Locke, God, and Materialism

This chapter looks at Locke’s discussion in Essay 4.10, focusing on his arguments that God cannot be material: that he can be neither an incogitative material first cause, nor a cogitative one. Perhaps Locke had Hobbes or even Spinoza in mind as targets of his arguments, but he did not focus on their views alone. Locke in 4.10 draws on a discussion in Cudworth’s True Intellectual System. The central thought behind several of Locke’s arguments is the metaphysical principle (also seen in Cudworth) that the less perfect cannot cause the more perfect. Locke uses this repeatedly in arguing against views on which God is material. Understanding the role of this principle also helps us understand what Locke meant when he said that we might be material thinking beings, because God could have superadded thought to the matter in us, even though God himself could not be a material being.

Book Review “Filsafat Nusantara; Sebuah Pemikiran Tentang Indonesia” (Philosophy of Nusantara; A Thought About Indonesia)

In general, the study of Nusantara Philosophy is a form of awareness of the values of the Indonesian people. Nusantara philosophy is the glue of pluralism and diversity as in the formulation of Pancasila and the slogan "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" means although different, but still one. Therefore, the book "Filsafat Nusantara: Sebuah Pemikiran Tentang Indonesia" was written to present a review of thoughts about Indonesia and Pancasila. As an Indonesian society must certainly have a part in defending the archipelago earth. The author argues that it is important to avoid disintegration due to the variety and complexity of culture and wealth contained naturally in the Indonesian region. In particular, the study of Nusantara Philosophy should be intended for prospective Church leaders (Church leaders) who are expected to act wisely and carefully in carrying out their entrusted tasks, especially to prepare to face the people and pluralist Indonesian society. Church leaders must have an insight into Indonesian nationality sourced from Nusantara assets. With the study of Nusantara Philosophy, the author believes that Indonesian people can be moved to become a figure who really loves the country (100%) and 100% native members of the Catholic Church (I.J. Kasimo). In addition, the study of Nusantara Philosophy indirectly encourages Indonesians to apply what president Joko Widodo calls "I am Indonesia, I am Pancasila". This book explained how the perspective of "Filosofi Nusantara" providing a depiction of thought about Indonesia and Pancasila. It is quite interesting because of the clear concept and urgent need for a sense of unity and unity of the nation. Where can this be a new reading source for readers before continuing on western philosophical thinking. According to Frans Magnis Suseno quoted by L.A.S Gunawan, Nusantara Philosophy is part of Cultural Philosophy by using two approaches, namely phenomenological approach that discusses phenomena in every element of Nusantara culture and metaphysical approach that reflects various phenomena in the archipelago. Nusantara philosophy reflects all things related to Nusantara (1). Overall, this book needs to be reviewed further because it has a different perspective in looking at a country (nation). With the development of the concept of Nusantara insight based on Nusantara philosophy based on Pancasila as the basis of the Indonesian state. Thus, it will bring a new outlook for every citizen and government of the country. Nusantara philosophy is coveted to be able to find the "metaphysical principle" in the framework of the unification of the Archipelago consisting of many islands where this shows the characteristics of the Archipelago, namely as an island nation. Then the principle of metaphysics is a way of thinking as well as assessing the Indonesian government in the context of the Archipelago with all its problems.

Spinoza on Melancholy and Cheerfulness

Spinoza's philosophy is often celebrated for its strong anti-normative current. Spinoza argues, for instance, that good and bad do not indicate anything positive in things, and that affects are always particular to the situation in which they arise. And yet Spinoza argues that melancholy is “always evil,” and cheerfulness “always good,” thus problematizing a key metaphysical principle of his system. Turning to select sections in the Ethics and Theological-Political Treatise, this article offers a reading of these two problematic affects before connecting Spinoza to recent work on early modern melancholy that conceptualizes it as an ‘assemblage.’

The Principle of Excluded Middle in Kant

The principle of excluded middle is more important than is commonly believed for understanding Kant's overall philosophical project. In the article, this principle is examined in the following contexts: (i) kinds of judgments, (ii) concepts of opposition, negation, and determination, and (iii) apagogic proof. It is first explained how the principle of excluded middle is employed by Kant in distinguishing between the kinds of judgment. Also called the principle of division, it is the principle of disjunctive and apodictic judgments in Kant's famous table of judgments. Next, the Author shows which kind of opposition is related to the principle of the excluded middle. As a merely logical criterion of truth, this principle grounds the logical necessity of a cognition and plays an important role in the use of apagogical proofs. Then Kant's account of logical negation will be investigated briefly. Negative judgment with a negative copula indicates that something is not contained within the sphere of a given concept. This process occurs in accordance with the principle of excluded middle. Finally, an analysis is made of how Kant presents the metaphysical principle of thoroughgoing determination and its differences from the logical principle of excluded middle.

THE PROBLEM OF ANDROGYNOUS IDEAL OF A HUMAN BEING IN V.V. ROZANOV’S PHILOSOPHY OF SEX

The purpose of this article is a philosophical and anthropological analysis of the ideal of androgyne in V.V. Rozanov’s metaphysics of sex. The main focus is on the comparison of the destructive and constructive forms of the androgyne in his philosophy. According to the philosopher, destructive forms include people of «moonlight» or «third sex», who are considered the founders of New Testament Christianity, denying the life of the flesh. Constructive forms are the natural androgyny of a child and the androgyny of a married couple, which reveals itself in love, dynamics, mutual complementarity of a man and a woman. The paper draws parallels between N.A. Berdyaev’s and V.V. Rozanov’s concepts of androgyne, which are antipodal in terms of direction of thought but have common meanings. It is concluded that thesimilarity between the concepts lies in the understanding of gender as a dynamic and metaphysical principle that penetrates through not only the bodily but also the spiritual life of a person, and therefore cannot be rejected. The concepts are also similar in that they draw a boundary between the androgyne and the hermaphrodite, of which the former is the ideal of the human wholeness, while the latter is an unsuccessful attempt to achieve it. The differences between these philosophers consist in the priority of spiritual love in Berdyaev’s system and worldly, bodily love in Rozanov’s, as well as in a different understanding of the process of an androgyne being generated in a person, which, in Berdyaev’s conception, is individual and arises in each of the persons who are in love with each other, while, according to Rozanov, it is exclusively achievable in couples. The paper also pays attention to Rozanov’s own theology, which renews the Old Testament family ideals, offering the concept of God as a «sexual» being and proposing to consider the act of love within marriage as a sacred mystery that unites a person with God in co-creation. The study allows us to rethink the modern problems of gender self-determination of a person, returning to the metaphysical foundations of the Russian philosophy of gender, the main task of which was the synthesis of the spiritual and bodily principles in a person.

The Doctrine of Śrī (Lakṣmī) and its Origins in Viśiṣṭādvaita-Vedānta

The doctrine of Śrī-tattva (ontology of the goddess Lakṣmī) in the philosophy of viśiṣṭādvaita-vedānta is one of the most disputable. It raises a number of ques­tions within the tradition and from other philosophical schools. The Supreme Re­ality (Brahman) has its personified form, represented as Viṣṇu with his spouse Śrī. However, it is not always clear whether the goddess acts autonomously, or she is completely subordinate to God. Whether it is the potency of God, the metaphysical principle, or she is the Supreme deity along with Viṣṇu. This doc­trine became one of the most disputable between the Tengalai and Vadagalai śrī­vaiṣṇava schools of the South India in the 13th – 14th centuries. The ācāryas criticized various theories about Lakṣmī in the debates and in their works, as to her being the means of liberation (mokṣa), as to her being Paramātmā or just a part of Brahman, as to her being infinite etc. Viśiṣṭādvaita’s philosophers quote the Vedic texts and Pāñcarātra samhitas as the most authoritative sources of knowledge when they explain this doctrine. This article discusses references in these texts to Śrī-Lakṣmī, its nature, attributes and functions, as well as its sta­tus in relation to Nārāyaṇa and the Universe.

Or Abstractum

George Berkeley is famous for the metaphysical principle esse is percipi or percipere (“to be is to be perceived or to be a perceiver”). Many Berkeleyan idealists take this principle to be incompatible with Platonic realism about abstract objects, and thus opt either for nominalism or divine conceptualism on which they are construed as divine ideas. In this paper, I argue that Berkeleyan idealism is consistent with a Platonic realism in which abstracta exist outside the divine mind. This allows the Berkeleyan to expand Berkeley’s principle to read: esse is percipi or percipere or abstractum.

“The boundary we need”: Death and the Challenge to Postmodernity in Don DeLillo’s "White Noise"

Don DeLillo’s White Noise is often taught as an exemplar of postmodern literature because of its concern with the postmodern themes of identity and spectacular commodification. There is much in the text, however, to suggest that DeLillo’s central characters are searching for certainties, some of which are related to earlier cultural paradigms. This paper argues that Don DeLillo’s novel explores ways to overcome the persistent displacement of meaning in postmodern texts by establishing death as one concept outside the systems of signs which is irreducible, certain and universal. DeLillo’s characters are in search of a “transcendental signified” (Derrida) able to bring a halt to the potentially infinite postmodern regressions of late twentieth century American culture. Here I argue that in White Noise it is death which provides this exterior metaphysical principle.

The Centrality of the Idea of the Good in the Platonic System (1)

This chapter analyzes the Idea of the Good, the “unhypothetical first principle of all.” All Platonists have acknowledged the need for a first unifying metaphysical principle of all. That the need for such a principle is recognized in Plato's dialogues, in Aristotle's testimony, and in the indirect tradition was never doubted. Indeed, the Idea of the Good, in Republic, is held by Plato to be the focus of his philosophy. And because of its unique, superordinate, and comprehensive causal scope, it is the focus of his systematic philosophy. The chapter then explores the first principles in Parmenides, Sophist, Philebus, and Timaeus. It also considers Aristotle's account of the nature of the first principles and the evidence of the indirect tradition.

Alexander's Metaphysics commentary and some scholastic understandings of automata

In this article, I argue that Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas read a certain passage of Aristotle's Metaphysics on the nature of metaphysical curiosity in a way that is inconsistent with the earlier reading of the same passage by Alexander of Aphrodisias. The passage has to do with Aristotle's use of mechanical automata as a metaphor for kinetic mimesis in his metaphysics. The result of the variant reading of the passage in question is that these Scholastic readings emphasize universal causality as a vehicle of “wonder banishment” in metaphysics at the expense of recognizing the key metaphysical principle that Aristotle is suggesting. Such readings actually turn out to be difficult to maintain with the example of mechanical automata that Aristotle employs. I argue that the absence of the availability of Alexander's commentary to Albert and Aquinas contributes to their variant and inconsistent reading. There are three main parts and a conclusion. Part I discusses the passage from Aristotle's Metaphysics in question, which I call the thaumata passage, as well as Alexander's commentary on it. Part II discusses the unavailability of Alexander's commentary to Albert, Aquinas and their predecessors. Part III discusses the variant scholastic readings of the thaumata passage and how these readings, which take Aristotle's mechanical automata as chance occurrences result in an emphasis on wonder banishment through universal causal reasoning that is inconsistent with the example Aristotle uses in the thaumata passage. By way of conclusion I suggest that even had Alexander's commentary been available to Aquinas, he would have understood the passage as more akin to remarks on magic than to metaphysics.