Homo sapiens can come up with all kinds of fancy philosophical theories, but at the bottom, the question is, where do they come from.
The answer is simple. They are produced by the brain of the organism homo sapiens. This brings me to this basic question:
what, do you think comes first, biology or philosophy? My answer is simple too....biology of course. We are biological entities.
The kind of philosophy we are concerned with here is called ontology, the fundamental question: what exists?
The answer is ...we exist as one of the many living organisms on this planet. What have all these organisms in common?
The drive to reproduce. There is no WHY in this matter. It is just as it is, like asking "why is there a universe?" makes no sense either.
But there is one detail that disturbs this order: the brain of homo sapiens. He is aware of the fact that he is and wants to live.
Wanting to live implies the fear to die. So you may wonder...what drives homo sapiens...the will to live or fear to die?
My conclusion is that this is why homo sapiens has made up all these stories about what will happen when you die. And for that, he needed what is called religion and an Otherworld.
Here comes materialism, which means, there have always been people that didn't believe in all these stories, which yet had a special status for reasons we won't discuss now.
It wasn't the Greeks, who first did so, it was people in India some 2500 years ago. Their philosophy was called Lokayata.
And Chattopadhyaya, Debiprasad wrote a 700+ pages book about it with the title "Lokayata: A Study of Ancient Indian Materialism" (1959).
Some scholar, Indologist Walter Ruben said: "He has written this book 'Lokayata: A Study in Ancient Indian Materialism' against the old fashioned conception that India was and is the land of dreamers and mystics"
I am not a specialist in this philosophy at all, but that is not the point. It was a materialist philosophy and as I already said, a philosophy most people don't like.
Here is the story: Almost all schools of Indian philosophy including Buddhism and Jainism have condemned Lokayata
as a very base philosophy and relegated it to an uncivilized and unethical status that deserved no merit or appreciation.
Some 2500 years ago India was dominated by a religion based on Hindu philosophy named Vedanta, in which rebirth and reincarnation were belief elements.
But this Lokayata philosophy was a school revolting against the spiritualism of the then-extant Vedic schools and even a class conflict between the priest class and the commoners.
It is no surprise that Lokayata also was called a philosophy of the commoners. Just look at this still existing caste system in India from Braman to paria.
As we saw with Epicurus, for Lokayata the source of knowledge was only the senses and what we also see is that around 1200 AD all Lokayata writings had disappeared, just like what happened to the writings of Epicurus.
My main point here is, that this resistance against religious theories, has deep historical roots and this history already started in India.
Thank you for your attention....
MacMillan The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd edition
TABLE OF CONTENT -----------------------------------------------------------------
1 - 100 Philosophers 9 May 2009 Start of
2 - 25+ Women Philosophers 10 May 2009 this blog
3 - 25 Adventures in Thinking 10 May 2009
4 - Modern Theories of Ethics 29 Oct 2009
5 - The Ideal State 24 Febr 2010 / 234
6 - The Mystery of the Brain 3 Sept 2010 / 266
7 - The Utopia of the Free Market 16 Febr 2012 / 383
8. - The Aftermath of Neo-liberalism 5 Sept 2012 / 413
9. - The Art Not to Be an Egoist 6 Nov 2012 / 426
10 - Non-Western Philosophy 29 May 2013 / 477
11 - Why Science is Right 2 Sept 2014 / 534
12 - A Philosopher looks at Atheism 1 Jan 2015 / 557
13 - EVIL, a philosophical investigation 17 Apr 2015 / 580
14 - Existentialism and Free Will 2 Sept 2015 / 586
15 - Spinoza 2 Sept 2016 / 615
16 - The Meaning of Life 13 Febr 2017 / 637
17 - In Search of my Self 6 Sept 2017 / 670
18 - The 20th Century Revisited 3 Apr 2018 / 706
19 - The Pessimist 11 Jan 2020 / 819
20 - The Optimist 9 Febr 2020 / 824
21 - Awakening from a Neoliberal Dream 8 Oct 2020 / 872
22 - A World Full of Patterns 1 Apr 2021 / 912
23 - The Concept of Freedom 8 Jan 2022 / 965
The Discussion
[13:23] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): Thank you Herman
[13:24] herman Bergson: There have always been people that opposed religions
[13:25] herman Bergson: And even tho they had clear arguments they always have been marginalized....asked to shut ip
[13:25] herman Bergson: Next lecture we'll look into that more in detail
[13:26] herman Bergson: No religious people in the audience here, it seems :-)
[13:27] Lukkie Sands: I believe in pixels :-))
[13:28] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): religion leaders have a lot of power
[13:28] Lukkie Sands: No pixels no avatar.....
[13:28] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:28] herman Bergson: Of course Beertje...religion has always been used to unify the masses
[13:29] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): they talk about hell and fear
[13:29] oola Neruda: to control the masses... and to comfort their fear
[13:29] herman Bergson: and redemption, Beertje!
[13:29] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): yes
[13:30] oola Neruda: set social standards
[13:30] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): i don't want to belong to that club, it's not my cup of tea
[13:30] herman Bergson: That is always the big question oola....
[13:30] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): not me either
[13:30] herman Bergson: do we need a religion to set social standards?
[13:31] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): no i guess not
[13:31] oola Neruda: thou shalt not....
[13:31] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): threats OOla
[13:31] oola Neruda: guidencw
[13:31] oola Neruda: social pressure
[13:32] herman Bergson: Do we need religions for ethical guidance?
[13:32] herman Bergson: Isn't there an ethics possible without religious underpinning?
[13:32] oola Neruda: depends... who what where why and when
[13:33] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): most people are good, they don't need religion
[13:33] herman Bergson: Well...we have a whole project to figure this out ^_^
[13:33] oola Neruda: journalists would follow that sting of words... with "how"
[13:33] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): I guess
[13:35] herman Bergson: But what playsa major role is indeed this basic feeling of fear in the organism....especially in homo sapiens who is aware of the possibility of dying
[13:35] herman Bergson: We are a ware of time.....
[13:35] oola Neruda: !!!!!
[13:35] herman Bergson: and that some day our time is up
[13:36] oola Neruda: exactly
[13:36] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): put the lights out and close the door when you leave:)
[13:37] oola Neruda: I say... leave a legacy if you can
[13:37] herman Bergson: I'd rather keep the light burning for the others, Beertje, but I'll close the door :-)
[13:37] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): i mean de light for myself
[13:37] herman Bergson: ^_^
[13:38] herman Bergson: A legacy....I have a real one.....
[13:38] oola Neruda: what is it, Herman?
[13:38] herman Bergson: I was assistent of professor JJA Mooi, who wrote ab book.
[13:38] herman Bergson: I had to read the manuscript comment on it and make the index of names mentioned inthe text...
[13:39] herman Bergson: The book is "A Study in Metaphor"
[13:39] oola Neruda: sounds like it could be interesting
[13:39] herman Bergson: I am mentions in the preface.....and thanked for my efforts
[13:39] oola Neruda: symbols....
[13:40] herman Bergson: so I'll live on on libraries and on bookshelves......
[13:40] oola Neruda: I am mentioned in the preface of an art theory book... for the same reason
[13:40] herman Bergson: Funny idea
[13:41] herman Bergson: You see...we have our legacy already established :-)
[13:41] oola Neruda: my major legacy is my son... and his talents and strength and character
[13:42] herman Bergson: Only problem is..when you goggle on my RL name as mentioned in the book you'll get a Belgian Union activist with the same name :-))
[13:42] oola Neruda: he has survived a lot
[13:42] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): i am mentioned in a french writing, long ago:))
[13:43] herman Bergson: bejiita's name is on every golf ball, I guess...also those that went into the ponds :-)))
[13:43] oola Neruda: smiles
[13:43] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): grins
[13:43] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): haha
[13:43] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): i don't manufacture golf balls
[13:43] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): only course equipment
[13:43] herman Bergson: ok :-)
[13:43] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): signs, greenkeeper tools ect
[13:44] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): bunker rakes at the moment
[13:44] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): doens't everybody leave precious memories?
[13:45] herman Bergson: there is a song text...it says "You are only when you are forgotten"
[13:45] herman Bergson: lol
[13:45] oola Neruda: and you take your memories with you... unfortunately
[13:45] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): oops
[13:45] Lukkie Sands: He collapsed...!!!!
[13:45] Lukkie Sands: OMG
[13:46] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): he is making a memory Lukkie
[13:46] oola Neruda: 911
[13:46] herman Bergson: I almost became a memory indeed Beertje :-)
[13:46] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): 112
[13:47] oola Neruda: seeing how I appear as a ghost..... hmmmmmm
[13:47] herman Bergson: but it is because I used the word d e a d
[13:47] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): hahahha
[13:47] herman Bergson: Guess I have some attachment that reacts on it with a collapse animation :-)
[13:47] herman Bergson: I forgot :-)
[13:48] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:48] herman Bergson: But let me dismmiss class first before I die again and you are stuck here :-)
[13:48] herman Bergson: So...thank you all again
[13:48] herman Bergson: Class dismissed
[13:48] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): thank you Herman
[13:49] oola Neruda: fear not, Herman...
[13:49] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): there he goes again
[13:49] oola Neruda: it will be ok
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