"Food for Peace": The Vegan Religion of the Hebrews of Jerusalem

Author(s): Shelley Elkayam / Language(s): English / Issue: XXVI/2014

A debate over the morality of Kosher slaughter [Shechita (Hebrew: שחיטה)] has raged in Poland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Denmark, where the Jewish ritual slaughter was outlawed. The more the debate goes on, the more awareness arises to Shechita as a basic Jewish religious practice. Yet veganism is a Hebrew religious operation too. This article discusses Hebrew vegan belief in terms meaningful to Jews, yet considering its utopian nature, in terms applicable to others as well. Both Shechita and veganism have universal Hebrew claims. Yet both claims are to be studied. Within this vast theme, I will analyze here veganism only, with respect to its utopian role and as a theological structure of one, yet global, community: the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem. They believe themselves to be the descendants of Judah, the fourth son of Jacob Israel. They are Jewish by their cultural nature: they observe Shabbat, Torah and a weekly fast. In 70 A.D. after the Romans destroyed the second temple they escaped and fled southward and westward to various nations in Africa two millennia ago where they were sold as slaves and were enslaved in America. They left America in 1967 led by their spiritual leader Ben Ammi, defined their departure as an exodus from America. Via Liberia – where they became vegans – they arrived in Israel in 1969, established an urban kibbutz, a collective communal living which is located in a desert region. Like most Jews, their diet has tremendous importance, but unlike most Jews they are vegan. The African Hebrews have very specific vegan dietary practices. Their tradition includes teaching and studying a special diet, which is vegetarian, organic and self-produced. They observe Shabbat strictly. On Shabbat, they fast and cleanse. This mirrors their spiritual outlook that eating is a hard labor of which they are obliged to rest from by the Ten Commandments. This article presents a breakthrough idea that fasting on Shabbat indeed reflects an ancient Israelite religious tradition. “Food for Peace” s a metaphor for the theology of the Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem unfolding their messianic utopia through which they believe people may achieve inner peace and even world peace, encompassing decades of powerful hopes, realities and nutritious lifestyle.

"Prolegomena filozofii pracy" Stanisława Brzozowskiego w kontekście naszych morderczych zmagań dla przyszłych pokoleń

Author(s): Katarzyna Popek / Language(s): Polish / Issue: XXVI/2014

Without doubt “Prolegomena filozofii pracy” by Stanislaw Brzozowski sets in a historical perspective the trail which we can go through not only thanks to our serious effort, but also to the intangible internal gesture. According to this philosopher, the work irreversibly determines the shape of our lives; it creates a world of culture. What is more, life is its purpose in the sense that it makes permanent transformations in the world that protects human life – not necessarily our own! According to this new logic, man creates his life and the cognition of himself. Reconstruction of murderous mental rite of work is impossible, because living matter wears just down through the work. However, according to Brzozowski, we cannot know anything except our own life. We constantly think about it, we give it some shape. The author passionately draws from Hegel’s philosophy of process, but he arrives at his own implications. Brzozowski has made a specific identification of consciousness with a deep philosophy. In his opinion, our fear of the future would not be justified if we could rely on the work of our ancestors. However, work remains our constant challenge. In general, a person is very weak and fragile in the face of the world of nature. We are weak when we are subordinated to the objective rules. If a human develops in the work – he and she protects and cares for their truly human dignity. Brzozowski was a rebelious thinker. He believed in the cause of the working class even more than their own strength. I would like to dedicate my article to Stanislaw Brzozowski to demonstrate what a piercing philosopher and a theorist of social thought he was.

"Wtedy zaczął się mój upadek...". Egzystencjalne dylematy bohaterów Józefa Conrada i Alberta Camusa

Author(s): Irena Jokiel / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 3/2014

The article uses the notion of 'border' in the interpretation of psychological and ethical themes in "Lord Jim" by J. Conrad and "The Fall" by A. Camus. The heroes of these novels realise that they had made bad use of their freedom , and the moment in which this happened had marked their lives irrevocably, and divided it into zones of rise and fall. After this moment nothing would be as it used to. Throughout the centuries literature has developed language to express the fundamental experience of this kind; it tells the stories of people experiencing the traumatic force of a demarcation moment, which after passing, leaves no posibility of returning to the life before; it creates alternative worlds inhabited by people who seek the truth about their "I", it constructs situations that embodies our anxiety resulting from the fact that man is not "redy and finished", and in the flowing "here and now" he does deeds which shape his destiny. "The Fall" indirectly includes the question of attitude of modern world towards Condrad's ethos.

(Post)sekularna filozofia negatywna, media wizualne i ekstasis (dekonstrukcja jako wariant neofenomenologii)

Author(s): Joanna Sarbiewska / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2016

The author proposes a neophenomenological interpretation of the late Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction, by bringing it into the light of (post)secular negative philosophy and indicating the application of its mystic/ecstatic implications on a media techno-vision basis. In this conceptualization, deconstruction/negation, as an ,epoche strategy, not only denudes (kenosis) cognition of the idolatry, characteristic of the traditional methaphysics of presence and the dogmatic religion, but also suspends “the source” itself (the Offenberkeit register), and thus, causes the experience of radical emptiness (chora) as a condition of an opening to the Impossible. The author, by presenting the concept of negative image, demonstrates that technology visual media provide a suitable space (groundlessness) for Impossible to manifest itself in post-industrial culture.

(rec.) Dawid Lipski, Jan Peckham i Tomasz z Akwinu. Spór o jedność formy substancjalnej w człowieku, seria: Opera philosophorum medii aevi (textus et studia), tom 15, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego, Warszawa 2015

Author(s): Jacek Grzybowski / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2016

1984

Author(s): Gergana Dineva / Language(s): Bulgarian / Issue: 21/2015

The text celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Summer school in medieval philosophy and culture, established by Tzotcho Boiadjiev in the summer of 1984, and traces the development of the workshop alongside the growth of the Bulgarian school in medieval philosophy. The article traces the historical development of the only academic seminar, started during the time of totalitarian regime in Bulgaria, which is still very much alive, gives opportunity tomany students and young scholarsdevelop research skills and to participate in the academic life of the international studies on the thought of the Middle ages.

A Contextual Concept of Science

Author(s): Sumei Cheng / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2016

The contextual concept of science regards a scientific theory as a whole simulation for the mechanism of natural world under the given context. It argues that a scientific theory is to understand the reality only in the sense of intentionality in the process of reality simulation, rather than to describe reality in the sense of one-to-one correspondence. This concept of understanding reality is totally different from that of describing reality.Compared with the realist approaches and the anti-realist approach, the contextual approach has the following advantages: (1) it contributes to bridge the communication between the preachers of scientism and the humanists;(2) it has helped to solve the problem of underdetermination faced by scientific realism; (3) it is relatively easy to understand the correction about the concept and theory; (4) it could reflect the true process of science more properly. Therefore, it is a more promising and convincing new perspective to understand science.

A fenomenológia és az analitikus filozófia metszéspontjain

Author(s): Lajos András Kiss / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 09/2012

Szigeti Attila: A testet öltött másik. Kortárs fenomenológiai tanulmányok, Pro Philosophia Kiadó, Kvár, 2011.

A fenomenológiával való megismerkedésem

Author(s): László Tengelyi / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 06/2015

In this interview, László Tengelyi answers the question of the Hungarian Phenomenological Society: “how did you arrive to the phenomenological tradition and to phenomenological thinking?” The form of the answer is an essay which was written in 2006. Tengelyi describes his first encounter with Husserl and Heidegger through Nicolai Hartmann’s aesthetics and ontology. This attraction was deepened during his 1988-89 stay in Leuven with the support of the Soros Foundation. Rudolf Bernet and other prominent phenomenologists (Klaus Held, Bernhard Waldenfels, Marc Richir) convinced him that phenomenology is one of the possible ways of original thinking. What distinguishes phenomenology from other contemporary schools of thought (structuralism, analytical philosophy, critical social philosophy) is its inner relation to the whole tradition of Western philosophy. That is why phenomenology, “with its historical saturation”, is able to maintain a kind of spiritual vigilance in the philosophical practice.

A filozófia mint önismereti tudomány

Author(s): Péter Egyed / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 02/2015

A görög filozófus és az élet

Author(s): György Geréby / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 02/2015

The encounter between the Christian philosopher Justin Martyr, of Samaritan background, and Tryphon the Jew (around 150 AD) offers essential pointers to understand more precisely what “Greek”, or rather Hellenistic, philosophy meant. First, Greek was not a nationality, but a culture, a langue axiale in which Greeks and non-Greeks could exchange and debate ideas. Again, as educated persons, they shared a literary canon (in artificial Greek) and methods of conceptualisation. Consequently, they shared a common framework in terms of the rationality of discussion, which also extended to theology. Rational theology was a legitimate branch of philosophy as the third theoretical discipline according to Aristotle. The inclusion of theology in philosophy shows that the ultimate subject for philosophy was not sterile speculation, or pure theory, but the principles which, in forms of practical syllogisms (Aristotle, NE 1144a 31-2), would lead to action, thereby answering the fundamental problem “how to live”. Greek philosophy was supposed to prepare a “way of life” (P. Hadot). More than that, it was not without reason that successive Roman emperors invited the advice of philosophy in the complexities of the imperial polity.

A határhelyzet mint létélmény

Author(s): Zsuzsa Tapodi / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 09/2012

Bányai Éva: Térképzetek, névtérképek, határidentitások, Komp-Press, Kvár, 2011.

A kánonokról és ami kimarad belőlük: K. W. F. Solgerről

Author(s): Sándor András / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 10/2016

A kantianizmus nem kuriózum

Author(s): Deodáth Zuh / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 05/2014

A legjobb barátom

Author(s): Ágnes Heller / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 4/2016

A nyughatatlan kísértet az 1989 utáni világrendben

Author(s): Miklós Szalai / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 3-4/2015

G. M. Tamás: Kommunismus nach 1989. Beiträge zu Klassentheorie, Realsozialismus, Osteuropa Herausgegeben und übersetzt von Georg Wallner Mandelbaum, Wien, 2015. 252 oldal, 19.90 €(kritik & utopie)

A preszókratikus filozófia mint életmód

Author(s): Emese Mogyoródi / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 02/2015

A Trial of Interpretation of Meister Eckhart’s Thought on God and Man through the Analysis of Its Paradoxes

Author(s): Zbigniew Kazmierczak / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2017

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.

Acedia jako rozpacz człowieka pozbawionego dumy

Author(s): Maciej Slawomir Kostyra / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 60/2015

This study investigated acedia in existential and moral contexts, using its descriptions from antiquity through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, modern and postmodern times. I have chosen to work with six definitions of acedia. These are: carelessness of heart (the Bible), narcissism (Evagrius of Ponticus), contradiction in will (St. Augustine), sluggishness of the mind which neglects to begin good (St. Thomas, Summa Theologica,II.2.q 35.1), demonic despair of will to be oneself (Søren Kierkegaard), and self-contempt (Jean-Luc Marion). My approach is inspired by philosophical investigations of Evagrius, St. Augustine, St. Thomas, Kierkegaard, and Marion. As we shall see, it is impossible to draw a clear line between carnal and spiritual issues of acedia. Contrary to common opinion, interconnections between acedia and sloth are multilayered and complex, yet the nature and significance of this relationship is incomprehensible for contemporary psychologists who try to turn the attention away from acedia’s dialectical nature. Hence I emphasize that acedia always concerns both carnal and spiritual (not only mental) disorders. If we look at this from the point of view of St. Thomas, we will see that acedia is contrasted to love, not to accuracy. Sloth is evil because it denotes blame worthy sorrow for spiritual good. Seven capital vices relate to the consequences of improper human activity but acedia refers to the condition of people who are unable to perform their social duties, want to do nothing and avoid undertaking moral challenges in the world because of their laziness, passivity, weakness of will, indecision, cowardice. A certain weariness in working, shortage of esteem, contempt for virtuous people are main symptoms of acedia. Oppressive acedia’s sorrow is an inner consequence of being saddened about the good things. Acedia is associated with long-standing frustration of desire. The paper discusses some philosophical and educational strategies for helping to overcome acedia as an evil in appetitive movements.

Adam Schaff wobec ewolucji poglądów filozoficznych Leszka Kołakowskiego. O sporach programowych w polskim marksizmie

Author(s): Renata Merda / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 38/2017

In my article I intend to analyze L. Kołakowski’s departure from Marxism. I will conduct my reflections in the context of his relationship with Adam Schaff. It is precisely this that A. Schaff was the promoter of the dissertation of Master and Candidate (PhD) Leszek Kołakowski.Both these philosophers in the sixties of the twentieth century revisited their views on Marxism by entering into a current called revisionism. Leszek Kołakowski, however, criticized Marxism and became his leading critic, while Adam Schaff attempted to reform it by enriching the existing ideology of man’s philosophy. The views of both philosophers differed from the official version of Marxism. While Kolakowski had completely escaped from Marxism, Schaff tried to defend him. Schaff did not particularly approve the assessment of Marxism embodied in Mainstream Marxism of Kołakowski. It is not by chance, therefore, that both philosophers can be regarded as the most outstanding representatives of Marxism before 1968 in Poland.Their views were not always contradictory, but they were often similar because Schaff approached Kolakowski talking about ecumenical Marxism — and therefore their antagonism was primarily personal and less philosophical.