ABSTRACT: In this paper we suggest that the contemporary global intellectual crisis of our (Western) civilization consists in the fundamental transformation of the classical (both Ancient and Modern) types of rationality towards the nonclassical one. We give a brief account of those classical types of rationality and focus on the more detailed description of the contemporary process of the formation of the new HTR which we label as nonclassical. We consider it to be one of the historical possibilities that might radically transform the fundamentals of our human world; in fact, this process has already begun. The paper mentions some of the main features of this process, such as formation of a new type of scientific object; new conceptual schemes; new logical and methodological equipment of scientific research; and new understanding of human nature, human mind, human action, and social order.
Introduction
Approaching the end of our millennium it becomes more and more evident that the modern type of rationality-which has dominated Western culture since the 17th century-is in crisis; that it has reached the limits of its potentialities and something new is being created. We seem to be experiencing the global crisis of consciousness which perhaps concerns fundamental questions of our cultural identity and signals total social crisis of our civilization. This raises a question about the nature of our current cultural this identity: Is it still modern or already "postmodern"? Or are we only experiencing the continuation from classical to modern (Král 1994)? Is the crisis of "modernity" a permanent state from which there is no way out and where we can do nothing other than to endure bravely the fate of our time (Weber 1983)? Should we comply with its anamnesis as deconstruction and thus to acquiesce to the extremes of its dichotomies (Lyotard 1993, Derrida 1993)? Or is this crisis something temporary? Should we believe in the future and hope that renovation of the past will take place in our pluralist society (Ricoeur 1992)? Do we face a decisive turnabout consisting in a return to the past, a reevaluation of the Orient and a valorization of ecology (F. Capra 1983)? Should we seek an alternative in glorification of nature and desacralization of culture (Griffin 1988)? Does the way to rescue civilization lead through deliverance of the individual "self" from the oppression of blunt rationality? Or does it lead through enforcement of the principles of fundamentalism whether with a capital "F" (radical, aggressive, insisting on the upholding of the essential articles of faith, e.
The Darfur case however, revealed that both of these strategies are not effective. Responding to the genocide in Darfur, the US officials declared the label genocide to be occurring. Thereafter, a politically civil-society coalition emerged so as to lobby the administration. The net outcome of these two scenarios however was the same in the absence of effective policies that could halt the genocide. The Rwandan genocide has always acted as the point of reference for similar genocides taking place around the world. Since the 2003 crisis in Darfur, a lot of comparisons have been made to Rwandan genocide. Observers have likened the Darfur genocide to what happened in Rwanda and of course giving it two connotations. First, the violence in the western parts of Sudan has been referred to another Rwanda, by basing their arguments on the nature of the violence. Since whatever was happening in Darfur is similar t...
American Exceptionalism: The Cultural Problem of Anti-Americanism in the Competitive Market Trends of the Global Business Community
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Although philosophy rarely alters its direction and mood with sudden swings, there are times when its new concerns and emphases clearly separate it from its immediate past. Such was the case with seventeenth-century Continental rationalism, whose founder was Rene Descartes and whose new program initiated what is called modern philosophy. In a sense, much of what the Continental rationalists set out to do had already been attempted by the medieval philosophers and by Bacon and Hobbes. But Descartes and Leibniz fashioned a new ideal for philosophy. Influenced by the progress and success of science and mathematics, their new program was an attempt to provide philosophy with the exactness of mathematics. They set out to formulate clear and rational principles that could be organized into a system of truths from which accurate information about the world could be deduced. Their emphasis was upon the rational ability of the human mind, which they now considered the source of truth both about man and about the world. Even though they did not reject the claims of religion, they did consider philosophical reasoning something different than supernatural revelation. They saw little value in feeling and enthusiasm as means for discovering truth, but they did believe that the mind of an individual is structured in such a way that simply by operating according to the appropriate method it can discover the nature of the universe. The rationalists assumed that what they could think clearly with their minds did in fact exist in the world outside their minds. Descartes and Leibniz even argued that certain ideas are innate in the human mind, that, given the proper occasion, experience would cause...
Postmodernism movement started in the 1960’s, carrying on until present. James Morley defined the postmodernism movement as “a rejection of the sovereign autonomous individual with an emphasis upon anarchic collective anonymous experience.” In other words, postmodernism rejects what has been established and makes emphasis on combined revolutionary experiences. Postmodernism can be said it is the "derivate" of modernism; it follows most of the same ideas than modernism but resist the very idea of boundaries. According to our lecture notes “Dominant culture uses perception against others to maintain authority.”
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I would like to explore one of the questions posed to us by Professor which is “How can we make the positive aspects of postmodernism work in our favor?” Or even more specifically, the positive and neutral elements of postmodernism, work in the favor of the Christian worldview and thought. We will start by first exploring the basic tenants of postmodernism and a brief history of where it has been and where it is currently, revealing multiple advantages for the Christian worldview in the engagement of a postmodern.
Every fact has an explanation: there are no inexplicable facts. There is a reason (or cause) for everything. For every existence and non-existence things there must be assigned a cause, or reason. For example, if a tree exists, there must be a reason or cause why it exists; but if it doesn’t exist, there must also be a reason or cause which prevents it from existing, or which takes its existence away.
The notion of postmodernism has rapidly made its way to the front and center of our social discussion topics. The question that must be asked concerning this erroneous view from the premise is, ‘How does anyone think this logically and pragmatically could be an idea which they could hold firm to?’ The idea of postmodernism guarantees that there are no guarantees. In other terms, postmodernism boldly states that there is a solid truth that the earth is incapable of boldly producing statements of solidified truths. Straight from the premise of this fallacious idea we see a landslide of incoherence and an overwhelming sense of vacillation at the very foundation.
Philosophy uses a term for empirical knowledge, “posteriori”, meaning that knowledge is “dependent upon sense experience”. (Markie, 2008, section 1.2) Yet, philosophical empiricism is defined in such an absolute way; which causes philosophical empiricism to be an inaccurate philosophical position from which to address all aspects of human life. Philosophical empiricism is defined as “the belief that all human knowledge arises from sense experience.” (Nash, 1999, page 254) Yet, medical empiricism is so far to the other extreme as to be insulting, while this empiricism is still said to be based on all sensory experience; only the scientific sensory experience is valued and counted. This form of empiricism excludes the experience of non-scientific persons. This is just one manner in which empiricism has “proved inadequate to explain many important human ideas”. (Nash, 1999, page 254) I believe that human truth is in a combination of empiricism and rationalism. Although, sensory data can inform us of the external world; yet, reason gives humanity access to equally important intangibles.
Today’s society face many daunting world issues from global warming to social inequality, but which of these are the most threatening in our western culture? The biggest danger we face is the source of these problems. Our issues and the solutions to these have been negatively influenced by our new age ideology. The highly individualistic nature of western culture is the greatest hindrance to our ability to solve problems as a society.
The world that we live now is the place that time before was witnessed of a great transformation of society and life overall. A lot of changes have made us and our life better. A great transformation has lead us to a new way of living, new opportunities and experiences which has made our life better, by this making us more eager to look forward for new things and explore its advantages. This transformation occurred mostly in the 19-20 th century and this phase was named as modernity. A plurality of changes faced out the people life’s, making them satisfied with those changes and in the same time confused. In commons sense, we as humans are not always in favor of changes, and sometimes we refuse to deal with them. “To be modern is to find ourselves in an environment that promises us adventure, power, joy, growth, transformation of ourselves and the world – and, at the same time, that threatens to destroy everything we have, everything we know, and everything we are. Modern environments and experiences cut across all boundaries of geography and ethnicity, of class and nationality, of religion and ideology: in this sense, modernity can be said to unite all mankind.”(Berman 1).Meaning that, in order to be modern and basically to live through this phase we have to adopt this changes and follow them, making them part of everyday life. By this in mind people know that their life will change in dramatically way .Some of those adventures will grow us together and some of them will put as apart. These changes of modernity are reflected a in the paper of Edgar Allan Poe “The Man of the Crowd” . A mysterious story which leads to an ambiguous reading, “The Man of the Crowd” tends to represent the new era of transformation. This manifesto t...
The modernist project is defined by its discourse in reason and progress specifically the ideas of rationalism and liberalism. It asks itself if people are truly free and rational. Are people and science the master of its own fate or are they controlled by a power outside of itself yet within everyone? Modernity is characterized by domination of man by man through informal and formal social controls. Formal controls come from a continual politicization of life, with the power over mortality given to political states. Informal social controls can be seen as existing practice through social agents enforcing normativity through shaming.