The philosophy of George Berkeley

George Berkeley (12 March 1685 – 14 January 1753), also known as Bishop Berkeley, was an Anglo-Irish philosopher and Anglican bishop of Cloyne of the Anglican Church of Ireland. He is best known for his empiricist and idealist philosophy, which holds that reality consists only of minds and their ideas; everything save the spiritual exists only insofar as it is perceived by the senses. Berkeley’s primary philosophical achievement is the advancement of a theory he called “immaterialism” (later referred to as “subjective idealism” by others). This theory denies the existence of material substance and instead contends that familiar objects like tables and chairs are ideas perceived by the mind and, as a result, cannot exist without being perceived. Berkeley is also known for his critique of abstraction, an important premise in his argument for immaterialism.

 

In 1709, Berkeley published his first major work, An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision, in which he discussed the limitations of human vision and advanced the theory that the proper objects of sight are not material objects, but light and color. This foreshadowed his chief philosophical work, A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, in 1710, which, after its poor reception, he rewrote in dialogue form and published under the title Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous in 1731. In this book, Berkeley’s views were represented by Philonous (Greek: “lover of mind”), while Hylas (“hyle”, Greek: “matter”) embodies the Irish thinker’s opponents, in particular John Locke. Berkeley argued against Isaac Newton’s doctrine of absolute space, time and motion in De Motu (On Motion), published 1721. His arguments were a precursor to the views of Ernst Mach and Albert Einstein.

 

Immaterialism was Berkeley’s name for his theory of the perceived world. This theory consists of two parts: a negative thesis that there are not, and could not be, material substances or substrata, and a positive thesis that the existence of bodies consists in their being perceived (as Berkeley says: their esse is percipi). In other words, Berkeley’s immaterialism denies the existence of material substance and instead contends that familiar objects like tables and chairs are ideas perceived by the mind and, as a result, cannot exist without being perceived.

 

Berkeley’s immaterialism is often described as a form of idealism, which holds that reality consists only of minds and their ideas. This view is in contrast to materialism, which holds that reality consists of material objects independent of perception. Berkeley’s immaterialism is also sometimes referred to as subjective idealism, to distinguish it from other forms of idealism that allow for the existence of objective, mind-independent reality.

 

Berkeley’s ideas were met with a range of responses from other philosophers. Some, like David Hume, were influenced by Berkeley’s empiricism and idealism, and developed their own philosophical systems based on similar principles. Others, like Immanuel Kant and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, developed their own idealist systems in response to Berkeley’s ideas.

 

Berkeley’s critique of abstraction was also met with a range of responses. Some philosophers agreed with Berkeley that abstract ideas were impossible, while others argued that abstract ideas were necessary for certain kinds of reasoning and knowledge. For example, according to Berkeley, philosophers maintain that a general name must stand for a single general idea that represents all members of a kind. To do that, they say, an idea needs to abstract the qualities that are shared by all members of a kind and exclude all those in which they differ.

 

Overall, Berkeley’s ideas had a significant impact on the development of philosophy, and his critique of abstraction continues to be an important topic of discussion in the field 

The philosophy of Edmund Husserl - Phenomenology

Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) was a German philosopher who is considered the “father” of the philosophical movement known as phenomenology. Phenomenology can be roughly described as the sustained attempt to describe experiences (and the “things themselves”) without metaphysical and theoretical speculations. Husserl suggested that only by suspending or bracketing away the “natural attitude” could philosophy become its own distinctive and rigorous science, and he insisted that phenomenology is a science of consciousness rather than of empirical things. Indeed, in Husserl’s hands, phenomenology began as a critique of both psychologism and naturalism.

 

Husserl argued that transcendental consciousness sets the limits of all possible knowledge, and redefined phenomenology as a transcendental-idealist philosophy. His thought profoundly influenced 20th-century philosophy, and he remains a notable figure in contemporary philosophy and beyond.

 

Phenomenology

 

Phenomenology is a philosophical movement that focuses on the direct investigation and description of phenomena as consciously experienced, without theories about their causal explanation and as free as possible from unexamined preconceptions and presuppositions. In its most basic form, phenomenology attempts to create conditions for the objective study of topics usually regarded as subjective: consciousness and the content of conscious experiences such as judgments, perceptions, and emotions.

 

An example of phenomenology in practice is the study of dreaming. The phenomenological approach to dreaming would involve describing the experience of dreaming as it is consciously experienced, without attempting to explain its causes or make assumptions about its nature. The focus would be on the content of the dream, how it is experienced by the dreamer, and the structures of consciousness that are involved in the experience. This approach differs from other approaches to dreaming, such as those that focus on the neurological or psychological causes of dreaming.

 

There are other forms of phenomenology that have developed since Husserl’s time, and these forms differ from Husserl’s phenomenology in various ways. For example, some phenomenologists have focused more on the study of intersubjectivity, or the ways in which we experience and understand other people, while others have emphasized the importance of embodiment and our physical interactions with the world2. Additionally, some phenomenologists have developed their own methods for studying consciousness and experience that differ from Husserl’s phenomenological reduction2.

 

In summary, while Husserl’s phenomenology is considered the original form of phenomenology, there are other forms of phenomenology that have developed since his time that differ from his approach in various ways

China and Russia

Russia, China Promote "Unprecedented" Cooperation Despite Western "Illegitimate Sanctions"

 

Moscow and Beijing strengthen their ties, despite China's insistence on showing itself as a neutral actor in the conflict ordered by Vladimir Putin.

 

Today, relations between Russia and China are at an unprecedented high level according to the Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin after signing a series of economic pacts on May 24 in Beijing, where he was received with honors and held meetings with his counterpart Li Qiang and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Among the d eals signed is an agreement to deepen investment cooperation in commercial services and the export of agricultural products to China.

 

Beyond maintaining a diplomatic ally in the midst of the international isolation in which it finds itself submerged, Moscow relies on the Asian giant in an attempt to come out of the financial sanctions imposed from the West for the invasion of its neighboring country.

 

In addition, a 40% increase in Russian energy exports to Chinese territory is expected, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.

 

China is willing to work with Russia to promote their pragmatic cooperation in various fields and bring it to a "new level."

 

Moscow seeks to challenge the West in the face of the "pressure of illegitimate sanctions"

 

With the war in Ukraine dragging on and Russia increasingly feeling the brunt of Western sanctions, Moscow is leaning on Beijing far more than its ally, feeding off Chinese demand for oil and gas. Chinese influence grows as Moscow's international isolation deepens.

 

After Russian gas exports plummeted under a spate of sanctions from Europe and the United States, China became Russia's biggest energy customer last year. A strong dependence on Moscow towards its new ally, after decades of mistrust between the two governments.

 

Given sanctions against Russia provide new opportunities for China, it is not surprising that China is happy to actively and proactively engage economically with Russia, as long as the relationships they forge do not trigger secondary sanctions against China.

 

And it is that Beijing is Moscow's largest trading partner with bilateral trade that reached a record of 190,000 million dollars in 2022, according to Chinese customs data.

Democritus

Democritus of Abdera (c. 460-370 B.C.) was a Greek philosopher, also known as the "laughing philosopher" or "laughing philosopher," for having a tendency to laugh at the world and its problems. One of his main contributions to philosophy and science was atomism, understanding that the universe is made up of millions of tiny particles.

 

According to Democritus, there are two first principles in things: atoms and emptiness. Atoms are indivisible particles of matter, immutable, eternal and are in constant motion in the most varied directions. Democritus' philosophy is inspired by the need to combine the permanence of being with the explanation of change.

 

For Democritus, what we call generation and corruption is nothing more than mixing and separating the original elements. Logic and physics are the foundation of morality, which should provide happiness, freeing from the fear of the gods.

 

Democritus also explained sensations in a mechanistic way, defended hedonistic ethics and cosmopolitan democratic politics. Traditionally he is considered a Presocratic philosopher, although it is a chronological error, since he was a contemporary of Socrates, but from the philosophical point of view he is associated with the Presocratics due to his physical theme (physis), while Socrates and the philosophers who followed him they addressed an ethical-political issue.

 

Furthermore

 

Leucippus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher of the 5th century BC. C. and founder of atomism. He moved to Elea, where he would have been a disciple of Zeno and a teacher of Democritus 1. Democritus developed the “atomic theory of the universe”, conceived by his mentor, the philosopher Leucippus 2.

 

Democritus's exact contributions are difficult to separate from those of his mentor Leucippus, as they are often mentioned together in doxographers' texts.

 

Doxography is a branch of philosophy that includes those works dedicated to collecting the views of philosophers and scientists of the past on philosophy, science and other subjects.

How to enjoy everything that life offers you.

Reading more of Dyer Wayne´s  texts .

 

First of all, and this will be the most obvious, you will see that they are people who enjoy virtually everything that life offers them; people who are comfortable doing anything and don't waste time complaining or wishing things were different. They are enthusiastic about life and want everything they can get out of it.

 

 

They like to go hiking, go to the movies, read, play sports, attend concerts, visit cities, farms, see animals, mountains and really almost everything. They like life. When you are around people like this, you will notice the absence of laments and even passive sighs. If it rains, they like it. If it's hot they enjoy it instead of complaining. Whether they are in a traffic jam, or at a party, or all alone, they just do the best they can. It is not a question of enjoying everything that happens, but of a wise acceptance of what is, of a rare ability to delight in reality. Ask them what they don't like and they'll have a hard time giving you an honest answer. They don't act sensibly that sheltering from the rain would mean taking shelter, because they find the rain beautiful, exhilarating and something worth experiencing. They like. The mud doesn't make them angry: they watch it, splash around in it, and accept it as part of what it means to be alive. Do you like cats? Yes. Bears? Yes. Worms? Yes. And although inconveniences such as diseases, droughts, mosquitoes, floods and other calamities do not bring them pleasure or accept them with enthusiasm, they are people who do not spend their present moments complaining about them or wishing that they were not so. If certain situations have to be destroyed, they will try to destroy them. And they will enjoy doing it. No matter how hard you try, you will have a hard time discovering something that they do not like to do. They really love life and really immerse themselves in it enjoying all that it gives them.

 

Healthy and fulfilled people are free from the feeling of guilt and all the anxiety that occurs when present moments are used immobilizing themselves for events that happened in the past. They can certainly acknowledge that they have made mistakes and can promise themselves that they will avoid repeating certain behaviors that backfired in some way, but they don't waste their time regretting something they did that they wish they hadn't done, or upset because they disliked something they did at some point. of his past life. Total lack of guilt is one of the characteristics of healthy people. No regrets about what happened and no efforts to get others to take blame by asking idle questions like "Why didn't you do it differently?" or "Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" They give the impression of who know how to recognize that life already lived is that, and that no matter how bad one feels about it, nothing can be done to change what happened.They themselves feel free of guilt without any effort: because it is natural, they never help others. others to choose blame. They realize that feeling bad in the present moment only reinforces a person's poor self-image and that it is much better to learn from the past than to protest the past. You will never see them manipulating others. others telling them how bad they have been, nor can you manipulate them with the same tactics. They will not get angry with you, they simply will not listen to you, they will ignore you. Instead of being angry with you, they will prefer to leave or change the subject. The strategies that they work so well with most people they completely fail with these very healthy beings. Instead of making themselves or others miserable with guilty feelings, they quietly, without much ceremony, put guilt aside when they find it in their way.

 

Healthy and fulfilled people are free from the feeling of guilt and all the anxiety that occurs when present moments are used immobilizing themselves for events that happened in the past. They can certainly acknowledge that they have made mistakes and can promise themselves that they will avoid repeating certain behaviors that backfired in some way, but they don't waste their time regretting something they did that they wish they hadn't done, or upset because they disliked something they did at some point. of his past life. Total lack of guilt is one of the characteristics of healthy people. No regrets about what happened and no efforts to get others to take blame by asking idle questions like "Why didn't you do it differently?" or "Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" They give the impression of who know how to recognize that life already lived is that, and that no matter how bad one feels about it, nothing can be done to change what happened.They themselves feel free of guilt without any effort: because it is natural, they never help others. others to choose blame. They realize that feeling bad in the present moment only reinforces a person's poor self-image and that it is much better to learn from the past than to protest the past. You will never see them manipulating others. others telling them how bad they have been, nor can you manipulate them with the same tactics. They will not get angry with you, they simply will not listen to you, they will ignore you. Instead of being angry with you, they will prefer to leave or change the subject. The strategies that they work so well with most people they completely fail with these very healthy beings. Instead of making themselves or others miserable with guilty feelings, they quietly, without much ceremony, put guilt aside when they find it in their way.

 

Likewise people free from erroneous zones do not torment themselves with worries. Some circumstances that could drive other people crazy hardly affect these individuals. They are neither future planners nor future savers. They refuse to worry about what will happen in the future and remain free of the anxiety that accompanies worry. They don't know how to worry. It is not part of his way of being. It is not that they are necessarily calm all the time but they are not willing to spend their present moments suffering for things that may happen in the future and over which they have no control. They are oriented mainly towards their present moments, and they have an internal signal that seems to remind them that all worries must happen in the present moment, and that this is a very foolish way to live your present. These people now live in the present and not in the past or future. They do not feel threatened by the unknown and seek new experiences that are not familiar to them. They love ambiguity. They enjoy the now at all times convinced that it is all they have. They do not make plans for a future event allowing long periods of inactivity to pass while waiting for this event. The moments between events are as liveable as the events themselves, and these people have an uncanny ability to extract as much joy as possible from their daily lives. They are not "procrastinators" or savers for bad times, and while our culture may not condone their behavior, they are not threatened by self-reproach! They appreciate and enjoy their happiness now and when the future comes and becomes the present they appreciate and enjoy it too. These individuals always enjoy because they simply realize the absurdity of waiting to enjoy. It is a very natural way of living life,  like a child.

 

 

Carpe Diem

Turkey and Russia: geopolitical balance and anti-Western stancce

The pace and depth of events in the Turkey-Russia relations since 2016 have been interesting. Discontent with the West has been a major factor in rapidly improving ties. In fact, it was arguably anti-Westernism that created Turkey's policy of geopolitical balance between Russia and the West, along with the interpretation that a multipolar global order was in the making. The close relationship with Russia has caused new rifts between Turkey  and the West. However, despite their shared discontent with the West, Russian and Turkish anti-Westerni stance differ in their nature, origin and manifestation.

 

Turkish anti-Westernism tends to be selective and policy-focused, while the Russian version is more structural and all-encompassing. For example, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that the central objective of the Russian invasion of Ukraine was to end American and Western dominance in the international system. Unlike Russia, Turkey benefits from the Western-centric international system that it criticizes. These differences have important political consequences. The invasion of Ukraine has also introduced a number of new dynamics to the Turkey-Russia-West triangle. Ankara's policy of geopolitical balance is entering difficult, if not unfeasible terrain, as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the West explicitly treat Russia as an enemy. The cost of such a policy is likely to increase. But even if the balance were to become unworkable, Ankara would strive to maintain some form of functional bilateral relationship with Moscow.

 

Geopolitical balance policy and functional bilateral relations

 

The main difference between Turkey's policy of geopolitical balance and the goal of maintaining functional bilateral relations with Russia is the scope of cooperation. Establishing a functional bilateral relationship meant cultivating economic, energy and political ties, but it did not extend to the strategic fields of geopolitical cooperation and the defense industry. The geopolitical balance, for its part, involves strategic cooperation, acquisition of military material (purchase of the Russian air defense system s-400) and geopolitical engagement in conflictive areas in Syria, Libya and Nagorno Karabagh. The balancing policy is driven by discontent with the West and is based on a particular reading of global politics, which Ankara sees as increasingly multipolar and less Western (if not post-Western) centric. Also contributing was the fact that Ankara considers that the West lacks internal cohesion, given certain signs of fragmentation between Europe and the United States (especially during the presidency of Donald Trump) and within Europe after Brexit. On the contrary, even Turkey's most pro-Western leaders, such as Süleyman Demirel and Turgut Özal, have sought to maintain and improve functional bilateral relations with Russia. Throughout Turkey's modern history, Ankara has repeatedly sought Moscow's help in developing its heavy industry, for example in the case of the Iskenderun steel plant.

 

Functional bilateral relations with Moscow and the geopolitical balance between Russia and the West are not mutually exclusive, but they certainly differ. The pursuit of functional bilateral relations puts the functioning Turkish government in line with much of Turkey's political history, while its current policy of geopolitical balance constitutes an experiment in breaking with tradition. The Ottoman and Russian empires fought 13 wars, making the Ottoman and Turkish elites acutely aware of Russia's geopolitical ambitions and power projection. As a result, these elites have always sought alliances with Western powers to counter them.

 

The era around 1919, to the mid-1930s is the only period in which Turkey sought a comparable geopolitical or strategic balance between Russia/Soviet and the West. The Bolsheviks gave significant financial aid during those troiblesome times for Turkey, and, later, to the young republic. In 1921, the USSR returned to Turkey three eastern provinces that had come under the control of the Russian Empire in 1878. A friendship and neutrality treaty was signed in 1925, from which the USSR unilaterally withdrew in 1945. Anti-imperialism discourses and politics shaped the general framework of the relationship during this period. The young Republic of Turkey, as a post-imperial state that had recently waged a war of independence against the European imperial powers, was well aware of the latter's geopolitical ambitions and their propensity to interfere in the internal affairs of weaker states. This early policy of balance lasted more or less until the preparations for the Montreux Convention of 1936, which gave Turkey control of the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits.

 

No Turkish government before that of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had established such deep strategic, military and geopolitical relations with Moscow. However, it is necessary to distinguish nuances. Both moments (Atatürk/Lenin and Erdoğan/Putin) are similar, in part, in the sense that they contain a high degree of functional bilateral relations, as well as a policy of geopolitical balance. However, they also differ in important ways. NATO did not exist before World War II; Ankara joined the Atlantic Alliance in 1952, anchoring Turkey in the Western security structure. In addition, leaving aside the USSR , during the first experience of rapprochement there were no other important alternative power centers (to the West). Now, instead, there are multiple centers of power in world politics: the West, Russia and China, to name the main ones. In addition, regional powers are increasingly relevant.