Questioning the Presence of the Past

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-91
Author(s):  
Thomas Kriza
Keyword(s):  
Michel Foucault ◽  
World View ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Spiritual Exercises ◽  
Existential Meaning ◽  
The Past ◽  
Truth Claim ◽  
Scientific World ◽  
Pierre Hadot

Abstract This paper questions the contemporary turn towards horizons of existential meaning going back to antiquity especially in the shape of a turn to religion by pointing to crucial differences between antique conceptions of thought and their modern revivals. Pierre Hadot and Michel Foucault interpret antique thought as spiritual exercises to perfect human existence, exposing an inherent existential relevance and connection to a peculiar conception of truth. I argue that because of these ties to a truth claim deeply alien to the modern scientific world-view, antique horizons of existential meaning cannot be revived within modern frames of thought. Their contemporary presence is more likely the expression of the deeply ambivalent modern relationship to premodern horizons of existential meaning, rather than a genuine revival.

Science and Certainty

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
John TO Kirk
Keyword(s):  
World View ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Popular Science ◽  
Physical World ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Scientific World ◽  
Biological Reality ◽  
Special Part ◽  
Philosophical Background ◽  
The Many

How did the cosmos, and our own special part of it, come to be? How did life emerge and how did we arise within it? What can we say about the essential nature of the physical world? What can be said about the physical basis of consciousness? What can science tell or not tell us about the nature and origin of physical and biological reality? Science and Certainty clears away the many misunderstandings surrounding these questions. The book addresses why certain areas of science cause concern to many people today – in particular, those which seem to have implications for the meaning of human existence, and for our significance on this planet and in the universe as a whole. It also examines the tension that can exist between scientific and religious belief systems. Science and Certainty offers an account of what science does, in fact, ask us to believe about the most fundamental aspects of reality and, therefore, the implications of accepting the scientific world view. The author also includes a historical and philosophical background to a number of environmental issues and argues that it is only through science that we can hope to solve these problems. This book will appeal to popular science readers, those with an interest in the environment and the implications of science for the meaning of human existence, as well as students of environmental studies, philosophy, ethics and theology.

Jesuit Philosophy as a Way of Life: The Contributions of W. Norris Clarke and John F. Kavanaugh

2021 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 1425-1450
Author(s):  
M. Ross Romero
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Michel Foucault ◽  
The Self ◽  
Spiritual Exercises ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Recent Interest ◽  
Ignatius Of Loyola ◽  
Pierre Hadot

John F. Kavanaugh and W. Norris Clarke, two twentieth-century Jesuits, contributed to philosophy through their development of a Thomistic and personalist view of reality emphasizing the human endowments of knowing, freely choosing, and loving. While spiritual exercises played a role in the formation of both Jesuits, the function of spiritual exercises in their own philosophy has not been explored. Recent interest in philosophy as a way of life provides a means by which this can be accomplished. In their work Michel Foucault and Pierre Hadot have shown how spiritual exercises function in the formation of the self and in the acquisition of a synoptic vision that allows contemplation of one’s participation in the whole. This paper shows that while Kavanaugh primarily uses spiritual exercises in his philosophy to accomplish a disciplinary/formational aim Clarke’s aim is dialogical/exploratory. A brief examination of the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola reveals how these different aims in fact complement one another.

Acta Fluens – Generatives Handeln und Improvisation im Jazz

2014 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-60
Author(s):  
Davide Sparti
Keyword(s):  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
History Of Philosophy ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of

Obwohl jede menschliche Handlung mit einem gewissen Grad an Improvisation erfolgt, gibt es kulturelle Praktiken, bei denen Improvisation eine überwiegende Rolle spielt. Um das Risiko zu vermeiden, einen zu breiten Begriff von Improvisation zu übernehmen, konzentriere ich mich im vorliegenden Beitrag auf den Jazz. Meine zentrale Frage lautet, wie Improvisation verstanden werden muss. Mein Vorgehen ist folgendes: Ich beginne mit einem Vergleich von Improvisation und Komposition, damit die Spezifizität der Improvisation erklärt werden kann. Danach wende ich mich dem Thema der Originalität als Merkmal der Improvisation zu. Zum Schluss führe ich den Begriff affordance ein, um die kollektive und zirkuläre Logik eines Solos zu analysieren. Paradigmatisch wird der Jazzmusiker mit dem Engel der Geschichte verglichen, der nur auf das Vergangene blickt, während er der Zukunft den Rücken zugekehrt hat, und lediglich ihr zugetrieben wird. Weder kann der Improvisierende das Material der Vergangenheit vernachlässigen noch seine genuine Tätigkeit, das Improvisieren in der Gegenwart und für die Zukunft, aufgeben: Er visiert die Zukunft trotz ihrer Unvorhersehbarkeit über die Vermittlung der Vergangenheit an.<br><br>While improvised behavior is so much a part of human existence as to be one of its fundamental realities, in order to avoid the risk of defining the act of improvising too broadly, my focus here will be upon one of the activities most explicitly centered around improvisation – that is, upon jazz. My contribution, as Wittgenstein would say, has a »grammatical« design to it: it proposes to clarify the significance of the term »improvisation.« The task of clarifying the cases in which one may legitimately speak of improvisation consists first of all in reflecting upon the conditions that make the practice possible. This does not consist of calling forth mysterious, esoteric processes that take place in the unconscious, or in the minds of musicians, but rather in paying attention to the criteria that are satisfied when one ascribes to an act the concept of improvisation. In the second part of my contribution, I reflect upon the logic that governs the construction of an improvised performance. As I argue, in playing upon that which has already emerged in the music, in discovering the future as they go on (as a consequence of what they do), jazz players call to mind the angel in the famous painting by Klee that Walter Benjamin analyzed in his Theses on the History of Philosophy: while pulled towards the future, its eyes are turned back towards the past.

A Scientific World-View of Nature and Environmental Problem with a Special Concentration on Seyyed Hossein Nasr’s Understanding of Environmental Sustainability (Perspektif Sains terhadap Krisis Alam dan Persekitaran: Pemikiran Seyyed Hossein Nasr tentan)

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 312-328
Author(s):  
Md. Abu Sayem
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
World View ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Ecological Crisis ◽  
Environmental Crisis ◽  
World Views ◽  
Renaissance Humanism ◽  
Spiritual World ◽  
Scientific World ◽  
European Renaissance

The present paper attempts to expose how the scientific world-view of nature contributes to the present environmental crisis. Alongside this, it relates European Renaissance, humanism, secularism, the scientific and industrial revolutions, modern philosophy, scientism, technology-based modern life, consumerism-based modern society, etc. with current environmental problems. By focusing on Nasr’s traditional understanding of nature, the paper explores how materialistic and mechanistic world-views are deeply connected with the present ecological crisis. It also offers a critical analysis of Nasr’s spiritual and religious world-view of nature and examines its relevance. In doing so, it aims to highlight some demerits of the present world-view, and to call to reform current perceptions of nature by revitalizing traditional wisdom in order to protect the environment from further degradation. Thus, the paper is scholarly addition to the ongoing discourse on the issue of religions and the environment. Keywords: Eco-theology, Environmental Degradation, Materialistic and Mechanistic Views of Nature, Scientism, Spiritual Crisis of Modern humans, Religious and Spiritual World-Views.   Abstrak Kertas kajian ini menerangkan bagaimana pandangan saintifik telah menyumbang kepada krisis alam sekitar semasa. Disamping itu, kertas ini akan menhubungkaitkan Gerakan Revolusi Humanisma di Eropah, sekularisme, revolusi  sains dan perindustrian, falsafah moden, saintisme, kehidupan moden yang berasaskan teknologi, masyarakat moden yang berasaskan consumerisme, etc. dengan krisis alam sekitar yang berlaku dewasa ini.  Dengan memahami pandangan Nasr terhadap alam sekitar, kertas ini akan merungkai bagaimana pandangan materialistik (kebendaan) dan mekanistik mempengaruhi krisis ekologi masa kini. Ia juga akan menganalisa pandangan spiritual dan agama Nasr terhadap alam sekitar secara kritikal dan akan menilai sejauh mana kesesuaiannya. Dengan sedemikian dapat menyedarkan manusia tentang kecacatan pandangan semasa, yang kemudiannya akan membawa kepada pembaharuan persepsi mereka terhadap alam sekitar dengan cara menghidupkan semula nilai-nilai tradisional demi mengelakkan kemerosotan alam sekitar. Kertas ini akan memuatkan idea-idea para cendiakawan dalam membincangkan isu  berkaitan agama dan alam sekitar. Kata Kunci: Eko-Teologi, Kemerosotan Alam Sekitar, Pandangan Materialistik dan Makanistik terhadap Alam, Saintisme, Krisis Spiritual Manusia Moden, Perspektif Spiritual dan Agama.

Die Ausnahme bei Christian Garve und Søren Kierkegaard

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 247-288
Author(s):  
Sabine Ackermann
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Soren Kierkegaard ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Relationship With God ◽  
The Past ◽  
Fear And Trembling

AbstractAlthough people have established rules to secure their life and values, they seem to search—and to have searched, time and again, in the past—for exceptions to those rules, and this for different purposes. The article compares two concepts of exception, suggested by Kierkegaard in Fear and Trembling and by Garve in his Treatise on the Connection between Moral and Politics, respectively. A systematic-critical analysis shows certain intersections between their specific ways of handling the proposed exception. Garve’s concept of exception requires an original status naturalis between countries to increase happiness, and this is claimed by an established sovereign ruling with trust in God for his people. By contrast, the exception of Kierkegaard’s teleological suspension of the ethical turns out, precisely by being based on an individual’s relationship with God, to be incommensurable with purportedly universal social, ethical and political standards. This notwithstanding, both conceptions build on the notion of a human existence, which is subject to and ultimately dependent upon no one except the immortal God.

scholarly journals Discussion-provocation as a method of improving the educational process

2020 ◽  
Vol 210 ◽  
pp. 18030
Author(s):  
Olga Nikolenko ◽  
Larisa Babakova ◽  
Boris Morenko
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Foreign Students ◽  
World View ◽  
Standard Form ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Skills Development ◽  
Authentic Texts ◽  
Scientific World ◽  
Initial Base

The article describes the methodology of conducting training sessions in the discussion-provocation form as one of the methods of improving speech and thinking skills while teaching Russian as a foreign language in the classroom at an advanced training level and proves its effectiveness in mastering communication skills. It is shown that conducting training sessions in the discussion-provocation form helps to develop speech production skills among foreign students, to unleash creativity and logical thinking, making them to pass and process the information of the suggested basic text through “I-position” the prism. It enriches foreign students with elements of personally marked evaluation, thereby realizing the cognitive, communicative and educational tasks of the learning process. The advantages of authentic texts as an initial base for the speech skills development are described, as far as they reflect the real needs and emotional students’ mood through their approach to the surrounding reality and the interests of a particular individual, orient his thoughts to a given attitude. Discussion-provocation, being a non-standard form of classes helps to form an abstract and scientific world view among foreign students.

scholarly journals Michel Foucault: ejercicios espirituales para materialistas

2016 ◽  
pp. 60-74
Author(s):  
Luis Roca Jusmet
Keyword(s):  
Michel Foucault ◽  
Pierre Hadot

  Se defiende una de las propuestas de Michel Foucault en sus últimos años: la de unos ejercicios espirituales para materialistas. Al respecto, se analiza la relación histórica que establece Michel Foucault entre filosofía y espiritualidad, y cómo la pérdida de la espiritualidad de la filosofía está relacionada con la influencia progresiva de la teología y no de la ciencia. También se esboza la noción de cuidado de sí, de ejercicios espirituales, desde la filosofía helenista y romana. A partir de la comparación de este planteamiento foucaultiano con el de Pierre Hadot, de quien tomara el término ejercicio espiritual para referirse a las prácticas de la filosofía antigua, se pueden contrastar sus planteamientos con los del espiritualista Hadot, y concluir que, en ningún caso, es posible entender que Foucault deriva en sus últimos años hacia alguna forma de espiritualismo. Tampoco es justo considerar que el planteamiento de Foucault se dirige hacia un dandismo de tipo esteticista. Michel Foucault siempre considerará el cuidado de sí en relación con los otros. Se trata, finalmente, de cómo equilibrar la ética con la política, es decir, el gobierno de sí y el gobierno de los otros, sin recurrir a ninguna trascendencia espiritualista.    

scholarly journals Being Biblical? Slavery, sexuality, and the inclusive community

2008 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Burridge
Keyword(s):  
Church Leadership ◽  
World View ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Ethical Debate ◽  
Ethical Teaching ◽  
Women In Church Leadership ◽  
The Last Two Millennia

The use of the Bible in ethical debate has been central for the last two millennia. Current debates about sexuality, or the position of women in church leadership, are marked by both, or all, sides of the argument using Scripture. However, this has been true of many issues in the past. This is demonstrated in the debate about slavery two hundred years ago. Careful analysis of the use of Scripture in both the justification and critique of apartheid reveals how both sides quoted Scripture in its various modes, such as rules, principles, paradigms, and overall world-view. The biographical nature of the Gospels means that we must set Jesus’ rigorous ethical teaching in the context of the narrative of his deeds, including his open and welcoming acceptance of all people. It was an inclusive community of interpretation which changed the debates about slavery and apartheid, and a similar inclusive community is needed today.

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