SOME RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN INDIAN AND STOIC LOGIC

Author(s): Miguel López-Astorga / Language(s): English Issue: 90/2016

In this paper, I try to show that Indian and Stoic logic are more similar to each other than to standard logic. To do that, I analyze a passage of the Kathāvatthu that has been interpreted as proposing the definition of the conditional assumed by modern propositional logic, and argue that that interpretation is not absolutely justified. In this way, I contend that what is said in that passage and the actual view of the conditional presented in the Kathāvatthu are also consistent with the criterion of the conditional held by Chrysippus of Soli.

BUDISTINĖ JOGINĖS PERCEPCIJOS (YOGIPRATYAKṢ A) APOLOGIJA INDIJOJE

Author(s): Audrius Beinorius / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 93/2018

The article is dedicated to the analysis of the conception of yogic perception (yogipratyakṣa) in Indian Buddhist philosophy. By relying on the primary Buddhist Sanskrit sources and contemporary critical studies, the historically relevant questions are raised: how yogic perception has been treated in Indian Buddhist tradition, and especially in the texts by the eminent representatives of its Yogācāra-Vijñānavada logico-epistemological school (Diṅnāga, Dharmakīrti, Ratnakīrti)? Why was it recognised as a valid source of knowledge, and what role was it granted to in the general Buddhist epistemological scheme (pramāṇavada)? Combined – textological semantic, hermeneutical and comparative – methodologies are applied in the course of analysis. The following conclusion has been made: while representing a coherent empiricist and phenomenalist approach, Buddhism has supplemented the classical Indian system of valid means of knowledge with two more means, namely, with that of yogic perception and authoritative testimony (āpta). However, by acknowledging the validity of yogic perception the Buddhists agreed, that it does not ensure per se the cognition of the truth and should be verified by the other valid means of knowledge. Most important from the Buddhist perspective is that such extraordinary perception should correspond to Buddha’s experience and its conceptual description.

Kитайската „Kнига на промените“ като непосредствено отражение на действителността

Author(s): Valeri Ivanov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2017

Global communication in the information age raises the question of the relevance of the binary code used in the Chinese “Book of Changes”. Known and used primarily as a kind of “oracle” for divination, the book remains a mystery for its researchers and interpreters. The skillful exercise of the “seven arts” in ancient times probably bore the same immediate perception and understanding as is reflected in the ideograms commented upon in the “I Ching”. Chinese masters from the so-called “internal” martial arts schools directly testify to this in their explanations and guidance to practitioners. This presents the real possibility that the practice of traditional “martial arts” still retains a part of the sensitivity transmitted through the centuries about the hidden nature of the world and the direct communication with it. Of course, “mastery” is necessary!

Sokoto Caliphate scholars and the classical Islamic philosophers: issues in divine command theory of ethics

Author(s): Abubakar Zaria Ibrahim / Language(s): English Issue: 51/2017

Western philosophers formulated ethical theories such as egoism, virtue, existentialism, deontology, contractualism and utilitarianism, and illustrated how these are applicable in benefitting individuals and societies in building a complete moral life. Interestingly, there existed some societies that had little or no contact with the West but which have also developed morally acceptable ideas of living. Such are, for example, the Muslims that have established kingdoms and empires all over Asia, Middle East and Africa. The ethical principles developed by these societies may be what we can call a divine command theory, which of course also exists in the West. It is a theory which follows religious beliefs and sources. The Muslims, who practice the religion of Islam, have intellectuals, scholars and thinkers who were philosophically inclined. This paper demonstrates that the Sokoto Caliphate scholars, trailing the classical Islamic philosophers, used the highest book of authority in the religion, the Qur’an, to explain life. The Qur’an is closely supported by the hadith [sayings, actions and approvals of the Prophet of the religion]. For the fact that the Sokoto Caliphate scholars, especially the triumvirates of Uthman ibn Fodiye, Abdullahi and Bello lived a practical life as religious and political leaders, some of their divine command ethics centred on leadership. They explain the foundation and qualities of leadership, good governance, management of public affairs and struggle against corruption. We shall attempt to apply an analytical, though historical lens to point out and analyse the ethical foundations of leadership articulated by the triumvirates

About Nature: Discourses on the Boundaries of East and West in Curtis Carter’s Concern over Contemporary Chinese Art

Author(s): Eva Kit Wah Man / Language(s): English Issue: 22/2020

American aesthetician Curtis Carter demonstrates genuine concern for the subject of nature in contemporary Chinese art and its representations. He correctly points out that the Chinese tradition of featuring nature in the arts represents an imaginary paradise grounded in an idealized nature. Carter’s concern regarding China’s entry into a state of globalization is the impact of Westernizing globalization on the place of nature in Chinese art. Before discussing his concern, this article provides a review of the meaning of nature in traditional Chinese art and revisits ink painter Shitao’s notion of nature in his most representative painting notes, Hua-pu. Curtis also mentions the Chinese garden, stating that gardens in urban settings are supposed to maintain the presence of nature, and exemplifying them as symbolic presentations of nature. In addressing Carter’s concern, a review of the aesthetic experience of visiting a Chinese garden is provided for background. Carter also suggests examining the practices of contemporary Chinese experimental art versus the practices of traditional art to determine whether nature will retain a significant place in today’s Chinese art practices under the strong influences of globalization. This article examines the contemporary ink landscape scene and suggests that new Chinese art involves the invention of new paradigms in art creation, the resources of which are now available globally, and that representations of nature and reality are transforming.

Râgıp el-İsfahânî’de Dostluk-Erdem İlişkisi

Author(s): İbrahim Aksu / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 1/2021

Philosophical traditions of the classical period that Islamic philosophy is situated among them acknowledge friendship as an inborn characteristic that human nature necessitates and also one of the significant relationships that humans can develop. However, the place which friendship occupies in human life is not limited to this. Thus, the traditions in question argue for the idea that friendship is also a means for moral excellence. The role that friendship plays in moral excellence expresses itself notably in the link between friendship and virtue. This article investigates how the connection between friendship and virtue appears in the works by Rāghib al-Isfahānī (d. V./XIth Century), one of the Islamic moral philosophers from the early period. When the books of the philosopher are studied, several fundamental issues come to the fore. First of all, friendship is a value that approximates the agent to virtue, and furthermore, helps him pass beyond it. Nevertheless, it is stated that the phenomenon called friendship has more than one kind. And it is emphasized that among the relevant kinds only the ideal friendship relation, which the basis and goal of it are virtue, and for this reason, can be named “virtue-friendship”, carries a value from the moral point of view.

İbn Miskeveyh Metafiziğinde Sudûr ve Yaratma Problematiği

Author(s): Ramazan Turan / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 1/2021

Ibn Miskawayh (d. 428/1037) uses the concepts of emanation and creation without any tension between them in his works in which he deals with the problem of existence. This situation makes it difficult to understand which theory is choosen by him; the emanation or creation theory. This article aims to clarify the philosopher's basic approach to the existence of the universe. The study consists of three main parts. The first part contents the existential problems discussed before Ibn Miskawayh. In the second part, the subject of God and motion in the metaphysics of the philosopher is discussed. In the third chapter, the philosopher's concept of emanation and creation from nothing is discussed. The philosopher explains the order of existence of the universe in the framework of the circle of existence, where there is the first mind at one end and the first substance at the other. The focus of the philosopher is on the relationship between God and the first mind. He explains this relationship on the basis of two propositions. Firstly; creation out of nothing is possible, and everything that exists except God was created out of nothing. Latter; The first created being is the first mind, and this first mind brings into existence (ibda'/fayz) other beings with the potential given to it by God. The philosopher uses the concept of the ‘create’ (halq) only for God; also he uses the concepts of ibda' and fayz for the first mind as well as God. Accordingly, the philosopher's understanding of motion and emanation is in question for a field which the framework was drawn on the basis of the concept of creation.

Поетика и филозофија релације

Author(s): Tamara Valčić Bulić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 173/2021

Édouard Glissant est l’un des plus grands écrivains francophones caribéens de l’époque postcoloniale, originaire de la Martinique. Il a publié plusieurs romans et recueils de poésie, ainsi que quelques pièces de théâtre; il a aussi écrit de nombreux livres d’essais, cinqd’entre eux étant réunis sous le nom commun de Poétique. Bien qu’à l’époque de la lutte la plus acharnée pour la décolonisation, dans les années cinquante et soixante du 20e siècle, il ait subi une forte influence du mouvement de la „négritude“, Glissant se tourne ensuite très rapidement vers une recherche des identités “non-totalitaires” et vers une élaboration de sa propre poétique; celle-ci est fondée sur un processus dynamique, appelé créolisation, processus dans lequel les cultures se rencontrent, se heurtent, se transforment, résistant ainsi aux figements de l’Être, aux essences absolues, au nationalisme, mais également à l’universalisme occidental. Dans le cadre de la Poétique de la Relation, en empruntant l’idée et la notion de l’identité-rhizome à Gilles Deleuze et à Félix Guattari, Glissant définit une suite de notions importantes comme la créolisation, digenèse, transparence et opacité, Chaos-Monde, Tout-Monde, mondialité et autres. Dans cette communication seront exposées et expliquées les principales idées de Glissant concernant le développement actuel et les rapports mutuels des cultures dans la société humaine. Édouard Glissant (1928-2011) est mort il y a dix ans, laissant une œuvre immense et une pensée révolutionnaire. Poète, philosophe, romancier, dramaturge, activiste, ethnologue, pédagogue, il s’est investi dans tous les langages avec l’ambition de transformer les imaginaires. Né en Martinique, il a développé une philosophie du Tout-Monde en rupture avec les universalismes européens, leur opposant une histoire multiple et une géographie de la relation. Les notions de Glissant sont profuses : la créolisation, l’identité nomade, l’archipélisation, le droit à l’opacité, l’errance et le tremblement… elles essaiment dans la politique, le droit, l’art, l’anthropologie, l’écologie. Pour autant, cette pensée reste-t-elle une utopie que la réalité d’aujourd’hui contredit, avec ses replis identitaires et nationalistes? Présenter Glissant au sens de le rendre présent, de le re-présenter, est un exercice délicat. De rigoureuses monographies thématiques on été écrites reconduisant son parcours à propos d’un concept, la créolisation, par exemple, ou la démesure, mais toute tentative de présentation générale achoppe devant cette évidence. Cette question se complexifiera, si l’on ajoute à l’œuvre une couche de vivant, dès lors que la perspective sera d’envisager ou tenter d’envisager un portrait pouvant faire face à cette complication, ainsi d’une peinture cubiste agençant différents profils et qui ne pourrait être établie que par défaut, soulignerait la sensation de manque ou de reste, un portrait en quelque sorte en creux.La situation se complexifie encore quant aux conditions de lisibilité de l’œuvre. Que les imaginaires, depuis dix ans, aient muté est une évidence. Dès lors les textes aussi. Lire Glissant ne peut être que reconduire le ressassement et continuer la variation.

KOREA IN THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHICAL TRADITION AND EAST ASIAN SPIRITUAL TEACHINGS

Author(s): Kaspars Kļaviņš,Māris Kūlis / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

Today, Korea is known as one of the East Asian intellectual centres. In addition, Korean thinkers are recognised for their critical evaluation of the Western philosophical tradition. However, contemporary Korean philosophical thought has gone through a short but extremely intense period of development – from the uncritical adaptation of Western education to the reappraisal of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism in the context of spiritual dialogue between East and West.

HINDU COSMOLOGY IN THE LIGHT OF MODERN PSYCHOLOGY

Author(s): Bharat Jhunjhunwala / Language(s): English Issue: 9/2021

This paper tries to comprehend Hindu narrative of creation in the framework of modern cosmology and psychology. The objective is to build a conversation for mutual understanding. The following concordance between the two streams is suggested. The state of the Primeval Being before It desired to become many is not known in the Hindu stream just as the state of the universe before the Big Bang is not known in the modern stream. The Primeval Being desired to grow according to the Hindu stream. Modern psychology says there is an innate desire to grow among human beings that we extrapolate backwards to suggest that the Singularity desired to grow. The Brahman pervades the entire Universe according to the Hindu stream. The panpsychists hold that every particle in the universe has consciousness. Brahman is the fused consciousness of all the particles in the universe according to the Hindu stream. In parallel the panpsychists hold that the fused consciousness is more than the sum of the parts. The collective consciousness of a subset of the universe is “devta” according to the Hindu stream. This concords with the “unconscious substrate” created in social organizations according to modern psychology. The collective consciousness of individuals having their consciousness at the Vishuddhi, Manipur and Anahata chakras is known as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. These concord with the collective consciousness of individuals who have evolved to the needs of cognition, belonging and esteem according to Abraham Maslow. The devtas can descend into a living person who is then called an avatara. This concords with the descent of the libido into the unconscious as said by Carl G. Jung. Inconclusion, Hindu Brahman is modern God. Hindu devtas are modern gods. Hindu avataras are modern individuals in whom the gods have descended. In this way we can make the Hindu cosmology understandable to the modern mind and vice versa.

Siyasetnamelerde İfade Özgürlüğü ve Bunun Kapsamı

Author(s): Hüsnü Aydeniz / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 2/2021

The main purpose of this study was to determine the accumulation of the tradition of political texts (Siyasatnāma) in the context of freedom of expression and to discuss the potential of creating new perspectives accordingly. One of the most important criticisms of modernity towards traditional structures is the claim that people are subjected to many limitations on social, cultural and religious grounds. This criticism, which mainly focuses on limiting the freedom of action, also comes across as preventing the expression of thoughts. While traditional understandings had such an approach, they aimed not only to preserve or strengthen the position of a particular authority, but also to prevent problems that may arise from an individual and social point of view. However, it is not possible to say that these thoughts always remain true to the stated intention. In this context, considering traditional understandings with their historical contexts should not only aim to gain an intellectual knowledge about a certain period or civilization. The main goal should be to evaluate the accumulated knowledge critically and to achieve meaningful results from this field. While determining the framework of the study, it was thought that reading through the political texts would provide such an opportunity. The study focused primarily on the intellectual infrastructure of freedom of expression and, accordingly, included general assessments of the issue in political texts and touched on the concept of authority, which is of great importance for determining the scope of freedom. In particular, it is emphasized on which power the administrators, who are at the head of the administrative power, base their authority on and from which principles the boundaries of this should be determined. It is seen that the political texts related to political life, oriented to ideal principles and taking into account reality, contain important assessments of the source of authority in terms of creating a ground of legitimacy or making sense of the existing situation. When evaluating the issue, it is highly evident that politicians point out that the main purpose of the existence and use of authority is the idea of order. In this context, what kind of precautions have to be taken in case of violation of the determined borders to maintain order is one of the most important issues of the policy books. Among these precautions, the idea of limiting all freedoms, especially freedom of expression, has an important place. The article also points out the possible contributions of the suggestions made in this context to the reactions that may arise in different political and social situations. At the beginning of the mentioned contributions, there are assessments on overcoming an obstacle that causes rulers not to perceive some facts adequately. This creates a serious obstacle to a healthy communication with different layers of society, and can be expressed as a masking effect. One of the main issues that the article focuses on is the suggestions of politicians on how to use the freedom of expression of the broad masses that make up the body of society. These suggestions state that the governed also have responsibilities at the point of determining the framework of the dialectical relationship between the different dimensions of the social structure. The social understandings that developed in the post-modern world have a nature that puts the individual in the foreground much more than traditional approaches. This may have produced positive effects to some extent. However, it seems that a serious erosion in the culture of people’s coexistence occurred on this occasion. The problematic use of freedom in general and freedom of expression in particular may be one reason for this. From the point of view of the states that are the highest social structures, it can also be said that these problems are increasing day by day. Therefore, the medium-term result of the desire to ensure individual freedoms may sometimes appear as chaos, and the long-term result may appear as the emergence of a more authoritarian structure again. In fact, these authoritarianism tendencies can gain strength by being based on reasonable grounds, such as misuse of freedoms of expression. It should be noted that to overcome these problems, political texts can help to prevent major social breakdowns by providing important alternatives to the disinterest which was created by the modern era. In this context, the study also touches on the conditions under which freedom of expression can be restricted according to political statements.

Receptarea și imaginea yogăi în lexicografia românească (II)

Author(s): Liviu Bordaş / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 17/2021

The first part of this paper gave an overall and detailed survey of the reception and image of yoga in various types of Romanian dictionaries (linguistic, encyclopaedic, specialised, etc.). The second part is devoted to a focused discussion of the dictionaries on religion published during the Communist era.As in the first part, three words, with their derivatives, have been taken into consideration: „fakir”, „yoga”, and „tantra”. The dictionaries discussed here offer – even more than those considered previously – ample material for a discussion of the impact of political contexts on understanding yoga and the interpretative patterns which survive political eras. They illustrate three different theoretical paradigms of approaching religion under Socialism. While „religiology” and „general mythology” were understood as Marxist approaches to the religious phenomenon, and thus ideologically subordinated to scientific atheism, the „materialistic-scientific and humanist-revolutionary education” (a name coined in order to replace the older „scientific-atheistic education”) was conceived as a practical, pedagogical extension of scientific atheism. All of these dictionaries were published late, in the ’80s, and only one – devoted to „general mythology” – was destined for mass consumption. The reasons for which the Party ideologists considered that such dictionaries are not a desirable item of anti-religious propaganda has to be clarified by further inquiry, especially through archival research.

THE ART REPRESENTATION OF HINDU-BALI PHILOSOPHY TO STRENGTHEN LOCAL WISDOM APPRECIATION ON CONTEMPORARY ARTWORK OF BALINESE DIASPORA PAINTERS IN YOGYAKARTA

Author(s): I Gede Arya Sucitra,Lasiyo Lasiyo,Sindung Tjahyadi / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

Balinese diaspora painter art creativity will not be separated from the bond of Balinese culture's noble values, especially aesthetic rules derived from Hinduism. The picture of Balinese diaspora painter paintings in Yogyakarta is loaded with the deposition of Hindu aesthetics, philosophical issues of Balinese locality values, contemporary art, to globalisation. This research investigates the content of Hinduism cosmology philosophy and the visual art representation of Balinese diaspora painters in Yogyakarta as part of the transformation of Balinese visual art aesthetics. Method of presentation of works with “mental representation system” and “visual language (sign)”. The three main rules of Hinduism aesthetics analyse the representation of painting, namely, truth (Satyam), chastity (Shivam) and beauty (Sundaram). This study found that the Balinese diaspora painters with traditional experience raise selfawareness of "a renewed thought, clashed" between understanding Bali's local wisdom with Javanese culture and gradually affecting their conceptual map representation of art in the contemporary art world. In conclusion, Balinese painter diaspora creative process is very pervasive aesthetic, cultural capital, term of Hindu-Balinese philosophy in the expression of symbolisation of artwork. They realised the importance of the philosophy of local Balinese traditions as fundamental conceptions of Hinduism aesthetics in everyday art creativity.

The Tropicália-Movement and the Challenges to Brazilian Art in the Age of Culture Industry

Author(s): Pedro Duarte / Language(s): English Issue: 26/2021

This article analyzes the original way in which the Brazilian cultural and musical movement Tropicália, led by Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil in the late 1960s, dealt with the constant imminence of seizure by the culture industry. Instead of seeking isolation from this modern reality of the market, Tropicália strove to critically amalgamate it, in addition to its technological innovations. In doing so, it established a language that brought together erudition and popular elements, as well as foreign influences and the Brazilian subject matter. Tropicália was not about using aesthetical autonomy as an alibi for shunning the world, but about accepting the challenges of artistic communication in a mass society, especially by means of popular music. It thereby introduced to Brazil the possibility of having vanguard art done while harnessing new media forms.

Perspectives for a Metaphorology of Anthropophagy: Blumenberg, Montaigne and Oswald de Andrade

Author(s): Patricia Lavelle / Language(s): English Issue: 26/2021

When one examines modernist anthropophagy from the perspective of a new theoretical-methodological instrument – Hans Blumenberg’s metaphorology – one notices that the very object of literary and critical study is reconfigured. Understood as a theoretical metaphor, anthropophagy appears as a complex intertextual network interacting with the social and aesthetic debates of its time; it is also widened and historically transformed, crossing over different discussions. After all, this new metaphorical object exceeds the modernist moment, suggesting the need for a future, more exhaustive study, one that would include anthropophagy’s revisiting after modernism, arriving even at its contemporary usage, as in Eduardo Viveiros de Castro. On the other hand, a critical reading of the anthropophagy metaphor enlightens significant aspects of this theoretical methodological tool, establishing bridges between metaphorology and anthropology.

Ubuntu’ Ethical Perspective and the Global Order

Author(s): Philip Ogo Ujomu / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2022

The world is increasingly becoming a global village and so distance and culture as markers of boundaries do not seem to be as distinctive and effective as before. Should this be a source of worry? Most human races at different times made efforts to bring humanity together with varying degrees of success. This paper tries to develop a tenable idea of Ubuntu ethical perspective for global order. As an endogenous construct for world peace, Ubuntu theory and practice requires a less emotive, politicized and more inclusive, interdependent conceptual and theoretical articulation so as to be more acceptable and defensible to friend and foe alike. To start with, antagonism from related foreign dominating worldviews raises relational and dialogical issues about the meaning of humane global order from an African viewpoint. The search for a paradigm for World Development is urgent given the real consequences of a (neo)colonial tendency has threatened the development of most countries due dominant lopsided paradigms of alienation, exploitation and marginalization within Global North- South relations. A development paradigm or philosophy of development for the world at large requires an ethical basis for human existence in political and social order. Presently, our world is beset by the problem of a negative dominant social paradigm (DSP) or core social values of hatred, intolerance, the abuse of human rights, dehumanization, exploitation, authoritarianism, poverty and oppression. So, to build a viable and stable endogenous paradigm for development we use the main pillar of interconnectedness among human beings which is central to Ubuntu as a social system and value system to underscore some desirable key moral and democratic values generally required for human liberation and transformation. The research question is: What concrete elements or values of Ubuntu can be useful as paradigms of a stable, viable and progressive world order? Specifically, our findings suggest that Ubuntu ethics is defined by a set of human values or qualitative correlates central among which are reciprocity, common good, peaceful relations, emphasis on human dignity and the value of human life as well as consensus, tolerance and mutual respect. Thus, the paper argues for a possibility utilizing ubuntu ethical correlates as materials for establishing humane sociopolitical orders worldwide.

Faith, Reason and the Challenges of Epistemic Claims

Author(s): Temisanren Ebijuwa / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2022

The debate of the age long relationship between faith and reason as diverse sources of knowledge of reality has been on for quite some time and the quest for a clearer elucidation at this time is imperative as well as compelling because of the sordid condition we have found ourselves in the world today. The world is bedeviled by a number of challenges that has questioned the realities of our social existence, as it relates to how we perceive ourselves, neighbors, circumstances and experiences in our contemporary society. As a result, there seems to be a general dislocation of our sense of values, hope and confidence necessary for the activation and sustenance of the matrix of social solidarity and human development. Some scholars have poignantly seen science as the only solution to existential problems. Peter Throdahl, for example, writes that: “In an age in which science and reason are required to find real solutions to very real problems in an extremely complex world, science is often taking a back seat to religious dogma and political agendas. My fear, as well as yours, is that the younger generation will be educated without an appreciation for scientific process and our solutions to modern-day problems will not reflect the knowledge of the day. What a chilling and dark future that would leave for us all.”2 It is important to note that we are aware that “productivity and positive results of science plays an important role in human emancipation, aspiration, self-fulfillment and social progress, but that contrary to Throdahl`s expectations, they do not certainly exhaust the depth of human knowledge and their aspirations;”3 otherwise, there would not have been need for the debate under review. My motivation in this study, therefore, is to activate a certain kind of conversation that will change our understanding or at least make some skeptics have a second look at the tension between faith and reason as two ways of knowing and interpreting human realities.

A Christianisation Approach to the Understanding and Application of Cicero’s Classical Idea of Formation

Author(s): Kenneth Adewole Adesina / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2022

Administration and formation are two hinges on which the prospects and fortunes of any organization hangs. The administrative structure ensures that the structure and functionality of formation will uphold the ideals and values, while the formative structure serves the organization by preparing leaders who will protect and take responsibility for its goal. The complementary roles play by these two, define the present condition of the organization and indicate what the future holds. This study considers the basis for the application of the Ciceronian ideals of formation to the Church. This will be done by examining within the realities and experiences of the Church, the similarities of contexts, contents, structures, practices and means that she shares with the Ciceronian Roman Republic. In the face of such similarities, it will address if it is permissible to liken the Ciceronian orator to a mature Christian. And taking into consideration the contemporary experiences of the Church, the extent the classical values as espoused by Cicero will be examined in complementing the quest for efficient formation in the Church.

RĂSPUNSUL FILOSOFIEI ȘI TEOLOGIEI LA DILEMA NATURII UMANE

Author(s): Mihai Handaric / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2022

The work analyzes human nature from the perspective of thinkers throughout history. It is evaluated the perspective of Greek philosophy which recognizes that human nature has an ontological problem. Plato and Aristotle believed that reason has the responsibility to rule man. The author also discussed Oriental Chinese philosophy which has different perspectives on human nature. Some hold that man is born with a neutral nature (Confucius), others that he has a good nature (Mencius), and others that human nature is inherently evil (Xunzi and the Legalist School). But they all agree that man has a problem with doing good, either because of his nature or because of external factors. Then modern philosophers were analyzed, some of whom accept the metaphysical dimension of human nature, and others reject it. Immanuel Kant claims that man is born with a moral impulse, which is transmitted to him from a metaphysical reality. Kierkegaard argues for the existence of the spiritual-religious dimension of human nature. Man needs a leap of faith to be free. Thinkers of the 19th and 20th centuries generally disputed the existence of a fixed nature. Charles Darwin played an important role in changing the perspective on human nature through his Theory of Evolution, which holds that human ancestors were primitive beings that evolved over time. It is thus sought to identify man with animals. Postmodern philosophy thus challenges the uniqueness of human nature, created in the likeness of God (Gen1:26-27). Peter Singer expands morality by defending the animal rights. In postmodernism, a redefinition of morality is attempted, thus aiming to ignore biblical morality. The claims of so-called practical ethics to the novelty of postmodernism are contradicted by the author. Old moral questions include the so called new questions. Philosophers who argue for an external solution to the problem of human nature have been introduced. Finally, the author presents the perspective of Christian theology, which claims that human nature is morally conditioned. The Bible claims that in the beginning there was a time when man was not evil. Genesis 1-3 does say that man is currently in a state of moral alienation. He experiences a real moral guilt, which alienated man from himself, from others, and from God. Violence is a symptom of human abnormality. The Bible talks about the consequences of the fall (Deut 28:2-4, Deut 28:15-20) but also about the solution to the problem of fallen human nature. It describes a personal God who, in His love for man, sacrificed His Son - Jesus Christ, on a cross, in history. Christ’s death resolved man’s moral guilt ( John 3:16, cf. Acts 4:12). Through regeneration human nature acquires a new nature (Col 3:9-10) that manifests altruistic and theocentric (Gal 5:22-23).

Кабала медитации

Author(s): Yurij Borisov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2023