It may be somewhat off the current theme. but I still thought it was a nice thought. I've wondered for a while, "Why did homo sapiens invent religion?"
Today I found the simple answer. What has always been the essence of survival for Homo sapiens throughout evolution?
Easy. Knowing what is going to happen or in other words: causality, the relationship between cause and effect.
If you hear a dangerous growl somewhere (the cause), then running away and saving your life is the natural consequence.
That's how our brains function. Just think back to our project "A World Full of Patterns"(April 2021). What we as humans always want to know is: what is the cause?
And that's why we have religion. For everything for which we do not know or cannot know the cause, we simply invent one: a god or gods.
That's just how our brain is wired. We do the same when we look at history. There is always the question: why did this or that happen at that time? What was the CAUSE?
We as humans find it difficult to subscribe to the Socratic wisdom: oida ouk oida, or "I know that I DO NOT know". Accepting that is still difficult, it seems.
So we also view history through our causal lens. That is also understandable, but it comes with a question.
Behind every cause, there must be a driving force. Causality does not stand alone but is an infinite chain of causes and effects.
So what are the driving forces in human history? Most school history books feature all kinds of great minds.
Sometimes it is a pope, then a king or emperor, then an enlightened spirit or some dictator who is said to have determined the course of history.
Idealism, at least as developed by Hegel, the leading philosophy in the Germany of Marx, understands the active nature of homo Sapiens, but confines it to thought or contemplation: the world and its history are created through the categories and concepts we impose upon it.
But that is not the way Marx viewed history but in his day, the prevailing view of history was that it shows a development of ideas.
Marx compliments materialism for understanding the physical reality of the world, but is criticized for ignoring the active role of homo Sapiens in creating the world we perceive.
Marx combines the insights of both traditions to propose a view in which human beings do indeed create or at least transform, the world they find themselves in,
but this transformation happens not in thought but through actual material activity, not through the imposition of sublime concepts but through the sweat of their brow, with picks and shovels.
Next lecture we'll elaborate on this controversy between idealism and Marx's materialist ideas of history.
Thank you for your attention again.....
Main Sources:
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
24 - Materialism 7 Sept 2022 / 1011
25 - Historical Materialism 5 Oct 2023 / 1088
The Discussion
[13:11] herman Bergson: The floor is yours... :-)
[13:12] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): still reading...
[13:12] herman Bergson: Take your time....
[13:12] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:13] herman Bergson: Main point will be the idea that men make the world by their activities, not by their thoughts like the idealists suggest.
[13:14] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): i think men and woman make the world with activities and their thoughts
[13:14] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): both
[13:14] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): no thoughts, not development
[13:14] herman Bergson: thought may precede action....
[13:15] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): and then there was silence....
[13:15] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): well
[13:16] herman Bergson: Idealism means that the world is actually a product of the mind
[13:16] Max Chatnoir: we're thinking....
[13:16] Lukkie Sands: So you say that all religion is just man made?
[13:16] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): my ideals don't have to be yours
[13:16] herman Bergson: Indeed a logical consequence of materialism
[13:18] herman Bergson: Idealism has nothing to do with ideals
[13:18] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): yes, its basically hocus pocus without logic. I would in this regard say in my analogy to programming that the religion is what is called an exception. When nothing makes sense the program can throw an exception (or jump to the else statement) instead of crashing
[13:18] herman Bergson: It is the point of view that ideas, concepts precede our expieriencing the material world
[13:19] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): id say religion is our minds way of throwing an exception so the mind does not crash when something strange unexplainable happens
[13:20] herman Bergson: That is why admitting that you DO NOT KNOW often so difficult is
[13:20] herman Bergson: Homo Sapiens doesn't like to live with uncertainty
[13:20] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ah
[13:20] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ,
[13:21] Max Chatnoir: So religion is the explanation we can't articulate?
[13:21] herman Bergson: I'd say so, yes, Max
[13:21] herman Bergson: We don't know our goal in life. nor the meaning of life, if it has a meaning....
[13:22] herman Bergson: unless you invent some story....a religion that answers these uncertainties
[13:24] herman Bergson: What I find rather strange is, that Putin with his communist background a strong supporter is of the Greek Orthodox Church in Russia
[13:24] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): the problem with the exception that is religion is we then get stuck in it and refuse to accept facts even now we have scientific facts, instead both the church back in the days as well as say muslim fundamentalists are at war with science
[13:25] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): don't want to know the actual tructh
[13:25] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): power and greed are the driving forces here i guess however
[13:25] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): it's because of that old priest that supports him
[13:25] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): it was a kgb agent too
[13:25] herman Bergson: Oh yes Beertje, there are opportunistic political reasons for him
[13:27] herman Bergson: And @ Bejiita
[13:27] herman Bergson: If you look at the graphic behind me you see the steady growth of secularisation....
[13:28] herman Bergson: I relate that to the growing number of answers science gives at questions
[13:28] herman Bergson: The higher the education in a country the more religion gets in decline
[13:29] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): well in some places = most its going in the right direction luckily but look at say Afghanistan, although those are extreme examples
[13:29] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): but they are back to middle ages again after taliban took power once again
[13:29] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): but ass a whole the world moves in the right direction i guess
[13:30] herman Bergson: What I find interesting is the evangelicals in the US....they are a minority but do everything todominate the political field
[13:30] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): toward science fact and so
[13:30] herman Bergson: I hope so too, Bejiita
[13:30] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): hmm indeed
[13:30] herman Bergson: It might reduce a number of causes of conflicts among people
[13:30] Max Chatnoir: Putin has a Rasputin?
[13:31] herman Bergson: At least he has the support of the leader of the Russian church
[13:31] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): who was a KGB agent in earlier days
[13:32] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): hmm indeed
[13:32] Max Chatnoir: That is not encouraging.
[13:32] herman Bergson: I didn't know that :-)
[13:32] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): ツ
[13:34] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): That maniac actually built a church in my city just some km away from where i live some years ago, since it was near the airport there were theories about them smuggling nukes into here and hiding in there
[13:34] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): on some of my TURF rounds i bike right past it
[13:34] herman Bergson: A Orthodox Church Bejiita???
[13:34] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): Russian orthodox church
[13:35] herman Bergson: We have some here too :-)
[13:36] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): what im mostly mad about now is that the leader of the orthodox church 100 % supporting the total slaughter and erradication of all ukranians
[13:37] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): yes that's true
[13:37] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): seems often even worse then Putin
[13:37] Max Chatnoir: Wow, there are a bunch around her also.
[13:37] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): (shudders)
[13:37] Max Chatnoir: around here....
[13:38] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): here where I live everyone calls it th spychurch
[13:38] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): the
[13:38] herman Bergson: oh dear....
[13:38] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): Kirill is dangerous
[13:38] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): hmm
[13:39] herman Bergson: Well, let's continue our discourse next Thursday and see how Marx looked at history...
[13:39] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ah
[13:39] herman Bergson: Unless you still have a question or remark.....
[13:39] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): lets max the Marx
[13:39] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:40] herman Bergson: Thank you again for your participation....
[13:40] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): Thank you Herman
[13:40] herman Bergson: Class dismissed.
[13:40] bergfrau Apfelbaum: than you Herman and class!
[13:40] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:40] Max Chatnoir: Thank you, Herman. Very illuminating!
[[13:40] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): yes
[13:40] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
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