Ideas and Ideals

This article is primarily devoted to the philosophy of history: the unique features of the traditional Chinese categorical vision of historical reality are demonstrated using the specifi c example of the fates of two great historical fi gures of Ancient China. The central point here is the categorical understanding of the effectiveness of certain existential strategies that determine human activity as a decisive factor in the historical process.

In contrast to the radical hopelessness of Spengler’s fatalism, which leaves man with no chance of not only averting the sentence of fate, but even postponing its execution, traditional Chinese thought, which is more generous in this regard, insisted on the existence of strategies capable of freeing him (at least temporarily) from the snares of a seemingly predetermined fate. The proposed article examines one of such miraculous stratagems for overcoming/postponing the impending (according to the inexorably developing fi gure of fate) tragic ending. Such transcendence of the circumstances, evasion of one’s “karmic debt” require at fi rst glance an unbearable (after all, the verdict of fate has already been passed: “this is who you are - you can’t run away from yourself!”) overcoming of oneself. Nevertheless, the latter is achieved thanks to the effect of self-applicability, when it is directed at the negative: for example, “sadness” (you  忧), being directed at itself (“to be sad about one’s sadness” you qi you  忧其忧), is capable of abolishing the original sadness.

The analysis of the dialogue between the world’s philosophical cultures in recent years has been focused on the study of a special space “inter”, or “interspace”, which can be regarded as a metaphor of the “meeting place” of different cultures and approaches. Therefore, understanding the way this space is organized, its laws and principles is a precondition for the interaction of cultures and their mutual enrichment.

In particular, the concept of “interspace” is analysed by the Vienna school of intercultural philosophy (B. Saal, B. Boteva-Richter, N. Weidtmann). Such characteristics as openness (the inclusion into the philosophical knowledge any existing traditions of thought), anti-hierarchy (“Cognitive Modesty”) and dynamics have been revealed. The dynamics in the framework of philosophy manifests itself as philosophical talk in the forms of the fi rst-person monologue addressed to the audience, the dialogue in which the voice is given to more than one participant, as well as the polylogue – a special form of philosophical talk, which involves the cohabitation of multiple logics, rationalities, semantic positions, existences, and so on.

The nature of “interspace” is refl ected in the framework of the dialogues on consciousness between Tibetan Buddhism and Western science. The paper reviews a brief story of their interaction, including the conferences, hold be the “Mind and Life” Institute, the project “Fundamental Knowledge: Dialogues of Russian and Buddhist Scholars”, and the study of physiological aspects of Buddhist contemplative practices. A signifi cant point to overcome the challenges on the way to understand each other (for example, such as the problem of translation, intellectual colonialism, etc.) has become the articulation of the “hard problem” of consciousness, as well as the concept of “neurophenomenology” (F. Varela). The paper provides a case study: it examines the methodological approach of Russian scientists that combines fi rst- and third-person perspectives in the study of contemplative practices (including postmortem tukdam meditation), which they develop in laboratories located in Tantric monasteries in India. Based on this, it is suggested that an intercultural philosophy approach is promising for solving the “hard problem of consciousness”.

For traditional Indian philosophy, which tends to establish its identity on the basis of the rationally incognizable Absolute (Ātman, Brahman), the verbal expressibility of the latter is one of the central issues. In fact, what is at stake here, is an attitude to language, trust or distrust in its capacity to be a tool for transmitting the experience of reality, which for the Indian tradition is of the highest soteriological and metaphysical value. Namely, it is the experience characteristic of the culminating transpersonal states of meditation and yogic practices, as well as at the moment of unio mystica (between a believer and the personal God). The best way to point to such states is to demonstrate their radical otherness in comparison with everyday speech behaviour (vyavahāra) and discursive ways of reporting it. That is why, the apophatic approach is used, meanwhile, that does not exclude the applicability of its cataphatic opposite.

In the first part of the paper, the author emphasizes a tendency to privilege the apophatic approach (‘not that, not that’) to the definition of Brahman on the example of some mahāvākya (‘great sayings’) from the Upaniṣhads. In the second part, the author elucidates a phenomenon of phonocentrism, characteristic of traditional Indian culture, taking as example an incarnation of the goddess Vāk (Speech) in Vedic literature and in Tantrism. The third part is devoted to Bhartṛihari’s (ca.V century A.D.) concepts of ‘linguistic monism’ (śabda-advaita), and of the three-part speech, and their culmination in Kashmiri Shaivism. The author shows that in Bharitṛhari and Kashmiri’ s expressibility and inexpressibility of vocalized speech does not presuppose the recognition of a separate reality of object referred to by it (correspondence principle), but varied within the boundaries of the word (śabda) itself as identical to the dynamic nature of Brahman constituted by potencies (śakti).

The article presents a translation of fragments of the text of a Spanish thinker of the XVI century, Michael Servetus (Spanish: Miguel Servet), “Reasoning in Defense of Astrology against a Certain Medic.” Despite the fact that this text touches on a small area of knowledge, which includes medicine and astrology, taken in their close interaction, it clearly demonstrates the characteristic feature of Servetus’ philosophical worldview. In the era in question, objective internal processes going on in the depths of the paradigm of thinking, like volcanoes erupt in various fields of knowledge. Servetus is one of those outstanding personalities whose activity activates this process by starting to cross the boundaries outlined by tradition and authorities, anticipating what will become the greatest value in the new paradigm – obtaining new knowledge. This small work is methodological in nature and clearly demonstrates an example of following the chosen personal method, without turning off the path, neglecting the possible consequences.

Servetus hopes to convince the reader that medicine needs additional facts that can be provided by knowledge of the laws of the movement of the heavenly bodies and their influence on human earthly affairs and the state of his health. Observation of astronomical phenomena contributes, in his opinion, to obtaining additional knowledge and experience useful in medical practice.

The system of the world order built by him unites the unconnected, violates the boundaries of subject areas, not only within science, but also between science and theology, which gives him the opportunity to talk about various facets of reality. He demonstrates the talent of a thinker, rare and relevant in all epochs – to see the whole and not to neglect knowledge that goes beyond the generally accepted framework, collecting a general picture of being at all possible and cognizable levels: visible and invisible; expressible and inexpressible; earthly and heavenly; spiritual and material; human and divine.

Rational thinking and language are faced with difficulties, when it is necessary to express the setting of two opposite aspects of reality - change and constancy. The author is developing a plot-game methodology based on the ontological generalization of art history concepts of the plot, script and game to the level of philosophical categories. Categories correspond to natural science terms.

 On the basis of the selected universals - "through" units of Being, with the involvement of geometric images-symbols of a circle, sphere and torus - a solution to the problem of organic synthesis of change with constancy is proposed using the ontological construction of a quasi-cyclic plot. The essence of this concept is that the condition for the existence of any forms and processes of reality are quasi-cyclic plots that set the sequence of almost cyclic changes. The quasi-cycle can be thought of as a reproduction of the plot spiral (that is, in the next generation) “from egg to egg, absorbing another egg” (“ab ovo ad ovo, absorber ovo”). In a quasi-cycle, everything starts from some initial, “folded” state of some form, then it develops (in accordance with the “unfolding” of events around it) to a certain limit, “culmination”. The result is the generation of a new, similar to the original form. The constantly transforming initial formation itself at a certain time "dissolves" in the plot stream of reality, being absorbed by other forms that are at one stage or another of their existence cycles - from appearance to disappearance. The “minimal” basic proto-plot ab ovo ad ovo, ab sorber ovo in the plot-game picture of the world is “blinking”, the pulsation of the Universe, and the “maximum” is the cycle of manifestation and “convolution” of the Universe. All other plots arise on the basis of the first, being forming fragments of the second.

The results of work, like the plot-game concept as a whole, can be applied both in natural-scientific and in humanitarian research, in their practical applications, in teaching any knowledge and skills; They are of particular importance for personal spiritual development.

The text of the “Teaching on Numbers” by the monk and mathematician Kirik the Novgorodian (the first half of the 12th century) was introduced into scientific circulation in the 1820s. Initially, this text was assessed as exclusively mathematical-calendar content. As the research unfolded, questions of a textual, historical-mathematical, philosophical, cultural and socio-psychological nature arose. Compared with similar writings of Kirik’s era, his calculations are recognized as accurate, and in methods of calculation on the abacus, he was 400 years ahead of his time. In addition to the “Teaching on Numbers”, the theological treatise penned by Kirik, “The Questions of Kirik”, has come down to our times, written in the form of a dialogue between a pastor and a bishop about the vital problems of service practice. Despite numerous articles and solid monographs on Kirik’s legacy, some postulates of the “Teaching”, as well as vocabulary features, remain undisclosed and mysterious. The first riddle concerns the scientific research and peculiarities of the reconstruction of the lists of Kirik’s treatises, which have come down to us only from the 16th century. A mere mystery concerns the fragment about circuits in the renewal of the elements, which, at first glance, has a natural philosophical content. The question arises: could Kirik, as a thoughtful scientist, simply rewrite these calculations from the prototype text familiar to him, the so-called “seven-thousanders”? Hypotheses are put forward of Platonic, Pythagorean, Gnostic influences on the essence of the fragment, but no supporting texts have been found. The article presents arguments in favor of the hypothesis of the influence of the mathematical teachings of the Pythagoreans on the prototype of the fragment about the renewal of the elements. The Pythagorean thesis about the structure of the corporeal cosmos according to the laws of beauty and harmony, which are based on the principle of commensurability, is clearly reflected in the mathematical calculations of the fragment. Kirik addressed his “Teaching” to lovers of numbers and he himself belonged to the circle of intellectuals. Modern studies of the Pythagorean tradition confirm the intercultural nature of the influence of the Pythagorean tradition on other ideological directions of thought. In Old Rus the tradition was supported by chroniclers and chronologists.

The world’s oldest 3x3 magic square, discovered/invented in Ancient China and now known as Luoshu 洛書/ ‘Document [from the River] Luo’, was endowed by Chinese tradition with unprecedented dignity and placed at the very heart of Chinese thought. The bewitching geometric-numerical imagery of Luoshu, open to a great many different visions, when reading-interpretation becomes the final moment of the very act of perception, turns this Chinese mandala into a real eye trap. With its disturbing persistence, it resembles the magically attractive ‘Zahir’ from Borges’ short story of the same name.

   Among the most diverse ritual and ideological instrumentalizations of the Luoshu magic square (from the sacred emblem of cosmic harmony to the requisite of a geomancer), the mobilization of this esoteric figure for the arithmetization of the cornerstone of all Chinese philosophy, the fundamentally non-verbalizable Tao, is dominant. The coding of the dao by the number 15 is reinforced by its spatialization, so that the entire “Document [from the river] Lo” appears as a map of the various trajectories of the Tao within this nine-field square. Moreover, the coincidence (in number 15) of differently composed sums appears as an inscrutable variety of paths leading to the same goal - the final implementation of Tao.

     By virtue of the validity of the equality 15 =mod10 5 the magic sum of the Luoshu square (Const₁₅) immutably, although covertly (in the form of a number 5), centers the entire Luoshu configuration. This secrecy of the magical constant (the latter is absent in the entire observable space of the “Document [from the river] Lo”) refers to the hidden “back-side” of Luoshu numbers, represented by the number 10 (in its role as a modulus of comparison in the arithmetic of residues modulo 10).

      Judging by the directly visible, so to speak, ‘front’ part of the magic square of order 3, it is allowed to count only up to nine in it. But the already absent-present magic sum (number 15), breaking the seemingly inescapable circle of arithmetic of residues, brings to light the comparison module (number 10) as Luosh’s hidden ‘truth’, which alone gives meaning to the entire nine-cell construction. Awareness of this truth is the first step in the transition to the ‘register of truth’ of this extraordinary gestalt. The subsequent connection to it of problems focused by the Pythagorean theorem radically expands Luoshu’s ‘register of truth’.

      The geometrized arithmetic of the Luoshu magic square, which is a unique spatial-numerical fixation of the seemingly fundamentally non-objectivable Tao (i.e., combining the apparently incompatible) marks the possibility of a paradoxical union of Heraclitus with Pythagoras, successfully realized by the Chinese tradition.

The article is devoted to a specific ‘riddle’ - the authorship of the work published in 1587 in Madrid: “New Philosophy of Human Nature. Neither Known to nor Attained by the Great Ancient Philosophers, Which Will Improve Human Life and Health”. The author of the work - Oliva Sabuco - under this name it became known, and has been repeatedly reprinted. The innovative idea of the work consisted in the statement that a person, having understood his nature, will be able to find out the natural reasons why he lives and dies, or is ill and will be able to avoid an early or painful death and live happily until he reaches a natural, pain-free death from old age. Sabuko’s proposed physiological justification of the dependence of human health on feelings, emotions and passions correlates with the methodological direction of modern medicine focused on psychosomatics. In 1903 archival documents were found and made public, according to which the author is not Oliva Sabuco, but her father, Miguel Sabuco. For more than a hundred years the dispute about the authorship of this work has been going on. The semantic and content analysis of the text and its correlation with the reconstructed cultural and temporal reality allows us to solve the question in a new way not only about its creator, but also provides material for generalizations of a philosophical nature. The return to the historical-philosophical and historical-scientific circulation of the ideas and discoveries of many forgotten thinkers will help in debunking some ‘obvious’, familiar truths and facts that have turned into prejudices of scientific and mass consciousness.