of human fragility in different situations, and also in a serious illness, is what should awaken greater solidarity and harmony between the people who are close to us and the health systems. The pandemic revealed great fragility, although the systems worked, the degree of solidarity and responsibility remained at sordid levels.
We did not improve humanly with such a huge scourge that shook the entire planet, the expectation that we would emerge more supportive of this experience was not confirmed.
The Korean-German philosopher expressed in a lecture at the university…., he expressed his post-pandemic feeling like this: “it is dramatic that we are not able to touch another person, as this transmits incredible energy”, “we no longer touch each other, we don’t even tell stories among ourselves” (a reference to his latest book “The Narration Crisis”), and he said: “we are more alone than ever”.
In the book “The palliative society”, Byung-Chul, quoting Ernest Jünger, writes: “Tell me your relationship with pain, and I will tell you who you are!”, our relationship with pain in society shows how we live today, those who speak of peace, many Sometimes they support and even desire war, not all of them of course.
HAN, B.C. The Palliative Society: Pain Today , transl. Daniel Steuer, NY: Polity Press, 2021.
Dialogue perspective and Latin America
20
Nov
Some changes on the world stage give hope for
peace, the 5-day truce and exchange of hostages in Palestine, Germany returns to dialogue with Russia and there is already popular pressure for peace in Europe, in Latin America tension between Venezuela and Goiânia and election of the ultra liberal Javier Milei in Argentina, by a greater margin than the polls showed.
What few or no analysts will say, because polarization goes from the periphery of countries to the most independent journalism, is that there is no single solution for either pole and there are errors in analysis and principles at both poles, polarization itself is already a nonsense.
The dialogue between Germany and Russia is certainly what draws the most attention, the last dialogue that was held between the two countries was on December 2, 2022, and this resumption could be a glimmer of hope for a turnaround in the escalation of war in Ukraine and Russia.
On the other hand, the world’s greatest hope at the moment is a possible peace agreement that could release some of the 240 people taken hostage in a Hamas attack on Israeli territory that killed around 1,200 Israelis, with signs of cruelty and barbarity, Israel also reacted with brutality and force and a large part of the civilian population of Palestine suffered.
Israel’s ambassador to the USA, Michael Herzog, was the one who announced on ABC television that there were “serious efforts” for a 5-day truce in exchange for the release of hostages, and the Qatari government is also working on a possible agreement.
The election of Milei, a 52-year-old candidate, took place by a margin that no survey indicated, he received 55.95% of the votes in the dispute against the government leader and Minister of Finance of the current government Sergio Massa with 44.04% of the votes, indicating that the Argentine people, although Milei is little known, bet on a very radical change, Argentina is in a deep economic crisis.
Several governments recognized Milei’s victory, but the ideological division is deep, and there is tension between Venezuela and Guyana (formerly English Guyana, with a rich history of indigenous peoples and internal struggles for emancipation) and although it is a region that has already been an issue in history, the reason for the dispute now is because oil was discovered in the Essequibo River region, which came to be called Guyana Essequiba, with a strong indigenous presence (figure).
After several agreements, in 1904, 19,630 km2 were handed over to the colony of England and 13,570 km2 were agreed with Brazil and to this day everything that establishes the limits between these three countries, there were several previous agreements, in 1966 Guyana became independent of the Kingdom United.
Contemplating or searching for nothing
16
Nov
Byung-Chul Han, in his essay on contemplation,
gives a cruel sentence to Eurocentric Western knowledge: “knowledge cannot fully portray life. The entirely conscious life is a dead life” (Han, 2023, p. 29) and is supported by nothing more than Nietzsche in the context of a “new enlightenment”, one that for Heidegger opens a clearing of Being, albeit from a different perspective.
Quoting Nietzsche, Han writes: “it is not enough that you understand in what kind of ignorance human beings and animals live; you also need to have the desire to not know and learn it. You need to understand that in this type of ignorance life itself would be impossible, under which the living being is preserved and flourishes: a great and solid bell of ignorance must be around him” (quoting Nietzsche, pages 29-30) .
He clarifies that the ultimate objective of a “master” is “to reach a state in which the will resigns itself. The master exercises in order to eliminate the will.” (page 31)
It states on the next page that it cites a parable made by Walter Benjamin “Don’t forget the best” in which he outlines the idea of a happy life, it deals with a businessman who has always carried out his life with precision and zeal, but at a certain moment he throws his clock out.
Then he starts to arrive late and things start to happen without his intervention, and they make him happy, it now turns out to be a “path to heaven”, things happen now when he least expected it, “friends visit him when they least thought of him” and remembers the legend of a little shepherd boy who is allowed on “one Sunday” to enter the mountain with his treasures, with an enigmatic instruction: “don’t forget the best” (page 33).
Benjamin’s parable of inactivity ends with these words: “At this time he was quite well off. He finished few things he had started, and didn’t consider anything finished” (page 33).
The age of hyperinformation, of fatigue, is not a time to search for the truth of being, for what we really are culturally, socially and spiritually; It is a time of searching for nothingness, in times like this, prophets, oracles, monks and sages emerged who fled this temporal void, to find themselves in an infinite totality, one that contemplates all being.
Byung-Chul Han wrote: “those who are truly inactive do not assert themselves. He discards his name and becomes nobody”, it is not nihilism, it is a reunion with the truth that everyone looks for in things and does not find them if they do not look at themselves, at their inner emptiness and their inactivity.
There will be a time when everyone will be looking for the truth, they will say it is here or there and they will no longer find it, it will not be an end, but rather a “new enlightenment”.
HAN, Byung-Chul. (2023) Vita Contemplativa or about inactivity. Trans. Lucas Machado. Brazil, Petrópolis: Vozes.
Inform, symbol and connect
15
Nov
What was missing in the text of Crisis of Narration,
there is also something wrong in “Infocracy: digitalization and the crisis of democracy in philosophy” (2022) of Byung-Chul, the idea that information is in itself incomplete, is present in another book entitled Vita Contemplativa (ed. Vozes, 2023) because there, returning to being, one can find how form becomes narration within being, and becomes in-form.
An excerpt from this book says: “The loss of shared feeling accentuates the lack of being. The community is a symbolically mediated totality. The symbolic narrative void leads to the fragmentation and erosion of society.” (HAN, 2023, p. 91-92). (emphasis added)
Thus recognizing this aspect of the need for being as a symbolic void, which the contemporary narrative in general does not contemplate due to its informational vices, at the same time the author states: “The human being, as a symbolon, longs for a sacred and restorative totality” (page 92).
The term symbolon appears prominently because the author uses it based on a reading of Plato’s Banquet, where Aristophanes remembers that this broken piece of being, which for him was initially spherical and was broken, has this broken piece with a “symbol”.
Now if symbol is a part, united to another part we form a totality, not just in a community, but in every “sacred and restorative totality”, where there are men united for a good and just cause.
Narrative and information in this context, where the part is united, as an important principle defended by Edgar Morin said: “It is necessary to replace a thought that isolates and separates with a thought that unites and distinguishes”, thus the union of distinct “symbols” and that are part of contemporary cultures and peoples.
Thus, the ontological information (proper to being) linked to the context of the narration in its time and the object of thoughts within a diversity, are not a reason for fragmentation but rather for a universe that unites us and makes us more “whole” within our lives. communities.
Contemporary hyperactivity, which not only but also the digital world can lead us to, is itself a world that rejects internalization, meditation and thus, narration itself.
The author writes about this interiority: “Active life, with its pathos of action, blocks access to religion” (page 154), action is part of religious life as much as lay life, what differentiates is that in addition to prudence, our reflections from last week, can lead to a different, fair action that leads to happiness and fulfillment different from pure “action”.
Pathos, to clarify, is part of the Greek triad “ethos, pathos and logos”, while ethos persuades us through character, or by whoever narrates, if this is worthy of faith, logos persuades us through logical (broad) reason and pathos by feelings caused by sadness or joy, love or hate, and so often without going through reason and ethics.
HAN, Byung-Chul. (2023) Vita Contemplativa or about inactivity. Trans. Lucas Machado. Brazil, Petrópolis: Vozes.
The Parable of the Wise Virgins
10
Nov
The parable is a parable, therefore it
should not be taken literally, it may seem to refer to sexuality, the fact that 5 virgins have oil for the whole night and another 5 do not have enough oil, indicates that we must prepare well when the “ bridegroom” arrives, in the biblical case it is the encounter with God, and the oil means the “habit” that we develop in life to get there.
We discussed several aspects of prudence, and differentiated a “good life” (happiness in a broader sense) from temporary happiness (eudaimonia) that does not keep the lamps on, and here not only for eternal life, but for the course of our lives.
In a way, there is something to it since it is prudent to understand that there must also be prudence at this point, toxic, chauvinist, sexist relationships, etc., because these too can prepare us for a future life, even if it is still earthly, balanced and sensible, remember It is clear that both Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas also see rational reasons for exercising prudence.
Thus, a society that acts on impulse, through the control of passions over reason, and a long and lasting good life (in the Greek sense) depends on the exercise of virtues, and avoiding many situations of risk and irrationality depends on the exercise of virtues.
For those who don’t know, the parable of the wise virgins is this, where the bridegroom is the encounter with eternal life (Mt 25,1-7):
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like the story of the ten young women who took their oil lamps and went out to meet their bridegroom. Five of them were improvident and the other five were provident. The improvident ones took their lamps, but they did not take any oil with them. The foresighted ones, however, took vessels with oil along with the lamps. The groom was taking a while, and they all ended up dozing off and sleeping. In the middle of the night, a cry was heard: ‘The bridegroom is coming. Go to meet him!’ Then the ten young women got up and prepared the lamps.”
Prudence does not limit our happiness, but prepares us for future life, here on the earthly plane.
What was happiness for the Greeks
09
Nov
The Greeks defined happiness as Eudaimonia
over the various human conditions: for those who are hungry, happiness is food, for those who are cold, warm clothes, for those who are ambitious, money, for those who are vain, honors, for those who are sick, health. , etc.
This is why, as we previously defined, rational happiness was called “good life”, and if so, how can we maintain that happiness is the good for men, since it must bring with it that they are common to all and the real possibility of life for everyone.
The purpose of life for each man can vary greatly from person to person, there are those who relate happiness to pleasure, pleasure, enjoyment, without any pain, but it is necessary to recognize the finiteness and limitation of these values and understand that life Full requires balance, give the necessary virtues, in Greek the arethé, Aristotle did not refuse pleasures, however he warned that this type of life aims only at the immediate and it is necessary to look at what remains.
Happiness is self-sufficient, that is, it is not desirable because of something else, and it is desirable in itself, so throughout life, we must shift our gaze from the outside to the inside and look within ourselves at those attachments and attachments to things temporary pleasures that are only temporal pleasures.
It was from the analysis of virtues and the practical exercise of ethics, Aristotle concluded that happiness is an activity, which is why it cannot be found potentially in man, it is not considered a virtue, although it does not occur without it, there is this potentiality in U.S.
Prudence and happiness
08
Nov
Breaking the rules or getting out of the box, there are
even books encouraging throwing everything away, is different from what the Greeks thought, of course a life that is going wrong needs to be analyzed.
I used the word happiness, because the word used by the Greeks is “Good life”, which in its current connotation means eating, drinking, spending and sleeping, but it was not the conception of Aristotle and other ancient philosophers.
In Nicomachean Ethics, the philosopher demonstrates that to achieve the “good life” we must take into account our instinct, sensitivity and intelligence and, through the conjunction of these three elements, cultivate our best side, because, for example, instinct can be a trait of personality that does not lead to balance, this is where the idea of prudence comes in.
In book governs science, and prudence (phónesis) governs ethics, however the Greeks believed in an absolute science, capable of knowing the deepest structure of Being.
Such a core is eternal, immutable, absolute, and the ethics that is a consequence of this is practical science.
In it, prudence governs temperance, which is what will govern our instincts, it is what determines the good exercise of temperance, the wise person in ethical decisions is the one capable of finding the middle ground (ne quid nimis: nothing in excess), that is one of the practices.
It contains virtue (arethé) and in the soul there are three types of functions: irrational (nutrition, growth, etc.), motivational (generating actions) and rational (linked to our cognitive capacity that makes us capable of achieving true).
Just to give a practical example, whoever controls personal finances could include a description field in inputs and outputs, an explanation of the reason for spending or obtaining the resource.
For Aristotle, virtue is something that occurs in the soul, that is, our interiority, so he divides the virtues into ethical (courage, generosity, friendship, justice, etc.) and dianoetic (wisdom, temperance, intelligence, etc.).
So we can change a saying and now say that “the habit makes the monk”, now not with outer clothing, but with inner clothing, virtues create “virtuous circles” in us.
Prudence biblical, moral or expendable virtue
07
Nov
In times of war, violence and anger, a virtue
to remember is prudence.
As a philosophical meaning, prudence is seen by Aristotle as intellectual virtues, divided into 5 classes: science, wisdom, intelligence, techniques and prudence, so it can be seen as an ascetic morality, but it has historical and philosophical meaning , thus better dividing morality.
As a biblical virtue, prudence means the ability to judge between malicious and virtuous actions, not only in a general sense, but with reference to appropriate actions in a given time and place, it helps to discern what is good, fair and the means to achieve them.
As a habit, from a philosophical and moral point of view, is considered as knowledge that is acquired through habit, knowledge in general is for Aristotle indicates something that is not possessed simply by custom or conditioning, but rather as a disposition by which something or someone is well or badly disposed, either in relation to themselves, or in relation to something else (ARISTOTLE, Met. I, v. 20, 1022, b, 10-12).
We acquire these through study, demonstration, training and argumentation, so that we obtain a complete notion of a given field, master it masterfully and begin to have stable qualities of the subject that are difficult to lose (TOMÁS DE AQUINO, S.T., Iª. IIae q. 51 to 2 co.).
So it is not simply a matter of taste or will, but of how we understand intellectually and how we process habits, so prudence is a virtue acquired through understanding, practice (habit) and through stable conditions of the subject.
A return to peace and “good dispositions of the soul” cannot be obtained without the practice of these habits, if they are socially valued and without the subject and society remembering them as virtues that must be socially inserted to return to stable conditions of Society.
ARISTÓTELES. (2002). Metafísica: ensaio introdutório. Greek text with translation and commentary by Giovanni Reale, Transl. Marcelo Perine. Brazil. São Paulo: Loyola,. 696 p.
TOMÁS DE AQUINO.(2001-2006) Suma teológica. Brazil, São Paulo: Loyola, 9 v.
Unitas multiplex, networks and the beatitudes
03
Nov
Among the main concepts developed by
Edgar Morin are cosmic Dasein (similar to Heidegger’s Dasein but expanded to the cosmic and similar to Teilhard Chardin’s Cosmic Christ), hominization and human identity, which is also linked to anthropolytic, but a fundamental and new is Unitas Multiplex.
According to Jean Ladriére Unitas Multiplex is “a system is a complex object, made up of distinct components joined together by a certain number of relationships”, and this both combines with the concept of social networks (not media) and Morin’s complexity, and Here we will establish a set of relationships with the biblical virtues of the beatitudes.
In a complex system, a certain number of relationships may be broken, what in social networks are called “structural holes” (Burt, 1992), weak ties (Granovetter, 1973) and small worlds of Duncan Watts (1998)
A system represented as a social network is a structure that connects nodes (forms a mathematical graph), generally each of these nodes are people, and links between nodes, representing relationships between these people (GRANOVETTER, 1973).
For Granovetter, bridges are links that enable weak ties, those that are on the periphery of the network or that are only reached by some nodes.
But neither the network theory nor the unitas multiplex theory establish the virtues that enable greater contact between these nodes, and as all these nodes can be reached, talking about empathy and bonds of solidarity is little, the biblical beatitudes can help.
Jesus climbs a mountain and speaks to a crowd of people, not just the disciples but everyone who wants to hear him (Mt 5:3-12):
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are the afflicted, for they will be comforted. [the weak ties]
Blessed are the meek, for they will possess the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. [the strong ties]
Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. [empathy]
Blessed are those who promote peace, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven!
Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven” [keeping the net united to the mystical body or “cosmic dasein”].
It seems heroic, or utopian, but if we want a peaceful Homeland, it’s a good recipe.
BURT, R. S. The social structure of competition. In: NOHRIA, N.; ECCLES, R. G. Networks and organizations: structure, form and action. Boston: Harvard Business School, 1992.
GRANOVETTER, M. S. The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, Chicago, vol. 78, no. 6, p. 1360-1380, May 1973.
WATTS, D. J.; Strogatz, S. H. (1998). “Collective dynamics of ‘small-world’ networks” (PDF), NATURE, VOL 393, 4 June.
