Philosophy Wire: Burying the dead…

Was burial of the dead practiced by Neanderthals or is it an innovation specific to our species? Researchers have demonstrated, using a variety of criteria, that a Neanderthal child was buried, probably around 41,000 years ago, at the Ferrassie site (Dordogne, France). [1] But why would they do that? If they haven't sensed something more than the things they sensed? Why do the children laugh in the void? If not for things they see without their eyes? Look human. Yes, you are evolved. Yes, you are grown up. Surely you can see everything now. But this is not why you cry less. That is the only reason you do.

Why would you need to discover the cosmos anyway?

If not for your sensing of absolutely nothing inside?

(Who will burry you?)

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Philosophy Wire: Forced sterilization, US, “civilization”…

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2012-06-21]: Victims of forced sterilization in the US state of North Carolina will not get compensation, after a payout plan failed in the state Senate. A plan to give $50,000 (£31,800) to each victim passed the House but was rejected in the Senate. Republicans said the state did not have the funds [source: BBC News]. What? Were you expecting ANY philosophical comment for that? Were you expecting a comment for the scientists who performed the sterilizations? Or maybe a comment for the civilization of the most “progressed” country in the world who performed the sterilizations? Or maybe a comment for the money-loving “logic” of our modern materialistic society which puts money above everything? Nuh…

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Philosophy Wire: Aquarius, astrology and (void) astronomy…

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2011-05-04]: If one looks toward the constellation lines of Aquarium on Friday, he will see the Eta Aquarid meteor shower. The meteor “rain” will seem like it comes from the water jar (Gr. amforeas) of the constellation Aquarius in the sky… [source: web news] Ancient knowledge? Coincidence? In the era of (astrology/astronomy) of Kepler that would have been interpreted as something important. In our era of (nothing/anything) and (no one), this is noted in web news as simple as it gets without any particular comment. The symbols and events have lost their importance. Astrologists in the old days at least – as Shestov said -  had a noble cause: at least they had the objective to find the meaning of the stars and their impact on man and his future. The ultimate goal was Happiness. The aim of astronomy, the successor of astrology, is the… nothing? Why do we look towards the stars? Is it in order to publish a new paper in Science? Or is there another deeper reason that our era of nihilism does not let us admit, even to ourselves?

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