Totality Of Reality Research Articles

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As Frédéric Worms points out, the distinction between the open and the closed is a distinction that “changes everything,” not only in Bergsonian philosophy, but also in human history (Worms 2012, 25). What I intend in this article is to retrace Bergson’s itinerary prior to the Two Sources of Morality and Religion, based on the idea of openness. I will try to show that duration, God, the material universe and the totality of reality are essentially open to Bergson. Furthermore: I will try to show that these spheres, in addition to being essentially open to the philosopher, are also in a process of constant differentiation and "growth." Openness thus implies the idea of growth for Bergson. As we will see, essential in this process of growth of reality is the idea of an “inversion” of divinity, an “inversion” that would constantly produce not only the matter of the universe, but also the life that inhabits the cosmos.

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.

Intellectual treatment of the normative notion 'sustainability'

While the prevailing conceptualisations on sustainability exhibit fragmentary, selective nature of the concepts, an appropriate intellectual treatment of sustainability would instead require an integrated, non-reductionist nature of enquiry that can produce understandings on the entirety of reality as the problems of sustainability exist only on the totality of reality. Despite the selective nature of the reductionist, fragmented nature of enquiries appears to be unproblematic for addressing particular fragments of reality, this approach becomes inadequate and normative - regardless of how analytical or operative it could be - when there is a need to study the entirety of reality. Drawing on the difference between a normative essence and a fundamental intellectual perspective on sustainability, this research establishes the necessity of discovering the knowledge avenue of the scholarship of sustainability instead of imaginatively describing a normative-speculation-based treatment of it. It, thus, creates the intellectual basis for the discovery of the scholarship of sustainability.

EMMANUEL EYO’S ‘JESUS CHRIST THE PHILOSOPHER: AN EXPOSÉ’ AND THE MISSING LINK OF METAPHYSICS

This paper recaps at first duty Eyo, Emmanuel Bassey’s article on ‘Jesus Christ the Philosopher: An Exposé’ which he exposes different areas of philosophy where the teaching of Jesus Christ could be attributed. The work raises arguments in reaction to the neglect of Metaphysics as an important area of Jesus’ philosophy. The author may have presumed that Metaphysics falls within the ambience of religion and theology and looks at Jesus as a historic person. The main concern of this paper therefore, is to examine the person and teachings of Jesus which are metaphysical. This paper further argued that the concept of metaphysics is promising as it studies the totality of reality, however, it is not error-proof as it has its inherent lacuna. In this paper I employ the methods of dialectic analysis and complementary fusion.

Eco-Social and Economic Profile of the Herbicide Glyphosate

Abstract By overview of scientific, political, and economic arguments, the structure and profile of glyphosate, the most important agrochemical compound in the world, has been portrayed. Toxicological, ecological and market objections of the opponents of glyphosate are in opposition with the financial and political support to that herbicide which, according to its advocates, enables the protection of crops, higher yields, and postpones the problem of world hunger. The conflict surrounding glyphosate surpasses the narrow scientific and social frames and is a good example of the need to think through and of decision making which involves connection and the totality of reality.

Philosophy and the Disciplines: The Borderlines

This work examines the borderlines of philosophy in relation to the central concern of other disciplines. As a preliminary step towards our examination, we attempt to uncover the specific nature of philosophy on the basis of its subject matter. We argue that while philosophy asks ‘second order’ questions about the totality of reality, other disciplines ask ‘first order’ questions about different aspects of the same reality. In spite of this distinction however, the paper agrees that the disciplines though lacking in consensus over fundamentals share borderlines with philosophy in their areas of discourse. As the argument runs, the work posits that the central thread running through the disciplines including philosophy of the analytic strand is their use of language as reflected in the meaning of words to depict social reality. The major difference is that while the practitioners of the disciplines are concerned with mere definitions or meaning of concepts, the philosopher from the stand point of Wittgenstein’s reaction to the Cartesian conception of the mind and his ideas on language goes beyond mere definitions or meaning to the analysis of concepts that we employ in the human world of our day to day experience. In this way, the function of philosophy as analysis to a greater extent than other disciplines leads to the improvement in language for the purpose of expressing and communicating our ideas.Keywords: Philosophy, Other Disciplines, Borderlines, Language and Meaning.

Werke in acht Bänden by Josef Pieper

BOOK REVIEWS 167 Werke in acht Biinden. By JOSEF PIEPER. Edited by BERTHOLD WALD. Vol. 3: Schriften zum Philosophiebegriff(Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag, 1995). Pp. vi + 345. DM 76.- (cloth). ISBN 3-7873-1223-4. Vol. 4: Schriften zur Philosophischen Anthropologie und Ethik: Das Menschenbild der Tugendlehre (Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag, 1996). Pp. vi + 442. DM 96.- (cloth). ISBN: 3-7873-1224-2. The third volume of the complete works of Josef Pieper assembles diverse writings spanning a period of several decades and systematically treating the notion of philosophy (What is Philosophy?, In Defense ofPhilosophy), as well as interpretation, tradition, language, the Platonic concept of philosophy, and the future of philosophy. Among these the reader will discover two previously unpublished essays: a discussion of the Heideggerian notion of truth and an essay on intellectual work and philosophical formation. This volume also contains an instructive postface written by the editor which brings out the originality of Pieper's point of departure against the backdrop of contemporary (especially analytic and hermeneutical) philosophy. Pieper defines the philosophical act as a reflection upon the totality of that which the subject experiences, both sensually and intuitively. This totality of reality is considered in its ultimate significance, in its deepest roots, and in all its aspects. In contrast to the scientist who, at least theoretically, is able to find definitive responses to the questions he raises, the philosopher treads upon an unending path. Unable to emerge from the state of astonishment which is natural to him and which determines his vocation, he never entirely understands the aspect of the real upon which he focuses his attention. "The philosophical act begins at the boundary where knowledge and the unfathomable touch; it begins with the grasping of the incomprehensibility of the world and Dasein" (125; cf. 80, 119ff., 128ff., 17, 51ff., 53, 56). This unfathomability of the world follows as a consequence of the distinction between res naturalis and res artificialis. Referring to the Sartrean position according to which "there is no human nature, because there is no God to conceive it" (173ff.), Pieper affirms the intrinsic relation between the nature of a res and an intellect, between existence and a will, and maintains that the intellect and will at the origin of the res naturales are those of God. It is certainly natural to the human being to know all things insofar as his intellect is capax universi. Having thereby access to the essence of beings, he seizes their "after-forms." He cannot, however, know the analogy between the after-forms and the pre-form which lies in the creating intellect: rerum essentiae sunt nobis ignotae. The impossibility of fully comprehending the ultimate foundation of the world and of existence-which Pieper explains in terms of a metaphysic of the creation, the heart of his philosophy-does not require that the search of wisdom be conducted with agnostic resignation or despair, but that hope be its certain guide (38-39, 51ff., 128f., 135f., 151). 168 BOOK REVIEWS Pieper desires to preserve a metaphysical dimension ofbeing and gift present not only in the philosophical act but also in celebration, poetry, leisure, art, etc. In a world that is increasingly dominated by the categories of utility, efficiency, and production and that, by the exclusion of all nondirected activity, threatens to become totalitarian, the true philosophical question takes on the character of an intellectual luxury, a useless activity; senseless, at best, it is regarded as possibly harmful or even dangerous, since it neglects or even prohibits the concrete and practical goals of daily life (86, 90ff.). Philosophy is not the "knowledge of a servant" but the "knowledge of a gentleman" (Newman). The existential astonishment that it necessarily implies is opposed to the embourgeoisement of thought which accepts the nearest reality as ultimate and no longer perceives the world of essences and the ultimate sense of encountered realities. It is characterized by a total or partial calling into question of one's comprehension of the world, of one's place therein, and of the significance of one's life. This "anti-bourgeois upheaval," which Pieper likewise refers to as a "de-proletarianization," can be effected in many ways, but especially in...

Afrocentrism and Acentrism

My aim is to examine the roles philosophy plays in generating alternative views of the universe in order to make a place for philosophy in primary and secondary school education. My assumption is that both philosophy and science are ways of representing experience. They differ only along a continuum whose bands are marked by degrees of generality, guesswork, controversy, and novelty. Philosophy is the more ambitious of the pair as it tries to capture a picture of the totality of reality. Science is much more cautious and settles for precise descriptions of narrow slices of experience. But in their heart of hearts, scientists have the same ambition as philosophers: to describe or explain the whole of human experience. The best historical example of this pretension is found in Newton's claim to have discovered universal laws of gravitation. Newton's discovery so overwhelmed him that he was convinced he had uncovered the structure of God's sensorium. Einstein put a stop to Newton's ambition. With his destruction of Newton's presuppositions about the rectilinear path of light and the absolute character of its measurements, Einstein forced us to be much more sober about philosophical pretensions to universal knowledge. But Einstein had a strong conviction that he had not realized his own philosophical ambition: to discover a grand uni-

Some Problems with Pannenberg's Solution to Barth's ‘Faith Subjectivism’

Among recent reconstructions, Wolfhart Pannenberg's systematic theology is one of the most influential attempts to overcome authoritarianism and subjectivism. Without presenting a thorough development of Pannenberg's theology here, I shall discuss the relationship between philosophy and theology by analyzing Pannenberg's critique of Barth's ‘subjectivism’ and ‘authoritarianism’. I argue that by grounding theological knowledge in a version of Heidegger's concept of anticipation, Pannenberg has not escaped his own religious subjectivism. Thus theological meaning inevitably results from a philosophy of existence grounded in an anticipatory grasp (Vorgriff) of the totality of reality which is presumed to refer to the reality of God.

An Academician's Response: Toward a Grander Budget Theory

Eminent budget scholar Aaron Wildavsky presented several principles of budgeting in his seminal article three decades ago, which he reaffirmed in 1991. As with the ground-breaking work of others, these principles, once they have been pointed out to us, seem so simple as to be patently obvious. They appear simple because we at once recognize them as capturing a large kernel if not the totality of reality, and, therefore, as true. His principles were then and remain today the following:

EPISTEMIC STYLES, INDIVIDUALITY, AND WORLD‐VIEW12

ABSTRACTIndividual epistemic styles (i.e., ways of knowing) of rationalism, empiricism, and metaphorism are seen as higher order personality integrators which are the primary determinants of individual differences in world‐view. More specifically, variations in epistemic style hierarchies and their corresponding cognitive profiles reflect variations in cognitive (i.e., both abilities and styles) strengths and weaknesses. If rationalism, for example, is dominant in the hierarchy, this means the resulting world‐view is based on an essentially thinking cognitive structure. Similarly, if we are considering a case of ultra‐empiricism or metaphorism we have examples of perceptual or symbolic dominance respectively. This means the resulting world‐view is based primarily on the processes of perceiving or symbolizing, even though some cognitions of the total set emerge from the processes of thinking as well. Thus, all world‐views are encapsulated (i.e., less than the totality of reality). The precise form encapsulation takes depends primarily upon one's psycho‐epistemological profile.