Love Of Wisdom Research Articles

On Striving as Readers: A Response to Greer

The capacity of northern European gentlemen scholars educated in the love of wisdom, human dignity, friendship and rationality to treat their fellow human beings with irreconcilable prejudice and hold to ghastly beliefs of racial superiority, which legitimated violence, exploitation and extermination elsewhere, is one of the great tragedies of humanism. That the images of the human cultivated in texts were at variance with the lived experience of those who were treated as other than human was rarely noted in the books they read. I appreciate Matthew Greer's efforts to bring these concerns to the fore. I am grateful for the opportunity to read Sylvia Wynter, among others, and to think about their work in counter-humanism. I stand with Greer who reminds us that, as archaeologists, we must do more than critique ideologies, fight for inclusion, and engage in dialogue as demanded by a radical pluralism (Shanks & Tilley 1992, 246). Equity, social justice, openness, and decolonization demand the sustained effort of us all, both in our capacity as archaeologists and as readers of texts.

Reimagining Philosophy: The Relevance of “Love of Wisdom” for Senior High School Students at Tanauan City Integrated High School in Contemporary 21st Century

“Philosophy” comes from the Greek words Philo and Sophia meaning “love of wisdom.” Philosophy uses the tools of logic and reason to analyze how humans experience the world(Metcalf, 2020). It is an activity people undertake when they seek to understand fundamental truths about themselves, the world in which they live, and their relationships to the world and each other. Philosophy takes on existential questions (Marschall, 2023). One relevant question for everyone is the meaning of life. Although the meaning of life can be different for different people, it is nonetheless given attention to the subject. In this present time where people have easy access to almost everything and information can easily be falsified by social media, truth must still prevail. This should be emphasized in schools for students. Philosophy is useful in this regard because it utilizes logic and reasoning to develop critical thinkers (Bushman, 2022). As the subject demands profound intellectual activity to arrive at the truth, it might be unappealing to students. But this very method can help students learn to write clearly, read closely with a critical eye, and spot poor reasoning which is a crucial skill in the present times. Accordingly, the result of the research indicated that critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication are 21st-century learning skills that can be applied to inculcate the relevance of Philosophy in contemporary times.

Plato’s Theaetetus end logos of the digital humanities

The specifics of the humanities are the study of the human and its offspring, already recalled by Socrates in the “Theaetetus”. The dialogue marks a substantial shift in Plato — the discovery to be attributed to Wincenty Lutosławski, the author of the chronology of Plato’s works — that is, from pre-existent and transcendental ideas to the categories of reason, from philosophy as the “love of wisdom” to the “love of knowledge”. Thus, contrary to the widely held view of the so-called lack of the definition of knowledge in the “Theaetetus”, I argue that the quest for knowledge refers to the logic of thinking — the theme related to Charles S. Peirce’s logic of discovery and still distinct from “technology” — and provides the constitution of the humanities of the information and communication age as the digital humanities.

Polish Philosophy of the XX – early XXI Centuries through the Eyes of the Russian

Introduction. In the modern world we can note an increasing interest in problems and thinkers who have not been included in the classical history of philosophy for a long time. In the Russian tradition, Polish philosophical thought was considered within the narrow framework of the ideas of N. Copernicus, the revolutionary democrats, representatives of the Lviv-Warsaw schools. As a result, the impression was formed that in the 20th century Polish thought did not generate anything significant and interesting. In this work, the author made an attempt to rethink the attitude of Russian people to Polish thinkers of the 20th century to highlight the figures of those who can be perceived as spiritually close to the Russian understanding of philosophical issues. Philosophical novels and novellas have always existed in Russian culture. Russian thinkers sought to act as an artist of the word, which is not limited by academic frameworks.Methodology and sources. As in any historical and philosophical work, the historicalcomparative approach was used in this article. To implement the tasks set, the analysis of the works of Polish thinkers of the twentieth century L. Kolakovsky, J. Bohensky and S. Lem, who were the sources of this work, was carried out.Results and discussion. In Russian culture, philosophy (love of wisdom) has never been limited only to the framework of academic traditions. It is impossible to put thought in the “Procrustean bed” of clear rules and schemes, especially philosophical thought, therefore the author includes in the circle of study Polish thinkers who in their work sought to work outside the boundaries and established frameworks. L. Kolakovsky, J. Bohensky and S. Lem represent an unusual vision of familiar concepts. They demonstrate in their works that the "buffoonish" view can be present in the philosophical tradition, that an aphorism is the quintessence of thought. In the works of L. Kolakovsky, J. Bohensky and S. Lem, one can see a world of paradoxical worldview, a world of laughter at “unshakable” principles, a world that makes one wonder. And it is with surprise, according to Aristotle, that philosophy begins.Conclusion. Grotesque, oxymoron, paradox in the works of L. Kolakovsky, J. Bohensky, S. Lem represent a form of philosophical understanding of modernity. The Polish thought of the twentieth century shows that philosophy can and should have many variants of its implementation.

KRISIS METAFISIKA DAN FILSAFAT SEBAGAI TUGAS BERPIKIR: PERSPEKTIF HEIDEGGER

This article aims to reflect further Heidegger's thought on the crisis of metaphysics and philosophy as a task of thinking. Philosophy since ancient times, even today, has been oriented to seek and formulate the essential and universal concept. Is it true that searching for the ontotheological nature is the most important task of philosophy? Is it true that these single principles can reflect the truth? By using the method of library researh and critical analysis of Heidegger's works and studies on the crisis of metaphysics, this article shows that philosophy essentially does not aim to formulate absolute, universal and single notion. Philosophy is also not a project of producing standard, abstract, sophisticated and technical concepts. The important task of philosophy is to encourage men to think, an art of understanding. Thinking is not a calculative thinking (instrumental-technical rationality) but meditative and reflective thinking. Under philosophy as the task of thinking, Being, namely the totality of reality, is responded with amazement, humility and simplicity. Philosophy must liberate itself from the metaphysical trap of totalitarian power which tends to hegemonize others in the name of a single truth, to philosophy that celebrates the plurality of truths with humility dan simplicity. That is the real meaning of philosophy as philo-sophia, the love of wisdom.

Wonder and Wisdom: Wandering through Space and Time

My article undertakes a journey to connect pathways between wonder and wisdom, starting with ancient Greek philosophy, the love of wisdom. Every journey, whether physical, emotional, intellectual, and/or spiritual, has at its core a conception of where one is situated in space and time. The ancient term kaleo (to be called, summoned, or invited) is relevant to the expression of my inner voice in these current wanderings of thought. To wonder is to consider origins: the wonder of time; the wonder of space; the wonder of life on earth. Understanding the world we inhabit and the cosmos we observe has been prevalent in religious, philosophical, and psychological thought throughout the millennia. An attribution to Socrates is the adage, “Wonder is the beginning of wisdom,” that derives from Plato’s Dialogues concerning the nature of knowledge, with Socrates recounted as saying: “Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder.” As in ancient times, how our planet earth, the sun, and the moon relate to the planets of our solar system and the galaxies; the composition of the stars; the music of the spheres; and the manifestation of humanity in the universe intrigue us to wonder. And to wander is to follow a winding pathway, like the course of the twisting Meander River in Asia Minor of antiquity. My reasoning for going on this winding, wondrous journey in exploring the wisdom of the past is to enhance and illuminate knowledge for present application and future consideration, transcendence, and transformation of nous, or mind.

Two Mediterranean Church Mothers: Their Presence and Importance in Patristic Philosophy

There are many debates concerning the existence and possibility of Christian philosophy, as well as Jewish and Islamic philosophy. Starting from the debates in France in the 1930s, some philosophers, such as Bréhier, have argued that Christian philosophy, especially in the patristic era, did not operate through reason, as philosophy requires, for religion is a system full of dogmas, interpretations based on strict approaches and alleged facts. However, patristic philosophers, especially some pro-philosophy apologetic writers, suggested that pagan philosophy, which is assumed to operate through reason, took its doctrines from Christianity and distorted them. Thus, for them, Christianity was the true philosophy. If one takes the patristic philosophers’ view and considers Christianity a philosophy through their writings, one should acknowledge that, at the basis of their views, lies the meaning of φιλοσοφία, that is, the love of wisdom. Our consideration of early Christian philosophy as a way of life is best understood through the lens of the Church mothers since they are portrayed as the best examples among Christians. In this study, we aim to discuss patristic philosophy as the basic form of philosophizing and then go on to specify prominent female Christian philosophers from the Mediterranean Region, the crucible for many long-lasting civilizations, and finally examine the ways they were philosophizing. Our method of research is mainly based on document and content analysis since it is qualitative research in the philosophical literature. Based on the findings of this research, we demonstrate the core endeavor of philosophy as the love of wisdom through the ideas of two of the prominent women in early Christian philosophy.

«Философский пароход»: о парадигме С.С. Хоружего

The article analyzes the speech of S.S. Khoruzhy, published in 1990 in the “Literaturnaya Gazeta” under the title “Philosophical Steamer. How it was”. The metaphor he found has become popular and is actively used by modern critics of Soviet history. in 1922, S.S. Khoruzhy presented the expulsion of a group of Moscow and St. Petersburg intellectuals, among whom there were 13 philosophers, sociologists and jurists, as a spiritual catastrophe of Russia and even as the “end of Russian philosophy”. On the contrary, in the proposed article, this event is assessed as only a political action aimed at excluding from the public life of Soviet Russia all those who remained in the same unscientific ideological positions, defended the bourgeois values of university autonomy and freedom of speech, stating this in public speeches not understanding the new socio-political reality. The article emphasizes that the value confrontation in the public consciousness of Soviet Russia could turn into a political confrontation, which could threaten the country and the authorities with a new round of civil war. A parallel is drawn between the state of public consciousness of Soviet Russia in the 20s and the USSR in the 80s – early 90s of the twentieth century, when “glasnost” and “perestroika” became the beginning of the death of the USSR. The article challenges the thesis of S.S. Khoruzhy about the “end of philosophy” in Russia. It is argued that the establishment of the monopoly position of Marxist materialism and the exclusion of any non-Marxist philosophy from cultural life was simply the beginning of a new stage of Russian philosophy, forced to develop in its prescribed theoretical form. Meanwhile, thinkers of the Russian diaspora noted the presence of positive heuristic possibilities in Soviet philosophy, but in the absence of a philosophical dialogue they could not fully develop. The transformation of philosophy in Soviet history reminds the author of the time of Peter the Great, when one of the directions of European philosophy was given state patronage and Russian philosophical thinking left behind “love of wisdom” as a passed stage.

A Prison Philosopher: A Personal Essay

Prison is often thought of as hell behind barbed wire, housing the most nefarious of sorts who have thrown away any inkling of wisdom. Nevertheless, a number of reasons can make prison an ideal place to develop an appreciation for, and put into practice, philosophy, the love of wisdom. I offer a rough characterization of the practice of philosophy in the context of prison. The removal of persons from a world that is comparatively unfettered to a place of silence and solitude can lead to wonder and questioning. I then consider how I, as a prison philosopher, develop questions and reflection around various ideas from God, truth, beauty, and love, to death.

‘uMuntu nguMuntu ngaBantu’: Toward an Equitably Infused Global Epistemological Orientation and Global (Philosophy of) Education

Abstract The core question in this article is whether, or not, uBuntu and Humanism can simultaneously inform a pursuit of an equitably infused global epistemological orientation and, consequently, an equitably infused global (philosophy of)1 education. I argue that uBuntu and Humanism are not compatible at the very core of their ontological, axiological, and epistemological nature, and thus, might present an epistemological challenge to any attempt to develop an equitably infused global epistemological orientation and an equitably infused global (philosophy of) education. Moreover, I assume the broad etymological definition of philosophy as the ‘love of wisdom’ and that wisdom is a manifestation in uBuntu world, and consequently the love of such, and the resulting need to inquire into the compatibility, while recognizing potential incommensurability, between how wisdom is thought of by Western humanist-derived epistemologies and by uBuntu-derived epistemologies. At the center of the analysis is the nature of ‘human’ or ‘person’ since both Humanism and uBuntu are intrinsically bound to conceptualizations of personhood. Framed within the historical backdrop of the European Renaissance and the African Renaissance, the article comprises a critical historical outlook and analysis of primary and secondary sources of discourses on Humanism and uBuntu. Primary focus is on works of so-called2 classical thinkers such as Heidegger, Husserl, Cheikh Anta Diop, René Descartes, Frederick Nietzsche, Julius Nyerere, and John Mbiti. The key aim is to challenge scholars to work toward the equitable infusion of epistemologies inherent in these two terms, instead of continuing to see these terms as interchangeable, which essentially authenticates and perpetuates the imposition of humanism on non-humanist contexts. The African Renaissance might be the adequate space for such equitable placement of uBuntu as a source of global epistemologies alongside those emanating from Humanism.

«Преступление и наказание» в работах Р. Гуардини и Д. Барсотти

The article is dedicated to the interpretation of Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment elaborated by two Catholic theologians: Romano Guardini (Religiöse Gestalten in Dostojewskijs Werk: Studien über den Glauben) and Divo Barsotti (Dostoevskij. La passione per Cristo). The analysis is preceded by a description of the structure of both works, and it is explained why they are worth of special mention among other pieces of research by Catholic authors on Dostoevsky. It is noticed that their interpretations give little space to Raskolnikov, his theory, and the reason for which he committed his crime. This part of the novel is considered mainly in the light of another character of Dostoevsky’s world, Ivan Karamazov. Remarkably, both authors find the key to the novel in the figure of Sonya Marmeladova. According to Barsotti she represents the presence of God as Wisdom of Love, while for Guardini her character alludes to the concept of “God’s children” and the Beatitudes Sermon. Sonya is the highest image of holiness in Dostoevsky’s work because she accepts all that is demanded from her to the point of giving herself, her body, and her honor; she lives in constant relation with that God who is incarnated in Christ. This is why the text of the Gospel plays a central role in the novel, as both authors notice. Another common element in the books is the attention paid to the story of the “yellow ticket” as an element endowed by Dostoevsky with a profound meaning, with the aim of emphasizing Sonya’s total dedication to the Other and the others.

Alien Listening: Voyager’s Golden Record and Music from Earth, by Daniel K. L. Chua and Alexander Rehding

<i>Alien Listening: Voyager’s Golden Record and Music from Earth</i>, by Daniel K. L. Chua and Alexander Rehding

An Institutional Approach to Alterity: Thinking Love in Levinas and Hegel

ABSTRACTEmmanuel Levinas's early work inaugurated a tradition of thinking about alterity as at odds with generalized forms of knowledge that characterize political institutions. However, in his later work Levinas broaches but leaves underdeveloped the provocative idea that institutional modes of reasoning can provide a welcome home for alterity if they follow the wisdom of love. Against this backdrop, I argue that reading G. W. F. Hegel's early writings on neighbor love alongside his mature philosophy of the state offers us important resources for articulating an institutional approach to alterity that offers a compelling solution to Levinas's concern with letting the other(s) be seen by institutions in a non‐totalizing manner. Across his early writings, Hegel positions love as the vehicle through which one comes to be at home in the institutions of one's community and the vehicle through which one can revise and expand the institutions of one's community in novel ways. My aim is to demonstrate that Hegel's early account of love provides an indispensable blueprint for understanding his mature account of the relation between the individual qua infinitely unique and modern political institutions. In turn, this will enable us to discern the institutional approach to alterity embedded in his thought.

Comic Socrates?

Abstract In the Clouds, Aristophanes apparently ridicules Socratic philosophy as a useless, essentially passive preoccupation, which, “twisted” in the wrong hands, can seriously harm the City. But such an instrumentalist reading of the Clouds (and of philosophy) misses a crucial point regarding the relation between philosophy and comedy. Insofar as philosophy, love of wisdom, is irreducible to wisdom—insofar as, in other words, philosophy is also a matter of taste (a concept which seeks to combine knowledge and pleasure)—the Clouds can be read as an ironic-comic defense of philosophy. To discuss this, the article reads the Clouds in the perspective of free use. This reading makes it possible to articulate two distinct but related senses of perverting philosophy, which are evidenced with material from within the play: the reduction of reason to instrumental reason and/or to state philosophy. To end with, the article discusses the relationship between comedy and philosophy in more general terms.

Reflections and thoughts on Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of Hope

This article was born as a result of listening to several communications within the scope of Paulo Freire's Centenary together with readings that were being made for my PhD thesis, born of a happy encounter between both activities. It is not possible to see only an Educator, a Philosopher or a Sociologist, nor to see Paulo Freire as a Social Museologist. Paulo Freire assumes himself as a complete man when he represents the true role of Philosophy, as the mother of the sciences and as the love of wisdom. It is not possible to see in Paulo Freire only the human being, limited to a space and time, because there are outside these universes of meaning. It is not possible to see Paulo Freire as anything less than his will, a will that continued to exist in the two prisons he faced, his prison, the result of a military system that works out of fear and control, and his Death, where his will goes out in the last breath. Will be? I choose to see in Paulo Freire the sum of all sciences, whether exact or relative (i.e. social sciences). I choose to see Paulo Freire outside any categorical universe belonging to the human condition. I choose to see Paulo Freire as a desiring machine that faces the designs of mortality. That in this publication, we are like Fates, weaving once again the life, work and legacy of this Master. Keywords: Sociomuseology; Education; Freedom; knowledge; Dialogue

The Mystery of Grace: A Theological Reading of C. S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces

Abstract Till We Have Faces is profitably read at three levels: for its surface story, as a crime drama, and as an exploration of the theological mystery of grace. By transposing the myth of Psyche into the mystery genre, Lewis prepares the reader for Orual’s unreliability as a narrator and lures the reader into the novel’s theological depths. Part Two of the novel contains a series of visionary labors which Lewis borrows from Lucius Apuleius but recasts as feats achieved jointly by Orual and Psyche. The theological reading in this article finds textual support for rereading Part One of the novel as depicting Orual, by grace, unknowingly performing Psyche’s labors. Read thusly, the novel is a working out of Lewis’s belief that God can change the past—that grace can reach back into our histories and retell our story. By ascribing to the mutability of the past, Lewis sidesteps the dispute among various branches of Christianity over whether prevenient grace (the grace that pursues us prior to conversion) is both irresistible and salvific. An examination of four sources of grace in Orual’s life (love of beauty, love of wisdom, religious practice, and bereavement) reveals that what would have been common grace in her life becomes salvific as it leads to her redemption. This exposition also shows the novel’s indebtedness to the many classical Greek sources to which Lewis alludes within it, as well as its affinity with some of the ideas of Simone Weil.

Epistemerastes. The Platonic Philosopher in the Timaeus between True Opinion and Science

Abstract. The aim of this paper is to analyse the ways in which the nature of true philosophers is described in Plato’s Timaeus. By examining the distinction between two kinds of opinion – one (produced by sensation) absolutely false, the other (developed through one of the soul’s rational faculties) reliably true – I will try to show that Plato coined a new term to denote both true philosophers and the characteristics of their knowledge. From being a ‘love of wisdom’, true philosophy came to be defined as a ‘passion for science’. Finally, I will try to illustrate the protreptic intent underlying this choice of words and how it concerns the main critical target of the Timaeus, the so-called Presocratics.

Bezgraniczność głupoty i granice mądrości. Na rozdrożach sokratejskiej pedagogii niewiedzy

The relationship between stupidity and wisdom is marked by a multitude of dramatic and not entirely transparent tensions. While stupidity grows abundantly like self-seeding weeds, finding fertile ground in every area of human activity, there is a constant lack of wisdom. Since antiquity, the conviction seems to prevail—also in the tradition of the Socratic pedagogy—that there is ‘too much’ of both overt and hidden stupidity and that its ‘excess’ keeps growing, continuing at the expense of the desired wisdom and values associated with it. In Western culture, the complexity of the relationships between wisdom and stupidity is scrutinized already in Plato’s classical works The Apology of Socrates and The Symposium: namely, in the speech of Socrates, and in the story of Eros begotten as the child of Poverty and Resource, respectively. Both texts manifest the key ideas of the Socratic pedagogy of ignorance and the condition of Eros symbolizes that of a philosopher, a lover of wisdom who is “betwixt wisdom and ignorance,” and incessantly striving to overcome this state. The story about Eros has largely determined the ways in which the complexity of and tensions between stupidity and wisdom have been perceived in Western culture as such and, in particular, in its philosophy and pedagogy. The lack of a critical discernment of stupidity is coupled with a persistent failure to recognize or respect boundaries. While stupidity appears in the outlined perspective as dangerously infinite, still unimaginable for its cognitive penetration and untamed despite the pedagogical activities directed against it, somehow spilling its limitlessness into relatively ordered spheres, it reflects its limits due to the pursuit of wisdom.

For the Love of Wisdom

For the Love of Wisdom

Values of Good, Truth, and Love in Participatory Budgeting in Poland

Literature suggests that government instruments, rooted in the traditional modernist representative democracy, do not effectively protect the common good due to the moral hazard problem, and as a solution, it proposes citizen participation. However, just like over the last century public administration experienced a smooth and almost invisible passage from modernist instruments – informed by Aristotle – to postmodernist ones with a Marxist background, participative governance serves to replace the universal values of Latin (Western) civilisation by the ideas of neo-Marxist new ethics. This is the case of participatory budgeting that cannot effectively enhance financial accountability for the protection of the common good because it infringes on the value of truth. What is worse, by “the liberation from freedom” that it proposes is detrimental to the common good. The solution seems to lie in philosophy, that is the love of wisdom, and in true love.