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Collection of Certainties

Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya

in Implications of the Philosophy of Kant: Kantadarsaner Tatparyya

This chapter briefly discusses judgment, which ascertains the qualifiers of an object. It relates Bhattacharyya's opinion on reverential contemplation, and emphasises that the relation found in moral ... More

This chapter briefly discusses judgment, which ascertains the qualifiers of an object. It relates Bhattacharyya's opinion on reverential contemplation, and emphasises that the relation found in moral judgments is only an increase of the knowledge of the self, which in turn serves as the Implication of Kantian philosophy. This chapter determines that a study of certitudes is a development of judgment as reverence and knowledge of the self as willing. It notes that while this development is not synthetic, it still serves as only an analysis of knowledge of the self. It also discusses the concepts of schematic judgment (where belief in the quantitative nature is not necessarily included in the belief in objecthood) and analytic judgment (where the predicate is adjectival or is a noun).Less

Human Actions and Aquinas's Moral Theory

Joseph Pilsner

in The Specification of Human Actions in St Thomas Aquinas

The importance of specification of human actions in Aquinas becomes clearer when one recognizes the indispensable role that human actions play in his moral theory as a whole. For Aquinas, human ... More

The importance of specification of human actions in Aquinas becomes clearer when one recognizes the indispensable role that human actions play in his moral theory as a whole. For Aquinas, human actions come to be through a human agent’s free self-determination; a human agent has mastery over these actions and bears responsibility for them. The goal of all human life is happiness, and this consists in a perpetual human action of knowing God ‘as he is’ in heaven. In this life, a person can share in the happiness found in God — though imperfectly — by the human actions of hope, faith, contemplation, and charity. Created goods can contribute to temporal happiness in their own way, so long as the human actions by which these goods are used or enjoyed accord with God’s will.Less

 Silence

Michael Ward

in Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis

The Chronicles of Narnia present problems of occasion, composition, and reception, and theories have been advanced as to what might give the seven books coherence despite their superficial ... More

The Chronicles of Narnia present problems of occasion, composition, and reception, and theories have been advanced as to what might give the seven books coherence despite their superficial heterogeneity. Christological and numerological theories have been advanced. Lewis's interest in literary atmosphere (what he called ‘the kappa element’) and in the philosophical distinction between Enjoyment and Contemplation are pertinent to this discussion. Lewis was temperamentally a secretive man and, as a medievalist, was professionally occupied with texts which prized the cryptic and the multivalent. His deep and lifelong immersion in the planets of the medieval cosmos and the silent music of the spheres is especially relevant in this connection.Less

 The Music of the Spheres

Michael Ward

in Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis

The problem of reception, which has already been partly solved by addressing the problems of occasion and composition, is further solved by a consideration of how the fairy‐tale genre builds a bridge ... More

The problem of reception, which has already been partly solved by addressing the problems of occasion and composition, is further solved by a consideration of how the fairy‐tale genre builds a bridge between the conscious and the unconscious mind and by the fact that the two things which the Narniad implicitly conveys (the argument from Miracles and the planetary archetypes) are themselves best understood through Enjoyment, not Contemplation. Objections considered, such as ‘Are the Chronicles properly understood as allegory rather than as symbol?’ and ‘Does not disclosure of this secret frustrate Lewis's imaginative purposes?’ His abiding interest in models of the universe and the myths that follow in the wake of scientific advances.Less

 God and the Theologian

Gregory A. Beeley

in Gregory of Nazianzus on the Trinity and the Knowledge of God: In Your Light We Shall See Light

This chapter examines the spiritual dialectic of purification and illumination, or praxis and theoria, within which Christians come to know God. In turn, it addresses Gregory's response to the ... More

This chapter examines the spiritual dialectic of purification and illumination, or praxis and theoria, within which Christians come to know God. In turn, it addresses Gregory's response to the Eunomians; the theological example of Moses; Gregory's missionary approach to Greek culture; his pioneering style of moderate Christian monasticism or “philosophy,” defined as a middle path between solitude and public service; his use of Plato and Plotinus compared to the Bible; the respective roles of the human body and soul in purification; the transcendence and incomprehensibility of God; God's grace; the central place of Christian baptism; the question of Gregory's apophaticism; the positive knowledge of the divine light; the relationship between faith and reason; and the basis of Christian theology in the divine economy of salvationLess

Examination of Feeling

Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya

in Implications of the Philosophy of Kant: Kantadarsaner Tatparyya

This chapter presents an examination of feeling, specifically the classification of judgments into reflective and determinative. It describes the determinative judgments as possessing adjectival ... More

This chapter presents an examination of feeling, specifically the classification of judgments into reflective and determinative. It describes the determinative judgments as possessing adjectival predicates and substantive subjects, while the reflective judgments have substantive predicates and qualifying particulars. It then discusses in detail the reflective-determinative divide, where it takes note of the contemplation of Ideals, where the Ideal is considered to be real, and the two types of secondary contemplation on the Self. It also discusses the concepts of explicit and implicit judgments, reverential contemplation, and blissful contemplation. The next section examines the various kinds of aesthetic judgments. Here, the discussion compares and contrasts the concepts of moral and cognitive judgments. This chapter concludes with a section on moral contemplation and moral judgment.Less

Socrates' Speech: The Activity of Erōs

Frisbee C. C. Sheffield

in Plato's Symposium: The Ethics of Desire

This chapter explores Socrates argument for the proper activity of eros: philosophical activity. Since eudaimonia is the aim of all eros and its proper end (telos), our choice of good must be one ... More

This chapter explores Socrates argument for the proper activity of eros: philosophical activity. Since eudaimonia is the aim of all eros and its proper end (telos), our choice of good must be one that will satisfy this desire: it must be a good whose possession no longer requires us to ask of the agent what she wants in pursuing it, something desired for its own sake, a final good. It is argued that the issue that structures the division of the productive activities of different desiring agents into the lower and higher mysteries is what we might term a division of ends. The desiring agents of the lower mysteries pursue things that are chosen for the sake of something higher, whilst the desiring agent of the higher mysteries pursues that which is chosen for its own sake. The chapter goes on to give some content to this idea, and argues that contemplation of a supremely valuable object — the Form of beauty — satisfies the criterion for being a final good. Contemplative activity is not desired for anything beyond itself, and it is a secure good in the sense that it is true, and a state of the agent's own soul, not dependent on external events for its possession. It is also the fulfilment of our nature and godlike.Less

The Perfection of Meditation

Dale S. Wright

in The Six Perfections: Buddhism and the Cultivation of Character

Chapter 5 is divided into two sections. The first section presents an overview of the Mahayana Buddhist teachings on the perfection of meditation, dhyānapāramitā. The second section inquires into ... More

Chapter 5 is divided into two sections. The first section presents an overview of the Mahayana Buddhist teachings on the perfection of meditation, dhyānapāramitā. The second section inquires into various ways to conceive of contemplative practice in the contemporary, global world. It analyzes meditation at three levels of human consciousness—immediate experience, reflective experience, and reflexivity, or self‐awareness. The chapter reflects on the relations between meditation and philosophy.Less

The Law of the Incarnation: Balthasar and Chenu on Nature and the Supernatural

Hans Boersma

in Nouvelle Théologie and Sacramental Ontology: A Return to Mystery

This chapter shows that Hans Urs von Balthasar and Marie-Dominique Chenu were particularly insistent on the goodness of the created order. Their sacramental approach highlighted the ‘downward’ ... More

This chapter shows that Hans Urs von Balthasar and Marie-Dominique Chenu were particularly insistent on the goodness of the created order. Their sacramental approach highlighted the ‘downward’ direction of grace, and they were more insistent than de Lubac and Bouillard on the autonomy of the created order. Balthasar's reading of Irenaeus, Denys, and Maximus regarded analogy of being as the key to their theology, a doctrine Balthasar also defended in dialogue with Karl Barth. At the same time, Balthasar had deep appreciation for Barth's starting-point in Christology. The sacramental character of Chenu's theology stemmed from his focus on theology as contemplation and from his reliance on Denys's symbolism. At the same time, Chenu's accentuation of the autonomy of the created order and his positive evaluation of the desacralizing that set in during the High Middle Ages meant that his sacramental ontology was not always consistent.Less

Meditating on the Creatures in Early American Life and Letters

John Gatta

in Making Nature Sacred: Literature, Religion, and the Environment in America from the Puritans to the Present

The longstanding European tradition of meditating on creatures of the phenomenal world carried both religious and ecological significance for New England Puritans, who were peculiarly disposed to ... More

The longstanding European tradition of meditating on creatures of the phenomenal world carried both religious and ecological significance for New England Puritans, who were peculiarly disposed to ponder the relation between earth’s visible and invisible domains. This disposition is exemplified by the poetry of meditation composed by colonial writers such as Edward Taylor and Anne Bradstreet. Bradstreet’s meditative poem “Contemplations” is interpreted ecocritically, so as to probe not only the spirituality of the world that the poet sets forth, but also the discretely material spirit of place that helped inspire her reflections. Outside the Puritan colonies, other forms of ecospirituality can be discerned in the Quaker-inspired prose writings of naturalist William Bartram and social reformer John Woolman. Both exponents of Middle Atlantic Quaker piety envisioned a divine love that encompasses animals as well as humans, and that thereby extends humanity’s ethical responsibility beyond social boundaries to the “brute creatures.”Less

Poetic Process as a Contemplation

in Murmured Conversations: A Treatise on Poetry and Buddhism by the Poet-Monk Shinkei

This chapter deals with the proper duration of a renga session and describes the “mind-ground” (known as shinji in Sasamegoto II) upon which the process of poetic composition transpires. In this ... More

This chapter deals with the proper duration of a renga session and describes the “mind-ground” (known as shinji in Sasamegoto II) upon which the process of poetic composition transpires. In this process, one enters a state of introspection (chinshi) whereby the mind becomes minutely absorbed in and is rendered tranquil by beauty (kokoro o hosoku en ni nodomete or kokoro o torakete). This mental activity clearly seeks to dissolve the mind (the divisive egoistic mind) in the process of becoming minutely permeated by the object of its contemplation. Shinkei's view of the poetic process is similar to Lord Teika's concept of ushintei (Style of Meditation) as representing the essential nature (hon'i) of poetry.Less

Happiness and Luck (NE I and X.6–8)

Howard J. Curzer

in Aristotle and the Virtues

An enormous amount has been written about Aristotle’s account of happiness, almost all of it focused on the question of whether the supremely happy life of X.6–8 is a contemplative life or a ... More

An enormous amount has been written about Aristotle’s account of happiness, almost all of it focused on the question of whether the supremely happy life of X.6–8 is a contemplative life or a contemplative/ethical blend. Each interpretation faces serious problems. This chapter goes between the horns by taking Aristotle to be advocating a life of thoughtful, morally virtuous activity. Since the activity of reflection is what makes the agent happy, this life is rightly called contemplative. But since reflection can be performed along with almost all morally virtuous activity, contemplators need not strive to minimize their morally virtuous activity in order to maximize their contemplation.Less

Methods

Anthony Curtis Adler

in Celebricities: Media Culture and the Phenomenology of Gadget Commodity Life

Concepts of criticism; Language is the … of being; Satanic laughter; Techniques of writing; Vita contemplativa; The raccoon trap

Plato’s Sun and Descartes’s Stove: Contemplation and Control in Cartesian Philosophy

JOHN COTTINGHAM

in Rationalism, Platonism and God: A Symposium on Early Modern Philosophy

This chapter examines contemplation and control in Cartesian philosophy and sets out some of the Platonic strands in Descartes’ cosmology, metaphysics and moral theory. It argues that Descartes’ ... More

This chapter examines contemplation and control in Cartesian philosophy and sets out some of the Platonic strands in Descartes’ cosmology, metaphysics and moral theory. It argues that Descartes’ philosophy is deeply imbued with ancient and medieval views of humanity’s place in the divine order, and yet is also the harbinger of a modern conception of a value-neutral and impersonal natural universe. It considers the tension between Descartes’ natural philosophy and account of physical law and suggests that these two mindsets represent a certain opposition within people’s thinking that still needs a resolution.Less

Hugo's Les Contemplations: Life, Death, and the Expansion of Poetry

Ann Jefferson

in Biography and the Question of Literature in France

This chapter offers an account of Les Contemplations in terms of the way that Hugo exploits a variety of different biographical models (memoir, diary) and also alternates between first- and ... More

This chapter offers an account of Les Contemplations in terms of the way that Hugo exploits a variety of different biographical models (memoir, diary) and also alternates between first- and third-person narrative perspectives. It traces the progressive scaling up of the framework in which the life is presented, as the remit of poetry is expanded from the personal to the transcendental. Much is made of the blurring of the boundaries between the poet's self and the figures he invokes or describes. The fictitious dating of the poems is discussed as a major means whereby Hugo constructs a biographical narrative for the collection. The use that Hugo made of his own person as a means of extending the limits of poetry was what Mallarmé hailed in Hugo when he described him as having been ‘poetry in person’ and taken poetry to a limit that cannot be repeated.Less

The Problem with Passivity: Aesthetic Contemplation and Film Spectatorship

Scott Curtis

in The Shape of Spectatorship: Art, Science, and Early Cinema in Germany

Chapter Four examines debates about the aesthetic value of the cinematic experience in Germany from 1907 to 1914. It argues that intellectuals were most concerned about film’s implications for ... More

Chapter Four examines debates about the aesthetic value of the cinematic experience in Germany from 1907 to 1914. It argues that intellectuals were most concerned about film’s implications for aesthetic contemplation, and that these pre-WWI debates should reconfigure our understanding of later theories of contemplation and distraction.Less

The ascent to God in prayer

Demetrios S. Katos

in Palladius of Helenopolis: The Origenist Advocate

This chapter explores the dynamics of Palladius’ model asceticism and its indebtedness to Origen and especially Evagrius of Pontus. It demonstrates that Palladius adapted an Evagrian understanding of ... More

This chapter explores the dynamics of Palladius’ model asceticism and its indebtedness to Origen and especially Evagrius of Pontus. It demonstrates that Palladius adapted an Evagrian understanding of spiritual progress, one that began with physical asceticism, progressed to the training of the mind in knowledge (gnosis) by the reading of scripture, and terminated at the contemplation of God in prayer. Palladius adapted many Evagrian concepts such as the passions, the eight thoughts (logismoi), apatheia, and he possessed a detailed knowledge of Origen’s biblical commentaries and interpretation. This chapter concludes by examining Palladius’ attention to contemplation and ecstatic prayer, and suggests that the practice of imageless prayer was an expression of complete human receptivity to divine life.Less