Arquivo para June, 2023
Truth between logic and onto-logic
30
Jun
The truth in the ontological construction of
the Greeks, there is something inexorable to Being and this led them to believe that somehow this was configured in a cosmological whole, the “highest good” of Plato or the “immovable motor” of Aristotle, was not just physical, but also meta-physical realities.
The physis for them was for the pre-Socratic philosophers something permanent, primary and fundamental and later it was elaborated as nature, which included the “cosmos”,
Plotinus, a neo-Platonist, will extend this reality to the Soul, which would be an intelligible form that thinks inside the intellect, in the current debate about consciousness in Artificial Intelligence, we would say that it is sensibility, of course it is necessary to resume in the context of Plotinus, he states in Ennead VI, 4:
“And we, what are we? Are we the one or are we the one that was associated and exists in time? Indeed, before birth took place, we were there [in the intelligible], being other men, and some also gods: pure souls and intellects united to the totality of essence, parts of the intelligible, without separation, without division, but being of the whole. (and even now we are not apart)”.
Thus the whole remains, if there is not in Plotinus the God as known by monotheistic religions, there is the idea of the whole that “put on us and added to himself that man”, in the continuity of the text above.
Saint Augustine starts from this idea to affirm that the soul is “the presence of God in man, and his connection with the Creator, responsible for the similarity of man with God”, as well as associating the soul with the One, a category also used by Plotinus , and in him the One is God.
It is true that modernity abandons the idea of God and, by dividing thought into objective and subjective, makes secondary what takes place in the mind, thought and soul, in short in the noosphere, and this also happens with the religious world, as we posted yesterday it is not enough to say “sir, sir” it takes an action that corresponds to a certain belief.
Even in his historical time, for those who believe this epiphany continues, Jesus already asked his disciples “who do men say that the son of man [I am]? ” (Mt 16,13), because he knew that much of what it is like to be divine and timeless would be confused with earthly and contextual aspects only, in times of cruelty and hostility it is necessary to rethink what we think of eternal, timeless and that we will no longer legacy for all mankind.
The truth between thought and action
29
Jun
The whole logic of the sophists was a logic of
power, the logic of flattery, of hidden and sometimes even confessed interests, in a society and in a thought without the necessary appreciation, the truth is the values and logic of power, oppression and lack of freedom that work.
It is not a lack of someone who tells the truth, but rather a lack of thought, of sincere listening and dialogue, after all, what the hermeneutic circle proposes in relation to the text (fusion of horizons) means recognizing that we all have, at an earlier stage, the our prejudices, our beliefs, our political or social vision.
So a “method” is needed and it cannot exclude counter-arguments, attentive listening and sincere examination of what we have as “our truth”, when we make room for the Other something new almost always happens, and if it doesn’t it’s because of the other On the other hand, there is not the same openness, but it is still worth listening and pondering.
In the political field, the politics of polarization is an eye-for-an-eye, an attempt to mock and ridicule the opposite thought, there is no possibility of merging horizons and not even a healthy dialogue, what a common citizen sees is the unpreparedness and the anti -policy.
The same goes for cultural and religious discourse, exacerbated and out-of-control positions are far from winning over followers, creating more radicalization and hatred within what they intend to fight, taking the civilizing process to the limit, and leaving young people and children with no prospect of a full and peaceful future.
In the religious field, it is important to remember that it is not the one who says “sir, sir” who will conquer eternal happiness, but the one who puts into practice what almost every religion or cult proposes, extending a hand to the neighbor and not doing to the Other what he doesn’t want you to do it to yourself, it’s a minimum logic and ethics without which no law or cult makes sense.
We want world peace, respect for peoples and their cultures, but we must do our homework first.
Noosphere and True
28
Jun
The concept of Noosphere comes from Volodymyr Vernadsky (1863-1945)
later adopted and developed by Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), it is the idea of a third layer beyond the Geosphere and the Biosphere (biological life) that develops human thought, not only from the point of view of knowledge, but of everything that motivates the Being, the passions, cultures and decisions that are taken and develop the way we relate and live in society.
But since we organize ourselves in society, cultural development where the layers of structures and forms of transfer of cultures happen and develop already form a layer of “thought” of society.
Teilhard de Chardin, who in addition to being a paleontologist was a Jesuit priest, elaborated that the entire universe is enveloped in this layer of “thought” and that it is in constant evolution, which for a long time was worth some objections on the part of religious people.
With a look at Google and also attentive to the “intelligence” of mechanisms such as ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, Microsoft’s Bing and others, it necessarily leads to a discussion of what Artificial Intelligence is.
We have already indicated the book by Jean-Gabriel Ganascia “The myth of singularity” about the falsity of some technoprophecies about the machine overtake the Human Intelligence, we have also indicated the recent interview with Miguel Nicolelis, a renowned Brazilian scientist, known for his research in neuroscience.
So this sphere of thought lives in constant evolution and the tools and technologies are underlying parts of this evolution, however it is necessary to understand what in fact they are and how they can contribute to life on the planet, it is the collaboration of the noosphere with the biosphere.
The truth is that which is established as reality in the face of human challenges, many things are outside human thought, such as cataclysms and events in celestial bodies, but the healthy development of this sphere of human thought is important.
For Teilhard de Chardin, the spiritual part also collaborates and participates in this development, for him the whole universe is divine and Christocentric, that is, a revelation of love for man and life.
About false prophecies it is good to remember the passage of Mt 7,15: “Beware of false prophets: They come to you dressed in sheep’s clothing, but inside they are fierce wolves”, but it is easy to recognize them alert reading: bad trees bear bad fruit.
Temporal and eternal truths
27
Jun
The construction of the idea of truth by the Greeks comes from aletheia,
it refers to the self-manifestation of reality and beings to the human intellect, the word means a-lethea (not hidden, not veiled), this truth is either evident or can be constructed by reason.
This construction gave rise to “episteme” to oppose “doxa”, or mere opinion of the sophists, but they did not lose sight of the whole, which for Plato was the “highest good” and for Aristotle the “immovable engine” and both ideas approached God as is thought by Christians.
Thus knowledge was seen as a whole, and the contingent was seen as accidental, uncertain and doubtful, which occurs, but opposes the whole truth.
Aristotle had the classic ontological differentiation between the contingent and the necessary for the Being and this antagonistic relationship is expressed in a hierarchical relationship between the techné and the episteme, of course it has a historical and contingent meaning here, but it helps to understand the technique in its genesis.
The technique has no end in itself, it is linked to human purpose, and therefore it is not neutral, it is instrumental and serves human purposes.
We jump to the end of the low Middle Ages, in its period little studied and understood with the quarrel of the universals of Boethius (480-524 AD) and language studies of the monk Alcuin (735 –804 AD).
Boethius wrote “The consolation of philosophy” but it is a fragment of his writings that gave him fame, it is found in the quarrel of universals, the question of whether universals are things or merely words, this will give rise to the debate between realists and nominalists until the end of the middle idea, where the idea of truth will replace the Greek Eidos that means each Being has an essence.
In his ontological development Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) thus explains God as a necessary being: “a necessary being is the being that must exist, that cannot not exist”, thus the argument can be rewritten as: “The proposition ‘ God exists’ is necessary” or simply “God is” pure Being.
But modernity broke with ontology until Hidegger’s revival.
This break deepened in Cartesian reason, mediated by classical physics and the end of metaphysics, united with the idea of an abstract and idealistic universal knowledge.
Kant’s critique of pure reason (1724-1804), and German idealism with its apex in Hegel (1770-1831) give the final outline to an abstract and idealistic truth, the reach of Western Greco-Christian culture finds its end and truth becomes relative, the episteme just a method of neutral truth.
Internal Tension in Russia and Peace
26
Jun
On Saturday (24/06) there was an uprising of troops allied with the
mercenary group Wagner, of Yevgeny Prigozhin, owner of restaurants and catering companies in Russia, called “Putin’s Chef”, but he himself would like to be called a butcher for his cruelty of your troops.
Departing from the strategic military city of Rostov on-Don in the south of Russia and close to the Black Sea, therefore close to the coast where Russia invaded the territory of Ukraine, after the capture of the Russian military base, the group walked towards Moscow and on In a few hours I was only 200 km away from Moscow, which had already taken steps with barricades and there was even an explosion in oil tanks, in Voronezh, near Moscow (photo).
The shooting down of at least 6 aircraft and a helicopter was also recorded, however the entry into Moscow would not be peaceful and other bases would come to fight the rebel group, Putin considered it a “stab in the back” and initially condemned Prigozhin and his allies by ordering them to be captured and even gave a statement on state television.
With the intervention of the President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko a negotiation was made, the terms of which are not clear, but which exempted Prigozhin and his allies from any blame and political asylum was offered in Belarus, and the troops retreated to avoid “a bloodbath” and by Saturday night the rebellion had already retreated from the bases of Rostov on-Don.
A Russian presidential plane was seen heading north, but local information is that Putin would not be on board, there were several analyzes and conspiracy theories, but the shooting down of aircraft and exile and agreement with Prigozhin demonstrate Putin’s internal fragility.
It is good to think that an eventual seizure of power by Prigozhin is more dangerous than the war waged by Putin, since he would have a huge nuclear war arsenal in his hands.
In the midst of a counter-offensive by Ukraine all this means more war and distances peace.
There is a lack of sincere pacifists who are not allies of dictators and cruel mercenaries, but we have hope that it will come if hearts and minds are disarmed
Revelation and unveiling
23
Jun
While in philosophy, unveiling is the clarity attained by metaphysical or 
ontological intelligibility, which is not restricted only to the material, empirical or quantitative aspects of reality, unveiling in theology is revelation and intelligibility through faith.
Both seek knowledge of the whole, from its original aspect, passing through the means (the paths and methods it proposes) to understand rationally or through the “revelation” of harmonic knowledge (elucidation) of divine truths or those contained in the Scriptures (justification).
Thus, Theology, while it is the study that represents an effort of the reason (and spirituality) for a greater understanding of what is said through the Scriptures, however, it is always revelation because divine knowledge is infinite, while human knowledge is finite.
Thus, the word unveiling (removing the veil) is suitable for rational effort, but without the resource of metaphysics and ontology, it remains tied to revelation, which is pragmatic rational knowledge.
The effort to understand the new data from the James Webb telescope, for example, is already giving physicists and astrophysicists new understandings of the universe, but it is increasingly difficult to understand the initial moment or what initial substance it formed, the answer seems to be go beyond its limits when conducting hypotheses: without this one there is no beginning or there are other multiverses beyond our universe.
Thus, unveiling is that knowledge that goes towards the essence of what we are and where we are heading and what ethical-metaphysical laws govern us and we should obey them.
So un-veil can indicate that more than an initial substance (a primordial monad or an initial cosmic energy) there can be a Being and an intention in creation.
If the eye is the lamp of our body and reveals reality to us, we must go beyond it to reveal the secrets of eternity, because our knowledge is limited.
This wisdom is the one that affirms, in the biblical reading that we know how much two sparrows are worth, but the divine (Mt 10,31-32): “As for you, even the hairs of your head are numbered. Do not be afraid! You are worth more than many sparrows.”
Between rhetoric and prayer
22
Jun
Until the beginning of the last century, the logical-idealist discourse
prevailed, which is still part of a good part of the contemporary narrative, but a good part of it is now shattered by contradictory narratives and psychopolitical or ideological cohesion.
The Greeks from the opposition to the Sophists, in particular Aristotle divided the speeches into 4 types: poetic, rhetorical, dialectical and analytical.
The poetic is related to the possibilities of the imagination, dreams of possibilities and is neither unreal nor delirious, being utopian in the best sense of the word.
The rhetorician deals with the world of dialogue, uses modes of persuasion, but is supposed to be founded on common beliefs, imaginary and dystopian beliefs of our time, cannot be confused with it, can be eloquent, but not rhetorical.
The dialectician is also the one who deals with the probable, defining errors and truths with greater or lesser probability according to the demand of reason, but submitting beliefs to the test through tests and attempts to overcome objections, seeking the truth among errors and errors. between truths.
Finally, the analytic deals with certainties and certain demonstrations, starting from premises and demonstrating the veracity of the conclusions and in an apodictic way the truth, the dialectical debate that supposes Hegel and idealism is not apodictic, it is opposed more as a belief than as true.
A few words, coming from the heart and feeling, as poetics demand, from tolerant and respectful rhetoric, from Greek dialectics that flee from casuistry and dogmatics, and finally from a true apodictic foundation, those who have categorical assertions about right and wrong, honest and dishonest, far from sophistic and empty speech.
If you speak, speak with clarity and empathy, if you pray, speak with the heart and with few words and if you think, look at the positive, generous and healthy.
Pure rhetoric is not speech, neither dialogue nor prayer is just personal proselytizing.
Vain and humble
21
Jun
The word vanity has its origin in the Latin term, vanus, which
means vain, empty.
In general, it is said that the opposite of vanity is modesty, simplicity, but it is confusing vain with proud, pride imagines that everyone depends on its presence and qualities, but the vain needs flatterers and subservient.
I prefer to say that the opposite of vanity is humility, which comes from humus, the fertilizer from which fertility springs, the humble person knows his shortcomings and therefore grows in his smallness and attains more wisdom than the vain person who has difficulty seeing his limitations.
The reason for the confusion of the word humility is that there is a synthetic absolute superlative that is very humble, this indeed indicates a low condition, obscurity and poverty, but look at its superlative, or its exaggeration, the humble knows that he also has qualities.
Mutual correction is always possible for growth, the vain person does not know this, as Exupéry says: “but the vain person did not listen. The vain hear nothing but praise.”
That is why the vain person, typical of our time, enjoys the consumption of full freedom without restrictions, Byung-Chul Han in his analysis of psychopolitical power states: “Today, power increasingly assumes a permissive form. In its permissiveness, or rather in its affability, power puts aside its negativity and passes itself off as freedom.”
It’s easy to recognize the vain ones: they like to sit in the front row, they are always arrogant in their truths and positions, they don’t look to the Other and to the side, and in the case of religions they think they are saints, privileged or uniquely loved by the divine.
Any cultural or religious literature demonstrates that this is a source of errors and a stagnation in the development of people and society, it is the inverse of the civilizing process, as it is the inability to correct routes and errors.
Phenomenology and the other
20
Jun
The Other is not a contemporary category, however how it is realized
from the Husserlian phenomenology is something entirely new, not by chance Heidegger, Husserl’s student and disciple thought ipseity thought the rooting of otherness in “ipseity” itself (Selbstheit) (which differentiates one being from another, refusing to think the “self” (Selbst) according to the categories of substance and “identity” (Identität), thus his ontology of the Other is entirely new (within philosophy) .
If we want to deal with identity, a category proper to a period of individualism and alleged finite totalities, we can say that in a more current modern anthropology, the “theory” of identity must be seen as giving the Other the “similar” aspect as a “human being”. ”, but defined as “diverse” and “unequal” in the set of interethnic, intercultural or interreligious relations.
It is this contact between different cultures, religions and even ideological identity positions, that the civilizational process is at stake, there is no lack of “influencers” and groups that encourage one type of culture in repulsion to another, treating the unequal and the different as “enemy ” and this does not even mean that they do not exist, in a war for example, but the negation of the Other.
There is no lack of philosophers who have dealt with the subject, we highlight Husserl’s phenomenology and its influences: Heidegger, Edith Stein, I highlight Paul Ricoeur (The self as an other) and Emmanuel Lévinas (Ethics and infinity) and Hans-Georg Gadamer (Truth and Method).
But also Habermas (The philosophical discourse of Modernity and The inclusion of the Other) and Byung-Chul Han (The expulsion of the other: Society, perception and communication today) which are very good for analyzing communication and society today, but without a clear view of Being as Being as in Heideger’s ontology.
Recognizing the Other as having dignity and deserving respect, even if in positions different from ours, is the remedy for today’s lack of empathy.
Hope for Peace and Tactical Weapons
19
Jun
In the midst of international attempts to broker the war in Ukraine, several
African countries led by South Africa through its president, visited Ukraine and Russia at the end of last week, the results are not hopeful, but each attempt at peace is a new impetus and international public opinion for a negotiated and diplomatic peace is growing.
In addition to the president of South Africa Ramaphosa, there were also the presidents of Senegal Macky Sall, of Zambia Hakainde Hichilema and of Camores Azali Assoumani, in addition to high Congolese, Ugandan and Egyptian representatives.
In Ukraine, in addition to conversations with President Zelensky, they visited the cemetery where hundreds of civilians from the city of Bucha are, one of the biggest massacres promoted by the Russian invasion, and there they deposited flowers.
At the end of the week, they visited Putin and heard the traditional rhetoric that Russia had no other way out for its security, and that the negotiation must include the territories conquered in the war.
The main concern of African countries is the delivery of grains from both Ukraine and Russia and that an international crisis can affect food security, especially in the poorest countries, which includes Africa.
Russia has sent “tactical” weapons to Belarus, its traditional ally in this war, stating that the objective is not to use them, but has the “tactical” objective of defending the borders including that of its Ally.
Sending fighter jets and tanks to war is one more fuel for Ukraine, and has already changed the nuclear scenario, countries that opted for disarmament and “green” policies abandon this perspective, an example is Germany, which increased for the first time since the second world war, its military budget.
But the internal propaganda of the State, which dominates practically all means of communication, is that with nuclear weapons Russia is stronger and will be able to use them if necessary.
The conflict has already crossed all borders, there are few countries that have not positioned themselves, however, the formation of a bloc that wants peace is fundamental for a mediated exit.
