#platonism — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #platonism, aggregated by home.social.
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If symbols train attention and memory, who shapes the symbols we follow today, and why do we trust them? #Occult #Symbols #HiddenKnowledge #Hermeticism #SacredNumbers #Platonism #Neoplatonism #Renaissance #Baroque #History #Philosophy #Curiosity #Symbolism #Design #Ethics
https://medium.com/@skmohindroo9/occult-symbols-and-the-minds-that-drew-them-8cf134eb3303 -
If symbols train attention and memory, who shapes the symbols we follow today, and why do we trust them? #Occult #Symbols #HiddenKnowledge #Hermeticism #SacredNumbers #Platonism #Neoplatonism #Renaissance #Baroque #History #Philosophy #Curiosity #Symbolism #Design #Ethics
https://medium.com/@skmohindroo9/occult-symbols-and-the-minds-that-drew-them-8cf134eb3303 -
If symbols train attention and memory, who shapes the symbols we follow today, and why do we trust them? #Occult #Symbols #HiddenKnowledge #Hermeticism #SacredNumbers #Platonism #Neoplatonism #Renaissance #Baroque #History #Philosophy #Curiosity #Symbolism #Design #Ethics
https://medium.com/@skmohindroo9/occult-symbols-and-the-minds-that-drew-them-8cf134eb3303 -
If symbols train attention and memory, who shapes the symbols we follow today, and why do we trust them? #Occult #Symbols #HiddenKnowledge #Hermeticism #SacredNumbers #Platonism #Neoplatonism #Renaissance #Baroque #History #Philosophy #Curiosity #Symbolism #Design #Ethics
https://medium.com/@skmohindroo9/occult-symbols-and-the-minds-that-drew-them-8cf134eb3303 -
If symbols train attention and memory, who shapes the symbols we follow today, and why do we trust them? #Occult #Symbols #HiddenKnowledge #Hermeticism #SacredNumbers #Platonism #Neoplatonism #Renaissance #Baroque #History #Philosophy #Curiosity #Symbolism #Design #Ethics
https://medium.com/@skmohindroo9/occult-symbols-and-the-minds-that-drew-them-8cf134eb3303 -
If symbols train attention and memory, who shapes the symbols we follow today, and why do we trust them? #Occult #Symbols #HiddenKnowledge #Hermeticism #SacredNumbers #Platonism #Neoplatonism #Renaissance #Baroque #History #Philosophy #Curiosity #Symbolism #Design #Ethics
https://medium.com/@skmohindroo9/occult-symbols-and-the-minds-that-drew-them-8cf134eb3303 -
If symbols train attention and memory, who shapes the symbols we follow today, and why do we trust them? #Occult #Symbols #HiddenKnowledge #Hermeticism #SacredNumbers #Platonism #Neoplatonism #Renaissance #Baroque #History #Philosophy #Curiosity #Symbolism #Design #Ethics
https://medium.com/@skmohindroo9/occult-symbols-and-the-minds-that-drew-them-8cf134eb3303 -
If symbols train attention and memory, who shapes the symbols we follow today, and why do we trust them? #Occult #Symbols #HiddenKnowledge #Hermeticism #SacredNumbers #Platonism #Neoplatonism #Renaissance #Baroque #History #Philosophy #Curiosity #Symbolism #Design #Ethics
https://medium.com/@skmohindroo9/occult-symbols-and-the-minds-that-drew-them-8cf134eb3303 -
If symbols train attention and memory, who shapes the symbols we follow today, and why do we trust them? #Occult #Symbols #HiddenKnowledge #Hermeticism #SacredNumbers #Platonism #Neoplatonism #Renaissance #Baroque #History #Philosophy #Curiosity #Symbolism #Design #Ethics
https://medium.com/@skmohindroo9/occult-symbols-and-the-minds-that-drew-them-8cf134eb3303 -
If symbols train attention and memory, who shapes the symbols we follow today, and why do we trust them? #Occult #Symbols #HiddenKnowledge #Hermeticism #SacredNumbers #Platonism #Neoplatonism #Renaissance #Baroque #History #Philosophy #Curiosity #Symbolism #Design #Ethics
https://medium.com/@skmohindroo9/occult-symbols-and-the-minds-that-drew-them-8cf134eb3303 -
If thought shapes form, which ideas in your life deserve more care today? If mind shapes form, how careful are we with our daily thoughts?
Which ideas deserve more respect in your life? #Hermeticism #HermesTrismegistus #AncientWisdom #Alexandria #CorpusHermeticum #PrincipleOfMind #Platonism #Iamblichus #Plotinus #Renaissance #MarsilioFicino #GiordanoBruno #Alchemy #HistoryOfScience #MindAndMatter #PersonalAgency #LivingWisdom
https://medium.com/@skmohindroo9/the-8th-hermetic-principle-bef82fd8d33e -
If thought shapes form, which ideas in your life deserve more care today? If mind shapes form, how careful are we with our daily thoughts?
Which ideas deserve more respect in your life? #Hermeticism #HermesTrismegistus #AncientWisdom #Alexandria #CorpusHermeticum #PrincipleOfMind #Platonism #Iamblichus #Plotinus #Renaissance #MarsilioFicino #GiordanoBruno #Alchemy #HistoryOfScience #MindAndMatter #PersonalAgency #LivingWisdom
https://medium.com/@skmohindroo9/the-8th-hermetic-principle-bef82fd8d33e -
If thought shapes form, which ideas in your life deserve more care today? If mind shapes form, how careful are we with our daily thoughts?
Which ideas deserve more respect in your life? #Hermeticism #HermesTrismegistus #AncientWisdom #Alexandria #CorpusHermeticum #PrincipleOfMind #Platonism #Iamblichus #Plotinus #Renaissance #MarsilioFicino #GiordanoBruno #Alchemy #HistoryOfScience #MindAndMatter #PersonalAgency #LivingWisdom
https://medium.com/@skmohindroo9/the-8th-hermetic-principle-bef82fd8d33e -
Warum wir Menschen mit unserer eigenen Anlage zur Gewalt nicht realistisch umgehen (Anthropologie)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbgmBZDJ6bs
#GoodnessParadox #ReaktiveGewalt #ProaktiveGewalt #Anthropology #Wrangham #ImbalanceOfPowerHypothesis #RichardWrangham #SurvivalOfTheFriendliest #Evolution #Primatologie #Primatology #Violence #Krieg #War #Conflict #Gewalt #Konflikt #Platonism #Idealism #Platonismus #Idealismus #HomoiosisTheo #Tradition #Philosophie #Philosophy #Hobbes #ThomasHobbes #Putin
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Warum wir Menschen mit unserer eigenen Anlage zur Gewalt nicht realistisch umgehen (Anthropologie)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbgmBZDJ6bs
#GoodnessParadox #ReaktiveGewalt #ProaktiveGewalt #Anthropology #Wrangham #ImbalanceOfPowerHypothesis #RichardWrangham #SurvivalOfTheFriendliest #Evolution #Primatologie #Primatology #Violence #Krieg #War #Conflict #Gewalt #Konflikt #Platonism #Idealism #Platonismus #Idealismus #HomoiosisTheo #Tradition #Philosophie #Philosophy #Hobbes #ThomasHobbes #Putin
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Warum wir Menschen mit unserer eigenen Anlage zur Gewalt nicht realistisch umgehen (Anthropologie)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbgmBZDJ6bs
#GoodnessParadox #ReaktiveGewalt #ProaktiveGewalt #Anthropology #Wrangham #ImbalanceOfPowerHypothesis #RichardWrangham #SurvivalOfTheFriendliest #Evolution #Primatologie #Primatology #Violence #Krieg #War #Conflict #Gewalt #Konflikt #Platonism #Idealism #Platonismus #Idealismus #HomoiosisTheo #Tradition #Philosophie #Philosophy #Hobbes #ThomasHobbes #Putin
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Warum wir Menschen mit unserer eigenen Anlage zur Gewalt nicht realistisch umgehen (Anthropologie)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbgmBZDJ6bs
#GoodnessParadox #ReaktiveGewalt #ProaktiveGewalt #Anthropology #Wrangham #ImbalanceOfPowerHypothesis #RichardWrangham #SurvivalOfTheFriendliest #Evolution #Primatologie #Primatology #Violence #Krieg #War #Conflict #Gewalt #Konflikt #Platonism #Idealism #Platonismus #Idealismus #HomoiosisTheo #Tradition #Philosophie #Philosophy #Hobbes #ThomasHobbes #Putin
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Warum wir Menschen mit unserer eigenen Anlage zur Gewalt nicht realistisch umgehen (Anthropologie)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbgmBZDJ6bs
#GoodnessParadox #ReaktiveGewalt #ProaktiveGewalt #Anthropology #Wrangham #ImbalanceOfPowerHypothesis #RichardWrangham #SurvivalOfTheFriendliest #Evolution #Primatologie #Primatology #Violence #Krieg #War #Conflict #Gewalt #Konflikt #Platonism #Idealism #Platonismus #Idealismus #HomoiosisTheo #Tradition #Philosophie #Philosophy #Hobbes #ThomasHobbes #Putin
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The below paper by Hanegraaff provides very interesting insights into the advent or #Esotericism in the #renaissance.
In my opinion, the expressed trust in the distance of #Enlightenment to #Helenism is difficult to justify, given the widespread belief in #MosGeometricus, and superior wisdom of #geometers in antiquity.
#magic #Platonism #PaganismHanegraaff, Wouter J. "The pagan who came from the East: George Gemistos Plethon and Platonic orientalism." Hermes in the Academy (2009): 33.
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The below paper by Hanegraaff provides very interesting insights into the advent or #Esotericism in the #renaissance.
In my opinion, the expressed trust in the distance of #Enlightenment to #Helenism is difficult to justify, given the widespread belief in #MosGeometricus, and superior wisdom of #geometers in antiquity.
#magic #Platonism #PaganismHanegraaff, Wouter J. "The pagan who came from the East: George Gemistos Plethon and Platonic orientalism." Hermes in the Academy (2009): 33.
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The below paper by Hanegraaff provides very interesting insights into the advent or #Esotericism in the #renaissance.
In my opinion, the expressed trust in the distance of #Enlightenment to #Helenism is difficult to justify, given the widespread belief in #MosGeometricus, and superior wisdom of #geometers in antiquity.
#magic #Platonism #PaganismHanegraaff, Wouter J. "The pagan who came from the East: George Gemistos Plethon and Platonic orientalism." Hermes in the Academy (2009): 33.
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The below paper by Hanegraaff provides very interesting insights into the advent or #Esotericism in the #renaissance.
In my opinion, the expressed trust in the distance of #Enlightenment to #Helenism is difficult to justify, given the widespread belief in #MosGeometricus, and superior wisdom of #geometers in antiquity.
#magic #Platonism #PaganismHanegraaff, Wouter J. "The pagan who came from the East: George Gemistos Plethon and Platonic orientalism." Hermes in the Academy (2009): 33.
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The below paper by Hanegraaff provides very interesting insights into the advent or #Esotericism in the #renaissance.
In my opinion, the expressed trust in the distance of #Enlightenment to #Helenism is difficult to justify, given the widespread belief in #MosGeometricus, and superior wisdom of #geometers in antiquity.
#magic #Platonism #PaganismHanegraaff, Wouter J. "The pagan who came from the East: George Gemistos Plethon and Platonic orientalism." Hermes in the Academy (2009): 33.
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Tired of being had by AI? Tired of raving imbeciles running the country? The solution is simple, be a skeptic in all matters. Seek truth with the understanding that truth is irrefutable. Study Socratic Method and ask questions. When you start asking questions, you will QUICKLY uncover lies, contradiction, and inconsistency. Trust those who have proven consistently to be trustworthy. #skepticism #Aristotelianism #platonism
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What justifies logic?
Jacob McNulty has an article at IAI arguing that the foundations of logic can only be found in metaphysics. (Warning: possible paywall. Alternate link.). He describes a problem called “the logocentric predicament,” that any attempt to justify logic with logic ends up being circular, risking an infinite regress. He notes that the most common response to this historically has been complacency, with Aristotle trying to just dismiss anyone questioning the law of noncontradiction. However subsequent developments in alternate forms of logic apparently make this a difficult stance.
McNulty ends up going through the views of Kant, Fichte, and Hegel. The discussion gets thick with the terminology of continental philosophy. As a result I struggle to understand exactly what he’s selling. But the overall point is that logic can only be justified with metaphysics, by which he means the “ambitious area of philosophy which strives to know God, the soul, the world.”
I actually don’t think this is true, at least not in the sense of requiring pure metaphysics. But it requires doing something logicians may resist, bringing in empirical information. Part of my willingness to do this comes from a comment logician Graham Priest made several years ago in an interview. He was arguing for alternate systems of logic, which he saw as justified because these systems can be seen as basically very basic theories of reality. And reality being complex, can often be viewed and understood through the lens of multiple theories.
One view, which McNulty mentions as problematic, is psychologicism, the idea that logic is based on how we think. He argues that the view, “elides the distinction between how people ought to think and how people in fact do.” But this assumes that common thinking isn’t logical. It may not be at one level, the level of social interactions and decision making. But even a computer system, an inherently logical system, will produce results that seem illogical if it has bad or incomplete data, or isn’t working properly. Once we take into account bad or incomplete beliefs, along with various physiological impediments, it’s not hard to see why people often seem illogical too.
Interestingly enough, in the philosophy of logic, psychologicism is often regarded as an anti-real stance, as opposed to the realism, which sees logic as existing independent of our minds. But the anti-real view of psychologicism, I think, suffers from not continuing the chain of reasoning. Thinking, like digestion, at its most basic level isn’t learned. We just do it innately. Why do we think the way we do? Because it works, providing a survival advantage, which of course is why it evolved. Which means that it has a relation to the environment.
And the stance of psychologicism being anti-real likely predates an example we have today, logic machines, like the one you’re using to read this. People argue about whether the mind is physical, but I’ve encountered few people asserting the operations of my phone or laptop aren’t. David Chalmers in his book Reality+ describes computers as causation machines. But I just described them as logic machines. Which is it? My take is that they’re one and the same, which I think gives us a clue to what logic is.
I’ve often referred to computation as distilled causation. Along those lines, I think logic is abstracted causation, or perhaps more fundamentally, abstracted structures and relations that exist in nature.
Of course, a platonist might argue that logic, math, and other abstractions are the more primal reality. But abstract objects in contemporary platonism (as opposed to Plato’s original forms metaphysics) are acausal with no temporospatial extent. If they exist, it’s a different type of “existence” than the patterns in our minds and environment, and don’t seem able to have any effects on those patterns. It’s a view that seems very vulnerable to Occam’s razor.
So logic is based on how we think, and our thinking evolved to resonate with common and repeatable patterns in nature. Logic, in all its various forms, captures these resonances, allowing us to optimize them, bottle them, and put them in our tools, with increasing effectiveness.
Unless of course I’m missing something. Are there problems with my view of logic? Or alternatives that work better? Or is McNulty right that we have to get into the “ambitious area of philosophy which strives to know God, the soul, the world,” to figure this out?
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What we philosophize about when we philosophize about love https://open.substack.com/pub/bryankam/p/love-abstractedly?r=447n8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
#philosophy #Nietzsche #Plato #Durkheim #Vygotsky #Platonism
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Here is the videorecording from session 27 of the quarterly Philosophers In The Midst of History series. This one focused on the life, thought, and influence of Iris Murdoch!
https://youtu.be/axHHVy33nF4
#Video #Philosophy #Literature #History #Murdoch #Influence #Platonism #Love -
American Esotericism: Platonic Philosophy in our Age, and the Limits of Politicians
Thomas Moore Johnson, a key player in early developments of American esotericism on political quarrels, speaking the truth and the necessity for the Platonic Philosophy from introduction to The Platonist: An Exponent of the Philosophic Truth, Vol. I, No. I, St. Louis, Feb. 1881, pp 1-3:
One of the gentlemen to whom was sent a prospectus of THE PLATONIST writes: “Your prospectus reached the wrong address when directed to me. I hold with Aristoteles ‘non est in intellectu quod non fuerit in sensu,’ [The Peripatetic axiom is: “Nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses”] and have therefore no use for Plato.” Mr. H——— must not flatter himself that Aristoteles was of his opinion. The great Stagirite believed with his greater master in a species of knowledge that antecedes all experience.In this degenerated age, when the senses are apotheosized, materialism absurdly considered philosophy, folly and ignorance popularized, and the dictum, “get money, eat, drink and be merry, for to-morrow we die,’* exemplifies the actions of millions of mankind, there certainly is a necessity for (…) the Platonic Philosophy — a philosophy totally subversive of sensualism, materialism, folly, and ignorance. This philosophy recognizes the essential immortality and divinity of the human soul, and posits its highest happiness as an approximation to, and union with, the Absolute One. Its mission is to release the soul from the bonds of matter, to lead it to the vision of true being— from images to realities, — and, in short, to elevate it from a sensible to an intellectual life.”
A materialist asks us: “Why resuscitate a philosophy that has done so little good?” Our friend’s materialistic notions have blinded his intellectual eye. Without death there can be no resuscitation. Ideas never die: they are eternal. They are as true to-day as they were a thousand years ago. Their nature is essentially immortal and immutable. The Platonic Philosophy has benefited the intellectual part of mankind incomparably more than any other system of thought. The reason is obvious—its basis is TRUTH.
It is generally supposed that Congressmen are persons endowed with both reason and dignity. This is a great mistake. There are probably not a dozen men in Congress whose actions are dominated by reason. If anyone doubts this, let him peruse the record of congressional proceedings. A short time ago, two honorable members (one recently a presidential candidate) engaged in a disgraceful, irrational wrangle that would have been a serious reflection on the intelligence of a couple of Hottentots. Too many of our public men exhibit the characteristics of the wolf and the monkey.
As all marble is potentially statues, so all men are potentially intellectual. It is better to define man as a being capable of reason (animal rationis capax), than as one gifted with reason (animal ratione).
If a man’s thought has any real significance for him, his life will conform to it. It is not maintained that the life of a philosopher must invariably, under all circumstances, be occupied with intellectual matters; but it is certain that, if he desires to genuinely philosophize, his general life must be regulated according to the loftiest ideas. A sensualist, for instance, cannot be a philosopher. He may use philosophical terms — he may even write, with an ostentatious display of apparent erudition, reviews of the works of philosophers, but his opinions will be of no value. They will necessarily be superficial.
The truth is always in order, and should be spoken at all times and under all circumstances. The individual that objects to the truth being told, either about himself or another, displays an amount of depravity and effrontery which, if justice was meted out to him, would entitle him to a place in the penitentiary. It is a lamentable fact that there are few men, very few indeed, who have the moral courage to enunciate their real opinions. All will readily acknowledge that hypocrisy is an abominable vice, and that it is our duty to invariably speak the truth. Yet, how many practice what they profess to believe to be right? The cause of this moral cowardice is, that the majority of mankind never advance beyond their first childhood; their notions about almost everything are necessarily puerile, and they therefore lack the stamina to exercise the liberty of thought and speech secured to them by the divine, if not the human, law.”
“. . .Materialism has made many converts in this generation, and the deniers of the very existence of such an entity as soul, in the spiritual meaning of the word, are very numerous, and, we regret to say, rapidly increasing. This is preeminently a skeptical age. Worse still, the skepticism of this century is an irrational skepticism. Honest, rational doubt is commendable; stolid, arbitrary denial, is imbecile and entitled to no consideration.
The genuine lovers of Wisdom are very few. The fact is, that about nine-tenths of human beings are adverse to the acquisition of intellectual knowledge, and delight to grovel in the mire of ignorance. They can perceive the necessity for laboring for years like slaves to accumulate money in order to gratify the desires of the senses, but they appear utterly incapable of apprehending the essential superiority of the mind to the body, the transcendent excellence of Wisdom, and the real object of this sensuous, material life, which is to purify and perfect the soul, so that it may be enabled to return to the intelligible world whence it came, or was sent. To these human earth-worms this existence is a finality — a practical finality to even many of those that profess to believe in another life.
Of the nature and destiny of the human soul, Platon and his disciples had a positive, scientific knowledge, obtained by an arduous, logical process of reasoning. They began with rational skepticism, and ended with positive knowledge. According to the Platonists, the soul is an essence without magnitude, immaterial, indestructible, with life which has living from itself, possessing being. It is, therefore, truly and essentially immortal. Its immortality does not date from its connection with the body. In other words, to use scholastic language, it is immortal both a parte ante and a parte post. We emphasize this point, as the eternal nature of the soul is one of the cardinal dogmas of the Platonic Philosophy.”
This is the same answer we give to those, that are under the sore impression, that THEOSOPHY is irrelevant, or outdated. There has not been an hour that has yet shown that our society is not in need of ancient wisdom to guide it.
#AmericanEsotericism #ethics #Philosophy #Plato #Platonism #politics #Religion #ThePlatonist #ThomasMooreJohnson
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American Esotericism: Platonic Philosophy in our Age, and the Limits of Politicians
Thomas Moore Johnson, a key player in early developments of American esotericism on political quarrels, speaking the truth and the necessity for the Platonic Philosophy from introduction to The Platonist: An Exponent of the Philosophic Truth, Vol. I, No. I, St. Louis, Feb. 1881, pp 1-3:
One of the gentlemen to whom was sent a prospectus of THE PLATONIST writes: “Your prospectus reached the wrong address when directed to me. I hold with Aristoteles ‘non est in intellectu quod non fuerit in sensu,’ [The Peripatetic axiom is: “Nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses”] and have therefore no use for Plato.” Mr. H——— must not flatter himself that Aristoteles was of his opinion. The great Stagirite believed with his greater master in a species of knowledge that antecedes all experience.In this degenerated age, when the senses are apotheosized, materialism absurdly considered philosophy, folly and ignorance popularized, and the dictum, “get money, eat, drink and be merry, for to-morrow we die,’* exemplifies the actions of millions of mankind, there certainly is a necessity for (…) the Platonic Philosophy — a philosophy totally subversive of sensualism, materialism, folly, and ignorance. This philosophy recognizes the essential immortality and divinity of the human soul, and posits its highest happiness as an approximation to, and union with, the Absolute One. Its mission is to release the soul from the bonds of matter, to lead it to the vision of true being— from images to realities, — and, in short, to elevate it from a sensible to an intellectual life.”
A materialist asks us: “Why resuscitate a philosophy that has done so little good?” Our friend’s materialistic notions have blinded his intellectual eye. Without death there can be no resuscitation. Ideas never die: they are eternal. They are as true to-day as they were a thousand years ago. Their nature is essentially immortal and immutable. The Platonic Philosophy has benefited the intellectual part of mankind incomparably more than any other system of thought. The reason is obvious—its basis is TRUTH.
It is generally supposed that Congressmen are persons endowed with both reason and dignity. This is a great mistake. There are probably not a dozen men in Congress whose actions are dominated by reason. If anyone doubts this, let him peruse the record of congressional proceedings. A short time ago, two honorable members (one recently a presidential candidate) engaged in a disgraceful, irrational wrangle that would have been a serious reflection on the intelligence of a couple of Hottentots. Too many of our public men exhibit the characteristics of the wolf and the monkey.
As all marble is potentially statues, so all men are potentially intellectual. It is better to define man as a being capable of reason (animal rationis capax), than as one gifted with reason (animal ratione).
If a man’s thought has any real significance for him, his life will conform to it. It is not maintained that the life of a philosopher must invariably, under all circumstances, be occupied with intellectual matters; but it is certain that, if he desires to genuinely philosophize, his general life must be regulated according to the loftiest ideas. A sensualist, for instance, cannot be a philosopher. He may use philosophical terms — he may even write, with an ostentatious display of apparent erudition, reviews of the works of philosophers, but his opinions will be of no value. They will necessarily be superficial.
The truth is always in order, and should be spoken at all times and under all circumstances. The individual that objects to the truth being told, either about himself or another, displays an amount of depravity and effrontery which, if justice was meted out to him, would entitle him to a place in the penitentiary. It is a lamentable fact that there are few men, very few indeed, who have the moral courage to enunciate their real opinions. All will readily acknowledge that hypocrisy is an abominable vice, and that it is our duty to invariably speak the truth. Yet, how many practice what they profess to believe to be right? The cause of this moral cowardice is, that the majority of mankind never advance beyond their first childhood; their notions about almost everything are necessarily puerile, and they therefore lack the stamina to exercise the liberty of thought and speech secured to them by the divine, if not the human, law.”
“. . .Materialism has made many converts in this generation, and the deniers of the very existence of such an entity as soul, in the spiritual meaning of the word, are very numerous, and, we regret to say, rapidly increasing. This is preeminently a skeptical age. Worse still, the skepticism of this century is an irrational skepticism. Honest, rational doubt is commendable; stolid, arbitrary denial, is imbecile and entitled to no consideration.
The genuine lovers of Wisdom are very few. The fact is, that about nine-tenths of human beings are adverse to the acquisition of intellectual knowledge, and delight to grovel in the mire of ignorance. They can perceive the necessity for laboring for years like slaves to accumulate money in order to gratify the desires of the senses, but they appear utterly incapable of apprehending the essential superiority of the mind to the body, the transcendent excellence of Wisdom, and the real object of this sensuous, material life, which is to purify and perfect the soul, so that it may be enabled to return to the intelligible world whence it came, or was sent. To these human earth-worms this existence is a finality — a practical finality to even many of those that profess to believe in another life.
Of the nature and destiny of the human soul, Platon and his disciples had a positive, scientific knowledge, obtained by an arduous, logical process of reasoning. They began with rational skepticism, and ended with positive knowledge. According to the Platonists, the soul is an essence without magnitude, immaterial, indestructible, with life which has living from itself, possessing being. It is, therefore, truly and essentially immortal. Its immortality does not date from its connection with the body. In other words, to use scholastic language, it is immortal both a parte ante and a parte post. We emphasize this point, as the eternal nature of the soul is one of the cardinal dogmas of the Platonic Philosophy.”
This is the same answer we give to those, that are under the sore impression, that THEOSOPHY is irrelevant, or outdated. There has not been an hour that has yet shown that our society is not in need of ancient wisdom to guide it.
#AmericanEsotericism #ethics #Philosophy #Plato #Platonism #politics #Religion #ThePlatonist #ThomasMooreJohnson
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American Esotericism: Platonic Philosophy in our Age, and the Limits of Politicians
Thomas Moore Johnson, a key player in early developments of American esotericism on political quarrels, speaking the truth and the necessity for the Platonic Philosophy from introduction to The Platonist: An Exponent of the Philosophic Truth, Vol. I, No. I, St. Louis, Feb. 1881, pp 1-3:
One of the gentlemen to whom was sent a prospectus of THE PLATONIST writes: “Your prospectus reached the wrong address when directed to me. I hold with Aristoteles ‘non est in intellectu quod non fuerit in sensu,’ [The Peripatetic axiom is: “Nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses”] and have therefore no use for Plato.” Mr. H——— must not flatter himself that Aristoteles was of his opinion. The great Stagirite believed with his greater master in a species of knowledge that antecedes all experience.In this degenerated age, when the senses are apotheosized, materialism absurdly considered philosophy, folly and ignorance popularized, and the dictum, “get money, eat, drink and be merry, for to-morrow we die,’* exemplifies the actions of millions of mankind, there certainly is a necessity for (…) the Platonic Philosophy — a philosophy totally subversive of sensualism, materialism, folly, and ignorance. This philosophy recognizes the essential immortality and divinity of the human soul, and posits its highest happiness as an approximation to, and union with, the Absolute One. Its mission is to release the soul from the bonds of matter, to lead it to the vision of true being— from images to realities, — and, in short, to elevate it from a sensible to an intellectual life.”
A materialist asks us: “Why resuscitate a philosophy that has done so little good?” Our friend’s materialistic notions have blinded his intellectual eye. Without death there can be no resuscitation. Ideas never die: they are eternal. They are as true to-day as they were a thousand years ago. Their nature is essentially immortal and immutable. The Platonic Philosophy has benefited the intellectual part of mankind incomparably more than any other system of thought. The reason is obvious—its basis is TRUTH.
It is generally supposed that Congressmen are persons endowed with both reason and dignity. This is a great mistake. There are probably not a dozen men in Congress whose actions are dominated by reason. If anyone doubts this, let him peruse the record of congressional proceedings. A short time ago, two honorable members (one recently a presidential candidate) engaged in a disgraceful, irrational wrangle that would have been a serious reflection on the intelligence of a couple of Hottentots. Too many of our public men exhibit the characteristics of the wolf and the monkey.
As all marble is potentially statues, so all men are potentially intellectual. It is better to define man as a being capable of reason (animal rationis capax), than as one gifted with reason (animal ratione).
If a man’s thought has any real significance for him, his life will conform to it. It is not maintained that the life of a philosopher must invariably, under all circumstances, be occupied with intellectual matters; but it is certain that, if he desires to genuinely philosophize, his general life must be regulated according to the loftiest ideas. A sensualist, for instance, cannot be a philosopher. He may use philosophical terms — he may even write, with an ostentatious display of apparent erudition, reviews of the works of philosophers, but his opinions will be of no value. They will necessarily be superficial.
The truth is always in order, and should be spoken at all times and under all circumstances. The individual that objects to the truth being told, either about himself or another, displays an amount of depravity and effrontery which, if justice was meted out to him, would entitle him to a place in the penitentiary. It is a lamentable fact that there are few men, very few indeed, who have the moral courage to enunciate their real opinions. All will readily acknowledge that hypocrisy is an abominable vice, and that it is our duty to invariably speak the truth. Yet, how many practice what they profess to believe to be right? The cause of this moral cowardice is, that the majority of mankind never advance beyond their first childhood; their notions about almost everything are necessarily puerile, and they therefore lack the stamina to exercise the liberty of thought and speech secured to them by the divine, if not the human, law.”
“. . .Materialism has made many converts in this generation, and the deniers of the very existence of such an entity as soul, in the spiritual meaning of the word, are very numerous, and, we regret to say, rapidly increasing. This is preeminently a skeptical age. Worse still, the skepticism of this century is an irrational skepticism. Honest, rational doubt is commendable; stolid, arbitrary denial, is imbecile and entitled to no consideration.
The genuine lovers of Wisdom are very few. The fact is, that about nine-tenths of human beings are adverse to the acquisition of intellectual knowledge, and delight to grovel in the mire of ignorance. They can perceive the necessity for laboring for years like slaves to accumulate money in order to gratify the desires of the senses, but they appear utterly incapable of apprehending the essential superiority of the mind to the body, the transcendent excellence of Wisdom, and the real object of this sensuous, material life, which is to purify and perfect the soul, so that it may be enabled to return to the intelligible world whence it came, or was sent. To these human earth-worms this existence is a finality — a practical finality to even many of those that profess to believe in another life.
Of the nature and destiny of the human soul, Platon and his disciples had a positive, scientific knowledge, obtained by an arduous, logical process of reasoning. They began with rational skepticism, and ended with positive knowledge. According to the Platonists, the soul is an essence without magnitude, immaterial, indestructible, with life which has living from itself, possessing being. It is, therefore, truly and essentially immortal. Its immortality does not date from its connection with the body. In other words, to use scholastic language, it is immortal both a parte ante and a parte post. We emphasize this point, as the eternal nature of the soul is one of the cardinal dogmas of the Platonic Philosophy.”
This is the same answer we give to those, that are under the sore impression, that THEOSOPHY is irrelevant, or outdated. There has not been an hour that has yet shown that our society is not in need of ancient wisdom to guide it.
#AmericanEsotericism #ethics #Philosophy #Plato #Platonism #politics #Religion #ThePlatonist #ThomasMooreJohnson
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American Esotericism: Platonic Philosophy in our Age, and the Limits of Politicians
Thomas Moore Johnson, a key player in early developments of American esotericism on political quarrels, speaking the truth and the necessity for the Platonic Philosophy from introduction to The Platonist: An Exponent of the Philosophic Truth, Vol. I, No. I, St. Louis, Feb. 1881, pp 1-3:
One of the gentlemen to whom was sent a prospectus of THE PLATONIST writes: “Your prospectus reached the wrong address when directed to me. I hold with Aristoteles ‘non est in intellectu quod non fuerit in sensu,’ [The Peripatetic axiom is: “Nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses”] and have therefore no use for Plato.” Mr. H——— must not flatter himself that Aristoteles was of his opinion. The great Stagirite believed with his greater master in a species of knowledge that antecedes all experience.In this degenerated age, when the senses are apotheosized, materialism absurdly considered philosophy, folly and ignorance popularized, and the dictum, “get money, eat, drink and be merry, for to-morrow we die,’* exemplifies the actions of millions of mankind, there certainly is a necessity for (…) the Platonic Philosophy — a philosophy totally subversive of sensualism, materialism, folly, and ignorance. This philosophy recognizes the essential immortality and divinity of the human soul, and posits its highest happiness as an approximation to, and union with, the Absolute One. Its mission is to release the soul from the bonds of matter, to lead it to the vision of true being— from images to realities, — and, in short, to elevate it from a sensible to an intellectual life.”
A materialist asks us: “Why resuscitate a philosophy that has done so little good?” Our friend’s materialistic notions have blinded his intellectual eye. Without death there can be no resuscitation. Ideas never die: they are eternal. They are as true to-day as they were a thousand years ago. Their nature is essentially immortal and immutable. The Platonic Philosophy has benefited the intellectual part of mankind incomparably more than any other system of thought. The reason is obvious—its basis is TRUTH.
It is generally supposed that Congressmen are persons endowed with both reason and dignity. This is a great mistake. There are probably not a dozen men in Congress whose actions are dominated by reason. If anyone doubts this, let him peruse the record of congressional proceedings. A short time ago, two honorable members (one recently a presidential candidate) engaged in a disgraceful, irrational wrangle that would have been a serious reflection on the intelligence of a couple of Hottentots. Too many of our public men exhibit the characteristics of the wolf and the monkey.
As all marble is potentially statues, so all men are potentially intellectual. It is better to define man as a being capable of reason (animal rationis capax), than as one gifted with reason (animal ratione).
If a man’s thought has any real significance for him, his life will conform to it. It is not maintained that the life of a philosopher must invariably, under all circumstances, be occupied with intellectual matters; but it is certain that, if he desires to genuinely philosophize, his general life must be regulated according to the loftiest ideas. A sensualist, for instance, cannot be a philosopher. He may use philosophical terms — he may even write, with an ostentatious display of apparent erudition, reviews of the works of philosophers, but his opinions will be of no value. They will necessarily be superficial.
The truth is always in order, and should be spoken at all times and under all circumstances. The individual that objects to the truth being told, either about himself or another, displays an amount of depravity and effrontery which, if justice was meted out to him, would entitle him to a place in the penitentiary. It is a lamentable fact that there are few men, very few indeed, who have the moral courage to enunciate their real opinions. All will readily acknowledge that hypocrisy is an abominable vice, and that it is our duty to invariably speak the truth. Yet, how many practice what they profess to believe to be right? The cause of this moral cowardice is, that the majority of mankind never advance beyond their first childhood; their notions about almost everything are necessarily puerile, and they therefore lack the stamina to exercise the liberty of thought and speech secured to them by the divine, if not the human, law.”
“. . .Materialism has made many converts in this generation, and the deniers of the very existence of such an entity as soul, in the spiritual meaning of the word, are very numerous, and, we regret to say, rapidly increasing. This is preeminently a skeptical age. Worse still, the skepticism of this century is an irrational skepticism. Honest, rational doubt is commendable; stolid, arbitrary denial, is imbecile and entitled to no consideration.
The genuine lovers of Wisdom are very few. The fact is, that about nine-tenths of human beings are adverse to the acquisition of intellectual knowledge, and delight to grovel in the mire of ignorance. They can perceive the necessity for laboring for years like slaves to accumulate money in order to gratify the desires of the senses, but they appear utterly incapable of apprehending the essential superiority of the mind to the body, the transcendent excellence of Wisdom, and the real object of this sensuous, material life, which is to purify and perfect the soul, so that it may be enabled to return to the intelligible world whence it came, or was sent. To these human earth-worms this existence is a finality — a practical finality to even many of those that profess to believe in another life.
Of the nature and destiny of the human soul, Platon and his disciples had a positive, scientific knowledge, obtained by an arduous, logical process of reasoning. They began with rational skepticism, and ended with positive knowledge. According to the Platonists, the soul is an essence without magnitude, immaterial, indestructible, with life which has living from itself, possessing being. It is, therefore, truly and essentially immortal. Its immortality does not date from its connection with the body. In other words, to use scholastic language, it is immortal both a parte ante and a parte post. We emphasize this point, as the eternal nature of the soul is one of the cardinal dogmas of the Platonic Philosophy.”
This is the same answer we give to those, that are under the sore impression, that THEOSOPHY is irrelevant, or outdated. There has not been an hour that has yet shown that our society is not in need of ancient wisdom to guide it.
#AmericanEsotericism #ethics #Philosophy #Plato #Platonism #politics #Religion #ThePlatonist #ThomasMooreJohnson
-
American Esotericism: Platonic Philosophy in our Age, and the Limits of Politicians
Thomas Moore Johnson, a key player in early developments of American esotericism on political quarrels, speaking the truth and the necessity for the Platonic Philosophy from introduction to The Platonist: An Exponent of the Philosophic Truth, Vol. I, No. I, St. Louis, Feb. 1881, pp 1-3:
One of the gentlemen to whom was sent a prospectus of THE PLATONIST writes: “Your prospectus reached the wrong address when directed to me. I hold with Aristoteles ‘non est in intellectu quod non fuerit in sensu,’ [The Peripatetic axiom is: “Nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses”] and have therefore no use for Plato.” Mr. H——— must not flatter himself that Aristoteles was of his opinion. The great Stagirite believed with his greater master in a species of knowledge that antecedes all experience.In this degenerated age, when the senses are apotheosized, materialism absurdly considered philosophy, folly and ignorance popularized, and the dictum, “get money, eat, drink and be merry, for to-morrow we die,’* exemplifies the actions of millions of mankind, there certainly is a necessity for (…) the Platonic Philosophy — a philosophy totally subversive of sensualism, materialism, folly, and ignorance. This philosophy recognizes the essential immortality and divinity of the human soul, and posits its highest happiness as an approximation to, and union with, the Absolute One. Its mission is to release the soul from the bonds of matter, to lead it to the vision of true being— from images to realities, — and, in short, to elevate it from a sensible to an intellectual life.”
A materialist asks us: “Why resuscitate a philosophy that has done so little good?” Our friend’s materialistic notions have blinded his intellectual eye. Without death there can be no resuscitation. Ideas never die: they are eternal. They are as true to-day as they were a thousand years ago. Their nature is essentially immortal and immutable. The Platonic Philosophy has benefited the intellectual part of mankind incomparably more than any other system of thought. The reason is obvious—its basis is TRUTH.
It is generally supposed that Congressmen are persons endowed with both reason and dignity. This is a great mistake. There are probably not a dozen men in Congress whose actions are dominated by reason. If anyone doubts this, let him peruse the record of congressional proceedings. A short time ago, two honorable members (one recently a presidential candidate) engaged in a disgraceful, irrational wrangle that would have been a serious reflection on the intelligence of a couple of Hottentots. Too many of our public men exhibit the characteristics of the wolf and the monkey.
As all marble is potentially statues, so all men are potentially intellectual. It is better to define man as a being capable of reason (animal rationis capax), than as one gifted with reason (animal ratione).
If a man’s thought has any real significance for him, his life will conform to it. It is not maintained that the life of a philosopher must invariably, under all circumstances, be occupied with intellectual matters; but it is certain that, if he desires to genuinely philosophize, his general life must be regulated according to the loftiest ideas. A sensualist, for instance, cannot be a philosopher. He may use philosophical terms — he may even write, with an ostentatious display of apparent erudition, reviews of the works of philosophers, but his opinions will be of no value. They will necessarily be superficial.
The truth is always in order, and should be spoken at all times and under all circumstances. The individual that objects to the truth being told, either about himself or another, displays an amount of depravity and effrontery which, if justice was meted out to him, would entitle him to a place in the penitentiary. It is a lamentable fact that there are few men, very few indeed, who have the moral courage to enunciate their real opinions. All will readily acknowledge that hypocrisy is an abominable vice, and that it is our duty to invariably speak the truth. Yet, how many practice what they profess to believe to be right? The cause of this moral cowardice is, that the majority of mankind never advance beyond their first childhood; their notions about almost everything are necessarily puerile, and they therefore lack the stamina to exercise the liberty of thought and speech secured to them by the divine, if not the human, law.”
“. . .Materialism has made many converts in this generation, and the deniers of the very existence of such an entity as soul, in the spiritual meaning of the word, are very numerous, and, we regret to say, rapidly increasing. This is preeminently a skeptical age. Worse still, the skepticism of this century is an irrational skepticism. Honest, rational doubt is commendable; stolid, arbitrary denial, is imbecile and entitled to no consideration.
The genuine lovers of Wisdom are very few. The fact is, that about nine-tenths of human beings are adverse to the acquisition of intellectual knowledge, and delight to grovel in the mire of ignorance. They can perceive the necessity for laboring for years like slaves to accumulate money in order to gratify the desires of the senses, but they appear utterly incapable of apprehending the essential superiority of the mind to the body, the transcendent excellence of Wisdom, and the real object of this sensuous, material life, which is to purify and perfect the soul, so that it may be enabled to return to the intelligible world whence it came, or was sent. To these human earth-worms this existence is a finality — a practical finality to even many of those that profess to believe in another life.
Of the nature and destiny of the human soul, Platon and his disciples had a positive, scientific knowledge, obtained by an arduous, logical process of reasoning. They began with rational skepticism, and ended with positive knowledge. According to the Platonists, the soul is an essence without magnitude, immaterial, indestructible, with life which has living from itself, possessing being. It is, therefore, truly and essentially immortal. Its immortality does not date from its connection with the body. In other words, to use scholastic language, it is immortal both a parte ante and a parte post. We emphasize this point, as the eternal nature of the soul is one of the cardinal dogmas of the Platonic Philosophy.”
This is the same answer we give to those, that are under the sore impression, that THEOSOPHY is irrelevant, or outdated. There has not been an hour that has yet shown that our society is not in need of ancient wisdom to guide it.
#AmericanEsotericism #ethics #Philosophy #Plato #Platonism #politics #Religion #ThePlatonist #ThomasMooreJohnson
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Edward Frenkel, the mathematician who, e.g. wrote "Love and Math", has a pilot on Youtube for sth he want to do. (You may enjoy it even more than I do if you are a platonist :-) )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eejAeqYFCg
#EdwardFrenkel #math #platonism -
Edward Frenkel, the mathematician who, e.g. wrote "Love and Math", has a pilot on Youtube for sth he want to do. (You may enjoy it even more than I do if you are a platonist :-) )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eejAeqYFCg
#EdwardFrenkel #math #platonism -
Edward Frenkel, the mathematician who, e.g. wrote "Love and Math", has a pilot on Youtube for sth he want to do. (You may enjoy it even more than I do if you are a platonist :-) )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eejAeqYFCg
#EdwardFrenkel #math #platonism -
Edward Frenkel, the mathematician who, e.g. wrote "Love and Math", has a pilot on Youtube for sth he want to do. (You may enjoy it even more than I do if you are a platonist :-) )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eejAeqYFCg
#EdwardFrenkel #math #platonism -
Edward Frenkel, the mathematician who, e.g. wrote "Love and Math", has a pilot on Youtube for sth he want to do. (You may enjoy it even more than I do if you are a platonist :-) )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eejAeqYFCg
#EdwardFrenkel #math #platonism -
#NeilGillman - Can a #Person Be a #Soul?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN0AwpiAhWA
#Philosophy #PhilosophyOfConsciousness #Consciousness #PhilosophyOfMind #Mind #Immortality #Metaphysics #God #Religion #Plato #Platonism #Idealism #Materialism #Substance #Death #Spirit #Resurrection #BreathOfLife #CloserToTruth
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#ColinMcGinn - Can #Metaphysics Discover #Surprises?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcIYa3wUrhQ
#Philosophy #Reality #Matter #Energy #Existence #Categories #Materialism #Abstraction #Platonism #Mathematics #Numbers #Space Time #SpaceTime #Mentality #PhilosophyOfScience #Science #Language #Causality #Contingency #Event #Events #Positivism #LogicalPositivism #Verification #Necessity #CloserToTruth #RobertKuhn
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#ColinMcGinn - Can #Metaphysics Discover #Surprises?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcIYa3wUrhQ
#Philosophy #Reality #Matter #Energy #Existence #Categories #Materialism #Abstraction #Platonism #Mathematics #Numbers #Space Time #SpaceTime #Mentality #PhilosophyOfScience #Science #Language #Causality #Contingency #Event #Events #Positivism #LogicalPositivism #Verification #Necessity #CloserToTruth #RobertKuhn
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#ColinMcGinn - Can #Metaphysics Discover #Surprises?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcIYa3wUrhQ
#Philosophy #Reality #Matter #Energy #Existence #Categories #Materialism #Abstraction #Platonism #Mathematics #Numbers #Space Time #SpaceTime #Mentality #PhilosophyOfScience #Science #Language #Causality #Contingency #Event #Events #Positivism #LogicalPositivism #Verification #Necessity #CloserToTruth #RobertKuhn
