Apodictic certitude!

 

“All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.”

― immanuel kant, Critique of Pure Reason

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) is the central figure in modern philosophy. He synthesized early modern rationalism and empiricism. The fundamental idea of Kant’s “critical philosophy” – especially in his three Critiques: the Critique of Pure Reason (1781, 1787), the Critique of Practical Reason (1788), and the Critique of the Power of Judgment (1790) – is human autonomy. He argues that the human understanding is the source of the general laws of nature that structure all our experience; and that human reason gives itself the moral law, which is our basis for belief in God, freedom, and immortality. 

The great idea of the Critique of Pure Reason is  the very thing that explains the possibility of 

our knowledge of the fundamental principles grounding a scientific view of nature is also the key to the possibility of our freedom in both intention and action, which seems threatened by the rule of causality in that natural world. Kant argues that the principles of the scientific worldview can be known with certainty because they express the structure of our own thought. They are therefore conditions of the possibility of our experience, which we impose upon the raw data of sensation. Thus, there is a sense in which certitude about the principles of science is possible only because of human autonomy: we are not merely passive perceivers of sensible information flowing into us from external objects, but also cognitive agents who structure what we perceive in accordance with the necessary conditions of our active thought. Thus Kant argues that we can be certain of the fundamental principles of science - above all the universal law of causation, the assumption underlying all scientific inquiry that every event has a cause and can therefore be explained in accordance with a law of nature - precisely because this law is a condition of the possibility of the thought that we must impose upon our perceptions in order to have any experience at all.

Kant defines the position of critical philosophy in contrast to dogmatism, empiricism, skepticism, and indifferentism. He seeks to carve out for theoretical philosophy a significant but limited domain, distinct from that of empirical knowledge and the opinions of common sense, but excluding the exaggerated claims that have brought metaphysics into disrepute. In this way, the Critique of Pure Reason belongs to a main tradition in modern philosophy, beginning with Descartes, that tries to provide an a priori philosophical foundation for the methods and broad features of a modern scientific view of nature by an examination of the suitability of human cognitive faculties for the kind of knowledge of nature that modern science aims to achieve.

 At the same time, Kant tries to save precisely what the dogmatic metaphysicians cannot, by connecting the claims of religious metaphysics not to the sphere of theory but to the sphere of moral practice, and, in the famous words of the second-edition preface, by limiting knowledge in order to make room for faith (BXXX). But Kant tries to accomplish all these goals, especially the last, in an authentically Enlightenment manner, always giving first place to our rational capacity to reflect on our cognitive abilities and achievements, to correct them, and to subject the pretensions of reason to self-limitation, so that human reason itself retains ultimate authority over all matters of human knowledge, belief, and action. The ultimate autonomy of human thought lies in the fact that it neither can nor must answer to any authority outside itself.

Πνευματική ηρεμία🌈

Peace of Mind

"Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding." 

—Albert Einstein

Peace is notoriously difficult to define, and this poses a special challenge for articulating any comprehensive philosophy of peace. Any discussion on what might constitute a comprehensive philosophy of peace invariably overlaps with wider questions of the meaning and purpose of human existence. The definitional problem is, paradoxically, a key to understanding what is involved in articulating a philosophy of peace. In general terms, one may differentiate negative peace, that is, the relative absence of violence and war, from positive peace, that is, the presence of justice and harmonious relations.  One may also refer to integrative peace, which sees peace as encompassing both social and personal dimensions.

Aristotle on Philosophy of Peace

The writings of Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)  do not present an obvious reference point for a philosophy of peace. Yet there may be such a reference point in his development of virtue ethics, notably in Ethica Nicomachea (Nichomachean Ethics). Virtue ethics may legitimately be linked to a philosophy or ethics of peace.  The mean of each of the virtues described by Aristotle may be viewed as qualities conducive to peace. In particular, the mean of the virtue of andreia, usually translated as courage or fortitude, may be seen as similar to the notion of assertiveness, a quality which many writers see as important within nonviolence. Aristotle also identifies justice as a virtue, and many peace theorists emphasize the inter-relationship between peace and justice. Further, some writers have specifically identified peace or peacefulness as a virtue in itself. Interestingly, Aristotle sees the telos or goal of life as eudaimonia, or human flourishing, a concept similar to the ideals set forth in writing on a culture of peace.

The true Vedantic spirit does not start out with a system of preconceived ideas…. each man has been entirely free to search wherever he pleased for the spiritual explanation of the spectacle of the universe."

                                        – Romain Rolland (French Nobel Laureate)

                                         

There are different forms of theories of peace. The one practical philosophy of Peace practiced in India is Shaanti Manatras.

Shaanti Mantras are loudly chanted usually at the beginning and end of any lecture, study or meditation session. Loud chanting helps us to switch the context of our mind from whatever we were doing earlier to the current activity. Chanting with our attention on the meaning puts us in the right attitude to think deeply. Here is a popular Shaanti Mantra.

ॐ सह नाववतु ।

सह नौ भुनक्तु ।

सह वीर्यं करवावहै ।

तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु

मा विद्विषावहै ।

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥