PHILOSOPHY PATHWAYS Issue 81

I. 'The Dynamics of Love as Fertility, Formity, and Formality in Ancient Mythologies: A Critico-Structural Excursion into the Classics' by Ruel F. Pepa

III. 'Tom Albertsson on Wilber and Pre- vs. Trans-Rational Thinking' by Hubertus Fremerey

Professor Ruel F. Pepa from the Philippines is part of growing group of ISFP philosophers based at Trinity College, Quezon City. Here we reproduce the unabridged text of his paper read at a recent colloquium on Love in Mythological Traditions.

Bruno Curko brings information about the teaching of philosophy and logic in his homeland Croatia. I wonder whether English speaking academic philosophers might be persuaded to follow the Croatian example of holding National Olympiads in Philosophy and Logic?

Hubertus Fremerey writes a friendly response to Tom Albertsson's comments in Issue 80 on D.R. Kashaba's article on Kant and the Enlightenment, published in Issue 79.

I. 'THE DYNAMICS OF LOVE AS FERTILITY, FORMITY AND FORMALITY IN ANCIENT MYTHOLOGIES: A CRITICO-STRUCTURAL EXCURSION INTO THE CLASSICS' BY RUEL F. PEPA

    1 March 2004

    Dear Prof. Klempner,

    Greetings from the Philippines!
    I hope you are doing fine as well as your loved ones. Last
    20 February, we had a colloquium in Trinity College of
    Quezon City (TCQC) on Love in Mythological Traditions. It
    was co-sponsored by the Society of Philosophy Advocates
    (SOPHIA), the philosophical organization of undergrad
    students of TCQC and the local representations of the
    International Society for Philosophers (ISFP) - there are
    three (3) of us Philosophy faculty members of TCQC who are
    members of ISFP.

    I delivered the lecture based on my paper entitled "The
    Dynamics of Love as Fertility, Formity, and Formality in
    Ancient Mythologies: A Critico-Structural Excursion into
    the Classics". Attached herewith is a copy of the said
    paper for ISFP's file and evaluation.

    Thank you so much.

    Ruel F. Pepa

---

The Dynamics of Love as Fertility, Formity, and Formality in Ancient Mythologies: A Critico-Structural Excursion into the Classics

The mythology of a people is a serious and conscious presentation of stories that reflect culture. It is the collective memory that heightens a people's sense of cultural identity, social dignity and national pride. Myths are a cultural "road map" that takes us to the socio-existential terrains of the human soul. Myths reflect the uniqueness of the culture of a people as well as the frame of mind of each individual denizen in that cultural context. They are actually "dramatic stories that form a sacred charter either authorizing the continuance of ancient institutions, customs, rites and beliefs in the area where they are current, or approving alterations."[1]

However, there is something technical about "myth" or "mythology": It is fundamentally ancient Greek (i.e., Hellenic) in origin. And so, the question being triggered now is: Does it therefore mean that the terms "myth" and "mythology" do not have significant bearing outside of the ancient Greek civilization? The French scholar Jean-Pierre Vernant says otherwise:

     To be understood themselves, the Hellenic legends must be
     compared to the traditional stories of other peoples from
     very diverse cultures and periods, whether ancient China,
     India, the Middle East, the Pre-Columbian Americas, or
     Africa. The comparison is necessary because those narrative
     traditions, however they differ, display enough common
     elements, both with one another and with the Greek example,
     to establish kinship among them.[2]

These so-called common elements discovered in various mythologies are structural milestones that speak of a universal anthropological reality critically affirmed and put forward in the scholarly works of the proponents of the philosophico-anthropological school of thought called Structuralism or the Structuralist Theory in the academic orbit. One of its renowned patrons was the French intellectual and scholar Claude Levi-Strauss who

     can declare [such commonality] as indisputable observation
     that no matter where it comes from, myth is instantly
     recognizable as such with no risk of confusion with other
     kinds of story. It bears a marked distinction from the
     historical story, which in Greece grew up somewhat in
     contrast to myth, insofar as it was meant to be the
     accurate account of events recent enough to be confirmed by
     trustworthy witnesses. As for the literary story, it is pure
     fiction presented frankly as such, whose value derives
     primarily from the talent and skill of the person who made
     it. These two types of story are normally attributed to an
     author, who answers for them and who offers them under his
     name, as written texts, to an audience of readers.[3]

Structurally, we can thus say that the terms "myth" and "mythology" have a wider - even universal - scope of meaningfulness farther beyond its parochial origin.

This paper specifically focuses on the issue of the dynamics of love in ancient mythologies in both Near Eastern - particularly Mesopotamian and Egyptian - and Indo-European - particularly Greek - traditions.

Love in these mythologies - more pronounced in the Mesopotamian tradition - is viewed as a primal life-force characterized by 1) fertility (possibilizing-of-being); 2) formity (molding-into-being); and 3) formality (ordering-of-being).

In the Greek tradition, it is a primeval energy that cyclically flows from a universal timeless ocean - the Primordial EROS - to the "lakes" of gods/goddesses-in-time-and-space - Aphrodite and Eros - to the "rivers" of human passion and back to the universal timeless ocean.

Egyptian mythology dramatizes that in the "rivers" of human passion, love expresses itself as 1) physical desire (ka love); 2) sharing of the soul (ba love); and 3) commitment of the spirit (akh love).

Ontologically, the love portrayed in ancient classical mythologies cannot be boldly signified if not viewed as the spirit that "inspires" the embracing arms of creation and destruction, order and chaos, peace and violence. In Greek mythology, love (Eros) is the intensifying passion that calls into being the sting of destruction/violence (Eris).

Love is, hence, an ancient wave that vibrates, interpenetrates, and interconnects the divine and the human in an eternal cosmic dance that makes life dangerously exciting, poignantly challenging and desperately imminent in its expression of a "longing for itself".

Mesopotamian religion and culture span a very long period of four millennia. Materials of both archeological and literary significance may be generally availed of from almost every era of this ancient past. The Sumerian[4] gods and goddesses were embraced and enshrined by the dominant Semitic races - the Akkadians[5], the Amorites[6], and the Assyrians[7] - in the area.

Dumuzi-abzu[8] is a Sumerian god of the marshes in the earliest Mesopotamian mythology. Generally, he is viewed as a fertility deity whose sister, Geshtinanna[9], is the power in the grape, and whose companion, Inanna[10], symbolizes the "storehouse of dates." Dumuzi (in Semitic, Tammuz) is the central figure of a myth and cult whose manifestation of fertility is in the power of the date palm that appears in the spring. A fertility deity in an ancient myth is a well-spring of the creative energy of love that possibilizes being. Everything in the world springs naturally from the creative power of love represented in the activities of a fertility deity. The sexual expressions of Dumuzi's covenanting with and marriage to Inanna, the occurrence of his tragic and lamented death, as well as the effort of his sister and mother to venerate him and look for him in the underworld, are within the corpus of this myth. The myth and cult of Dumuzi in the Mesopotamian religion reveals the typical weaknesses of humanity in its encounter with the appearance of holiness in the forms of nature.

There is a sustained, though subdued, stability of the fertility motifs in the myths of Mesopotamia's middle period (ca. 2500 - ca. 1900 BCE)[11]. Fertility's symbolism from the simplicity of sexual intercourse is transformed now to one of cosmic significance - the powerful aggressiveness of the thunderstorm that pushes the river's course. The god Enlil - "lord wind" - is the cause of the storm. As wind-power, he leads over and controls actions intended to benefit humanity. The supreme deity in the pantheon is Anu, the sky-power. His relationship with his wife, Ki - the earth - has produced trees, reeds, and the rest of nature's vegetation. Anu is the father of Enki - "lord of the soil" - who epitomizes the sacred character of the waters of rivers (the Tigris and the Euphrates), rain and marshes. As lord of the soil, Enki symbolizes the necessary intention of fresh water to bless the soil.

     There has been more written about Enki than any other
     Sumero-Akkadian deity. The importance of water in a
     particularly arid climate may explain why Enki, the
     water-god, played such a prominent role in the creation
     myths of Sumer (Kramer & Maier).

     In addition to being the water-god, Enki was the god of
     wisdom and craftiness. It's possible that wisdom and
     craftiness spawned from his designation as water-god. The
     building of irrigation canals on the otherwise arid plains
     of southern Mesopotamia are what allowed Sumer to bourgeon
     into humankind's first known urban civilization. For this
     very reason, it is possible that water was associated with
     the genius of harnessing it - through the use of
     irrigation - thus the supreme god of water would also be
     envisioned as wise and crafty.[12]

Hence, Enki, whose activity leads to the formation of clay out of water and soil, likewise represents the human semen. Enki, being a deity who forms and gives shape - formity deity - is a molder. He is typically understood as the archetype - the original form.

Also during the middle period, the form of Inanna (Isthar in Semitic) changes. Added to her fertility symbolism is that of a war goddess, the rain-power, the evening and morning star, and the harlot. This period is also characterized the display of dynamic energies that excitingly inspire brisk interactions between humans and divines. The myth aims for cosmic order and the gods and goddesses - formality deities - projects themselves as intrinsic participants in the context.

     The Goddess Inanna ruled the people of Sumer, and under Her
     rule the people and their communities prospered and thrived.
     The urban culture, though agriculturally dependent, centered
     upon the reverence of the Goddess - a cella, or shrine, in
     her honour was the centerpiece of the cities. Inanna was
     the queen of seven temples throughout Sumer. Probably the
     most important Sumerian contribution to civilization was
     the invention and creation of a standard writing and
     literature; the Sumerians even had libraries. Their
     literary works reveal religious beliefs, ethical ideas, and
     the spiritual aspirations of the Sumerians. Among these
     works are the hymns and stories of Inanna - important here
     because they were recorded at a time when the patriarchy was
     beginning to take hold, and the position of the Goddess,
     although strong, was changing.[13]

The identification of love as a primal life-force in the forms of fertility, formity, and formality are likewise structurally conveyed in ancient Egyptian mythology. The element of love as fertility is present in the Old Kingdom[14] mythology through the sun-god Atum (a.k.a. Aten or Ra) who appears as the first creator. The deities Shu and Tefnut (air and moisture) come out of Atum. Later, Shu and Tefnut produce Geb and Nut (earth and sky). From the latter couple emerge Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nepthys. The cosmos is established from the first four deities and the later four take the role of mediators between humans and the cosmos.

Love as formity and as formality is most pronounced in the theology of Memphis which is recorded on the Shabaka Stone. In the Memphite theological tradition[15], all local and former mythological traditions converge in the god Ptah. The text presents a cosmology wherein creation of the world (love as formation) and the unity of the land of Egypt constitute a process in the eternal ordering of the world (love as formalization). From ideas in his heart pronounced by his tongue, Ptah creates everything: the universe; all living things; virtues like, justice, beauty, honesty, honor, dignity, etc. Even the gods are created in this manner. They initially come forth as ideas in the mind of Ptah. Then, they take the form of this world's materiality which have also been equally created out of Ptah.

V. The Developmental Flow of Love from Primordial Divinity to Its Humanized Form in Ancient Greek Mythology

The movement of events that projects love in the structural vehicles of fertility, formity, and formality seen in the ancient Greek mythological tradition undergoes the process of revelation that flows from the primordial eternity of divine presence to the temporal orbit of human reality. Love as fertility is solely of divine prerogative and responsibility. Love as formity is characterized by interactions among gods/goddesses and humanity in space and time where the former enjoy power advantage (being divine) over the latter. Love as formality brings us to the exciting drama of human passion and aggression that characterize the signification of socio-existential events in human terms.

In the beginning, there is only the Void and Chaos until Gaia (Earth) comes into being. The seed of love that is not yet conscious of itself (non-thematic Love) appears as Gaia. It is love-fertility whose appearance is actually a "possibilizing-of-being". Gaia, in other words, is "pregnant" with being.

     The earth appears. The Greek call it Gaia. Earth rises up
     in the very heart of the Void. And here it is: born after
     Chaos, and in some respects its opposite. Earth is not the
     realm of falling, dark and boundless and undefined; Earth
     has a distinct, separate, precise form. Against the
     confusion and shadowy vagueness of Chaos stand Gaia's
     sharpness, firmness, stability. On Earth everything is
     outlined, visible, solid. Gaia can be defined as the entity
     upon which the gods, men, and beasts can walk with
     confidence. It is the floor of the world.[16]

After Chaos and Gaia comes Eros - Old/ Primordial Love (thematic Love). Primordial Eros[17] is love that is not located within a sexual framework because in the most ancient times, there was no gender yet. Primordial Eros being the original love is not the one who will later appear in the era of humanity.

     The original Eros expresses a new thrust in the universe:
     In the same way that Erath emerged from Void, from out of
     Earth there springs what she contains within her own
     depths. What was in her, as part of her essence, comes
     forth and out: She gives birth to it with no need for
     sexual congress with anyone. What Earth delivers and
     reveals is precisely the thing that had dwelled darkly
     within her.[18]

Now that love has become thematic in Primordial Eros, Gaia gives birth to Uranus[19] whose place in Greek mythology is especially important. Uranus inaugurates a dramatic phase in Greek mythology that flows from fertility to formity. Uranus (Sky) is born out of Gaia and is originally the same dimension as she is. Gaia is covered by Uranus in full entirety. The Uranus that Gaia produces precisely corresponds and symmetrically duplicates her. Now, a pair of opposites - male and female - is present. In Uranus, we have the Male Sky and the Female Earth in Gaia. Love is now at the transition point between fertility and formity. From the union of these two forces emerge beings distinct from both of them.

But Gaia can no longer bear the difficulty of being closely attached with Uranus. So she comes up with a cunning scheme. She carries it out by shaping a sickle inside her womb where one of her offspring, Cronus, is trapped. Cronus will use the sickle to castrate his father, Uranus, while having intercourse with Gaia. While Uranus is emptying his seed in Gaia, Cronus grabs his father's sexual organ and slices it off. Upon its occurrence, Uranus instantly separates from Gaia and his severed sex organ is thrown by Cronus and lands into the sea.

     In castrating Uranus, on his mother's advice and through
     her shrewd tactics, Cronus brings about a fundamental stage
     in the birth of the cosmos: He separates the earth from the
     sky. Between sky and earth he creates open space:
     Everything the earth produces, everything living beings
     engender, will now have room to breathe, to live. Space is
     liberated - but time is transformed as well.[20]

The blood spilled out of Uranus upon his castration produces three distinct types of beings that personify violence, retribution, war, and slaughter: Eris. Eris is the opposite of Eros and he signifies all types and forms of hostility and disorder. Eris, on the one hand, is the internal turmoil in a single unit of relationship. Eros, on the other hand, is harmony and mutual agreement between two beings as distinct: masculine and feminine.

Now the sex organ that Cronus threw into the sea does not just sink into the water of the ocean; it drifts about and the sperm in it mixes with the sea. From there emerges a magnificent woman: Aphrodite[21]. Now the phase of love as formity has come.

     As she walks on the sand, the most fragrant and beautiful
     flowers spring up beneath her steps. In Aphrodite's wake,
     hard on her heels, come Eros and Himeros, love and desire.
     This is not the original Eros, but a later one who demands
     that there be a masculine and feminine in the world from
     then on: he is sometimes said to be Aphrodite's son. This
     Eros has a different task; it is no longer what it was at
     the very beginning of the cosmos - drawing forth what lay
     contained in the dark interior of the primordial powers.[22]

As Uranus moves away from Gaia, he inaugurates the way to a non-stop sequence of generations. In each generation, as gods are seen in a situation of constant war, it is predicted that there will be no relenting of conflicts in the world. It is therefore hoped that the war of the gods must stop to establish once and for all world order. This is love's expression of the need for formality (order and harmony). The need is, in fact, perennial as the movement of the story goes to the realm of humanity that is generally characterized by war, disorder, hatred, treachery, violence and crime. And so the focus now moves to the level of individual humanity where the concrete existentiality of love becomes authentic.

VI. The Existentiality of Love in the Individual Person: Ancient Egyptian Interpretation

Individual human love is understood in ancient Egyptian mythology in reference to the three components of the individual human person: the Ka, the Ba, and the Akh.

     Our selves consist of several parts which experience life
     as well as death in different ways:

     A. The Akh (or Khu) is our exalted divine self, the spark
     of divine matter which knows only gradually deepening
     awareness as our series of lives progresses. It is almost
     unaware of life and death. The ancients visualized it as a
     star, or as a high soaring white bird.

     B. The Ba, or astral body, is our dream self, which carries
     life experience to the Akh. This body can become a ghost,
     and lives for some time after the body dies. (Some seers
     describe a Sahu, or magical body, similar to and in
     addition to the Ba).

     C. The Ka, or conscious/sexual body. This generally dies at
     the same time as the body, although in, for instance,
     Alzheimer's disease, it dies before the body. It embodies
     our alertness, logical mind, our desires, our fears, and
     our lusts, our prides; it is the part by which we deal with
     everyday life. It perceives the experiences and transactions
     which the Ba reports to the Akh.[23]

Love may be understood in these three perspectives. Ka-love is physical engagement expressed in sexual desire, ownership, capitulation or ascendancy. Ba-love is soul-encounter where facilitation stands face-to-face with distress and need. It offers a vision of eternal sharing of human existence. Akh-love is a spiritual embracing that attends to the fulfillment of certain virtues that elevate humanity to the level of the divine. Akh-love aims for the eternal unity of all existence and of our very own individual divine spark.

This paper is by no means exhaustive and complete. It is a simple introduction to prime the intellectual's interest to seriously pursue the search for invaluable wealth that still needs to be discovered in mythological traditions of the ancient world. We have barely scratched the surface.

1. Robert Graves & Raphael Patai, Hebrew Myths (New York: Doubleday,1964), p. 11.

2. Jean-Pierre Vernant, The Universe, the Gods, and Men: Ancient Greek Myths (New York: Perennial, 2002), p. ix.

4. Among the earliest civilizations were the diverse peoples living in the fertile valleys lying between the Tigris and Euphrates valley, or Mesopotamia, which in Greek means, "between the rivers." In the south of this region, in an area now in Kuwait and northern Saudi Arabia, a mysterious group of people, speaking a language unrelated to any other human language we know of, began to live in cities, which were ruled by some sort of monarch, and began to write. These were the Sumerians, and around 3000 BC they began to form large city-states in southern Mesopotamia that controlled areas of several hundred square miles. The names of these cities speak from a distant and foggy past: Ur, Lagash, Eridu. These Sumerians were constantly at war with one another and other peoples, for water was a scarce and valuable resource. The result over time of these wars was the growth of larger city-states as the more powerful swallowed up the smaller city-states. Eventually, the Sumerians would have to battle another peoples, the Akkadians, who migrated up from the Arabian Peninsula.

5. The Akkadians were a Semitic people living on the Arabic peninsula during the great flourishing period of the Sumerian city-states. Although we don't know much about early Akkadian history and culture, we do know that as the Akkadians migrated north, they came in increasing conflict with the Sumerian city-states, and in 2340 BC, the great Akkadian military leader, Sargon, conquered Sumer and built an Akkadian empire stretching over most of the Sumerian city-states and extending as far away as Lebanon. Sargon based his empire in the city of Akkad, which became the basis of the name of his people. This great capital of the largest empire humans had ever seen up until that point later became the city of Babylon, which was the commercial and cultural center of the middle east for almost two thousand years.

6. After the last Sumerian dynasty fell around 2000 BC, Mesopotamia drifted into conflict and chaos for almost a century. Around 1900 BC, a group of Semites - Canaanites - called the Amorites - had managed to gain control of most of the Mesopotamian region. Like the Akkadians, the Amorites centralized the government over the individual city-states and based their capital in the city of Babylon, which was originally called Akkad and served as the center of the Amorite empire. For this reason, the Amorites are called the Old Babylonians and the period of their ascendancy over the region, which lasted from 1900-1600 BC, is called the Old Babylonian period. The Amorites were an ancient tribe of Canaanites - but who were technically not of Canaanite ethnicity - who inhabited the region northeast of the Jordan River as far as Mount Hermon.

7. The Assyrians were Semitic people living in the northern reaches of Mesopotamia; they have a long history in the area, but for most of that history they are subjugated to the more powerful kingdoms and peoples to the south. Under the monarch, Shamshi-Adad, the Assyrians attempted to build their own empire, but Hammurabi soon crushed the attempt and the Assyrians disappear from the historical stage. Eventually the Semitic peoples living in northern Mesopotamia were invaded by another Asiatic people, the Hurrians, who migrated into the area and began to build an empire of their own. But the Hurrian dream of empire was soon swallowed up in the dramatic growth of the Hittite empire, and the young Hurrian nation was swamped. After centuries of attempts at independence, the Assyrians finally had an independent state of their own since the Hittites did not annex Assyrian cities. For the next several hundred years, the balance of power would shift from the north to the south.

8. Dumuzi - the shepherd king of Uruk who came to be known as the first ruler to wed the goddess Inanna in the Sacred Marriage Rite. Literally translated as 'Faithful Son' Dumuzi-Abzu - literally Dumuzi of the deep.

9. Geshtinanna, a daughter of Duttur, was Dumuzi's sister. Geshtinanna, was a spinster, living alone in the Arali Desert in southern Eden. In Dumuzi's flight from the galla, when Inanna told them to carry away her husband and take him down to the Netherworld, he ran to Geshtinanna for help. She tried to hide her brother but her efforts did little good. Dumuzi was found by the galla. It was then that Geshtinanna learned her brother had been sentenced by Inanna, his wife, to the Netherworld, never to return again to the Great Above.

10. Related to Inanna's identification with growth, abundance and fertility is her association with sex. Her presence is revealed in the attraction between the sexes. In her absence, sexual desire is non-existent. [refer Descent Saga] Many songs and hymns describe Inanna herself as eager for sex and is sexually active. In a hymn entitled 'The Sister's Message', Dumuzi's sister, Geshtinanna, tells of meeting Inanna and of how Inanna invited Geshtinanna to her house and in her bedroom confessed of her longing for Geshtinanna's brother. (http:---)

11. Appearance of the Sumerians: the oldest cities in Sumer were founded around 3000 BC. By the third millennium (2800-2370), Sumerian dynastic city-states had appeared; they fought a lot. Eventually they were consolidated by war into a unified kingdom, and then conquered by the people upstream from them.

The Assyrians, a Semitic people (their language group), absorbed Sumerian culture, and established their capital at Akkad - near the later site of Babylon. They were henceforth known as the Akkadians. The Akkadians were powerful warriors, and conquered in every direction under the command of their greatest king, Sargon.

14. While the unification of Egypt in the Archaic period was the single most important event in Egyptian history, it was a long and drawn-out affair. Although Narmer is credited with unifying the country, all the kings of the first two dynasties had to fight constant wars against considerable opponents all along the Nile. But the third dynasty of Egyptian kings began powerfully; the second king of that dynasty, a man named Netcheriche or Djoser (or Zoser) became powerful enough to control the whole of the country. Egypt had, meanwhile, prospered and grown beyond everyone's wildest dreams. Agricultural production had been revolutionized by the building of massive irrigation projects; trade had ballooned to super-human proportions; the population had swelled exponentially. Suddenly Egypt found itself wealthy; the country literally exploded with creativity for the next several generations. This period,from 2650-2134, the Old Kingdom, was the richest and most creative period in Egyptian history. All the pyramids were built at this time; the growth in population and wealth allowed the kings to apportion vast amounts of labor and materials to these monuments to themselves.

15. The Memphis theology is based around Ptah (equivalent to the Greek Hephaistos, the divine blacksmith), (shown above on the left), who himself becomes the primordial fire and gives it substance. This cosmological system was developed at Memphis, when it became the capital city of the kings of Egypt. Ptah is the creator-god of Memphis, and during the long period the city served as the capital of Egypt it was known as Het-ka-Ptah or "House of the Soul of Ptah". Ptah is one of several Egyptian deities attributed with a myth about fashioning creation. Ptah, as the god Ta-tenen (the primordial mound), creates in the so-called "Memphite Theology" the world, its inhabitants, and the kas of the other gods. Reference is again made to the Ennead, this time with Ptah at its head.

16. Jean-Pierre Vernant, The Universe, the Gods, and Men: Ancient Greek Myths, pp. 3-4.

17. The early arrival of Eros in the origin myth not only offsets the other rather gloomy siblings of Tartarus, but also establishes his function for further creation. Eros is the cause of love and creation and thence, all life. From the origins of consciousness, humanity has sought to understand the mystery of creation - in myths the cosmic creator takes fantastical forms, but that we still use the term 'eros' in our language means we must look back at Eros' original intent.

19. Uranus, also known as Ouranos, was the embodiment of the sky or heavens, and known as the god of the sky. He was the first son of Gaia (the earth) and he also became her husband. According to Hesiod, their children included the Titans: six sons (Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus and Cronus) and six daughters (Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe and Tethys). There were other offspring: the Cyclopes, (who were named Brontes, Steropes and Arges and were later known as "one eyed giants"), and also the three monsters known as the Hecatonchires, who each had one hundred hands and fifty heads. Their names were Briareus, Cottus and Gyes. Other offspring of Uranus and Gaia were the Erinyes, who were spirits of punishment and goddesses of vengeance. The Erinyes avenged wrongs which were done to family, especially murder within a family. After Uranus had been castrated, his blood fell to earth (Gaia) and conceived the Giants. These were of monstrous appearance and had great strength . Similarly, in some versions Aphrodite is believed to have risen from the foam created by the sex organs of Uranus after they were thrown into the sea by his son Cronus.

21. In Greek mythology, Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty and sexual rapture. According to Hesiod, she was born when Uranus (the father of the gods) was castrated by his son Cronus. Cronus threw the severed genitals into the ocean which began to churn and foam about them. From the aphros ("sea foam") arose Aphrodite, and the sea carried her to either Cyprus or Cythera. Hence she is often referred to as Kypris and Cytherea. Homer calls her a daughter of Zeus and Dione.

Ruel F. Pepa Faculty of Philosophy Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences College of Arts and Sciences Trinity College of Quezon City The Philippines

Croatia is a small European country with long and rich history. Philosophical tradition in Croatia led the way in the XII century with the first Croatian philosopher Herman Dalmatin.[1] In the Renaissance Croatia had many well known and influential philosophers: Franjo Petric, Matija Vlachic, Juraj Dragisic. [3][4] From the Renaissance until today Croatia also had many famous philosophers. The most important is Rugerius Boscovich. Today we have four Universities where students can study philosophy.[5]

Logic in high school
Today Croatian high school lasts four years. According to the school syllabus, in the third year scholars learn logic, one lesson per week (35 lessons through a school year). Until 1991 we had one schoolbook of logic, Gajo Petrovic Logic. Today we have new and modern schoolbooks: Dr. Mirko Jakic Logic and Dr. Srecko Kovac Logic. Through this school subject scholars learn the basis of formal logic starting with Aristotle's terms, proposition, conclusion, categorical, hypothetical and disjunctive syllogism, Venn diagrams, definition, division and argument. They continue with modern formal symbolic logic and mathematical logic. The program is concluded with predicate logic. In this way high school students are facing basic logical problems.

In the fourth year of high school students have 64 lessons of philosophy (2 lessons per week). Today teachers have a dilemma, namely we have two different ways to teach philosophy. The first is the historical approach. Through this entrance students learn history of philosophy, from Milesians Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes (6th century B.C.) until Jacques Derrida (born in 1930). The second is is problem approach. Here we can base on the concrete philosophical problems like ethics, epistemology, and aesthetics. Today we have two different schoolbooks of philosophy by domestic authors:

     B. Kalin History of Philosophy. Historical entrance. This
     schoolbook has been in use since 1973, but practically
     every year there is addition of new chapters. In this book
     we can find basic information of every significant
     philosopher from 6th century until today. In the second
     part of the book there are original texts by these
     philosophers. In the beginning of the book there is the
     introduction in basic philosophical disciplines
     (metaphysics, ontology, ethics, philosophy of history). At
     the end we have a philosophy dictionary with 500 philosophy
     terms. A special part is dedicated to Croatian philosophy.
     Every high school student in the last thirty years has this
     book in his library.

     I. Cehok and F. Grgic Philosophy. Problem entrance. This
     school book gives basic information about, and
     philosophical interpretations of the following philosophical
     problems: man, knowledge, language and the world, causes,
     mind and body, good and value, politics, infinite Being and
     art. This is a modern schoolbook adapted for modern students.

National Olympiad in philosophy and logic

Since 1998 the Institute for Education of Croatia has organized the National Tournament in logic. First we have a County Tournament. The best results lead to the National Olympiad. Examination in this contest consists of assignments based on the logic syllabus. But, mostly assignments are based on mathematical logic.

Every paper has ten to five problems (proposition, conclusion, categorical, hypothetical and disjunctive syllogism, Venn diagrams, definition, division and argument, symbolic, mathematical logic). The student with the best results receives a kind of relief at admission to the University.

Since 2001 we have held a National Olympiad in philosophy, maintained at the same time and with the same rules as the tournament in logic. This tournament has three levels. The first is interrogation of proficiency with philosophical terms. Students receive ten philosophical terms and they must write everything they know about them in ten minutes. These terms can be: a priori, a posteriori, metaphysics, logos, natura naturans, natura naturata, idea, telos, epistemology, scepticism, and realism.

Then they write an essay. Every year there is a new theme. Last year the theme was "Kant's aesthetics".

The third part is for the five best students from first two parts. This examination is viva voce, an analysis of a philosophical theme (for example, Heidegger's "being-there").

1. Herman Dalmatin (1110-1154) was our first world famous scientist and philosopher. His teacher was the famous Thierry de Chartres. Dalmatin wrote about 20 translations (Euclid's "Elements", Al-Khwarizmi's "Tables", Sahl ibn Bishr's "Sextus astronomicae liber", Abu-Ma'ashar's "Introduction to Astronomy", Ptolemy's Planisphere) and the original astrological-cosmological book "De essentiis".

2. Matija Vlachic - Flacius Illyricus (1520-1575). Voluminous promoter of Protestantism in XVI century. He wrote more than 200 theology booklets. His most known work is "Clavis Scripturae Sacrae" (The key to the Sacred Script) analyzing lexicographically the content of the Bible. Some considered him a founder of hermeneutic philosophy.

3. Georgius Benignus de Salvatis - philosopher, theologian, grey friar, from Srebrnica (medieval name Argentina) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He worked in Florence, Dubrovnik and Rome. In Florence he become part of the well-known Platonic academy in Florence There he become a portage of Leonardo Medicheiski and become a teacher of his sons, one of them Giovanni afterward commenced Pope Leon X. He wrote a lot of books about philosophy and theology: "Mirabilia septem et septuaginta", "De communicatione divine naturae Fredericus", "Ae animi regni principe", "De natura angelica", "Propthicae solutiones".

4. In the Renaissance we have more noted philosophers like: Augustin Kazotic, Frederik Grisogono, Mark Antun de Dominis, Jannus Pannonius, Antun Vrancic.

5. Philosophy can be studied at undergraduate level at the University of Zagreb, University of Zadar, University of Rijeka or in Studia Croatica.

III. 'TOM ALBERTSSON ON WILBER AND PRE- VS. TRANS-RATIONAL THINKING' BY HUBERTUS FREMEREY

I greatly esteem your essay on Wilber and pre- vs. trans-rational thinking and those "three eyes" of Bonaventura - physical eye, rational eye, and spiritual eye. This pre-trans-rational difference was an important point to be stressed again.

But let me defend "rationality" a bit. Those medieval philosophers like Bonaventura or his contemporary Thomas were not at all unaware of spirituality - as you implicitly seem to concede. They surely knew as much of spirituality as does Wilber. They surely were not only "mythicists" but even "mysticists" - many of them. Meister Eckhart (ca. 1260-1327), one generation younger than Bonaventura, generally is called a mystic. And Newton is said to have been very much influenced by the mystic Boehme (1575-1624). When Kepler and Newton did "natural science" they did so as theologians interested in the ways of God showing in His creation. This was the same attitude as that of Spinoza, ten years older than Newton. Only during Enlightenment this spiritual origin of modern science got lost. So much so, that Laplace (1749-1827, cf. Kant-Laplace model of solar-system), when asked by Napoleon why God did not appear in his "Celestial Mechanics" could answer "Sir, I didn't need this hypothesis."

BUT - and this is my objection to your praise of Wilber: While "Western" mathematics has its origins in the religion of the Orphics and Pythagoreans, and began its rise during 17th century in the context of "theologia naturalis" and Neo-Platonism, it was a "rational" endeavour, not a "spiritual" one. The same applies with Socratic-Platonic dialogues. They trusted in the "reasonable argument" as did Kant.

There has always been much spirituality around not only in the Western world but even more so in the eastern world. Wilber was not needed to introduce it, and neither was "New Age" and "Guruism". But this dominant spirituality in my opinion explains why the Orient never got at modern science or democracy: The Orient was so indulged in "spirituality", that it simply was not interested in understanding nature or society. But the "philosophes" of Enlightenment were! This caused a general rise of liberty and well-being in the Western world unimaginable before.

To use your picture: We should learn in the long run "to dance the Tango", but we should not forget that for everyday movement "going" is the more natural form of movement. Or would you enjoy a world were people are dancing all the day like on Mardi Gras in New Orleans or dancing the "time warp" as in "Rocky Horror Picture Show" ? Even Nietzsche's Zarathustra came from the hills dancing. To be sure: I like this and I like the Tango, but as Kant had it we should first try to learn the upright walking of free persons. [...]

It is not that I am alien to the concepts of spirituality. 40 years ago I read Ramakrishna and Sri Aurobindo and the Pali Kanon and the New Testament and much of similar stuff. But there is still a long way to go till we arrive at the Beatles' "Pepperland" and drive off the Blue Meanies. Think of how "Easy Rider" ended. There remains much to do.

www.geoffreyklempner.net

klempner@fastmail.net

International Society for Philosophers

Wisdom begins with wonder