Philosophy Wire: Religion: Neither intuition nor rational thinking?

Religious beliefs are not linked to intuition or rational thinking, according to research by the universities of Coventry and Oxford.

Previous studies have suggested people who hold strong religious beliefs are more intuitive and less analytical, and when they think more analytically their religious beliefs decrease. But new research, by academics from Coventry University's Centre for Advances in Behavioural Science and neuroscientists and philosophers at Oxford University, suggests that is not the case, and that people are not 'born believers'.

The study found no link between intuitive/analytical thinking, or cognitive inhibition (an ability to suppress unwanted thoughts and actions), and supernatural beliefs. Instead, the academics conclude that other factors, such as upbringing and socio-cultural processes, are more likely to play a greater role in religious beliefs. [1]

But where is culture based on, if not on intuition and/ or rational thinking? And in any case, can anything exist outside the context of culture? We are rational beings. Or irrational. It doesn’t really matter. We are who we are. And we create civilization. Part of which is religion and will always be. Instead of trying to cast it out by giving an (invalid) explanation for its existence, we should just accept it and embrace it. Depending on the axioms used anything can look stupid or bad. But take a closer (and more sincere) look. Religion tries to use the less axioms that any of you judging it. Religion tries to just accept the cosmos as it is. It is just that some people hate that. Some people are just too dogmatic to tolerate the freedom of thinking which allows some humans to see the cosmos without the dogmatic mentality of materialism. There is nothing wrong with religion. There is nothing wrong with you. Relax my boy. You are just afraid. I know. But don’t worry. Your father is here too…

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Philosophy Wire: Random changes in language.

Luck plays a role in how language evolves, according to researchers: Read a few lines of Chaucer or Shakespeare and you'll get a sense of how the English language has changed during the past millennium. Examining collections of annotated texts dating from the 12th to the 21st centuries, researchers found that certain linguistic changes were guided by pressures analogous to natural selection - social, cognitive and other factors - while others seem to have occurred purely by happenstance. (i.e. random chance) [1] Randomly changing language. On which civilization is built upon. The foundations are shifting, but nothing collapses. Look carefully. Our culture is based on nothing. Our civilization is just dust in the wind. And yet this dust is harder than concrete… Shifting with the cosmos in an eternal dance of everlasting change… Staying essentially the same as it was in the beginning…

Είμαι. είσαι. είμαστε…

Εἰμί. εἶ. ἐστίν…

Α… Ω…

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Philosophy Wire: Syria. Civilization. War. The need for destruction.

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2014-11-07]: Ancient cities, castles and ruins are among the casualties of war in Syria. Satellite images reveal that five of the country’s six World Heritage Sites have suffered damage and some structures have been completely destroyed. [1] But why do we want to preserve these monuments? Have we ever gone there to see them? Would we ever go there to see them? Do people there even care to go to see them? Is civilization what the papers say or what we actually live?

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Philosophy Wire: Protests, "civilized", "Third World"...

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Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2013-07-19]: We see "Third World" countries in crisis and thank God we are "civilized". [1] But is it civilization NOT to protest about anything?


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Philosophy Wire: La Nahuaterique... Blessing in disguise...

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2013-04-19]: A village [La Nahuaterique] between countries, in the borders between Honduras and El Salvador. They feel abandoned because no one cares about them. They typically belong to Honduras, but no authorities from that state do anything for them or acknowledge their existence. They feel unlucky... [1]

 

At the same time tribes in Amazon feel unlucky because the state there thinks their territory belongs to it... [2]

Be careful what you wish for...

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Philosophy Wire: Civilization makes us more stupid. Yes. Yes?

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2012-11-13]: A new radical research reveals that as civilization progresses humans become more stupid. All the civilization advances make our life easier but also remove the evolutionary pressure we once had and which led to clever people surviving the dumb ones: there is no need to try to be clever since the developments like agriculture, the safety of an organized society and all technology available makes life easier for everyone [source: web news] Well. The study is indeed innovative. However ancient Greeks were once more ahead of their time. Thousands of years ago, they believed the SAME very thing for their time: They too believed in Regression rather that Progress. They believed that that they were the “bronze” genos (Gr. γένος) which succeeded the “silver” genos which in turn succeeded the initial Gold Genos of humans. Now if ancient Greeks where the “bronze” ones, who are we? The “plastic” ? We should be. We are the first civilization who takes so much care of recycling while not producing anything of value… OR… Maybe all this is just the complex of "the old times are always better than the current we live in” type… At the end it is up to you to decide. Do you freel a lesser person than your ancestors?

 

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Writing is Evil ! (and not civilized!)

Writing has been misunderstood by many. This is because many believe that writing is related to progress and civilization while the opposite is true! The first inscriptions found were related to keeping public records, recording supplies, keeping tax records, writting laws, counting agricultural and manufactured goods. As Levi Strauss puts it, "The only phenomenon with which writing has always been concomitant is the creation of cities and empires, that is the integration of large numbers of individuals into a political system, and their grading into castes or classes. It seems to have favored the exploitation of human beings rather than their enlightenment".

On the other hand, all great mystics of our kind, Pythagoras, Socrates, Buddha, Christ, did not leave any writings! They just talked to people! Parmenides himself was not a writer but a poet. And whenever you have something truly important to say to a person close to you, you chose silence. Staying silent with someone is the best way to tell him everything you want sometimes.

Writing is overrated. We should all keep being humans. And being humans is 1000 things, with "writing" being far below the 1000th place...

Look at the empty paper.

Just leave it this way.

Philosophy Wire: Holland, dignity and the ignominy of materialism…

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2011-09-01]: A Dutch TV show for people who failed to be granted asylum gives $4,000 to the winner. The only condition: to leave Holland [source: web news] !! Economy is not everything, as many believe. The respect to human rights and to human dignity (who would mock a man who failed to get asylum in such a way?) are far more important that coffeshops or building museums for a person that Dutch themselves betrayed (call me… Anna Frank)… Civilization is what is left after you get rid of all economic indicators.

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Philosophy Wire: Language, civilization and...spirit?

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2011-04-16]: Research published in Nature pulled the conclusion that the structure of language developed by different people depends on their culture and civilization and not on the biological structure of the brain [source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13049700]. Is the language a creation of the brain or not? If everything is based and derived from the brain, how can such a research reach such a conclusion? Isn't the brain which drives our civilization? Or is there room for what we call "spirit" after all?

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Philosophy Wire: The treasures of Afganistan and the hypocricy of "civilization"

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2011-03-29]: Precious Treasures of Afghanistan are exhibited in the British Museum. The nearly 200 precious pieces of gold that can be admired by those who visit the museum in England were, according to the officers of the museum, "saved" by the Taliban and that is why we are now lucky enough to be able to see and enjoy them [source: web news, web news 2]. England once again shows the best of the western "culture"... Civilization of the type "I invade your country, steal your culture and then you have to pay a ticket in order to see it"... From the Parthenon marbles to the treasures of Afganistan, the "law of the strongest" remains the most powerful of all laws... Who knows what other treasures we will "save" from Libya...

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