Category: Philosophy – Philosophy and Religion
East West Discourse: An Esoteric Comparison of the Western Philosophy and the Eastern Vedanta
The progressive emergence, in the course of evolution of life, mind and personality, requires to assume a creative Principle operating timeless Reality in the temporal.The difference between Western philosophy and India, concerns the origin and the purpose of the philosophical enquiry.While the former wonders at the external world, the latter is awareness of perennial suffering …
The Entanglements of Religious Charismatic Authority
Charismatic authority is shaped in the encounter between a follower and a leader through their social interactions and is characterized by a particular emotive quality. While focusing on this relationship, the paper explores practices in the context of religious inspirational talks that enhance and strengthen these bonds in Europe. The concept of charisma is often …
Spiritual Cannibalism: The Ethics of the Eucharist
Common sense dictates that cannibalism – the act of eating another person – is immoral whether because of the harm done to the other person or a violation of human sanctity. The Eucharist has been interpreted in many Christian traditions as the actual flesh and blood of Jesus. On its face, it would seem that …
The Search for Precedents of Metaphysical Mercy in the Theology of Ibn ‘Arabi
Ibn Sina (d. 1037) is perhaps the most important philosopher of the pre-modern era. Among his many contributions, the proof for the existence of the Necessary Existent stands out. Ibn Sina proceeds to extract each of God’s attributes (sifat) from His necessary existence. Although his ideas met with resistance in some quarters, they found a …
The Concept of Existence (Bhava) in Early Buddhism
The transition in Dependent Origination (paṭiccasamuppāda) between clinging (upādāna) and birth (jāti) is often misunderstood. This article explores the early Buddhist philosophical perspective of the relationship between death and re-birth in the process of following bhava (uppattibhava) and existing bhava (kammabhava). It additionally analyzes the process of re-birth (punabbhava) through the karmic processes on the …
Love and Consent in the Sacrament of Matrimony: A Moral-Theological Approach
In the Sacrament of Matrimony, the exchange of consent between the spouses is sustained by the Church to be the indispensable element that “makes the marriage.” If consent is lacking, there is no marriage (CCC, 1626). This is an indication that the couples’ mutuality of human act, performed in “giving” and “receiving” during the Rite …
Reflection on Mādhyamika Philosophy and Japanese Buddhism
This paper tries to explore the Reflection on Mādhyamika Philosophy and Japanese Buddhism. Buddhist philosophy declares that all worldly things are impermanent and full of suffering.Nāgārjuna was the systematic expounder of Mādhyamika Philosophy. He emphasizes middle view and avoids all extreme or absolute “ism’’(void). And he admits śūnyatā which has two sense svabhāva śūnyatā and …
Asian Philosophical Traditions and Their Importance in Conceptualization of a Universal, Borderless Philosophy
In recent times there has been an increased focus on non-Western philosophical traditions and their place in the world. This shift is a consequence of socio-political, and economic changes that the world has witnessed lately. Each successive historical phenomenon whether colonialism, post-colonialism, or globalization has led to the reconceptualization and transformation of philosophy as a …
Ten Facets of Cosmic Wisdom (In Relation to Power)
This paper discusses the nature of power as projected in the Indian philosophical notion of Dasamahavidya (ten facets of cosmic wisdom) ― a technical term symbolizing the different faces of the Cosmic Energy that gradually elevates to the culminating point of realizing true essence of life. The metaphor is utilized for human unconscious, bottomless psyche, …
Through Hamlet’s Subversive Character
Over the centuries when people are faced with the deaths of their beloved ones in the family and suffer from grief over them, William Shakespeare in Hamlet offers his ideas of how a son faces his father’s death and his mother’s remarriage, ideas of whether the purgatory exists and ideas of which eschatology is correct …
Representing the Power: The Habsburgs in the Transylvania, from Piety to Dynastical Loyalty
The Habsburgs and their monarchy occupy a privileged place in the history, because they have embodied one of the most enduring and interesting multi-political projects, whose brand was from its very beginnings, the ethnic and the religious diversity. This political project was dominated by a deeply inclusive and universalistic vision of the Habsburgs with the …
An Alternative Study on the Ethical Concepts of the Hebrew Bible in Terms of the Ethical Structure of the Kanun
Jesus declared that his advent marked the turning point in value, saying “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin” If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: ġ …
Vision of Sri Aurobindo and Teilhard de Chardin: Empowered by Creative Evolution and Mysticism
This paper is an effort to understand vision of Sri Aurobindo and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin pertaining to the future of man. Both were fervid believers in evolution as well as mystics. Evolution occupies a special place in their vision of cosmic consciousness. Evolutionary theory empowered Teilhard to introduce the idea of re-visioning of Christianity. …
Nature of Knowledge and Knowledge of Nature in Islam
Although Abrahamic religions are, in general, full of positive references about nature and give individuals responsibility about protecting “their environment”; this does not prevent ecological problems. At the end of the day, ecological problems can be seen as adaptation problems. This means individuals, throughout the history, have always chosen to subjugate nature instead of adapting …
Metaphysical Foundation of Mencius’s Political Theory
Although pre-Confucianism had witnessed the presence of religion as a justification for the legitimacy of the ruling power but without any presence of it among members of the public, Confucius was careful to exclude any presence of religion in his philosophical construction and also to be able to build a human being on cognitive, moral …