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Lumen Fidei (The Light of Faith) is intended as the guiding magisterial document for the Year of Faith. Faith is the gateway to salvation. To reach eternal , it is necessary to have been baptized sacramentally and to die sincerely professing the Catholic faith.
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Ethical dilemmas raised by the use of nanotechnology in medical practice can be viewed from several perspectives: religious spiritualist perspective, the perspective of human dignity (nanotechnologies can be thought of as an affront to human dignity), the issue of controversial choice. The article aims to expose some bioethical dilemmas in using synthetic biology and nanotechnologies. Nowadays is often brought into discussion the fact it is possible to appear in the future new human species resulted not via natural selection and evolution, but through the demiurgic effect of technology development in areas such as: synthetic biology, genetics, neurobiology and neurosciences, prosthesis technology and not least of artificial intelligence research. We will also refer into this paper at the possible raised challenges to ethicists who are oriented towards an ethics of species. Those challenges are raised right from the dawn of a consciousness of species, a social construction generated by changes of the meaning of belonging to humanity. During our article we argue that medical technology, especially genetics, medical assisted human reproduction and not least synthetic biology, require a rethinking ethical meanings of applying those technologies in everyday practices.
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The principles of medical ethics, common as they are in the world at the present time, have been formed in the context of Western secular communities; consequently, secular principles and values are inevitably manifested in all corners of medical ethics. Medical ethics is at its infancy in Iran. In order to incorporate medical ethics into the country’s health system, either the same thoughts, principles, rules, and codes of Western communities should be translated and taught across the country, or else, if the principles and values and consequently the prominent moral rules and codes of Western medical ethics are not consistent with the culture, customs, and religion of our country, then new principles and values should be formulated that are more in harmony with our society. According to the available literature in Iran, the four principles proposed by Beauchamp and Childress do not contradict the Islamic-Iranian culture and can thus be generally applied in the mentioned context. However, the application of these four principles and their derivatives (e.g. regulations and codes) requires careful examination and adaptation to Islamic ethics. A comparison of the ontological, anthropological and epistemological foundations of secular and Islamic attitudes shows the differences between these two attitudes to be deep-rooted. “Rationalism,” “scientism,” and “humanism” are the main foundations of secularism, whereas “Godcentrism,” “pure human servitude to God,” the belief in “returning of humans to God,” “resurrection day,” and also human’s accountability to God are all fundamental beliefs and principles of religion for Muslims of all cults and sects. It can thus be concluded that the principles of secularist thought are different from and to some extent inconsistent with the principles of Islam. Instructions derived from secular thought can therefore not be implemented in an Islamic community; rather, these communities should adopt Islamic foundations as the source for the norms and standards of their medical ethics. The capacities of religious thought (in particular, Islam) make possible the formation of an ethical system consistent with Islamic Ummah.
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The article presents Fyodor Dostoevsky’s considerations of freedom based on both The Brothers Karamazov and The Idiot. The writer shows, that dealing with own freedom is one of the greatest tasks in human life and man's future fate depends wholly on how he copes with this task. Freedom is a fundamental concept in a philosophical anthropology of the Russian novelist. According to his grasp of the problem of evil this is a man, who appears the source of all misery, which he brings upon himself, among which not atheism but false understanding of God is the greatest one.
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We explain that the scientific attitude, with a “good understanding” of what is science, might be the most genuinely religious attitude, and that in fact, religion and science are much closer than what we are usually told. Nevertheless they cannot be identified effectively in any terrestrial applications without leading to inconsistency, but are truly, and thus non effectively, identical in the ever guessed true realm.
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The article is an attempt to formulate a Thomistic spiritual philosophy of recovery. The author faces two issues. One, what do recovering alcoholics mean when they say: “I am spiritual, but not religious?” He comes to the conclusion that it means recovering alcoholics are experiencing spiritual healing in their willingness to trust a loving God who has performed a miracle of recovery from alcoholism in their life. As a result of this experience, they are prepared to live a life of virtuous habit. Two, recovering alcoholics have discovered a spiritual second nature of moral character. The author explains why there are many in A.A. who discover that as God comes into their life and they turn to the path of virtue they rediscover religious worship and devotion is essential to the one day at a time journey.
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The purpose of this study is to examine the topic of older people in the world from the perspective of the Social Teaching of the Church. As explained in Christifideles Laici, the Catholic Church believes that the laity is summoned to pave the way for the arrival of God's Kingdom, and people who are at an advanced age should still respond to God's calling through their own unique way of contribution. In Familiaris Consortia it is emphasized that the Church should help older people manifest their roles both in families and religious groups. Although it is mentioned in these two apostolic exhortations that older people are blessed with wisdom, it is not explained as they actually acquire such a blessing. In order to address this issue and elaborate on the meaning of older people's wisdom, Grün's theory on the nature of older people's wisdom and where such a blessing comes from is insade reference to in this study. Moreover, it is emphasized in the apostolic exhortation of Familiaris Consortio that older people are often marginalized in today's industrialized and urbanized society and neglected in their families, while also enduring psychological and/or physical pain. Addressing this issue, the value of older people's work and their unshirkable missions and duties are explained in the present study by examining the nature and value of man's work as mentioned in Laboretn Exercens. Sen's "capability approach" is also utilized in the present study as a way to examine older people's values and the deprivation of their capability, allowing an in-depth analysis of this topic. The findings of this study reveal that Grun's theory of older people's wisdom being shaped by their life-experiences is significantly complementary to the messages on older people in Christifideles Laici and Familiaris Consortio. While Sen's capability approach does not offer a complete set of values or cultural system that solves this problem, the approach of "civilization of love" proposed in the Social Teaching of the church is very useful in helping one contemplate on the problems faced by older people around the world.
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The House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikmah) was built first as a library where the books on the sciences of the Ancients were kept. Under the sponsorship of the Caliph Al-Ma’m¯un (813–833), it developed into a scientific institute where the books on Ancient Greek philosophy were translated into Arabic. The Caliph acquired many Greek manuscripts and generously supported the translation activities in the House. By the end of the century, Arabic translation of the major works of the Greek philosophy and science had been completed. Thus, the Caliph and his House paved the way for the rise and flourish of Islamic philosophy and science.
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This article interprets Eckhart’s contradictions by presenting them as a result of an existential search for salvific power. It is shown that power is ambivalent in nature: it is the power of what is and the power of (self)overcoming (of what is). Just because power is in itself ambivalent and the process of searching for it existentialist (so not completely conscious), Eckhart’s mystical texts are full of contradictions and the German mystic is apparently not aware of it. The sample of them is shown in this article with regard to his ideas on God and man. Three other interpretations of Eckhart’s (“apophatic,” “educational,” “methodological”) are presented and argued against.
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Conscience is an element of the linguistic portrayal of the human person. The manner in which conscience is conceptualized in a language certifies that it is an intellectual judgment, moral imperative, moral reflection, a force to do good and a force restraining from evil. Specific linguistic connections certify what is meant by conscience in contemporary Polish. The contexts of occurrence of conscience allow for distinguishing two orientations, which are not only characteristic of Christian thought. They are: axiological orientation and pragmatic orientation. The first can be found in texts of a legislative nature, the second – points to the sociological and psychological motivations for using the concept in a specific context. This allows for a reconstruction of the image of conscience on the basis of specific mental operations that affect the formation of specific language constructs.
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The author of the article at hand deals with the issue of the philosophy of moral and its importance within the philosophical and theological thought of Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali. Al-Ghazali (1058-1111) is one of the most important classics of Muslim intellectual tradition, leaving behind a rich literary work. The author reveals that ethics has a decisive role in Al-Ghazali, whose thought is seen as a kind of synthesis of philosophical and theological, but in the latter period the mystical oriented thinking as well. The interpretation of problems by al-Ghazali have will have a huge impact on the development of later philosophical and theological thought in Islam.
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The article consists of two parts. In the first, which has an introductory character, the author recalls the role which Christianity has played in Western culture yet recently and depicts the peculiarity of modern anti-religious Western culture. In the second part he shows how alternative (new) religious movements function in this culture. The author pays a particular attention on those elements of contemporary culture which enable to create and develop such movements. In his conclusion, the author points out that this multicultural alternative which is offeered by contemporary religious movements is essentially apparent. This is so, because referring to ideas which come from non-European cultures does not resolve important problems of the modern European. Instead of answers there are new, even tougher to explain, problems and questions.
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The anti-reductionist character of the recent philosophy of biology and the dynamic development of the science of emergent properties prove that the time is ripe to reintroduce the thought of Aristotle, the first advocate of a “top-down” approach in life-sciences, back into the science/philosophy debate. His philosophy of nature provides profound insights particularly in the context of the contemporary science of evolution, which is still struggling with the questions of form (species), teleology, and the role of chance in evolutionary processes. However, although Aristotle is referenced in the evolutionary debate, a thorough analysis of his theory of hylomorphism and the classical principle of causality which he proposes is still needed in this exchange. Such is the main concern of the first part of the present article which shows Aristotle’s metaphysics of substance as an open system, ready to incorporate new hypothesis of modern and contemporary science. The second part begins with the historical exploration of the trajectory from Darwin to Darwinism regarded as a metaphysical position. This exploration leads to an inquiry into the central topics of the present debate in the philosophy of evolutionary biology. It shows that Aristotle’s understanding of species, teleology, and chance – in the context of his fourfold notion of causality – has a considerable explanatory power which may enhance our understanding of the nature of evolutionary processes. This fact may inspire, in turn, a retrieval of the classical theology of divine action, based on Aristotelian metaphysics, in the science/theology dialogue. The aim of the present article is to prepare a philosophical ground for such project.
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Anatolian Alevism’s beliefs, its philosophy, its life style and its worldview is hidden in “cem”s. Cem is a rite which is effected by all aspirants without sexism before a “dede” or a “pir” which means spiritual guides. This kind rite and rituals which is made in the religious ceremony is a main way of the cult of Alevis. And Alevism’s rules are emphasized at the “Buyruk” which is their holy book. “Dede”s pass on doctrines which is at holy book to the aspirants as an amenability. They are religion leader which has an active part to pass on Alevism’s own beliefs and doctrines to the aspirants as orally in cem. Manifold views have been broached who they are in studies which made about Alevism heretofore. According to this, some researchers call Alevism as a culture, someones call it as a way of the life and its philosophy and the other ones call it as a belief. In this context, it will be helpful to make known what Anatolian Alevism is and its doctrines are. Also it will be helpful to approach to detect its structure of belief. In this article, firstly, it has been accentuated what meaning of “cem” and then it has been mentioned that the meaning attributed to the cem in Anatolian Alevis. In another step, it has been introduced cem’s which is collected below ten titles as content and it has been mentioned that role of cems in socio-cultural life. As a final, it has been ascertained that cems are so effective to pass on their own beliefs to the people and to practice their own beliefs in the community life. Also, it has been noted that cems are so very functional to strengthen to sense of unity as harmony between individual with society.
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1. In this article we presented a metaphysical analysis of the analogy, presenting it as an essential condition for ontological and cognitive realism. 2. We use analogy every day, both in philosophy and in ordinary life, expressing ourselves, description of reality, etc. 3. The analogy is briefly saying “similarity of dissimilar”. 4. The analogy occurs in the ontological, cognitive and language aspect (predication), providing them with realism. The main aspect is the aspect of the ontic. 5. Apart from realistic analogy, there is also the analogy in poetry and language of mysticism, called a metaphor or parable. However, it is connected with subjective and experiential human world. 6. The analogy exists primarily as a way of cognition, which reveals ontological pluralism of the world. This cognition is a reflection of analogical being in terms of its constituent compositions and both intra-being (integrating parts, essence and existence, substance and accidents, matter and form, act and potency, etc.) and inter- beings relations. 7. The analogy of cognition is realized as: metaphorical analogy, analogy of attribution and the analogy of general and transcendental proportionality. 8. In the predication we have to deal with analogy of predicates and the analogy of the predicate rule. 9. The analogical inference is an extension of analogy of predication.
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The text consists of four parts. Assuming that the late Middle Ages was an era of an unusual intensity of conflicts based on religion and race, it will be shown how the notion of the Church as mystical body (Corpus Ecclesiae mysticum), which was its answer to those conflicts, arises from the conservative interpretation of the divine Incarnation. I thereby prove that the entire medieval political theology is self-established as an attempt of repressive suppression of the horizontal (and without organs) political body, created by the early Christianity. The second part is an attempt to describe an anthropological machine, whereby from the 11th century the Curia produced the radically exclusive notion of a political body, dividing the world of those days into humans (who will be saved) and none-humans, which consist of the condemned mass. The third part indicates how this process assumes the form of excommunication, which despite the fact of being created as an extraordinary measure, became the norm for the medieval masses. The last part describes the Franciscanism as a social and religious movement based on the concept of repetition of the Incarnation event – tragic from the orthodox theology point of view. In this context the hidden under the surface of the struggle for investiture, the unbreakable alliance is revealed, maintained between the Papacy and the Empire that was created to hold back the new, heterodox outbursts and the anti-imperialist line of the outlets.
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Nowadays, when for many prayer does not make any sense, the author attempts at showing what prayer is, taking into account an understanding of human person, especially that provided by Karol Wojtyła, Rmano Guardini and Richard Schaeffler. Human person, while enjoying absolute, intrinsic dignity, is at the same time related to another person. Its structure is dialogical. Its source is God who creates it by calling it as his “you”. In this calling human person, in turn, recognizes God as their “You” and may call His Name.
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The aim of the article is to offer a reading of the four chapters of Anselmʼs Proslogion and the place of ontological argument in the dialogue between Anselm and fool. The introduction is a brief and selective consideration of Anselmʼs ontological argument in philosophy. The next section considers the place of the fool and the ontological argument in regard to Anselmʼs Monologion and Proslogion. )n the next part, the article introduces the provisional dialogue between Anselm and the fool in the first four chapters of Proslogion about the change of attitude of faith toward the capacity for reason, and in the conclusion the ontological argument is proposed as a test for this change in attitude.
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