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The standard account of elsewhere is that it is any place that isn’t here. In this paper I argue against this account by demonstrating that (given some plausible assumptions) it results in a contra-diction. In its place I offer a modified account of elsewhere; where a place can only be elsewhere if it is in the same type of space as here.
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In this brief reply I discuss Fr. Marcin Tkaczyk’s excellent article, “The Antinomy of Future Contingent Events.” I first raise some concerns about his understanding of representation. I then raise three concerns about his preferred solution to the antinomy: first, that a part of his theory of representation itself motivates a rejection of proposition 1 of the antinomy; second, that one needn’t employ retroactive causal connections to weaken 1 as he does; and third, that it is difficult to make sense of the sort of backward efficient causation that Tkaczyk requires for his solution to work.
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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 article discusses some semiotic approaches to the relation between nature and culture. Starting with outlining the structuralistic approach to this issue, especially the ideas of Juri Lotman and Algirdas Julien Greimas, the author finds parallels between different views on the relation between the natural world and human beings. First, the juxtaposition of Eero Tarasti’s existential semiotics with selected concepts of biosemiotics is discussed. The following part of the paper is dedicated to Bruno Latour’s ideas on nature–culture relation, hybrids and mediations. Then the author refers to Lotman’s notion of the semiosphere as the common space for all living and inanimate elements. Closing the paper with a return to biosemiotics, the author comes back to Tarasti’s ideas and compares these with some ideas in biosemiotics, paying special attention to the concepts of unpredictability, choice and dynamics. The comparison shows that some intuitions, assumptions and theses of these different scholars turn out to be surprisingly convergent. The author believes that the outlined parallels between Tarasti’s view, Latour’s and Lotman’s concepts, and biosemiotics may be promising for further research, inviting detailed study.
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The article proposes an interpretation of metaphors and metaphoric discourse through the perspective of touch. The article first deals with metaphors of touch in the history of western philosophy (especially traditional metaphysics from Plato to Hegel) in order to produce an operative category of touch that will allow, in the second step, to grasp the tactile quality of the metaphors. If metaphors are usually (rhetorics, politics, literature) regarded as a specific form of language able to not only touch the subject matter in the most suitable way but also touch on the target subject (listener/reader), then it is precisely because there is a certain haptic quality involved in language itself, discernible especially in the discourse of those who know how to best exploit metaphors in their endeavours.
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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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This paper contains three acts, so to speak, each part analyzing approaches to thephilosophical Problem of Evil within the 19th century. This is done by juxtaposingsome of the strongest arguments over the Problem of Evil. Before going into thearguments themselves, I survey the movements of the 19th century and specificallyexamine a 19th century piece of art by Alexander Leloir, symbolizing man’s strugglewith God, and use his image as my model for channeling the following twoarguments. I then examine a piece of literature from the 19th century, The BrothersKaramazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, focusing specifically on his character IvanKaramazov’s critique of God in regard to the suffering of children and the innocent.Ivan gives one of the best articulations of the atheist critique of God’s amorality andallowance of evil. Following that, I examine the religious philosophy of a 19thcentury figure, Joseph Smith, whose contributions I attempt to show provide a validtheodicy for acquitting God from the Problem of Evil, due to the conception of God,Mankind, and a christogenic cosmos that Smith introduces. While an entireexhaustive treatment on the problem of evil would require a lot more space then thispaper can presently afford, this is a synthesized account of the compelling argumentsof each side. This paper isn’t to invalidate or delegitimize past, present, and futuresuffering. The rationalization of evil, even if it be with profound meaning, isn’tsufficient on its own to eradicate the consequences of evil, nor to fully comfort itsvictims. This exercise might untangle webs of logical confusion and cognitivedissonance, but it does not in of itself end the poverty in third world countries,horrific wars and acts of terror, bullying, prejudice, or homelessness, to name a fewexamples. I recognize that explanations for the horrors of history can sound trite and International Journal of Theology, Philosophy and ScienceNo. 5, Year 3/2019https://ijtps.com/ ISSN 2601-1697, ISSN-L 2601-1689IJTPS STUDIES AND ARTICLES © 2019 IFIASA Page | 13trivial, almost at times an insult. Even if Smith’s position proves logically coherent, Irecognize this paper has only solved the logical problem of evil rather than the actualproblem of evil in our world. It simply seeks to understand the problem and examineways that make it meaningful, rather than eradicating it. The problem cannot besolved through a logical proof on a chalkboard or in an argument through a paper.Nevertheless, all action is derived from how we think and what we desire, which inturn can be impacted by words and ideas, and for that I believe this paper holdsrelevant value. Hopefully these chambers of reflection serve as a catalyst to action, tocontribute a verse into the lessening of others’ suffering.
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This study examines the miracle of the March of Stones and Mountains found in Abdal Musa Velâyetnâmesi in terms of time, space and object. Sufism which appeared in the 9th century is the foundation of sufi school in the 15th century. As a result of narrating and recording the miracles and supernatural states of school’s leading personalities, the genre of hagiography (menâkıbnâme or velâyetnâme) came to shape. In Alevi–Bektashi tradition, these works took the name of hagiography in 15th century in the Anatolian field. The holy man also known as Abdal Musa Sultan, as a member of Hacı Bektaşi Velî –one of the Ahmed Yesevi dervishes– is a Turkish eren who lived in the 14th century. In the preparation of this document, the main source is Abdal Musa Velâyetnâmesi translated into Latin alphabet by Abdurrahman Güzel, published in 1999. In the first part of the study, the terms of menâkıbnâme and velâyetnâme are covered also brief information about Abdal Musa is given. The second section involves the concepts of time, space and object by naming them the three factors and mentioned about the chained nature of these factors. In the third section the analysis of the miracle according to the three factors begins. Later on, the symbols are analyzed following the order they are located in the text. Furthermore, beside the traditions of Alevism and Bektashi, Anatolian and certain international cultures are also used in the evaluation of the symbolic meanings. In the last segment of the analysis several symbols are compared to each other. Abdurrahman Güzel’s text of the miracle and the variants of Abdal Musa are given at the end of the appendix study.
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The poetry of Paul Celan has a reflected intention to ask about the temporal determination of human being and simultaneously questions the term and definition of time. In may of his works he reflects he the catastrophic transformation, the reflection also includes the revision of the conventional conception of time. He tries to show, that beside the usual forms of historical, causal und linear time, individuals also perceive timelessness. Paradoxically, the accomplishment of a historical event (Holocaust) evokes a consciousness of the historical caesura, and thus of the untold and the inhospitable. In his perception, for the poet, writing (after holocaust) means writing after apocalyptic break, where history does not exist, in other words surrounded by the timelessness. The task of preserving the memory of what happened in poetry goes hand in hand with the awareness of a disorder and often borders on the impossibility of verbalizing what has happened or even being able to express itself verbally. The experience of disconnection from the temporal sequence of events (through trauma) coincides with the moments of speechlessness, emptiness in consciousness, verbal utterance, and time experience overlap. This tendency is radicalized especially in his late work. In this article late works of Paul Celan, that deal with the questions of timelessness and manifestations of it are analysed (“Zeitlücke”, “Die Trombonestelle” “Largo” and others).
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The basis of analyzes carried out in the article is the work of Bernhard Welte: Meister Eckhart. Gedanken zu seinen Gedanken. The central subject of research is the idea Abgeschiedenheit (“isolation”). Following the interpretation of Welte it has been considerated a phenomeno‐ logical description on two ways. From the practical experience, as a modus vivendi a religious man, and from the theoretical, as speculative thought. Theoretical considerations consist of analysis of the concept of truth and goodness, which Eckhart identifies with the idea of God. Welte shows that these concepts of medieval thinker at the starting point considerations are still sink in the schemes of metaphysical thinking, but in the next stages of its argumentation he overcome metaphysical discourse. The purpose of the article, guided by the suggestion Weltes interpretation, is to show ways of reaching the source forms of religious experience. At the same time the text raised the issue of problematic use formulas of mystical union and noticed parallels have been taking place between the method of phenomenological reduction and the idea of Abgeschiedenheit.
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In his essay on the Jewish rabbi Abraham Heschel and his evolving correspondence with Roman Catholic monk Thomas Merton, Edward Kaplan focuses on the trope of prophetic personality, which is characterized by an emotional intensity and a heightened sensitivity to injustice. Involved in religious peace movements and motivated by compassion and the indignation caused by the brutality of war, arrogant nationalism, and consumerist addictions, Merton and Heschel represent the quintessential prophetic stance in the sphere of social action. Their friendship went through a moment of crisis when the Second Vatican Council was debating the so-called Declaration on Jews. It was then that both Merton and Heschel demonstrated, through their outspoken criticisms, the full meaning of prophetic protest against the abuse of doctrinal pronouncements. As shown by their examples, a prophet is one who respects and repairs the world which is our common home and does it in the name of God.
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The paper analyzes a phenomenon that could be called, from the philosophical point of view, a ’presence of absolute Oneness’. Descriptions of the phenomenon may be found in the writings of the mystics of all major religions. The constructivists, nevertheless, repudiate the possibility of an unmediated mystical experience. The paper focuses on the notion of the Absolute and its presence in human consciousness as it is found in the writings of Plotinus and Zhuangzi. These two philosophers talk similarly about the One as the source and purpose of all Being, despite belonging to different intellectual traditions. The paper analyzes the state of the wakeful though contentless consciousness that is of most importance for both authors. It is not an achieved union between the human and the Divine and not a perception of the oneness of the world observed from the outside. The paper raises the question: even though such presence of absolute Oneness is described in terms of a particular religious and/or philosophical tradition, can it be considered a ’religious experience’ or even ’experience’ at all?
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The article deals with a controversy between absolutist and relationist conceptions of space and time. Comparison between Newton’s and Leibniz’s theories is drawn. Points of view of other philosophers who took part in the discussion are also analysed. Strong and weak parts of both theories are revealed. The article is not aimed at taking sides in the debate rather it provides the reader with a possibility to construct his own assessment. The publication states that premises of both conceptions of space and time are metaphysical rather than physical. However, this classical debate is still relevant in today’s modern scientific context.
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The article presents an unconventional although not absolutely unprecedented view on abstract objects defending the position of metaphysical realism. It is argued that abstract objects taken in purely ontological sense are the forms of objects. The forms possess some common characteristics of abstract objects, they can exist not in physical space and time and play a grounding role in their relation to concrete objects. It is stated that commonly discussed abstract objects – properties, kinds, mathematical objects – are forms.
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Unlike Marxism, atheistic existentialism does not bring about a shift of hope but a radical critique of hope. It proposes despair as a guarantee of intellectual honesty. In this context G. Marcel’s phenomenology of hope rehabilitates hope, just as much at the practical level - against stoicism – as at the speculative level – against the glorifying of metaphysical anguish. The question of absolute hope, which is at the heart of the philosophy of the absurd, calls for an Marcel’s internal critique of the refusal of salvation. The question also calls for the light of theology which identifies atheistic existentialists to be secularizing the theme of the book of Job.
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Some philosophers hold that it would be impossible for us to do something actively if the physical world were causally closed, i.e., if in the physical world all events were caused by other physical events if they are caused at all. The reason for this view is that these philosophers adhere to what I call the traditional picture of action. Recently, Martine Nida-Rümelin tried to defend this picture by phenomenological considerations. According to the traditional picture a behavior can only count as something an agent does actively if it is ultimately caused by the agent in an agent-causal way. In this paper I adduce three arguments against agent causation: (1) We do not really understand what agent causation is. (2) If agent causation were real, we would be confronted with the strange fact that human agents can only cause certain tiny events in the brain. (3) There is no empirical evidence that agent causation is real. In the last part of my paper I present an alternative account of the difference between what agents do actively and what is done to them.
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The aim of this work is to express standpoint about concept of the truth as it was taken and supported by Thomas Aquinas. He was convinced that truth is spread all over the world and that the primarly task of the human thought is to seek and gather the truth. His originality is in its entirety. He does not repeat some old ideas. Thomas is a realist in a special sense who resolves all the difficulties and problems that carry the question of reality with faith in reality. Things are more realistic than they are shown to us. We have to discover them. They are unrealistic if they are just in the row of the possibilities, and not in the reality. They are still incomplete and they are waiting for their further development. Thomas loved God more than his mind, and yet he loved the mind more than any other philosopher. He was an apostle of the mind, a teacher of truth and a renewer of intellectuality not only for 13th century but also for our time. Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas is a philosophy of faith and truth which is known, and at the same time a philosophy of natural reason. According to the methodological principle, suspicion is necessarily the starting point for unbiased scientific and theological research, and the aim of this research is to remove suspicion. But it is necessarily to be on clear with the suspicion on its own and to know what we can resonably doubt. Because the one who doubts in all, doubts also in validation of his own doubt. God's being is the first and the most perfect, and his truth is the first and highest. The truth for Thomas, by his definition, which remained stigmatized for the whole scholastic period defined as an adequate, is an adequate state of rei et intellectus. Thinking further about the truth, Thomas answers on question: is there only one truth where everything is true? It is emphasized again that the truth, all truths, expressed about things in comparation with human mind do not affect on the existence of the thing in their essence because there is a truth about these things in comparation with god's mind that is inseparable from them. That is why everything is true, thanks to one truth and that is the truth of the God's mind. On that truth, which comes from God's mind into ours, we judge everything. It is not changeable and cannot be aqcuired with the human sense. Everything that is sensational owns something similar to false, so that can be recognized, but there is nothing false in the true. Something is considered for truth when truth exist in mind and when it is not a reality. If the truth of things is observed in the right way towards the human mind, it can be changed either into a lie or to another truth.When compared with things, the statement is considered true if it is in accordance with them. From this comparison comes out variability of the truth, and the first truth remains unchanged. When one thing changes because of it's decay, which is important to the thing, it will change truth of the thing. The mind, while realizes the truth thinks of its own act, realizes its relation to things, co-forms with things, in fact, the mind realizes even the truth of the mind, it thinks about itself. So, in comparation with God's mind one thing cannot be false. In comparison with the human mind, a disharmony of thing with the mind sometimes happens, and that disharmony is always caused from thing itself.
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Rasprava o prethodnim pitanjima tematski pripada jednim delom i onom o čemu će ovde biti reči. Jer, Heidegger pod tubitkom podrazumeva ono jedino između različitih bića u kojem se otvara pitanje bitka, te da ukoliko se ono otvara, tj. odnosi prema bitku, Heidegger takav tubitak naziva ek-sistencijom. Tubitak se bitno konstituira u egzistenciju na temelju svoje odlučnosti (Entschlossenheit). Neodluč(e)ni tubitak naziva Heidegger se (das Man). Oba modusa bitka, autentičnost i neautentičnost, temelje se u tome da se tubitak određuje kao prisebnost (Jemeinigkeit). To znači da ovo određenje proizilazi iz temelja (načina) bitka bića, a ne iz opšteg načina bitka. Zato će Heidegger na samom početku S + Z, gl. 9, zapisati: »Das Seiende, dessen Analyse zur Aufgabe steht, sind wir je selbst. Das Sein dieses Seienden ist je meines.« Bit tubitka leži u njegovoj egzistenciji (gl. 9). Od toga treba razlikovati da je bitak tubitka egzistencija, što Heidegger ne tvrdi. Kako je odlučnost autentična istina tubitka, to je tubitak u autentičnoj egzistenciji samo onda kada se ova konstituira kao prethodna odlučnost. Odlučnost je pokazani (odlikovani) (ausgezeichneter) modus otključenosti tubitka (Erschlossenheit des Daseins). Heidegger čak kaže da je tubitak zapravo njegova otključenost (Das Dasein ist seine Erschlossenheit, gl. 28, 177, 133), a ona se artikuliše kroz izvorne načine onoga tu: raspoloženje i razumevanje koji se određuju kroz govor.
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In the times preceding the emergence of Neo-Platonism (1st–3rd century BC), the philosophers now known as Middle Platonists elaborated an extensive reflection on the possibility of knowing God, and the ways that could lead to acquiring knowledge about the transcendent. According to Plato, “To discover the Maker and Father of this Universe were a task indeed; and having discovered Him, to declare Him unto all men were a thing impossible” (Plato, Timaeus 28c). The Middle Platonists believed that God, whom they sometimes identified with the Platonic One and Good, is possible to know but not possible to express. Even though the knowledge of God is accompanied by all the difficulties associated with the process of intellectual and ethical improvement, and although what one comes to know in this process is ultimately impossible to express in human language, gaining knowledge of God and becoming like Him is nevertheless the goal of all Platonic philosophy. Jewish and Christian thinkers working at this time came to similar conclusions. These include Philo of Alexandria, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen, who are themselves sometimes deemed Middle-Platonic philosophers. Unlike their pagan colleagues, they believed that man’s process of coming to know God would go on forever. They thought that the finite human mind would never be able to contain the infinite, and they held that the essence and power of God are indeed infinite. The goal of this article is to expose the relationship between the infinity and the unknowability of God, and at the same time to point out the differences in the theses put forward on this question by pagan Middle Platonists and those who accepted Judeo-Christian revelation.
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