Tuesday, October 16, 2012
everything is connected!
suffering exists, but there is no one who suffers,
deeds are, but there is no doer of deeds,
nirvana is, but no one is blissful,
the path is but there is no traveller on it.
(visuddhimagga, XVI, 90)
Notes on Buddhism
Julie Mehretu, Black City, 2006.
... l'homme n'est pas ce qu'il est, il est ce qu'il n'est pas.-- Jean Paul Sartre
Monday, October 15, 2012
why voting now
after a discussion with my phi 2010 classes:
the charge that "both parties are the same" is true only in general. let's understand where we live: america is a center leaning nation, it moves left and/or right depending the time and issues. political parties have to respond and accommodate to this fact. even as the process has been partly co-opted by special interests, change is always possible. it happens daily, and our history proves it. the idea you have of the place you want to be in is the ideal to fight for. it may get close as some issues win. you cannot achieve all you want at once. then what? without the struggle for justice you would have no reasons to fight in the first place. if the world is determined in advance there is no transformation and no place for political struggle.if you want to comment you can do it here (though this is not a mandatory post).
why voting and voting now (post for comment)
last week i presented this question to the class: "are you registered to vote"?
i was really surprised. while some of you are registered, some have actually decided not to vote. some talked about not voting as an "act of protest." the class consensus was: we're very disappointed with both parties and what they represent. in fact there is no difference. they are the same. the argument looks like this:
1- the politics and money problem: after citizens united, corporate interests have taken over the political process.
2- the government/special interests problem: perks, lobbying, campaign contributions, etc.
3- the ongoing secret and overt wars of the US.
4- the US standing regarding "green" issues.
5- obama did not honor his promise to change things. he sold out.
though 1-5 is true to an extent, it's quite naive to suppose that not voting is a decision "outside" the current political system. you're IN the present, INSIDE this milieu.
not voting is a political decision that counts in the becoming of the winner ("winning" is the emergence of a social decision). not voting will not make the problem go away (a "third party" will not necessarily solve it, as pluralism in europe shows). the problem is not the generalities, the problem here is the details. and the devil IS the details!
democracy happens IN time. and time IS change. democracy means self-determination: a fragile, unpredictable, malleable, perfectible, process that is being realized @ each moment. democracy is a subtle (often patient) negotiation between freedoms, rights and equality. and the balance can go one way or the other. in fact, democracy can -and has- turned into its opposite (germany & spain, 1930's, chile, 1970's. there are better and worse moments for america). we're no different.
the paradox of democracy
take the supreme court ruling decision in favor of citizens united. freedom is one of democracy's pillars. yet, it is that very freedom which opens up the possibility of the supreme court ruling in favor of corporations now becoming "persons." what does this mean? that freedoms are crushed by special interests. the paradox is that democracy can create a process of exclusion under the plea to secure its "democratic" character.
democracy secures itself by by restricting itself, thereby threatening its own principles. this is what french philosopher jacques derrida calls autoimmunity of democracy. this constitutive character is structural to democracy & we have to live with it. democracy can go the other way. democracy can subvert itself. these aporias are not aberrations of democracy. they belong in the democratic process.
what to do?
becoming part of the political process is the only way to change this dynamic. abstention, cynicism, is at this particular juncture, equivalent to copping out. it presupposes a false idea of democracy: if "my idea" doesn't come to fruition, i abandon the process.
the charge that both parties are the same is true only in general. let's understand where we live. america is a center leaning nation, it moves left and/or right depending the issues. parties have to accommodate to this fact. true, the process has been partly co-opted, but there is always room for change. that idea you have of the place you want to be in is the idea to fight for. your idea may or may not succeed, but you win nonetheless. what matters is being part of the process of change, the process that opens new possibilities for the future. without your frustration & your struggle for justice, you would have no reasons to fight in the first place. without your struggle there would be no change.
let's find the themes that we care for. it's obvious that each candidate offers different versions of america. if you don't see it you're blind.
what do you really care for as a student, as american, as an individual? education, balancing the budget, political transparency, innovation, jobs, medicare, foreign policy, etc. stop having faith in "candidates." instead, have faith in democracy.
as imperfect as it is, there is no other way to change our lives. it's up to us to make the present (future) better or worse. when you don't choose you choose.
i'll close this post sunday at 11pm.
Friday, October 12, 2012
can philosophy debate theology? you bet
our discussion on theology was intense but, a couple of points:
in case i was too overpowering (my apologies). i failed to defend a larger point about what this class is about.
1- philosophy is a discipline about critique & analysis of ideas
2- religion is a practice & a collection of beliefs (ideas)
3- theology is a branch of religion
so, given 1 & 2 & 3, theology is up for philosophical discussion
the discussion of theology is a legitimate philosophical concern. no need for apologies now. by discussing ideas, philosophy is not stepping into anybody's turf or property.
___________
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.--Isaiah xiv, 7.
the quote above is from isaiah. the question is how is god so lenient with satan? he can destroy him, instead, keeps him at arms length. why? hint: what is the book of job without satan?
the devil represents evil, but why evil?there are several ways to look at this:
*ontological: good & evil are ontologically together. one cannot be thought without the other.
*cosmological: history begins with goodness. evil is a "perversion" of things in time. some, not all good, becomes evil. after the end of history, evil disappears and we return to the original state of bliss.
*instrumental: (defended by spinoza): goodness is what is useful to us, evil the opposite.
*there is a beyond good and evil of nietzsche's transvaluation of all values which aims at erasing traditional christian theological borders.
*mythological: good & evil are needed opposites: in egypt there's ra, osiris & isis against apep the serpent and set, the ravager, father of deceit and of lies. the phoenicians opposed baal to moloch and astarte, in india indra is opposed to vritra and the asuras. in persia ormuzd has to contend with ahriman for the lordship of the world, etc. so, there is a deeper mythological prototype that brands this good/evil association.
___________
now my thought experiment. can satan be forgiven? well, it's conceivable (here we count with god's omnibenevolence).
1. to be forgiven, satan would have to repent. repentance implies change, which is implicit in the notion of being. being is not what one is and it is what one is not (more of this sartrean lemma later). satan hasn't changed, presumably because he's chosen not to. his "fall" rests on this premise. one cannot invoke satan's "nature" causing satan's becoming, since the being of satan has a prehistory, i.e., lucifer. this prehistory of satan would have to be rejected to rule out this possibility for this prehistory is what causes satan.
2. satan's being cannot be self-ruled since "being" is what one finds as one exists. being is not self-presence to itself. being is time and time is not ecstatic. in fact, satan's being is related to the very exclusion of goodness from satan's nature in order to avoid thinking, reasoning the good (i.e., even in the heart of evil there must be a space for guilt). satan's evil (what we call "satanic") responds to perpetuating his own "nature" by restricting himself to thinking the good (or guilt, which is thinking one's erring). in order to be satan, he has to constantly defer goodness. so, in a sense, satan is not what he is. that is to say, there is always more or less to being than itself. this more or less is time, the unpredictable future. satan's "being," as stereotyped and beleaguered as it is, is no exception.
3. satan's repentance takes a reversal of that primeval rebellious act in his prehistory. though he cannot become lucifer (since time & history cannot be undone), one can only speculate that he takes a more subdued role.
this reformed angel-who-was-satan wishes no more of his past. now he's content with god's forgiveness in oblivion. will it be time for another proud & inexperienced angel to take his place? but then, could there be a universe of goodness without evil?
below, the list for the midterm and this week's post.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Yoga socio-political manifesto
atRifF
Nature should have priority.1 It's here first and sustains everything.
The guiding principle is ahimsa. Non-violence translated into deep & skeptic ecology, i.e, the interdependence of human and non-human life in a world out of joint. We cannot understand ourselves if we estrange ourselves from nature, but we're already estranged!
Socio-political should start bottom-up, not top-down.2 We don't need to wait for the top to change. As actors close to the local/regional nodes of action, we can acquire the know-how to build connections and mobilize public opinion to challenge institutional and social alienation.
* From the bottom ---> up: The initial transformation is individual but it doesn't stop there. We are ONE: There is no true path without some form of dharma/activism.3
* The aporia of human anthropocentric emancipation: We need to see non-human life under a different optic. The Greeks of ancient times didn't realize that non-Greeks were persons. American plantation owners in the late-18th Century didn't realize that blacks were not inferior brutes. The majority of Americans don't realize that non-human animals are more than just foodstuff. We have an obligation to treat animals with dignity4 (our present animal farming needs to be transformed from intensive farming ----> extensive farming).
* The aporia of pollution vs. development: Blaming corporations in order to feel safely excluded from the pollution cycle, while feeding the very thing we try to prevent. We are the world's worst polluters! 5
* Though it may be a little late, the move towards eco-conservation is a social imperative. Let's fight to stop deforestation, to protect sea life from extinction (due to overfishing), ensuring ecological diversity for future generations. Yes, it seems daunting, but it begins by understanding, doing & telling others.
* The aporia of technology vs. emancipation: What makes us human is a result of our cultural evolution: language, rituals, arts and technology. Yet, our anthropocentric-based culture is leading us to a dead end. Let's move from an anthropocentric to a bio-centric culture!6 Technology = Culture. Technology is not the enemy. Humans cannot live without technology. Yet, technology has the imperative to preserve the delicate balance of Nature.
* We must learn to curb and manage our waste: Reuse, donate, recycle! Food is the primary ecological exchange of energy. Our corporate-driven, production-intensive food paradigm needs to be redefined, from fast food ----> slow food. 7 Let's switch our eating habits and bring back food sacralization. Let's turn environmental degradation and human exploitation into eco-erotics!8
* The aporia of development vs. under-development9: Our post-Capitalist global society is craft-deprived. Globalization has outsourced our manufacturing and trade/skills base. Let's get back to cooking, arts and crafts, organic horticulture,10 etc. We should balance our individualistic tendencies with cooperation & communitarianism!
* Let's change our cities, fighting urban decay with environmental sustainability, changing ugliness into beauty.
* Let's become eco-Romantics!11 engaging in heritage conservation, infrastructure efficiency, mass transit, regional integration, human scale, and institutional integrity.
* Let's transform our neighborhoods, building sustainable structures, limiting urban sprawl, reducing car dependence, promoting pedestrian friendly urbanism.12
What to do?
Flipping Marxist formalism, let's turn the base into the superstructure. Our bid is for a different form of emergence:
ACT NOW!
____________
1 Aristotle's naturalism can be seen as a forerunner of eco-thics, as expressed by his dictum that Nature does nothing in vain. John Clearly, Aristotle and the Many Senses of Priority, (Southern Illinois University Press, 1988) p. 60. 2 We don't have to choose between markets (Welfare Capitalism) or governments, as instruments of emancipation (Communism, planned-economy Socialism). Nor is there need to eliminate markets, trade, private ownership, the welfare state, or the institution of the corporation. What we need to do is bring about new practices for each of these institutions appropriate to a balance between prosperity and conservation. This task belongs neither to corporations nor to states: They are incapable of questioning the legitimacy on which their present institutional form is based. Citizens, not big-money interests, have to set the terms of the economic and political agenda. This is the force of emergence: Millions of people joining voluntary movements, discovering that the good life is more fulfilling than the endless cycle of accumulation and consumption. Professor Steven Buechler makes a similar (hopeful) point: "Movements can be crucial switching stations in the direction of history (...) vital free spaces that promote democratization and restore a meaningful public sphere." See Steven M. Buechler, Social Movements in Advanced Capitalism: The Political Economy and Cultural Construction of Social Activism (Oxford University Press: 2000) p. 214. Enacting Niyama at the social level can bring about a life of material sufficiency with cultural, intellectual, and spiritual abundance in balance with the environment. By osmosis, the social level can bring about needed changes in the political sphere. 3 One's embeddedness in a particular context: job, household/family, or community can lead one to recognize a problem, learn about community needs, and find a way to make life better through new -or reconfigured- social linkages. 4According to philosopher Tom Regan, animals have "inherent value" as subjects-of-a-life, and cannot be regarded as a means to an end. See, Tom Regan, The Case for Animal Rights, (University of California Berkeley, 2005) p. 245. 5The United States has 4.2% of the world's population and produces 24% of the world's C02 emissions. 6One must be careful not to write off culture, as if humans have fallen from paradise straight into some artificial exile of civilization. This is where the ancient Greeks can help. They understood that us humans are not completely "natural" but rather the site of a collision of nature and culture, which uniquely defines us. See Bruce Thornton, Plagues of the Mind: The New Epidemic of False Knowledge (ISI Books, 1999) p. 96. 7 "Slow food" goes against the received notion that cheap food = good food. Carlo Petrini, the man behind this movement defends the "unpolitical" idea that cheap food is really expensive, bad food, when compared with good, clean, carefully harvested food. He is right. In his book, Petrini advocates the idea of "gusto" (taste) and diversity. There is a correlation between slow food and health, which makes slow food more enjoyable. The locus for this revolucion is la osteria, a place where one can find "traditional cuisine run as a family business with simple service, welcoming atmosphere, good wine and moderate prices." See Carlo Petrini, Slow Food, the Case for Taste (Columbia University Press, 2003) p. 51-58. "Cheap food" is a Capitalist ploy to misrepresent real capital allocation and profit in the name of "abundance," hiding government subsidies for monoculture and intensive production which end up as profit for Big Business in food and energy. Take for instance American corn policies: We subsidize corn while (protect Monsanto's right to sell it to farmers as genetically modified seed). Coincidentally, corn is the foodstuff staple for raising cattle in the US (funded by whom?) and an energy commodity. Wonder why such a labor-intensive commodity such as meat is so cheap? Corn is heavily fertilized — both with chemicals like nitrogen and with subsidies from Washington. Over the past decade, the Federal Government has poured more than $50 billion into the corn industry, keeping prices for the crop — at least until corn ethanol skewed the market — artificially low. That's your Big Mac @ McDonald's, a $5 meal bargain, with 1,400 calories (more than half the daily recommended requirement for adults). 8 I thank my friend Gene Ray from Scurvy Tunes, for his suggestion. I'd like to spin his idea of eco/erotics as an embodied striving for well-being that connects us with the animal and non-animal other (life). The opposite of eco/erotics is eros gone astray, a perversion of Nishkam Karma. A desire in the form of a will-to-control that aims to secure itself by mastering all around it. Ridden with anxiety, this eros reduces other to self. In fact, there are examples of such versions in modern times: Certain "peak" historic moments, when factors motivating nations and individuals, such as the desires for profit, security, and hegemony got transformed militaristic erotics. 9 It turns out that the mantra of "emancipated" Communist development in Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean throughout the 1960's-1980's consisted in mimicking the Capitalist "anthropocentric development" model: 1- constant growth, 2- domination of nature, 3- industrialization and technologization of production and society at the expense of environmental degradation, abandonment of agriculture (land reform in this case meant very little, since arbitrary and exploitative prices were set by the bureaucrats, not by the farmers), massive migration to the cities, urban unemployment and loss of crafts skills. The deterioration of nature brought by these mistaken policies, was invoked by the communist bureaucracies as a step in the right direction for the attainment of development. 10 Who would think of pursuing horticultural studies in Miami, now, when the expected move of disenfranchised farmers is from the rural areas to the city? Precisely! This overall migration has to do with the switch from farmer-produced to corporate-produced agriculture. How can one reverse it? By encouraging a more simple living. Diversifying instead of homogenizing food consumption; by making good, simple food (not gourmet food) a desired commodity, so that corporations are forced to alter their mode of production. Surely, one must be watchful of corporation's good intentions! It's all about awareness. Are people ready for it? After the subprime mortgage crisis, the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, and BP's gulf disaster, the answer is yes. 11 The new eco-Romantic is committed to ecological flourishing, but she is neither anti-technology, nor naive in her political expectations about Messianic utopias. The traditional Romantic lived in a paradox he was blind to. (H)e deprecated technology from his studio in the industrial-brought comfort of the pre-Modern city. We must see the good and bad in technology. The Industrial Revolution cannot be simply undone (the remedy would be worst than the disease). It needs to be transformed. Technology can serve us in using the ecosystem resources more efficiently. On the other hand, there is a strong historical relationship between growth in economic output and growing human demands on the earth's finite ecosystem. We've pushed since 1950's the human burden on the planet's regenerative systems, its soils, air, water, fisheries, and forestry systems beyond what the planet can sustain. Anthropocentric "development" is not the answer. Pushing for economic growth beyond the planet's sustainable limits accelerates the rate of breakdown of the whole. It also intensifies the competition between rich and poor for the earth's remaining output of life-sustaining resources. 12 See my "Miami's Urban Mess.
I'm closing this post next Wednesday at 11pm.
I'm closing this post next Wednesday at 11pm.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Monday, October 8, 2012
Friday, October 5, 2012
human echolocation? meet ben!
check out ben, a totally blind young man who (sort of like bats and dolphins) is able to echo-locate his surroundings. what is unique here is that this is not the work of evolution, ben doesn't hve the ears of a bat (nor was he born blind, acrtually he got cancer). yet, he has been able to compensate for his loss. he produces sort of the same bat sounds. amazing! (via jorge rivera... thanks)
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
T 5:40pm student assistants
jacalyn cano
samantha reininger
daniel tomczak
is there someone else that i forgot? think so...
student assistants have the responsibility to help any student with questions, etc. if you think you can't do this type of work, ask me to be removed from the list.
samantha reininger
daniel tomczak
is there someone else that i forgot? think so...
student assistants have the responsibility to help any student with questions, etc. if you think you can't do this type of work, ask me to be removed from the list.
TR 9:50am student assistants
so far this is the list of student assistants:
lisa anderson
cristian murillo
dexter peralta
yagna viera
renette charles
carly sandoval
student assistants have the responsibility to help any student with questions, etc. if you think you can't do this type of work, ask me to be removed from the list.
lisa anderson
cristian murillo
dexter peralta
yagna viera
renette charles
carly sandoval
student assistants have the responsibility to help any student with questions, etc. if you think you can't do this type of work, ask me to be removed from the list.
MWF 11am student assistants
so far, this is the list of student assistants:
michel alonso
michael cohen
stephanie espinoza
kameron johnson
ariana cueto
student assistants have the responsibility to help any student with questions, etc. if you think you can't do this type of work, ask me to be removed from the list.
michel alonso
michael cohen
stephanie espinoza
kameron johnson
ariana cueto
student assistants have the responsibility to help any student with questions, etc. if you think you can't do this type of work, ask me to be removed from the list.
Phi 2010 MWF 9am student assistants
so far, this is the list of student assistants for the mwf 9am, class:
marianny de leon
daniella diaz
mohammed jarra
marlon morraz
erika davis
krizia santana
student assistants have the responsibility to help any student with questions, assignments, final paper, etc. if you think you can't do this type of work, ask me to be removed from the list.
Monday, October 1, 2012
an idea to solve the issue of missing posts
Friday, September 28, 2012
let's become eco-romantics!
i've written a socio-political manifesto for my eastern philosophy class. you are more than welcome to read it and even discuss it.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
teachings of vivekananda
here ia a selection of the teachings of vivekananda, disciple of ramakrishna.
My ideal, indeed, can be put into a few words, and that is: to preach unto mankind their divinity, and how to make it manifest in every movement of life.
Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man.
We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one's own feet.
So long as the millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold every man a traitor who, having been educated at their expense, pays not the least heed to them.
Whatever you think, that you will be. If you think yourselves weak, weak you will be; if you think yourselves strong, strong you will be.
If you have faith in all the three hundred and thirty millions of your mythological gods, … and still have no faith in yourselves, there is no salvation for you. Have faith in yourselves, and stand up on that faith and be strong; that is what we need.
Strength, strength it is that we want so much in this life, for what we call sin and sorrow have all one cause, and that is our weakness. With weakness comes ignorance, and with ignorance comes misery.
Purity, patience, and perseverance are the three essentials to success, and above all, love.
Teach yourselves, teach everyone his real nature, call upon the sleeping soul and see how it awakes. Power will come, glory will come, goodness will come, purity will come, and everything that is excellent will come when this sleeping soul is roused to self-conscious activity.
Religion is the manifestation of the Divinity already in man.
They alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive.
This is the gist of all worship – to be pure and to do good to others.
It is love and love alone that I preach, and I base my teaching on the great Vedantic truth of the sameness and omnipresence of the Soul of the Universe.
