Spiritual Exercise as Techne: Philosophy as a Way of Liberating Education

The study of education systems as social phenomena has led scholars to question the role of education in modern society. The question of how to improve education naturally leads to concerns about what is wrong with the present education system. If education is meant to elevate the next generation, how can it meet the goal of ensuring a meaningful existence for those being educated? Scholars have demonstrated that education has been reduced to a process of the construction of objects, where curriculum as techne commodifies students into products with market value. We propose that the tendency of interpreting techne as technology is a perspective of the modern age, and the rules of modern education are based on the rules of modern technology, under the guidance of the paradigm of productivity. We will introduce a broader interpretation of techne which frames it as the cultivation of virtue, i.e., virtue-techne. On this basis, education could be viewed as techne in the sense of praxis (practice, exercise), rather than as fabrication in the sense of production. We highlight the rising rate of student suicides in Taiwan in recent years, where we determine the education system lacks a focus on praxis. This article investigates alternative praxis-oriented notions of education, from Aristotle's cultivation of virtue to Hadot's "spiritual exercises," to advocate for a shift away from the production paradigm. Indebted to Heidegger, we clarify his "techne as revealing" by emphasizing two frameworks for education: The first, modern education being valued by its adherence to metrics based in the paradigm of production. The second, education as a process wherein its value is derived from the life context of the participating individual. Finally, as a comparative study, we explore the current state of education in Russia and Taiwan, and present the case of one high school in Taiwan which has adopted the practice of spiritual exercises in its curriculum, including a required hike to the peak of Taiwan's tallest mountain, to cultivate a sense of (and value for) the liberated life before its students graduate.

Indian Buddhism

The chapter argues that the teaching of the Buddha, Buddhaghosa’s Visuddhimagga, and Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra are each plausibly interpreted as self-cultivation philosophies. For each, the existential starting point is that we are caught in a cycle of rebirth permeated by suffering caused by craving, something rooted in the delusion that we are selves or have an intrinsic nature. The ideal state of being is centrally the awareness that we are not selves or are empty of an intrinsic nature. This awareness—nirvana—is a state of peace and compassion that ends the cycle of rebirth. The transformation from suffering to nirvana is achieved through intellectual, ethical, and meditative disciplines, the spiritual exercises, namely the Eightfold Path or the Six Perfections. Though Buddhism denies that there is a self, this denial is connected to an understanding of human nature as consisting of five kinds of “aggregates” and having the capacity for enlightenment.

The vector subject in the factual ontology of Q. Meillassoux

The concepts of contingency, factuality, and correlationism introduced by Meillassoux are clarified in the article. The question of the contingency of the forms of correlation is revealed in the context of the functioning of post-Kantian philosophy. The contingency of the correlationist theories of a subject is established. The article substantiates the thesis about the dual position of the subject in the factual ontology: Meillassoux reaches the antisubjectivist contingency through a radical overcoming of the various paradigms of the subject, then, the philosopher recovers the position of a strong subject from the non-human contingency. Basically, the article deals with the ontological status, characteristics and factual ethics of the vector subject. It reveals the way in which Meillassoux thinks of the subject in the context of the radical unreasonableness: this is the simultaneous holding, on the one hand, the order of the actual given and, on the other, the contingency of the given and the subject. The factual character of the subject-object dichotomy restored by Meillassoux is clarified. It’s established that non-Hegelian dialectics is the main manner of navigating the subject in the contingent universe. The key property of the subject, its “vectorness”, is determined. The main characteristics of the actual and virtual World are highlighted. Furthermore, it’s investigated how the subject is activated in the direction of the virtual World. It’s noted that the thinking of the vector subject is more focused on temporality than on space. The ontological foundations of the “spiritual exercises” prescribed to the vector subject are analyzed.

The Spiritual Exercises of John Rawls

In this article I interpret John Rawls’s concept of the original position as a spiritual exercise. In addition to the standard interpretation of the original position as an expository device to select principles of justice for the fundamental institutions of society, I argue that Rawls also envisages it as a “spiritual exercise”: a voluntary personal practice intended to bring about a transformation of the self. To make this argument, I draw on the work of Pierre Hadot, a philosopher and classicist, who introduced the idea of spiritual exercises as central to ancient and modern conceptions of philosophy. By reading Rawls alongside Hadot, this article portrays Rawls as a thinker deeply concerned with the question of how subjects can lead more just and fulfilling lives. It also proposes that the original position as a spiritual exercise can help defend liberalism as a social and political doctrine.

Archeosophy and experimental metaphysics of Palamidessi

The centre of the reflections of Tommaso Palamidessi (1915 1983), starting from the first writings of the 1940’s, is the providing of the spiritual techniques capable of carrying forward the study of the metaphysical reality to anexperimental plane. The f ull realization of his “experimental metaphysics” is constituted by Archeosophy, understood as the experimental way, presented by him in 1968 and developed in the following years. The concrete basis of every supersensible experimentation for Palamidessi is the awakening of those which are the centres of force, identified with the “spiritual senses” of the Fathers of Church, which as such allow the superior worlds to be rendered sensible. In the thought of Palamidessi therefore the possibility of an experimental metaphysics and of a spiritual practice become implementable once the techniques of awakening and of the development of these subtle centres are provided.While taking into account the thematic vastness of the various “asceses” proposed by Archeosophy, with the relative methods, experiments and exercises, in this study we synthetically present three orders of spiritual practices suggested by Palamidessi in his writings, and widely diffused among Archeosophers: the meditation on the centres of force, the spiritual exercises with the “rite of the eucharistia lucernaris ” and the Cardiognosis with the “prayer to the Sapience".

Jesuit Pacifism: The Conversion of Daniel Berrigan

Among the Catholics who grew to prominence in the twentieth century, few matched the public witness of Daniel Berrigan (1921–2016). This paper will develop the topic of Berrigan’s use of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius as the backbone of his pacifism. This paper’s approach will be threefold. First, it expands on the sparse scholarly work on Berrigan specifically as a Jesuit and a priest. Second, it examines Berrigan’s own conversion alongside Ignatius’s dramatic decision to lay down his weapons in Montserrat. Third, in light of this momentous development in Ignatius’s life, the article will examine whether such pacifism ought to be mandatory for Jesuits today (beyond the prohibition on clerics from bearing arms in warfare), taking the particular case of Berrigan and his triumphs and trials into consideration as an example.

SPIRITUAL DIRECTION IN AN AFRICAN CONTEXT: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

An upset spiritual director just ended a retreat with a group of African priests because they could not observe strict silence. Similar situations elsewhere on the continent led a young African student to raise the question of the suitability of sixteenth-century Spiritual Exercises to modern Africans. This essay acknowledges the challenges facing spiritual directors to “accurately” apply the method of the Spiritual Exercises in a diverse and ever-evolving, noisy and busy world. From the concrete experience of this group of priests, it argues for the suitability of the Exercises to the African context based on the adaptability and flexibility inherent in Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercise and subsequent directories. The particular crisis between this director and his retreatants, however, also presents a unique opportunity for retreat directors to find creative ways to accommodate retreatants with specific needs, and to communicate the message of the Exercises in a way that is both accessible to and respectful of the African worldview. KEYWORDS: Retreat Director. Diocesan African Context. Blended Retreat. Confession and Narrativity.