Friedrich von Hayek: Free Market Advocate

 

Friedrich A. Hayek (1899–1992) was an important economist and political philosopher of the twentieth century. He is widely regarded as the principal intellectual force behind the triumph of global capitalism, an 'anti-Marx' who elucidated the theoretical foundations of the free market economy. His account of the role played by market prices in transmitting economic knowledge constituted a devastating critique of the socialist ideal of central economic planning, and his famous book The Road to Serfdom was a prophetic statement of the dangers which socialism posed to a free and open society. 

Hayek noted that complex social systems arise organically from the interactions of individuals rather than through design. He drew inspiration from Adam Smith's "invisible hand" idea that markets coordinate actions without a central plan. Anthropologists also have noted this principal when studying complex social structures.

Hayek's book The Road to Serfdom, published in 1944, warned against the dangers of collectivism and argued that centralized economic control could lead to totalitarianism.

Hayek also made significant contributions to fields as diverse as the philosophy of law, the theory of complex systems, and cognitive science. 

The essays in this volume, by an international team of contributors, provide a critical introduction to all aspects of Hayek's thought.

Related reading: Commanding Heights: Friedrich von Hayek 

Bible Literalists and the Controversy over Evolution

 

Selling literature at the 1925 trial of John Scopes in Dayton, Tennessee.

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

The world renown paleoanthropologist and human genome researcher, John Hawks has written a fascinating article about How evolution became a uniquely American controversy. 

I recommend it!

Related reading: How attacks on evolution in classrooms have shifted over the last 100 years; Facts About Evolution

5 Philosophers of Islamic Heritage

 

Avicenna 

In the medieval period, several Islamic philosophers developed ideas that became incredibly influential, both during their lifetime and in subsequent centuries. The article below considers the following philosophers:

Al-Kindi (c. 801-73)

Al-Farabi (872-950)

Avicenna (980-1037)

Al-Ghazali (1058-1111)

Averroes (1126-1198)

Marnie Binder explains: "Despite the important contributions of the figures in this list, the reputation of Islamic philosophy was primarily defined by the work of al-Ghazali. Still, much of the work among the philosophers of Europe during the Middle Ages was significantly impacted by the world of these philosophers of the Islamic world, such as through their translations of important ancient Greek texts into Arabic and eventually into Latin. Commentaries on Aristotle—as noted, considered the “First Teacher” and ultimate source of philosophy—such as those by Averroes especially, would prove to be critical in continuing the long conversation that is the history of philosophy. All of these thinkers made important contributions that subsequently shaped the history of philosophy, of which this article only scratches the surface." (Read more here: 5 Significant Islamic Philosophers of the Middle Ages | TheCollector)

Related reading: Philosophers' Corner: Getting Real About Medieval Philosophy

UK Prisoners Learn the Good Life from Aristotle

 

According to the Guardian, a small number of prisoners in the UK are given the opportunity to learn life skills from ancient Greek philosophers.

The teaching team, led by two classics professors from Durham University and supported by the prison education charity Novus, has so far completed courses in two men’s prisons, where inmates are serving long life-sentences -including life- for offences including serious violence and drugs to murder.

“Our course is designed to help prison learners use ancient philosophical wisdom to inform contemporary life,” Arlene Holmes-Henderson, a professor of classics education and public policy at Durham University told the Guardian.

Aristotle and his work on ethics and rhetoric are the main focus of the classical education in UK prisons. Prisoners seeking a new start in life can learn about communication, happiness, friendship, decision-making, and recreation. The topics are selected to provide them with that can help them achieve better lives in prison and when they are released.

The inmates appear to be thrilled to learn about classical philosophy. They wonder "Why didn’t we get this at school?"

Read more here: How Aristotle, Ancient Greek Philosophy Are Changing Inmates' Lives Inside UK Prisons - GreekReporter.com; Ethics Forum: Aristotle's Understanding of the Chief Good; Philosophers' Corner: Getting Acquainted with Aristotle

World Religionists: 20th Century Limitations

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

I hope that readers have found the posts on Joseph Campbell, Raimon Panikkar, Carlos Castaneda, and Mircea Eliade helpful. I appreciate the contributions of these men, as far as they go. I wish they had pursued the antecedents of the religions that emerged in the Axial Age (c.1000 BCE - 200 CE). Antecedents provide the context and background information needed to better understand the origin, development, and causes that shaped the religious beliefs of populations of the ancient world. 

When these men were writing, much of the data about the more archaic religions was not readily available. Today we do not have that excuse. We live in a world where information is more easily available and accessed. 

Strangely, none of these men investigated the religion of Abraham's Hebrew ancestors and their influence on the ancient world (4000-2000 BCE). The religion of the early Hebrew priests predates Hinduism by at least 3000 years and predates Judaism by 3500 years. This exposes as a lie the notion that shamans represent an earlier stage of religious history than priests.

My research into the beliefs and social structure of the early Horite and Sethite Hebrew began only three years before Campbell died in 1987. Also, R. O. Faulkner's English translation of the Pyramid Texts, a valuable source of information about the Nilotic Hebrew, appeared in 1969. 

Panikkar's work would have been more helpful if he had traced the roots of Hinduism to the early Hebrew ruler-priest caste that moved out of Africa and established trade with the people of the Indus River Valley as early as 3000 BCE. The widely dispersed Hebrew caste spread elements of their belief in God Father and God Son wherever they settled in the service of high kings. They expected a universal ruler to overcome death. The idea of a universal king who is divinely appointed to rule is found in the oldest layers of Hindu thought. The Sanskrit word cakravartin and the Pali word cakkavattin refer to a righteous king who rules over the entire world. His "messianic" rule is called sar-vabhauma. 

From Africa to Nepal the words sar and sarki refer to rulers and priests. This is the root of the royal title Sar-gon, which means High King or King of Kings. Nimrod's Akkadian name was Šarru-kīnu, which is usually translated “the true king.” These words are related to the Akkadian words šarratum - queen, šarri - divine, and šarrum - king.

Beside the fact that much of what Castaneda wrote was fiction, his obsession with shamanic religion kept him from the intellectual understanding of that phenomena within the wider context of archaic religion. Shamans were only one religious office. The other religious office was the priest. Both shamans and priests serve as intermediaries between their communities and the supernatural. They share some common symbols such as the Tree of Life, serpent symbolism, and the Sun as the emblem of the High God. However, they represent different worldviews, different ways of reasoning, and different practices.

Underlying shamanism is the belief that there are powerful spirits who cause imbalance and disharmony in the world. The shaman’s role is to determine which spirits are at work, to find ways to appease the spirits, and to restore balance or harmony. This often involves use of psychoactive substances to induce a trance state. Rarely, does the shaman perform blood sacrifice. The hides used to make their drums come from animals that have been hunted for food.

Underlying the priesthood is belief in a supreme High God to whom humans must give an accounting, especially for the shedding of blood. The ancient laws and received traditions governing priestly ceremonies, sacrifices, cleansing and healing rituals clarify the role of the priest as one who offers sacrifice for the people according to sacred law.

Mircea Eliade wrote a great deal about shamans. Some of the healing practices of shamans were also done by the early Nilotic physician priests. The two offices must point to transcendent reality to be effective. Eliade observed that all things "acquire their reality, their identity, only to the extent of their participation in a transcendent reality." 

The history of religion during the lifetimes of these four men tended to focus on shamanic religions rather than on the religious traditions that have temple priests. The World Religions textbook that I used at Midway University (Kentucky) in the late 1990's made no distinction between the offices of shaman and priest. In the 1970's, the office of priest was denigrated due to sexual misconduct and ideological pressures from feminists and egalitarians. 

Though raised a Roman Catholic, Joseph Campbell's exploration of myths focused mainly on the religions that emerged in the Axial Age: Hinduism (the Upanishads), Judaism, Buddhism, Jainism, Daoism (Taoism), the Mediterranean mystery cults, Zoroastrianism, and Islam. His discussions of Nilotic myths involve the late syncretistic expressions of Egyptian imperialism. He does not explore the antecedents of the Ra-Horus-Hathor narrative among the early Hebrew at Nekhen (4200 BCE).

Conclusion

It is no longer credible to speak of Hinduism as the world earliest known religion. The religion of the early Nilotic Hebrew is much earlier. Information about them is found in the early biblical texts and in extra-biblical sources such as The Pyramid Texts (4000 BCE).

It is no longer credible to conflate the worldviews of shamans and priests. They pertain to two distinct cultural and geographical contexts. Both offices serve as mediators between their communities and the supernatural, but the differences in their ways of engagement must not be overlooked.

It is intellectually dishonest to pose the religions of the Axial Age as the original religions. The findings of archaeology and anthropology have exposed much early religious practices such as the 100,000-year practice of burial in red ocher, a symbolic blood covering. 

Related reading: BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY: The Oldest Known Religion; Medical Care in the Ancient World; On Blood and the Impulse to Immortality; BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY: Red Ocher Burial Signifies Religious Belief

US Students are Deprived of Philosophy

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

Before I retired, I taught Philosophy at the university and high school levels for 14 years. Some of my former students have gone on to become philosophy majors and philosophy teachers. It is gratifying that some stay in contact with me. They tell me that my approach to teaching philosophy is unique and that they wish others would employ a similar method of engaging students with the great minds of history.

I love Philosophy because it is the single discipline in which we may discuss everything. We are given permission to question everything, to test the validity of ideas, and to learn to think more deeply.

My philosophy students are asked to consider questions. What is real? How do we know? Is there objective truth? Is it possible to know the true nature of something? What can be known? What are the limits of human understanding? Does innate knowledge exist? Is it possible to understand natural phenomena solely on the basis of observation and the senses? What trajectories of thought can be traced through history?

Today is World Philosophy Day, established by UNESCO on the third Thursday of November, to remind us of the enduring value of philosophy for the development of human thought.

Philosophers think critically about questions that matter. In doing so, they serve an important role in society. They challenge us to reason well and to consider what questions ultimately matter. Unfortunately, the work of philosophers rarely filters down from the ivory towers of Academia to the schools where students most need to learn to think critically, to argue logically, and to openly discuss what matters.

Critical thinking skills are so lacking in the USA that many colleges and universities have found it necessary to require instruction in Critical Thinking. I taught such a course for several years at a women's college and apart from the tendency of the course designers to indoctrinate in political correctness, it was a helpful course. That said, probably a course in basic logic and reading comprehension would have been more beneficial to the students.

The study of Philosophy is required for graduation from most secondary schools in Europe. In France secondary students may opt to take the Bac Litteraire - the Literature Baccalaureat, which includes a strong philosophy curriculum. It is an alternative to the more science-biased versions of the Baccalaureat. Both tracks include an element of philosophy, but in the Bac Litteraire, Philosophy is king.

The study of Philosophy is popular among German students. It is taught in high schools (Gymnasia) so many who choose to study it later already have a strong foundation. According to this report in The Chronicle of Higher Education, the enrollments in Philosophy courses at Tübingen increased by nearly one-third, to 1,600, over a three-year period. The philosophy departments at Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg and Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, now have limits on enrollments in Philosophy classes.

Sadly, Philosophy is not taught in American public schools. When I attempted to introduce high school students to Philosophy by offering it as an elective, the principal of the public school declined the offer. He was concerned that irate parents would complain that the school was teaching atheism or Christian ideas. He could not fathom the possibility of positive engagement with ideas held by both atheists and Christians. He did allow me to offer an after-school Philosophy Club.

Undaunted, a few years later I asked to teach Philosophy at a private Christian school and found very responsive students. That school actually allowed greater leeway than the university where I taught and the public school.

Michael Shammas wrote in this essay that American society has become dysfunctional because we have forgotten how to think. He says, "Our Congress is useless, our institutions inept... Anger is everywhere; understanding is nowhere... We assail our political enemies with intractable opinions and self-righteous anger. An ugly bitterness pervades everything. Meanwhile, our country is slowly but surely committing suicide.

It seems to me that this dysfunctional political dialogue, which stems from the iron certainty we grant our opinions, is the most pressing problem confronting 21st century America. In fact, it is a crisis. For without the ability to carry on a useful dialogue, we cannot solve our greatest challenges, or even our smallest ones.

This raises the question: How can we solve this crisis? Because the capacity to debate requires the capacity to think, I believe the answer lies in philosophy.

Why philosophy? Because the study of philosophy, the “love of wisdom,” creates and nurtures thoughtful minds, minds that can — as Aristotle suggests — entertain a thought without accepting it."

Related reading: Why I Love Philosophy; Ontology and the Philosophical Project; Theories of Knowledge - Bacon and Descartes; Teaching primary school children philosophy improves English and maths skills, says study | The Independent; St. Paul's Application of Greek Philosophy; Four Women Revived Metaphysics; Advice to Christian Philosophers - The London Lyceum

I Love the Work of Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo

 

Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (1864-1936)

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

I lived in Spain during my High School years, and I majored in Spanish in college. I taught Spanish and also Philosophy at the High School and University levels. My final college paper to fulfill a requirement was on Don Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo. I found his books and his ideas fascinating because they are so Spanish. Unlike the theological and philosophical works of the Northern Europeans, they are not "systematic." They often are poetic, and they ring with sincere apologies for the tragic sense of life. Yet they retain hope, even as Quijote's hope for triumph over his foes never left him. Quijote's dying words to Sancho Panza were "Bring me my sword." 

Because Unamuno's thought leaves wiggle room to explore, his disciples are free to wander down unexplored paths and to discover philosophically unfamiliar places. We are allowed to live with uncomfortable contradictions. This space is shrinking in our polarized world. Our time is not unlike the eve of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).

Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher, professor of Greek and Classics, and later rector at the University of Salamanca. In October 1936 he denounced General Francisco Franco’s Falangists, was removed as rector, and was placed under house arrest. He died of a heart attack two months later.

A Man in search of Truth 

For Unamuno truth is not easily found and often presents itself as paradox. His search for truth often pitted him against the clericalism of the Spanish Church. That clericalism took on fascist features once Franco took control. 

The Catholic hierarchs of Spain denounced Unamuno as a heretic and banned his books. Bishop Gonzalez Caminero falsely claimed that "Unamuno perversely denies almost all of the fundamental dogmas of the Catholic religion." 

Bishop Pildain of the Canary Islands called Unamuno "Hereje Maximo" in a widely circulated pastoral letter. His Excellency, the Most Reverend Sr. D. Antonion De Pildain y Zapiain, declared Unamuno the "greatest heretic and teacher of heresies."

By 1936, Unamuno, one of Spain's greatest modern thinkers, was slandered and banished from public life. That was the year the Spanish Civil War began, and the Spanish Church supported Franco against the Republican Government.

Unamuno's work is difficult to label. There are traces of existentialism of a Spanish flavor, and some elements of irrationalism. It is more precise to say that he searched for answers to existential questions, and abandoned rationalism to embrace the mysteries of Faith. 

Perhaps he is best classified as a Christian Realist. He knew life was full of difficulties and inexplicable turnings. Yet he believed that there is a path that leads to God. "The road that leads us to the living God, the God of the heart, and that leads us back to Him when we have left Him for the lifeless God of logic is the road of faith." (The Tragic Sense of Life, Dover Publications, p. 186.)

In her excellent biography of Unamuno. Margaret Rudd writes about his final resting place in the Campo de San Francisco. "His crypt is in the wall to the left of the entrance; it bears the number 340, his number, and on it, beneath the crypt of Salome are inscribed Don Miguel's own words: "

Hide me, Father eternal, in your breast, 

mysterious abode, 

I shall sleep there, undone, I shall rest 

from the toils of the road."

A Man of Humor

Miguel de Unamuno had a sense of humor. Johnstone G. Patrick writes, "Years before his exile, Salvador de Madariaga tells us, when King Alfonso was still a constitutional monarch, Unamuno had been granted an order reserved for rewarding intellectual merit. He was accordingly received in audience so that he could present his thanks to the King. "Sir," he began, "I am here to thank your Majesty for this order which I have fully deserved." 

The King laughed outright. "How wonderful! They all come here telling me, 'Sir, I do not deserve it' "

A Man of Faith

Unamuno was well steeped in the Bible and his appreciation of biblical poetry as both sacred text and good literature is evident in what his writings. In his essay "Solitude" he expressed this appreciation claiming that the greatest among men is a lyric poet, "that is to say a real poet." A poet is a man who keeps "no secrets from God in his heart, and who, in singing his griefs, his fears, his hopes and his memories, purifies and purges them from all falsehood." 

Related reading: The Message of Don Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo by Johnstone G. Patrick; Margaret Rudd, Lone Heretic; The White Terror in Spain