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[Visalakshi Ramani]

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# 16. Transcendentalism :

Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the 1830s and 1840s in the New England region of the U. S. A.

It was a protest to the general state of society and culture and in particular, the state of Intellectualism at Harvard University and the doctrine of the Unitarian church taught at Harvard Divinity School.

Among the transcendentalists' core beliefs was the inherent goodness of both Man and Nature.

Transcendentalists believed that society and its institutions - particularly organised religion and political parties - ultimately corrupted the purity of the individual.

They had faith that man is at his best when truly "self-reliant" and independent. It is only from such real individuals that true community could be formed. The major figures in the movement were Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller and Amos Bronson Alcott.

Transcendentalists were strong believers in the power of the individual and divine messages. Their beliefs are closely linked with those of the Romantics.

The movement directly influenced the growing movement of "Mental Sciences" of the mid-19th century,
The new thought movement.

New Thought draws directly from the transcendentalists, particularly Emerson. New Thought considers Emerson its intellectual father.

Emma Curtis Hopkins, Ernest Holmes, Fillmores, Malinda Cramer and Nona L. Brooks were all greatly influenced by Transcendentalism.

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[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 17. Utilitarianism:

Utilitarianism is an ethical theory holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximises the overall "happiness".

It is thus a form of Consequential-ism (meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined only by its resulting outcome) and that one can only weigh the morality of an action after knowing all its consequences.

Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill are the two main influential contributors.

Utilitarianism was described by Bentham as "the greatest happiness principle". Bentham elaborated Adam Smith's idea 'laissez-faire' (leave alone) which meant the opposition to governmental interference in the economy of the nation.

It supposed that whatever was correct for the majority, in regard to the economic profit, to be correct for everyone.Utilitarianism can be characterised as a quantitative and reductionist approach to ethics. It is a type of Naturalism.

Utilitarianism has been accused of looking only at the results of actions, and disregarding the desires or intentions that motivate them.

Intentions seem somehow important: it seems undesirable to call an action intended to cause harm but that inadvertently causes good "overall good".

While the results of a hatefully motivated action may indeed be "good", this does not suggest that the motivation of "hate" should advocated in society.

Put simply, when using utilitarianism to decide which practices or even values to promote in a society, one might consider whether "hate" normally leads to "good" or "bad" outcomes.

This may allow utilitarianism to become a much more complex and rich moral theory, and may align far more closely with our moral intuitions.

In this sense, intentions are important to utilitarian, in as much as they tend to lead to certain actions, which themselves lead to certain outcomes.

Henry Sidgwick is a classic philosopher to take this view in his main work The Method of Ethics (1874).

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 18. ATOMISM

Atomism (Greek atomos, meaning "uncuttable") is a natural philosophy that developed in several ancient traditions. The atomists theorised that the natural world consists of two fundamental parts: The indivisible atoms and the empty void.

Aristotle said that atoms are indestructible and immutable and there are an infinite variety of shapes and sizes. They move through the void, bouncing off each other, sometimes becoming hooked with one or more others to form a cluster.

Clusters of different shapes, arrangements, and positions give rise to the various macroscopic substances in the world.

References to the concept of atoms date back to ancient India and ancient Greece. Carvaka school of atom-ism may date back to the 6th century BCE. The Nyaya and Vaisheshika schools later developed theories on how atoms combined into more complex objects.

In the West, the references to atoms emerged in the 5th century BCE. Whether Indian culture influenced Greek or vice versa or whether both evolved independently is a matter of dispute.

Of importance to the philosophical concept of atom-ism is the historical accident that the atoms which were thought to be indivisible, were found in the 20th century, to be composed of even smaller entities.

However, the possibility that these too might be composed of still smaller particles cannot be ruled out.

Although the connection to historical atom-ism is at best tenuous, these particles, rather than chemical "atoms", are roughly analogous to the traditional indivisible objects.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 19. Corpuscular-ism


Corpuscular-ism is a physical theory that supposed all matter to be composed of minute particles. This became an important philosophy in the Seventeenth century. Among the leading corpuscular-ins were Robert Boyle, John Locke and Rene Descartes.

Corpuscular-ism is similar to the theory of atom-ism except that while atoms were supposed to be indivisible, corpuscles could be divided.

In this manner it was theorised that mercury could penetrate into metals and modify their inner structure. This was a step on the way towards the production of gold by transmutation of baser metals.

Corpuscular-ism was associated by its leading proponents with the idea that some of the properties that objects appear to have are artifacts of the perceiving mind: "secondary" qualities as distinguished from "primary" qualities.

Corpuscular-ism stayed a dominant theory for centuries and was blended with alchemy in the 17th century by Robert Boyle and Issac Newton.

Thomas Hobbes used corpuscular-ism to justify his political theories in Leviathan. It was used by Newton in his developing the corpuscular theory of light.

Boyle used it to develop his mechanical corpuscular philosophy, which in turn laid the foundations for the Chemical Revolution.

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[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 20. NIHILISM.

Nihilism (from the Latin 'nihil' meaning 'nothing') is the doctrine negating one or more putatively meaningful aspects of life.

The most common existential nihilism argues that life is without any objective, meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.

Moral nihilists assert that morality does not inherently exist, and that any established moral values are abstractly contrived.

Nihilism can also take other forms and state that in some aspects knowledge is not possible, or that some aspects of reality do not exist as such.

The term nihilism is sometimes used in association with anomie, to explain the general mood of despair, at a perceived pointlessness of existence, that one may develop upon realizing there are no necessary norms, rules, or laws.

Movements such as Futurism and deconstruction have been identified as "nihilistic" at various times in various contexts.

Nihilism is also a characteristic that has been ascribed to time periods: post modernity has been branded as a nihilistic epoch by Jean Baudrillard.

Some Christian theologians and figures of religious authority have asserted that post modernity and many aspects of Modernity represent a rejection of Theism. The rejection of their theistic doctrine entails nihilism.

 

[Haridasa Siva]

Report based on a research by Save the Children:

A quarter of young children around the world are not getting enough nutrients.

A new report states that 170 million (17 crores) children under the age of five have already suffered stunted growth because their parents were not able to provide them with sufficient nutrients.

450m (45 crores) children under five will be affected by stunted growth (both physically and mentally) in the next 15 years, if current trend continues.

India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Peru and Nigeria are home to half the world’s stunted children. In India, half of all children are stunted from malnutrition with a quarter of them going without food entirely.

Malnutrition is a factor in one-third of total global deaths of under-fives.

300 under-fives die every hour because of malnutrition.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

I wish that those parents will produce more wealth

than the children they cannot feed properly! :tsk:

Report based on a research by Save the Children:

A quarter of young children around the world are not getting enough nutrients.

A new report states that 170 million (17 crores) children under the age of five have already suffered stunted growth because their parents were not able to provide them with sufficient nutrients.

450m (45 crores) children under five will be affected by stunted growth (both physically and mentally) in the next 15 years, if current trend continues.

India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Peru and Nigeria are home to half the world’s stunted children. In India, half of all children are stunted from malnutrition with a quarter of them going without food entirely.

Malnutrition is a factor in one-third of total global deaths of under-fives.

300 under-fives die every hour because of malnutrition.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 21. Absurd-ism

"The Absurd" philosophy refers to the conflict between the human tendency to seek value and meaning in life and the human inability to find any.

In this context absurd does not mean "logically impossible," but rather "humanly impossible."

The universe and the human mind do not each separately cause the Absurd, but rather, the Absurd arises by the contradictory nature of the two existing simultaneously.

Absurd-ism is a philosophical school of thought stating that the efforts of humanity to find inherent meaning will ultimately fail because the sheer amount of information, including the vast unknown, makes 'certainty' impossible.

As a philosophy, absurd-ism also explores the fundamental nature of the Absurd and how individuals, once becoming conscious of the Absurd, should react to it.

Absurd-ism is very closely related to existentialism and nihilism and has its origins in Soren Kierkegaard the Danish philosopher of 19th century. He chose to confront the crisis humans faced with the Absurd by developing existential philosophy.

The aftermath of World war II provided the social environment that stimulated views of absurdity and allowed for their popular development, especially in the devastated France.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

From March 2012 onwards the new posts will appear once in 5

days i.e on the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th and 30th of

every month. This is an attempt to lessen the workload

and create free time for my vocal singing sessions in the

evenings. ray2:

 

[renuka]

Check this out

Wikipedia Sanskrit

विकिपीडिया

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 22. Nominal-ism.

Nominal-ism is a metaphysical view in philosophy according to which, general or abstract terms and predicates exist, while universals or abstract objects which are sometimes thought to correspond to these terms, do not exist.

Thus, there are at least two main versions of nominal-ism. One version denies the existence of universals—things that can be instantiated or exemplified by many particular things (e.g. strength, humanity).

The other version specifically denies the existence of abstract objects—objects that do not exist in space and time.
Most nominalists have held that only physical particulars in space and time are real, and that universals exist only subsequent to particular things.

However, some versions of nominal-ism hold that some particulars are abstract entities (e.g. numbers), while others are concrete entities—entities that do exist in space and time (e.g. tables, chairs).

Plato. Courtesy Google images.

Nominal-ism dates back to Plato and is opposed to the views of realism that universals do exist over and above particulars.

The early versions of nominal-ism were that "there is nothing general except names", hence the prefix "nomin-". This, however, is a more dated use of the term that is now considered to be a specific version of what is now called "nominal-ism".

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 23. Platonic realism.

This is a term usually used to refer to realism, the idea regarding the existence of universal and abstract objects. It is named after the Greek philosopher Plato - a student of Socrates.

Universals were ideal forms according to Plato. This stance is called Platonic idealism. Plato's Forms include numbers and geometrical figures making them a theory in mathematical realism. Form of the good is also included making it a theory of ethical realism.

Universals do not exist In Platonic realism, the way that ordinary physical objects exist, even though Plato metaphorically referred to such object to explain his concepts.

More modern versions of the theory avoid applying potentially misleading descriptions to universals. Instead, such versions maintain that it is meaningless to apply the categories of space and time to universals. Regardless of their description,

Platonic realism holds that universals do exist in a broad, abstract sense, although not at any spatial or temporal distance from people's bodies.

Thus, people cannot see or otherwise come into sensory contact with universals, but in order to conceive of universals, one must be able to conceive of these abstract forms.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 24. Tabula rasa.

"Tabula rasa" is the theory that individuals are born without built-in mental content. All their knowledge comes from experience and perception.

The proponents of the Tabula rasa thesis favor the "nurture" side of the Nature vs Nurture debate, when it comes to aspects of one's personality, social and emotional behavior, and intelligence.

The term in Latin equivalent to the English "blank slate" or "erased slate". The word comes from the Roman tabula the wax tablet used for writing notes. The writings were erased or "blanked" by heating the wax and then smoothing it to give a tabula rasa.

Traces of the idea that came to be called the tabula rasa appear as early as the writings of Aristotle. He wrote the first textbook of Psychology in De Anima or On the Soul, Book III, chapter 4.

However the notion of the mind as a blank slate went largely unnoticed for more than 1,000 years.

In the 11th century, the theory of tabula rasa was developed more clearly by the Islamic philosopher, Ibn Sina. He argued that the "human intellect at birth is rather like a tabula rasa, a pure potentiality that is actualized through education and comes to know".

The knowledge is attained through familiarity with objects in this world from which one abstracts universal concepts.

This is developed through a syllogistic method of reasoning; " Observations lead to prepositional statements, which when compounded lead to further abstract concepts."

He further argued that the intellect itself "possesses levels of development from the material intellect, that potentiality can acquire knowledge to the active intellect. The state of the human intellect at conjunction with the perfect source of knowledge."

In the 12th century, Ibn Tufail demonstrated the theory of tabula rasa as a thought experiment. He depicted the development of the mind of a feral child from a tabula rasa to that of an adult, in complete isolation from society" on a desert island through experience alone.

The translation of his novel entitled Philosophus Autodidactus, published in 1671, had an influence on John Locke's formulation of tabula rasa in
An Essay concerning Human Understanding.

Tabula rasa is also featured in the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud. He depicted personality traits as being formed by family dynamics.

Freud's theories imply that humans lack free will, but also that genetic influences on human personality are minimal. In psychoanalysis, one is largely determined by one's upbringing.[SUP]
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Tabula rasa is also used by 18th century philosopher Jean-Jacque Rousseau in order to support his argument that warfare is an advent of society and agriculture, rather than something that occurs from the human state of nature.

Since tabula rasa states that humans are born with a "blank-slate" Rousseau uses this to suggest that humans must learn warfare.

The tabula rasa concept became popular in social sciences in the 20th century. The idea that genes (or simply "blood") determined character took on racist overtones.

By the 1970s, some scientists had come to see gender identity as socially constructed rather than rooted in genetics - a concept still current although strongly contested.

This swing of the pendulum accompanied suspicion of innate differences in general and a propensity to "manage" society, where the real power must be - if people are really born blank.[SUP]
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[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 25. Rationality.

In Philosophy, rationality is the exercise of Reason. It is the manner in which people derive conclusions when considering things deliberately. It refers to the conformity of one's beliefs with one's reasons to believe, or with one's actions with one's reasons for action.

However, the term "rationality" tends to be used differently in different disciplines.

A rational decision is one that is not just reasoned, but is also optimal for achieving a goal or solving a problem. Determining optimality for rational behavior requires a quantifiable formulation of the problem, and the making of several key assumptions.

When the goal or problem involves making a decision, rationality matters as to how much information is available (e.g. complete or incomplete Knowledge). Collectively, the formulation and background assumptions are the model within which rationality applies.

It is thus meaningless to assert rationality without also specifying the background model assumptions describing how the problem is framed and formulated.

Theories of rationality

Max Weber, a German sociologist proposed an interpretation of social action that distinguished between four different idealized types of rationality.

1. The first, which he called purposive / instrumental rationality is related to the expectations about the behavior of other human beings or objects in the environment. These expectations serve as means for a particular actor to attain ends, ends which Weber noted were "rationally pursued and calculated."

2. The second type, Weber called value / belief-oriented. Here the action is undertaken for what one might call reasons intrinsic to the actor: some ethical, aesthetic, religious or other motive, independent of whether it will lead to success.

3. The third type was determined by an actor's feeling, or emotion – to which Weber himself said that this was a kind of rationality that was on the borderline of what he considered "meaningfully oriented."

4. The fourth was traditional, determined by ingrained habituation. Weber emphasized that it was very unusual to find only one of these orientations: combinations were the norm.

His usage also makes clear that he considered the first two as more significant than the others, and it is arguable that the third and fourth are subtypes of the first two.

In the psychology of reasoning, psychologists and cognitive scientists have defended different positions on human rationality.

One prominent view is that humans are rational in principle but they err in practice. In other words, humans have the competence to be rational but their performance is limited by various factors!

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

Dear friends,

Since this thread as well as the Daily Dose of Interesting information (D. D. I. I.) are both knowledge based, I have decided to merge them.

This thread may keep moving backwards as fresh topics appear everyday. But it will be there for anyone who wishes to read it.

Calculated as views per post this score higher than every other thread of mine and is second only to the Daily Dose of Interesting Information.

A star should retire at the height of his glory and not wait till he is kicked out! Right?

So the topics which I had originally wished to post in this thread will appear in the Daily Dose of I. I.

Thank you sharing a very long walk with me patiently!
We will keep meeting in the other threads as usual. ray2:

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

A small correction in the statistics:-

The poem thread in Literature section has the highest number of views per post at ~ 48. :first:

The Daily Dose of I.Info scores the second place with ~ 41 views per post. :second:

The Life is like that and Did you know that...? share the third place with ~21 views per post. :third:

The Points to Ponder thread with ~ 17 views per post is in the fourth place.

The views per post in Quotable Quotes is < 8.

But I do it for spreading the words of wisdom of spiritual gurus.
Also the lower figure of views per post is understandable.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

Never say , "never again!" :nono:

The moment you utter these words,
you WILL be made to retrace your path
and take BACK YOUR WORDS.

A Point to Ponder since Life is Like That.

The thread Daily Dose of useful information is nearing the
1000th post. Considering the length of each post and the number of posts it is likely to crash anytime in the near future.

It has already crashed once in the past.

So after the series on the Styles of Painting is finished by 14th inst, this thread will be revived and Daily Dose... will be kept alive with small but interesting tidbits off and on.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

Styles of Art.

# 1. ABSTRACT.

A Abstract Art. Courtesy Google images.

Abstract artists felt that paintings did not have to show only things that were recognizable.

In their paintings they did not try to show people, animals, or places exactly as they appeared in the real world.

They mainly used color and shape in their paintings to show emotions.

Some Abstract art is also called Non-objective art. In non-objective art, you do not see specific objects.

It is not painted to look like something specific.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

Styles of Art.

# 2. CUBISM.

Robert Rooney after colonial cubism.

Cubism is modern art made up mostly of paintings.

These paintings are not supposed to look real! The artist uses geometric shapes to show what he is trying to paint.

Early cubists used mainly grays, browns, greens, and yellows.

After 1914, Cubists started to use brighter colors.

Cubism was the beginning of the Abstract and Non-objective art styles.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

Styles of Art.

# 3. EXPRSSIONISM.

Wassily Kandinky Art- Expressionism.


In Expressionist Art, the artist tries to express certain feelings about some thing.

The artists that painted in this style were more concerned with having their paintings express a feeling than in making the painting look exactly like what they were painting.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 4. FAUVISM.

Fauve Town III. Google images.

Fauvism was an art style that lasted only four years, beginning in 1905.

The leader of this movement was Henri Matisse.

The word Fauvism is French for "wild beasts".

It got this name because the paintings had bright and unusual colors.

The subjects in the paintings were shown in a simple way, and the colors and patterns were bright and wild.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 5. IMPRESSIONISM.

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]MONET
Sunset at Lavacourt (1880)[/FONT]

Impressionism was developed in France during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

These pieces of art were painted as if someone just took a quick look at the subject of the painting.

The paintings were usually in bold colors and did not have a lot of detail.

The paintings in this style were usually outdoor scenes like landscapes.

The pictures were painted to look like they were shimmering.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 6. POINTLLISM.

An Autumn scene in pointillism
Courtesy Google Images.

In Pointillism, the artist uses small dots or strokes of paint to make up the pictures.

From far away, these dots blend together to form the picture and give the impression of different colors as they blend together.

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

# 7. POP ART.

A Neo pop art painting by Thomas Fedro.

Pop art can be any every day item that is drawn in a brash and colorful way.

Pop Art is short for Popular Art.

It is inspired by comic strips, advertising, and popular entertainment.

 

[S. Krishnamoorthy]

இந்தத் தொடர் அறிவுக்கு விருந்து; படிப்பதற்குச் சுவை!
கிருஷ்ணமூர்த்தி