A METAPHYSICAL ZONE
We should accept the experimental nature of our prototype; we can push the design as far as our theories will allow, since whatever we produce may be tested by others. Our position within electracy is not unlike that of Plato in literacy, if only in the sense of what we are attempting to do (and not what we have achieved). Plato is credited with being the first person in the Western tradition to isolate and work purely within a conceptual discourse (he invented Philosophy). The first concept to be treated in this fully abstract way is "justice," and in a dialogue such as THE REPUBLIC Plato discusses what justice "is"--asks after its essence, its inner nature, its being--as opposed to dramatizing its dispersed qualities in a series of narrative actions, as the tragedians were still doing, not to mention the status of such a thought in the oral epics.
When we isolate the Miami River as a zone, we are raising it to the status of an idea, or even of a category. As the Greeks assimilated literacy, the term eidos evolved from its original usage in Homer--"what one sees," "appearance," "shape"--to the abstract forms ("suprasensible reality, eternal, beyond the merely sensible") (Peters, 46-47). In Plato's metaphysics (his theory of what there is in the world, what is real) a set of eide evolved--the Good, the Beautiful, the One. At first there seemed to be an eidos for each class of things (ethical eide, mathematical eide). Then a hierarchy emerged, with certain final forms (Aristotle called them "categories") that did not mix among themselves, such as Existence, the Same, the Different, Rest, Motion (49).
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What we are doing is generating an electrate mode of reasoning by means of an extended analogy ...
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...rds and meanings most commonly used in such systems ( "If you hear a crow cawing on your righthand side, be very cautious in all you do that day"). Our consulting works this analogy at two levels: first, our zone consists of the Miami River and the movements, positions, identity, and "cries" of its denizens--Haitians, coast guard, Italian taxi drivers, and the like. Second, the form (shape, eidos) of our practice adapts some of the features of divination specific to the Carribean basin, specifically aspects of Santeria and Vodun ritual. We may also find useful parallels with the notion of the augur as "bird watcher," if we think of our interface metaphor of tourism.
WORKS CITED
Peters, F. E., GREEK PHILOSOPHICAL TERMS: A HISTORICAL LEXICON (New York: NYU, 1967).
Telesco, Patricia, FUTURE TELLING: A COMPLETE GUIDE TO DIVINATION (Freedom, CA.: Crossing, 1998).
Rituals help many people to feel more in control of their lives. Both American baseball players and Malinowski’s Trobriand Islanders practice some sort or ritual. In each case, the ritual is used to bring comfort in the face of
Rituals are held as a very important part of any society, including ours. They go back to ancient times, or can be as simple as maintaining one’s hygiene. Non-western societies have rituals that may seem very foreign to us, but they have been engrained in their communities and are essential to their social structure. This interpretation will focus on the Great Pilgrimage, a ritual performed by Quechuan communities. We will be looking specifically at a community in the Sonqo area.
When one first hears the word Vodou, immediately images of curses and little model dolls come to mind. We tend to synonymize it with words like sinister, evil and revenge. However, Vodou is nothing like what mainstream North American media has brainwashed people into believing. As best put by Patrick Bellegarde-Smith, “Vodou is far more than [a religion] it's a spiritual system” (Tippet and Bellegarde-Smith 145). Haitian Vodou is a spiritual system that syncretizes the practices of Roman Catholicism with West African spirituality. This paper will contextualize Vodou and give a brief history on what it is, explain how I came to gain an interest in Vodou and close off with an introduction to Chouk Bwa Libète a traditional Haitian Mizik Rasin—roots
These are the words of anthropologist and religious historian Vittorio Lanternari. Through the lens of Lanternari Haitian Vodou can be examined. Throughout history political and ideological considerations of the West have given rise to many misinterpretations concerning the nature of Haitian Vodun. Vodun has received a reputation for being superstitious “Black magic”. Practitioners of Haitian Vodou have historically not objectified the religion as such but rather said that they “serve the spirits.” This connects to the way Vodou challenges the boundaries that the concept of “religion” seems to presume, from transformative assimilating aspects of Roman Catholicism to centrally incorporating healing processes. The ascribed identity of Vodou reflects a great deal more about Haiti’s place in the geopolitical order over the past two centuries than about the set of complex of beliefs and rituals. Due to a colonial mentality that dismisses all non-Western cultures as barbarous...
Rodriguez, G. (2010a). Culture Fix: African Divination Objects. Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives Retrieved November 13, 2011
Plato defines Athens as a democratic society that “treats all men as equal, whether they are equal or not.” Therefore, believes that there are those that are born to rule and others that are born to be ruled. Plato presents the argument that democracy does not achieve the greatest good, giving four main objections to democracy. Firstly, he identifies that most of us are ruled by passions, pleasure, sentiment and impulse. Hence, th...
Voodooism is a fascinating way of life. Ever since living in Haiti in the early 1980's, the constant thumping of drums in the twilight has intrigued me. Their melody and rhythm seemed to consume the moist evening air like a pungent odor that will not dissipate. Life is very different in Haiti than it is in the United States, and however odd it seems to Western mentality, I could feel the presence of spirits in and around almost every aspect of life in Haiti.
“One of the best known and most influential philosophers of all time, Plato has been admired for thousands of years as a teacher, writer, and student. His works, thoughts, and theories have remained influential for more than 2000 years” (“Plato”). One of these great works by Plato that still remain an essential part of western philosophy today is, The Republic. Ten books are compiled to altogether make the dialog known as The Republic. The Republic consists of many major ideas and it becomes a dubious task to list and remember them all. Just alone in the first five books of the dialogue, many ideas begin to emerge and take shape. Three major ideas of The Republic; Books 1-5 by Plato, are: the question of what causes the inclination of a group,
One of the most difficult problems of philosophy is the investigation of the role of the absolute and relative in human mental life. Our present paper, in which we state very briefly our theory of pseudoabsolute is dedicated to the investigation of this problem.
The term ‘analogy’ is very vague in nature, but when used in this context, we assume that the behavior of other people is in many ways analogous in reference to causes. These causes being behavior directed from sensation or thought. It is apparent and observable that people or beings other then I behave in ways in which we behave when placed in different situations. For example sadness or the nature of anger or happiness can be seen in others. Others then can and do react to different causes similar to the way in which I do as well. Another consideration is that of shared experience. Russell uses the example of two friends having a conversation in which memoirs are explored. These two individuals have shared experiences together. They eventually discover that each other’s memories aid each other in recalling information forgotten with time. (Russell 89)
Often by comparing an idea to an object that can be symbolically related somehow, the level of understanding is increased, and then that object can later be used as a trigger mechanism for recalling the specifics of that concept (Matlin, 1998, p. 351). "…a visual image can let us escape from the boundaries of traditional representations. At the same time, however, the visual image is somewhat concrete; it serves as a symbol for a theory that has not yet bee...
Analogism being an identification of dissimilar interiorities and physicalities; and Totemism being an identification of similar interiorities and physicalities. He also lays out six modes of relations; which are exchange, predation, gift, production, protection, and transmission. These six modes outline the ways in which humans are able to establish connections with one another and the entities that they encounter. Descola uses acquired cognitive schemas to describe the capacities that make things like collective knowledge and culture possible. He defines them as “psychic, sensorimotor, and emotional dispositions that are internalized thanks to experience acquired in a given social environment (pg. 103).” These schemas allow use to organize our perceptions and feelings, and structure how we interpret situations and events in terms of a shared
The Republic is the most important dialogue within Plato's teaching of politics. It deals with the soul, which, as we know from the beginning, at the level where one must make choices and decide what one wants to become in this life, and it describes justice as the ultimate form of human, and the ideal one should strive for both in life and in state. Justice as understood by Plato is not merely a social virtue, having only to do with relationship between people, but virtue that makes it possible for one to build their own regime and reach happiness.
A metaphor makes us attend to some likeness, often a novel or surprising likeness, between two or more things (Lycan, 178).
The concept of written laws and their place in government is one of the key points of discussion in the Platonic dialog the Statesman. In this philosophical work, a dialog on the nature of the statesmanship is discussed in order to determine what it is that defines the true statesman from all of those who may lay claim to this title. This dialog employs different methods of dialectic as Plato begins to depart from the Socratic method of argumentation. In this dialog Socrates is replaced as the leader of the discussion by the stranger who engages the young Socrates in a discussion about the statesman. Among the different argumentative methods that are used by Plato in this dialog division and myth play a central role in the development of the arguments put forth by the stranger as he leads the young Socrates along the dialectic path toward the nature of the statesman. The statesman is compared to a shepherd or caretaker of the human “flock.” The conclusion that comes from division says that the statesman is one who: Issues commands (with a science) of his own intellect over the human race. This is the first conclusion that the dialog arrives at via the method of division. The dialog, however, does not end here as the stranger suggests that their definition is still wanting of clarity because there are still some (physicians, farmers, merchants, etc…) who would lay claim to the title of shepherds of humanity. For this reason a new approach to the argument must be undertaken: “then we must begin by a new starting-point and travel by a different road” (Statesman 268 D.)