Saturday, March 21, 2015
The Courage to Think For Yourself The Search For Truth and The Meaning of Human Life: The Uses of Philosophy -The Incompleteness of Scie...
The Courage to Think For Yourself The Search For Truth and The Meaning of Human Life: The Uses of Philosophy -The Incompleteness of Scie...: THE USES OF PHILOSOPHY – THE INCOMPLETENESS OF SCIENCE To philosophize is to attempt to see in a coherent and meaningful vision v t...
Friday, March 20, 2015
Fyodor Dostoevsky : A Russian Writter
Prominent Russians: Fyodor Dostoevsky
October 30, 1821 – January 28, 1881
Image from www.ogoniok.comFyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was the second of seven children born to a staff doctor at Moscow’s Mariinskaya Hospital for the poor (now a medical research institution). According to some sources, his father may have descended from Belarusian nobles. A well educated and caring family man, he was still rather ill-tempered and distrustful, and brought up his children in the old orthodox fashion, in an atmosphere of fear and obedience. The brightest memories of Fyodor’s childhood were those of life in the countryside, on an estate in the Tula region, where his family spent the summer months. The father was usually not present and the children enjoyed almost complete freedom. It was here that Fyodor acquired the knowledge of peasant life that would add truth to many of his fictional characters later.
His mother taught him how to read and write. He also studied religion and French. In 1834, his father sent him to one of Moscow’s best boarding schools, where he was drawn to literature and reading. He came to adore Aleksandr Pushkin, who is widely considered Russia’s greatest poet. Dostoevsky called him a “demigod” and a “prophet.”
Pushkin’s death in 1837 was a heavy blow to Dostoevsky, almost as heavy as the death of his mother, who was taken by tuberculosis that same year.
Image from www.socionics.orgThe death of his father in 1839 – different sources suggest suicide and murder by his own serfs, while, according to official records, he died of an apoplectic seizure – provoked a serious nervous fit, forestalling the future development of epilepsy.
In 1841, during a party organized by his elder brother, who studied at the same institute, Dostoevsky read out excerpts from two romantic plays he had written that year, “Mary Stuart” and “Boris Godunov.”
He graduated in 1843 and was enrolled as a field engineer to a military engineering team stationed in St. Petersburg. He resigned just half a year later, deciding to live off his literary works alone and “work like hell.” His first novella “Poor Folk” (“Bednye Lyudi”) was ready by that time, and he published it in Nikolay Nekrasov’s “Petersburg Collection” (“Peterburgskiy Sbornik”) to extraordinary success. Dostoevsky remembered this as the brightest time of his youth, which later in life provided him with much needed spiritual strength.
The famous literary critic Vissarion Belinsky praised him as a rising star and a future great artist of the “Gogol school” – the movement for an increasingly realistic and truthful depiction of life and reality in Russia, with criticism of the nobility and city officials and support for the “little man.”
Image from www.fdostoevsky.ruThe following years saw Dostoevsky write a number of novellas: “The Double” (“Dvoynik” 1846), “The Landlady” (“Hozyayka” 1847), “White Nights” (“Belye Nochi” 1848) and “Netochka Nezvanova” (1849). The works revealed Dostoevsky’s unparalleled realistic style while his deep psychological insight and the uniqueness of his characters distinguished him from other writers of the time.
The work on “Netochka Nezvanova” was interrupted by Dostoevsky’s arrest on the night of 23 April 1849 because of his connection to the Petrashevsky’s circle – a literary discussion group of officials, officers and other progressive-minded people who were strongly opposed to monarchy and serfdom. Originally intended for self-education and discussion of the theories of French socialists, the club later became a place to discuss the existing flaws in Russia’s system, and even spurred talk of a secret society and a revolution to create a democratic Russia and free the serfs.
Dostoevsky was detained for eight months. While in detention, he wrote “A Little Hero” (“Malenkiy Geroy”), which was published in 1857. He was then sentenced to death, but the Tsar changed the sentence to four years of punitive labor. Dostoevsky, together with other prisoners, was brought to the Semenovsky drill ground in St. Petersburg (known today as Pioneers’ Square), where the death sentence was announced. He did not know until the very last moment that the sentence had been changed. The horror Dostoevsky felt at that moment later echoed in one of his most famous novels, “The Idiot” (1869).
Image from www.senator.senat.orgAlmost a decade of physical and moral suffering seemed to sharpen his perception of the woes of others and his ability to see and analyze their anguish and respond to the social injustice grew more acute.
It wasn’t until 1859 that he was allowed to retire. At first, he was only permitted to move to the city of Tver. That same year he published two novels, “Uncle’s Dream” (“Dyadushkin son”) and “The Village of Stepanchikovo” (“Selo Stepanchikovo i ego obitateli”). However, he longed to return to St. Petersburg, the centre of the country’s literary life, and in 1860, he managed to procure a permit to go there.
At the time, Dostoevsky was in great need of money; his wife was ill with tuberculosis
Image from www.kino-teatr.ruIn “Time” and its successor magazine “Epoch” (‘Epokha”), Dostoevky expressed his views on the political situation in Russia, which he developed during his years in exile. He thought the country should unite every social layer and class under the wise leadership of a monarch and the Orthodox Church. He deemed the way of Western Europe ruinous for Russia.
In June 1862 Dostoevsky went abroad for the first time, visiting Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy and England. In Paris, he met Appolinaria Suslova. His dramatic relationship with her was later reflected in “The Idiot,” “The Gambler” (“Igrok”) and his other works. She is believed to be the main inspiration for Dostoevsky’s female characters.
Image from www.nnm.ruIn 1865 he went to the resort town of Wiesbaden in Germany to improve his health. There, in 1866, he started work on one of his best-known novels, “Crime and Punishment” (“Prestuplenie i nakazanie”).
The novel is centered on a psychological effect of one crime. Dostoevsky himself described the central idea as follows: “The criminal is faced with unsolvable questions, unexpected and unsuspected feelings torment his heart. God’s truth and Earth’s law prevail in the end, forcing the criminal to do himself in. He is forced, albeit through dying in forced labor, to re-join the people…” In the novel, St. Petersburg is shown in great detail with its multi-faceted life and its multiple social layers. Philosophical discussions, ominous dreams, confessions, nightmares, grotesque and caricature scenes flowing seamlessly into tragic situations, all work to show the writer’s deep vision of his epoch and the social and psychological turmoil of his characters.
Image from www.penguin.com.auThat same year the couple went abroad, living first in Germany, then in Italy. Dostoevsky worked on the novels “The Possessed” (“Besy”; other translations “Demons, “Devils”) and “The Idiot.”
“The Possessed” was centered on the nascent social-democratic movement in Russia. Dostoevsky drew a vivid picture of the country’s political life of the 1860s-1870s, including a parallel to the social-democratic group of Sergey Nechaev, a formation known for its terrorist methods of working towards a revolution at all costs. “The Possessed” includes a record number of varied characters among Dostoevsky’s works: from the governor’s family and the local nobility to military officers, students, menial workers and former serfs.
The idea of “The Idiot” was described by Dostoevsky himself as his favorite. He said that his goal was “to show a positively splendid person” and that “nothing in the world was more difficult than that, especially in these times.”
In 1871, Dostoevsky and his wife returned to Russia. In May they moved from St. Petersburg to Staraya Russa, a small town in the Novgorod region, where they later bought a house and lived with their two children.
Starting in December 1872, Dostoevsky became the chief editor of the magazine “Citizen” (“Grazhdanin”). In it, he implemented his long-time plan to create “A Writer’s Diary,” a collection of political, literary and autobiographical short stories and sketches united by the idea of direct communication with his readers. He published the diary until 1877.
In 1878-1879 he wrote “The Brothers Karamazov” (“Bratya Karamazovy”), a novel that summed up his views on life in Russia at the time. He described it as a “summarized depiction of contemporary reality, of the educated modern Russia” written in the form of a family chronicle. It explores matters of faith, reason, spirituality and morality. The novel has found acclaim with some of the world’s major thinkers, from Sigmund Freud, who ranked it among the best literature of all time alongside “Hamlet” and Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King,” to Pope Benedict XVI.
In the last years of his life, Dostoevsky’s popularity grew. In 1877, he was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences. In 1879 he was invited to an international literary congress in London, where he was elected a member of the Honorary Committee of the International Literature Association. He attended literary and musical parties and gatherings, reading excerpts from his own works and Pushkin’s poems.
In 1881 he decided to restart publishing the “Writer’s Diary” and began working on the first new issue. However, it was never published. His health had been deteriorating and on the night of 26 January his throat started bleeding. In the afternoon on 28 January he was able to say his last goodbyes to his children and in the evening he died.
On 31 January 1881, a huge gathering came to see Dostoevsky’s funeral in Aleksandr Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg.
Fyodor Dostoevsky has left a legacy of literature that makes him one of the world’s - not just Russia’s - greatest writers of the 19th century. His works have been translated into numerous languages. They are still popularly read and assigned in schools and universities. He explored and captured the depth of the human soul, surfacing emotions and feelings in times both dark and happy. And though his writing was inspired by what he saw in Russia or experienced himself, those feelings rang out as part of universal inner struggles facing readers from every part of the globe.
Written by Aleksandr Bondarenko, RT
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Animated Apologetics: CS Lewis on Miracles, Science, and the Laws of Nature
Animated Apologetics: CS Lewis on Miracles, Science, and the Laws of Nature
Every once in a while you run upon someone who has an aversion to Apologetics, usually out of misunderstanding. “I will not ‘apologize’ for Jesus”, they might say.It is at those times that we often pull out our limited Greek knowledge and explain to them the meaning of 1 Peter 3:15. “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,” (1 Peter 3:15, ESV)
The word defense is the Greek word ἀπολογία, or in English apologia, which means to make a defense. Lots of people get the word apologetic confused with the modern word apologize, or to say “sorry”. Even after this mini Greek lesson though, some remain unconvinced.
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
The Uses of Philosophy -The Incompleteness of Science
THE USES OF
PHILOSOPHY – THE INCOMPLETENESS
OF SCIENCE
To philosophize is to attempt to see in a
coherent and meaningful vision v the totality of my whole existence. It is a
renewed effort to see the essential value and direction of my life. Ultimately
to philosophize one must decide for wisdom of life.
Here we face a number of difficulties.
First a casual look at the history of
Philosophy reveals to us many and different beliefs, ideologies, faiths. As already
mentioned, it seems that almost everything that has been believed as true by
some thinkers was also denied by others. Philosophers do not seem to agree on
the most vital issues, which perennially confront every generation of mortals.
Second a casual look at the contemporary scene,
at the world today, seems to suggest the same. There are so many divergent views, ideologies and
mythologies and all have dedicated defenders and followers sometimes fanatically sold to
their visions of what is valuable, true
and meaningful.
This realization may lead to despair. Is Truth
attainable at all? How can I know whether there is anything worth believing at
all? Is not skepticism
the most reasonable attitude? Is not everything relative?
Third the observation of the great majority of
people is not encouraging either. It does not take much time to see that a
great part of mankind lives without paying much attention to the crucial
questions of human
existence. False notions of security, ignorance deliberately cultivated,
thoughtless pleasure-seeking,
mad activism are
all glorified and widely practiced. Preoccupation with senseless trivialities –
this is what we see everywhere, or it seems so.
Not many people like to think deeply. Many
deliberately evade confronting their inner emptiness by constantly trying to
run away from themselves. The
society in which we live provides immeasurable ways for making it easy
to plunge into thoughtless spending
of time. It is called entertainment: drugs, alcohol, bought sex, etc. Many people
live this way.
It is enough to reflect on this all to be
tempted very strongly to give up the serious search for a true meaning of our lives. Is
there any?
This “temptation to despair” is nevertheless the result
of a superficial and shallow observation. For philosophy is not a futile quest. Many individuals
found deep and rewarding meaning to their lives in personal search; in
Philosophy. The quest itself is certainly difficult and may last a lifetime.
But it is not a futile quest.
Gradually light emerges. Many a truth, a belief acquires through centuries of thinking and
rethinking more validity and more solid justification. Everyone wants to make
his or her life as meaningful
as possible. Mankind never gives up this search for meaning. If it had it would
stop existing as mankind.
There would be no humanity, we would not exist. For this search for meaning,
philosophy is the main striving force of one’s existence. There is no life
without it.
The perennial questions confront in some way
every thinking human being, but the horizon of knowledge,
the depth of insight differs from century to century. All humanity evolves
dynamically towards clearer understanding, toward fuller awareness, towards
simpler vision of
meaning of existence.
The differences must be there, because each
culture, each civilization,
each generation
(and each individual) has a perspectival, partial and limited view.
Nevertheless the insights, the answers gained gradually accumulate.
We must not let ourselves be deceived by the perspectival
and limited nature of human knowledge. Since human beings are limited, so will
be their visions, but limited does not mean non-existent. Since philosophical
questions face each one of us, we are very privileged. We can examine how the
greatest minds of mankind struggle with the same problems. We have a dialogue with the great
philosophers of the past and the present. This itself is a great advantage. By
examining their views, the way they formulated the enduring all-human questions
on the meaning of existence, we may be spared going into blind alleys of
improper ways of questioning. By examining carefully their answers we may get
tremendous insights and depth of vision, perhaps even true solutions. We are not
alone in this human quest
which endures over the ages. My and your vision is certainly very limited and
meager, to say the least, but in conversing with the great philosophers, the
leaders and giants of insight
and vision, we can think the thoughts of the best of all humankind. The great
advantage of this fact cannot be overestimated ever. This is most certainly the
most exhilarating experience. It is growing towards full human stature as a
member of the whole family of men. Are we not contradicting ourselves? First we
realized that the philosophical search for meaning must be done by each one for
himself and thus it is a lonely search, and now we are saying that this search
is nevertheless a search together with other thinkers in a kind of enduring
search – dialogue over centuries
of time! There is no contradiction here. What is important is our aim, our goal: to shape my meaning of my existence, for
myself. The purpose of philosophy, St. Thomas Aquinas remarked, is not to know what others
thought, but to attain towards the TRUTH of things. In studying Philosophy each
one must think for himself. Each one is all the time searching and actively
looking for his or her meaning. Philosophizing is a constant determined
reaching towards the vision of TRUTH. Otherwise it would be a meaningless
gathering of scattered information
only. So much is always clear.
However, it would be irrational and unjustifiable
to reject a philosophical insight,
which after careful rethinking appears as true and valid, within an important
area of my search simply because it is not my own, but someone else’s. This
point is so obvious that it would be a waste of time to dwell on it further.
There lies the value and meaning of studying the greatest and the best in
Philosophy.
Some of the modern thinkers are rather skeptical of
conclusion, transcending what they define as human experience. This experience
is conceived by them in a rather narrow sense, called scientific. To those
thinkers – contrary to the Ancient Greek belief and Medieval attitude, philosophy
should only be concerned with what is empirically verifiable. By empirical
verification again they mean sense-verification. This attitude in its extreme
form narrows tremendously the horizon of inquiry to the scientifically demonstrable only.
There are some, who believe that Science so understood, is all we have to our disposal.
Scientific truth – truth obtained by special sciences – has
the redeeming quality of being exact, but is never complete and never ultimate.
It does not suffice unto itself. It needs philosophical, that is more
fundamental, grounding. It originates in many assumptions which are without
much scrutiny
accepted as good. Scientific truth does not stand on its own feet and is not
fundamental enough. It must be integrated and rooted in more complete and final
kind of truth, which may be considered neither “scientific” (in a sense described
above) nor directly demonstrable by senses. No scientific theory is in any way ultimate for each one can be – and
historically often had been – replaced by another one. Where science ends the
problems do not end, neither does the search for meaning. It must be noted also
that special sciences give us only piecemeal insight into very limited a
narrowly specified aspects of the world:
by no means exhaustive or complete. The scientist himself within his field of
specialization, as a human being needs truth which is whole and complete.
Whether he likes it or not, by the very make-up of his human mind, he must form a total concept of
the universe and find his place in it. The philosophic truth is more general
thus less exact but more basic. It is truth of higher rank not only because its
horizon is broader and deeper, but also as a type of knowledge. The inexact
philosophic truth is true truth and indispensable. A truth may be very exact
and yet very small and almost devoid of deeper meaning altogether. Special
sciences alone cannot ever completely satisfy the imperative need for a meaning-vision
of the totality of human experience as human. As Sidney Hook remarked, “Philosophy concerns itself
with the place of man in the universe from the point of view of certain -large
and perennial questions which all reflective men at some time or another ask.
These questions are not asked or answered in any of the special sciences, but
to answer them intelligently one must be familiar with the best science and
theology of the day.” Sidney Hook, The Uses of Philosophy).
This then is Philosophy as the quest for
wisdom. Wisdom is concerned with meaning, values and value judgments. It is
knowledge of what is good or better, bad or worse, what is meaningful and what
is not. It is knowledge which throws in the concreteness of human existence a
certain illuminating light at the questions:
Who am I? What is the universe around me? What can I know? What I can
hope for? What should I do? Does the universe show a design or not? Is there a God or Friend beyond
phenomena or are we alone? Are human beings destined for immortal existence or
perchance only complicated sparks of chemical elements?
This of course, is only a random selection of
philosophical problems. There is a host of other problems. All are interrelated
and mutually trigger one another and thus throw light at one another forming
gradually a more meaningful pattern of vision.
We are in the position now to put together the
answer to the question: Why should we
study Philosophy? Philosophy provides
(a) purpose in life. It enables a person to attain a coherent system
of ideas and beliefs leading towards a more satisfactory mode of living;
(b) tremendous enrichment of human knowledge because it organizes
the best of sciences and draws conclusions
relevant for the search for the meaning of
life;
(c) contact with the greatest minds in the history of mankind. The
problems of Philosophy are by their very nature perennial. Mankind has been
wrestling with these problems through the ages and will continue in future. In
each generation there are geniuses
of insight and depth who have left their answers to be pondered and examined.
(d) a sense of worth and meaning of life. An
unexamined life is not worthy of man. An exclusive preoccupation with everyday
concerns without a more comprehensive view limits and impoverishes life robbing
it almost completely of its value and import;
(e) social evaluation. In our modern rapidly
changing world of mass civilizations a mass destruction becomes more and more
probable. The study of Philosophy helps towards an intelligent evaluation of
the political scene and to constructive use of one’s freedom for the interests of civilization. It augments
the sense of meaning of each person’s individual existence.
To quote Jacques Maritain, Philosophy reminds men “of the supreme
utility of those things which do not deal with means, but with ends. For men do
not live only by bread, vitamins and technological discoveries. They live by
values and realities which are above time and are worth knowing for their own
sake.” (Jacques Maritain, On the Use of Philosophy).”
Monday, March 16, 2015
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