Thursday 14 November 2013

Who is running your mind?

This is for the practical men. The ones who reject theory, the ones who deny thought. Those who claim to live and think only by their experience and feel of reality. They dismiss logics and reason for some intuitive derivation, it's right because they feel it. These are the men that say to be immune to intellectual influence. It's a fatal conceit, the absolute lack of method and the presumptuous attitude towards knowledge make them a potential deadly threat to others.



"Those who ignore history are bound to repeat it." 
- George Santayana

Like with history, those who ignore philosophy are doomed to have their minds enslaved. How so? I'll let the words of Ayn Rand expand this claim: 


“As a human being, you have no choice about the fact that you need a philosophy. Your only choice is whether you define your philosophy by a conscious, rational, disciplined process of thought and scrupulously logical deliberation - or let your subconscious accumulate a junk heap of unwarranted conclusions, false generalizations, undefined contradictions, undigested slogans, unidentified wishes, doubts and fears, thrown together by chance, but integrated by your subconscious into a kind of mongrel philosophy and fused into a single, solid weight: self-doubt, like a ball and chain in the place where your mind's wings should have grown.”
- Ayn Rand


Indeed, we live in a world that breathes ideology. There are ideas everywhere, we cannot avoid them. We think and we act, so it is implied that we must have a methodology to execute these operations (even the case of the methodology of no methodology). These ways to think and act are a product of Philosophy, they have been created, debated and documented over the centuries; just because one doesn't know what's his, it doesn't mean he doesn't have one.

There's some sort of a red pill question I'm going to present to you: "Who is running your mind?" - If you operate by ideas, and these ideas were most likely created by famous thinkers, some or a long time ago, do you know who they are? Do you know their work? Are you aware of the implications of such ideas to yourself and to ones around you?
There are serious risks in following intuitively what we hear here and there. Philosophy matters, it provides several tools to dissect ideas and concepts. It is one self's responsibility to decide the complete ownership of its own mind. To conclude, there is a quote by a famous economist that would be very suited for this occasion:

“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back.”
- J. M. Keynes

Monday 21 October 2013

Were you Progressive today?


“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'” 

 Isaac Asimov


No, you have the right to have an informed opinion.

As this simple yet enlightening quote eloquently puts it, western modern day "DeMockcracy" is on the front line to exalt their citizens to express their freedom of speech, as long as they do not utilize their freedom of thought, of course.

The thought that a human being has some sort sort of intrinsic value just because he walks on two legs bewilders me. This inane idea that states that "There is good in all of Us" (you've heard it, confess), has no factual ground whatsoever, it becomes "offensive" to say the obvious. That there are people that are a failed  project of a living being, whose minds are infertile like the simplest amoeba.

Gentlemen, this is not being "mean", or "unpleasant" or whatever society tries to ram into your head with a pneumatic hammer. This is being a realist to the core and having an OBJECTIVE view of the world as it is.

Of course, the people that will be on the first line to condone these theories  are the so called "progressive", which is quite ironic since the progressive movement brings no progress at all. There if a difference between liberal and progressive, the idea of Progressive has the sense of change that can light up with hope the layman.

What progressive really means is that we will walk, progressively, of course, into a world with ever present regulations , who will in turn do their utmost  to assure that group mentality trumps the individual. And then we'll have a tidal wave of equality and fairness, and when we have had enough of all the equality and all of the fairness, we will have  more of it whether we like it or not. Why? It is progressive.

Right and wrong do not come into it. Progressives always know better than everyone else. It is a gift they have. The arbiters of what people are allowed to do and say, which is, of course anything progressive that does not have the slightest of critical spirit, that is not progressive, that is "offensive". 

If you are not progressive, you must surely be far right and chase down immigrants with torches and white hoods, see? Racist and xenophobic, therefore non progressive. Of course, the quintessential word regarding the progressive movement is multiculturalism.

European multiculturalism, of course, consists in throwing certain groups of immigrants into state  paid, ghetto like neighbourhoods, this rainbow made of confetti is the banner of progressive white knights of truth that are always there beside us in search for the truth, if it is progressive, of course.


If the truth is not progressive, it is incorrect. 

Ultimately, the progressive movement is applied exactly like Marxist revolutions, gradually, progressively.

Like a disease.

Valete Fratres

Sunday 6 October 2013

On Consciousness and Militancy

There are 4 possible states for a population, in general, to have towards itself. Individuals regard themselves and those around them by different methods, ending up with some ideology that binds it all in some perspective. However, this will not be about the philosophical methods of analyzing and perceiving the world around you, but more about the consequences of whatever method it is used.
Note: the following consequences are not specific or exclusive to any ideology(ies), though there are certain schools of thought in which most members fit in a certain category.

Beforehand, I would like to introduce this 2 concepts that define a state of mind of an individual or of a group of them.
Consciousness: the condition of being conscious : the normal state of being awake and able to understand what is happening around you. (in Merriam-Webster's Dictionary)
Militancy: the quality of having or showing a desire or willingness to use strong, extreme, and sometimes forceful methods to achieve something. (in Merriam-Webster's Dictionary)
In other words, consciousness is your awareness about the world around you and militancy the degree of compromise (even through coercion) that you are ready to apply for a specific end.

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LOW CONSCIOUSNESS / HIGH MILITANCY
In this first situation, which can be regarded as the worst combination, an individual has a very insufficient knowledge about philosophy, politics and economics (in general), but an extraordinarily high willingness to incur in action against any goal. People with this set in mind, are easily controllable and can be used as terrible weapons. It is an active aggressive stance that will lead to a very likely social disaster.

LOW CONSCIOUSNESS / LOW MILITANCY
The second best or worst to have, since the absence of an increased militancy doesn't provide the weaponization of the affected individuals. These are in fact, what is commonly described as "sheeple", the best approximation to human livestock. They don't know, and promptly deny any form of action. This category is for the very true conformists, a passive aggressive stance, that allows ramping tyranny or collectivist rule. However, it must be said, that people with LC/LM are not to be expected to take by force so eagerly.

HIGH CONSCIOUSNESS / HIGH MILITANCY
Again, the second best or worst scenario to have in a group of people. It is the combined effects of consciousness and militancy that'll give those in this class the true perks of an activist. People with HC/HM will gladly learn new things and just afterwards shout them out loud to other people, even driving them into action. Their militancy may seem to be neutralized by the level of consciousness, however their action is very likely one step ahead of their mind. Moreover, they reveal a somewhat solid knowledge in intellectual subjects which allow them to reason more than those who lack these competences. Finally they may be very useful or dangerous, with no certainty, however they are indeed not passive at all.

HIGH CONSCIOUSNESS / LOW MILITANCY
Finally, the image of the wise man in the armchair, the person that has a very satisfactory range of studies but that thinks more than acts. Every decision is very well balanced and thought, with a frequent use of debate as a method for self-improvement. Only acts with a very high degree of confidence on the idea, almost never rushing into a fight without an incredibly good reason. It may be regarded as the best type, since it preferably takes everything into consideration and avoids going berserk for some irrational motive.

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Well, which one are you? Share your thoughts in the comment section below if you feel like it.

Let us slain the Leviathan that enslaves us and get back the freedom that was stolen from us at birth, but lets not rush into action without thinking. Good ideas definitely don't require force and the last century was a big and sad example, reason must come first in order to prevent disasters.

Thursday 26 September 2013

Feminism killed the Nice Guy - Part I

After a long absence we are back to business, today I shall unravel the second part of the saga: "Feminism killed the Nice guy". As a recap, the first part was focused on John Stuart Mill's work "The Subjugation of Women", and the teachings of the first Women's Rights activist as I liked to call her, Mary Wollstonecraft, generally these two contributions were in my view extremely important, the leap of thought required was relatively visionary at the time and it could still be useful and practical today in countries where women are enslaved and have a lesser status than that which of men. This second part will focus on the French existentialist philosopher, whose influence in feminist theory and feminist philosophy was undoubtedly great, I am of course referring to Simone de Beauvoir.

The work to be analysed is obviously "The Second Sex" by Simone de Beauvoir, as an existentialist, her central premise was that existence precedes essence, hence, a person is not born a woman, but rather, becomes one. This can become accepted by observing the emergence of transsexuals as human beings that were ultimately born in the wrong sex, and seek to alter it by means of aesthetic medicine. 

The central core of her analysis is related to the Hegelian concept of "the Other", a key concept in continental philosophy, it opposes the "Same". In Simone's view of a male dominated culture, women are seen as the "Other", the "Other" is essentially a "minority", but a minority in the ideological sense and not the sheer numerical sense. In social sciences, the concept of "Other" has been applied to understand the processes by which society and groups exclude the "Others" in order to subordinate or ostracise them from society. 

This dissociative behaviour is linked to the artificial construction of roles in order to fit in with the machinery of society without being labelled as an "other", due to the fear of stigmatization or condemning. The use of otherness is strictly linked with nationality and patriotism, in order to mould a certain type of national identity, this can entail the active segregation of groups labelled as "others", and in extreme cases, genocide. 

In the field of gender studies, the "Other" applied by Simone, is, as I previously stated, her  belief of women as being objects of a socially constructed ideology in male dominated society, arguing that in the same way these social edifices can be constructed, they can also be changed with the course of the time and the progress/change/creation of new ideas and social paradigms.

By following Derridean deconstruction we are able to deconstruct the word woman in order to remove the need of rationally male society, in short, this deconstruction denies the existence of an intrinsic meaning and therefore impossible to achieve metaphysics of presence, a small definition of this concept is that:

"The deconstructive interpretation holds that the entire history of Western philosophy and its language and traditions has emphasized the desire for immediate access to meaning, and thus built a metaphysics or ontotheology around the privileging of presence over absence."

This prompts us back to Simone and the "Second Sex".  Part One is called "Destiny" , which has three chapters, "Biological Data", "The Psychoanalytical Point of View" and lastly, "The Point of View of Historical Materialism". 

The first chapter is related to physiology and the differences between the bodies of males and females, putting in evidence the greater muscular strength, less blood cells and lesser respiratory capacity. In the second chapter, Simone exposes the theories of Freud and Adler, and dismisses them afterwards, arguing that there is no empirical basis for a study on eroticism to be explored in the domain of psychoanalysis. The third chapter is centred on  "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State" by Friedrich Engels, with no surprise she ended up dismissing yet another theory of a certain "historical defeat of women". Interesting that an ideology that supposedly defends equality between the sexes has reached a certain height of claims that were never put to evidence by any proponent of capitalism, Simone easily dismissed Engels' work due to lack of basis and reason regarding these claims, I shall induce that she utilized the same method of deconstruction applied to the other, with metaphysical presence being the core point, relativizing the "defeat of women", even though she acknowledges and propagates the idea of women as an "Other" in a society that is male-oriented.

“Two separate beings, in different circumstances, face to face in freedom and seeking justification of their existence through one another, will always live an adventure full of risk and promise." (p. 248)” 
- Simone de Beauvoir, "The Second Sex"

This concludes yet another part of the analysis.

Valete fratres.

Saturday 3 August 2013

Feminism killed the Nice Guy - Prologue

The Western world is full of half truths and half lies, but the most exaggerated claims of all is the new wave of feminism that started in the 90's and has propagated into today, and is generally accepted as some sort of indisputable truth. Let us now dissect the history of feminism, honestly I prefer to call the first waves as women's rights activists, because they were fair and totally legitimate in the search for gender equality, not the feminazi radical beliefs we have today in the West.

There are three waves, the first started in the XIX century and ended around half the XX century, however, the first precursor of the Women's Rights movement was Mary Wollstonecraft.

In her most known work "A Vindication of Rights for Women" she argues that women are in no way inferior to men, but appear to be so because they lack education. She envisions a social order founded in reason, in which men and women have essentially the same rights. As equals.

Wollstonecraft famously and ambiguously writes: "Let it not be concluded that I wish to invert the order of things; I have already granted, that, from the constitution of their bodies, men seem to be designed by Providence to attain a greater degree of virtue. I speak collectively of the whole sex; but I see not the shadow of a reason to conclude that their virtues should differ in respect to their nature. In fact, how can they, if virtue has only one eternal standard? I must therefore, if I reason consequentially, as strenuously maintain that they have the same simple direction, as that there is a God."

We can, in all certainty, give validity to Wollstonecraft's assertions, she does not state than man and women are "equal" in the literal sense, but that they are rational human beings and should both be treated as such, in accordance to dignity and even common sense. She can be considered the "mother" of Women's rights in general.

Secondly, we have  John Stuart Mill and his work "The Subjection of Women" , he states his argument of equality between the sexes. At the time it was published in 1869, it was a declared affront to the European conventions for the status between men and women. Mill attempts to prove that the legal subjugation of women is wrong and that it should give way to perfect equality.

"Women are brought up to act as if they were weak, emotional, docile - a traditional prejudice. If we tried equality, we would see that there were benefits for individual women. They would be free of the unhappiness of being told what to do by men. And there would be benefits for society at large - it would double the mass of mental faculties available for the higher service of humanity. The ideas and potential of half the population would be liberated, producing a great effect on human development.
If society really wanted to discover what is truly natural in gender relations, Mill argued, it should establish a free market for all of the services women perform, ensuring a fair economic return for their contributions to the general welfare. Only then would their practical choices be likely to reflect their genuine interests and abilities.
Mill felt that the emancipation and education of women would have positive benefits for men also. The stimulus of female competition and companionship of equally educated persons would result in the greater intellectual development of all. He stressed the insidious effects of the constant companionship of an uneducated wife or husband. Mill felt that men and women married to follow customs and that the relation between them was a purely domestic one. By emancipating women, Mill believed, they would be better able to connect on an intellectual level with their husbands, thereby improving relationships.
Mill attacks marriage laws, which he likens to the slavery of women, "there remain no legal slaves, save the mistress of every house." He alludes to the subjection of women becoming redundant as slavery did before it. He also argues for the need for reforms of marriage legislation whereby it is reduced to a business agreement, placing no restrictions on either party. Among these proposals are the changing of inheritance laws to allow women to keep their own property, and allowing women to work outside the home, gaining independent financial stability.
Again the issue of women's suffrage is raised. Women make up half of the population, thus they also have a right to a vote since political policies affect women too. He theorizes that most men will vote for the MPs which will subordinate women, therefore women must be allowed to vote to protect their own interests."

"Under whatever conditions, and within whatever limits, men are admitted to the suffrage, there is not a shadow of justification for not admitting women under the same."

He defends three fundamental principles regarding society as a whole:

  1. Personal Liberty As long as we do not harm others, we should be able to express our own natures, and experiment with our lives
  2. Liberty to Govern our own Affairs Civilized people are increasingly able to make their own decisions, and protect their own rights. Representative government is also a useful way of getting us to think about the common good.
  3. Liberty for women as well as men All of Mill's arguments apply to both men and women. Previous ideas about the different natures of men and women have never been properly tested. Women can participate in determining their own affairs too.

As we can easily understand, there are no false dogmas or exaggerated claims in Mill's assertions, we can describe his philosophy regarding women's rights in the following sentence:

"I deny that any one knows or can know, the nature of the two sexes, as long as they have only been seen in their present relation to one another. Until conditions of equality exist, no one can possibly assess the natural differences between women and men, distorted as they have been. What is natural to the two sexes can only be found out by allowing both to develop and use their faculties freely."


This concludes the prologue.

Monday 29 July 2013

The Faith of the Faithless

"Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one." 
— Marcus Aurelius (Meditations)

Life, ephemeral as it is, can be a gift or a curse. There is no good or evil sense in life, there is only good and evil in our actions. Many of us do not understand how fleeting it can be. Humans inflict pain for the sheer pleasure of doing it, that, along with our double edged sword, rationality, is what distinguishes us from animals. 

Animals are perfectly inserted in nature and their place in the planet is clear and unquestionable. We, humans, have the conceit of considering there is a  higher purpose that justifies our existence. This is arrogance.

If this assumption was true, one would expect our existence to be an harmonious one, between ourselves and between the planet. 

Nothing further from the truth.

Life encompasses good and evil, the good and evil of our actions and our beliefs. Our humanity is not given, it is acquired. Even in the age of technology our minds have shrunk, our behaviours mimic beasts time and time again, progress is an oasis in the age of nothingness. 

Idolized ignorance and praise in dehumanization, the years go forward but life goes backwards. Past atrocities haunt collective memories, terror, sheer terror of the past. Shallowness is associated with existence.

The days of cowardice and fear are not over, the very same cowardice that fuels inner angst of infertile, innocuous and inhospitable minds, cruelty in it's truest form runs their pitiful existences, delayed corpses that breed. 

A Man that murders an animal can murder an entire species, the poverty of spirit necessary to commit such acts are a rejection of life itself as a gift, do your best to avoid cursing the lives of others.

"People speak sometimes about the "bestial" cruelty of man, but that is terribly unjust and offensive to beasts, no animal could ever be so cruel as a man, so artfully, so artistically cruel." 
— Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Thursday 20 June 2013

The Garden of Epicurus

"Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search of it when he has grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul. And to say that the season for studying philosophy has not yet come, or that it is past and gone, is like saying that the season for happiness is not yet or that it is now no more. 
Therefore, both old and young alike ought to seek wisdom, the former in order that, as age comes over him, he may be young in good things because of the grace of what has been, and the latter in order that, while he is young, he may at the same time be old, because he has no fear of the things which are to come. So we must exercise ourselves in the things which bring happiness, since, if that be present, we have everything, and, if that be absent, all our actions are directed towards attaining it.” —Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus


At the centre of the Epicureanist philosophy we have atomistic combined by physics with rational hedonistic ethics that emphasizes moderation of desires and cultivation of friendships. The Epicurean world view is optimistic, claiming that philosophy can free us from death and the supernatural, while teaching us to find happiness in almost all situations. Epicureanism holds great significance in the development of Western intellectual thought and philosophy, its contemporary value is unquestionable. 

However, in an era devoid of ideology, timeless sayings have the tendency of losing their own intrinsic value, or worse, being embedded in the diluted pseudo knowledge that emerges with the age of post modernism. The very same thoughts that marked several ages of philosophic discovery and thought provoking reasoning, are now being used by your neighbour next door to fill the void brought by the lack of a clear ideology. The hedonistic mantra of the 21st Century, "be yourself", and all the zen qualities that feed the self worshipping of the modern day Peter Pans and Cinderellas, how quaint.


“The wealth required by nature is limited and is easy to procure; but the wealth required by vain ideals extends to infinity.” 
-Epicurus


Vanity indeed, is the driving force of the general stream of unoriginal thoughts by so called individuals that form the vast herds of sheeple that grace this beautiful Earth. 

It is of the utmost irony that the general flock feels original by imitating others. One would wonder if we have had scarcity of philsophers and thinkers, that, in a general way, and with their own differences, have always exalted the timeless, yet rare exercise of THINKING


“I have never wished to cater to the crowd; for what I know they do not approve, and what they approve I do not know.”
― Epicurus

Instead, we are bestowed with the pressing need of yet another post modern egotrip, "popularity", ah sweet, sweet nectar that fills our otherwise mundane and boorish lives of ceaseless repetition of thoughtless routine, how hard it is to escape from such chimera, to slay such Leviathan. Freedom of conscience and thought, so highly relished in this world, yet so rarely used. With all the cries for liberty in this world, the ultimate goal is, ironically, to submit to the will of the many, whether it is the State, peer pressure, social pressure, or the amalgam of our own insecurities.

“I was not, I was, I am not, I care not. (Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo)”
― Epicurus

"Happiness", of course, do we know what we really desire? Is happiness a conformist category? The "pursuit of happiness", do we really want to get what we want? When we hold something, or even someone, as an object of desire, the amount of pleasure we get from it decreases as soon as we get what we want, new objectives and new desires appear before us, in truth, we do not really want what we think we want.

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”
― Epicurus


Saturday 15 June 2013

The Night Watch - a thought experiment on unemployment

It is claimed, by many intelectual traditions that specific intervention will lead to a better economy and therefore more prosperity. One of those schools of thought claims that sometimes we need to destroy resources in order to create wealth or to avoid economic and financial collapses, e.g. wars, stimuli, bail outs, government programs, the list goes on and on... 

F. Bastiat once wrote about the Broken Window Falacy, wanting to disprove these kinds of policies, many decades before they were made so popular. In this post, I would like to introduce a similar version of the Broken Window falacy regarding a Night Watch at his workplace, with the aim of criticizing some economic and political schools of thought.

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It is said that Mr. Keys is a very good night-watchman, working at Building A for over 4 years without a single criminal incident during that time. He's still fairly young, a nice and honest guy, with great reputation in safety matters and a comfortable wage. Lately, however, Mr. Keys is feeling specially worried with the consequences of his success. He thinks to himself: "If no thief has ever tried to break in this place, what keeps my boss from firing me, since I've never had to pull my gun to protect building A?". Having thought about this for a couple of days, he came to the conclusion that either he would do a false flag on building A, in order to increase the demand for his labor, or he would rather keep doing what he does best, hoping he'll not be fired.

Some may think it is worth the risk to create a false flag, because in that line of thought, he would be able to earn a higher wage and definitely not get unemployed. Suposing he were to be successful at his scam, would now the boss have an increased demand for security?

The answer to this question is a clear no. If he pulled it through, his boss would be worst off since a significant part of his property was damaged and/or stolen. Mr. Keys could be immediately fired since there was not enough money to pay him any longer. Suposing that this is still not the case, the boss would have to cut his wage or even hire a new night watch, since Mr. Keys made him poorer by not doing his job.

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It may seem pretty trivial to most of the readers the lessons within this story. But for some bureaucrats, economists, thinkers and rulers it's clearly not the case. By some sort of dark magic they can pull a false flag and still have "you" begging for more control from their part. This story, with its variables, factors and principles is only applicable and valid in a free and voluntary society; where you see Mr. Keys using the "divide and conquer" methodology and having a better wage and greater power are the places where you can infer there's a supreme entity called the State and its jackals that are just watchmen that rule over the ones who pay their wages (i.e. consumers or individuals).

Best wishes,
Tiago

Sunday 12 May 2013

The Coffee Vending Machine - a love story on democracy and hot drinks

There was a time, long ago, where countries were ruled by a person, a family or simply an elite. Then, extreme militancy made the democratic reforms pass, in the name of a better society, by having a larger number of its members participating in the the public debate. With the following story, I'm aiming a critique to the ones who believe voting (by universal suffrage, or by any other) is the best way to solve social/economic problems in a free society.

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Imagine a multi-button coffee vending machine with the following drinks: (A)Black Coffee, (B)Decaf, (C)Hot Chocolate, (D)Cappuccino, (E)Tea and (F)Milk. Now, usually you go to the machine, put the money in, very likely you get the satisfaction you paid for. However, this will be a different case:
Imagine there's only one coffee vending machine in your country (could be in your state/province or even in your town). Now someone suggests and "everybody" agrees that, to be fair, we should vote on the drink we enjoy the most in order to elect the country's official drink. 
Imagine an "election" was held, and the results were presented to the public:

(A)Black Coffee       52%
(B)Decaf                  19%
(C)Hot Chocolate       7%
(D)Cappuccino         11%
(E)Tea                         6%
(F)Milk                        5%

Now, it is clear that (A)Black Coffee won this election by having over 50% of the votes. From now on, there will be only one available drink in the coffee machine for the next (lets say) 4 years, when another election will be held.

Where the problems start:
A citizen who just happens to like hot chocolate (exclusively), now will have to drink black coffee if he wants to have a hot drink at all. This may also happen to the Decaf lover or the Cappuccino girl, or lets say someone has an health issue with having coffee, now his/her economic and social freedoms have been severely limited.

But isn't democracy imperfect but the best we have today? - Well, if the machine were to be operated solely by market forces and individual free will, i.e. not being controlled by a third party (be it a king, dictator or majority rule), wouldn't it be much fairer and efficient?  

You say that this machine is a bad metaphor when compared with our society? Do you claim that society is much more complex and there are variables that can't be represented in this particular example? - Sorry, but if there are too many variables that you can't fully understand them, then why should you be in favor of creating an authority (that physically does not exist, but intervenes) which claims it can solve social and economic problems by being coercive and fail consecutively in solving those same problems? Besides, the drink that gets elected will never fully represent your true taste (unless it's your own drink) and you'll end up spending your life trying to persuade (eventually coercing) people that like tea to drink a latte and to love it even more.

Wednesday 8 May 2013

Comentário Político - A Europa e o Caos


A Europa, não raras vezes apelidada de “Velho Continente”, é, por definição, diversa, seja a nível étnico-linguístico, seja em termos culturais, sociais e históricos, e ainda nas diferenças a nível político e no modelo económico, embora algumas as diferenças tenham a tendência para se esbater, existe ainda uma enorme dicotomia Norte-Sul, sendo que no caso do Sul, em que nos inserimos, muitas vezes se torna mais fácil criar afinidades com pessoas da América do Sul ou mesmo de África, devido a certas semelhanças socioculturais.

A Europa revela uma tendência para reagir às crises com integração e porventura, alargamentos, verificamos que mesmo num período conturbado em que se questiona a existência da União a curto-médio prazo, a Croácia irá juntar-se à União a partir do dia 1 de Julho de 2013, a meu ver, é um indicativo de que uma desagregação não está nos planos da Europa, ou, sendo mais conciso, do principal país decisor, a Alemanha, que se mantém à tona de todo o caos em voga um pouco por todo o continente mas mais concretamente no Sul, exibindo ares de alguma “falsa inocência”, a própria União tem responsabilidades na crise atualmente vivida, sem descurar obviamente os erros de cada país e a corrupção sistemática nos mesmos, pois torna-se fácil recordar a Política Agrícola Comum, PAC, e a política das pescas, em que países como Portugal foram “subsidiados” para reduzir a sua produção a níveis baixíssimos, o que obviamente leva a um decréscimo na produtividade, a aplicação de modelos uniformes a países com inúmeras diferenças a todos os níveis, mas neste caso concreto, económicas, torna-se ruinosa.

Pegando no período entre 1989 e 1991, fértil em revoluções políticas, o colapso de URSS e a queda do muro de Berlim, no meio de toda esta incerteza a Comunidade Europeia avançou para um processo de integração e assinou ainda o tratado de Maastricht, maior integração poderá significar maior interdependência, porém, o grau de dependência difere drasticamente consoante os estados-membros. A ideia muitas vezes preconizada de “prosperidade comum” torna-se bastante questionável quando existe no seio da União um cariz de decisões no limiar do totalitário, novamente com a Alemanha a assumir o seu leme, os interesses da União parece não raras vezes indissociáveis dos interesses alemães.

Os autores do documento elogiam o cariz democrático da União e a sua “causa”, exaltando a união de países que tinham acabado de sair de uma guerra mundial, não só aqui mas noutros aspetos é possível estabelecer-se uma comparação com a URSS, podemos destacar também a nacionalidade “europeísta”, basicamente promover o esquecimento de tradições, costumes e nacionalidades, o que é, no fundo, o que Bruxelas mostra tenções de fazer, a expansão é outro fator comum, a URSS expandiu-se para continuar a existir, a União parece querer fazer o mesmo. A “democracia” de fachada parece me também outro dos paralelismos, a URSS possuía também uma espécie de parlamento, o soviete supremo, onde eram aprovadas sem grande cerimónia todas as decisões, quando comparado com o Parlamento Europeu, torna-se difícil vislumbrar alguma tomada de decisão muito significativa, isto leva-nos a um outro tipo de “gulag”, o que promove o “politicamente correto”, um processo de diluir opiniões até que se forme um “populismo saudável” com base num conceito vazio e questionável como a “moderação”, qualquer opinião fora deste espectro deve ser silenciada.

A mesma “liberdade” idealizada no modelo europeu encontra-se agora em sério risco, e adensa-se ainda mais esta ideia ao contemplar planos de austeridade draconiana impostos externamente, que não só ameaçam a soberania de cada país como a atropelam, da mesma maneira que declarações como a da Chanceler alemã, Angela Merkel, que referiu que os países devem ser “Obrigados a cumprir” os programas, e mais recentemente, que deveriam “abdicar da sua soberania”, indago-me de que soberania estará a líder de facto da União a referir, dada a escassez da mesma, ou mesmo as declarações mais antigas de dois políticos alemães, importantes membros do político CDU, de Merkel, que sugeriu que a Grécia deveria “vender ilhas para evitar a bancarrota, ou mesmo a Acrópole e o Pártenon”. Quando declarações desta estirpe são apenas repudiadas pelo povo grego, e não do seu governo, ou do governo de qualquer outro estado membro, penso que é o momento ideal para finalmente retirar a máscara dos valores da “democracia”.

A referência feita a valores perdidos e a defeitos que ressurgem, feita pelos autores, tem tanto de prosaico como de romântico, sendo certo que existem concretamente valores positivos e negativos, o correto e o errado, torna-se bizarro e hipócrita deificar a Grécia clássica, Roma, na forma do Império Romano, e Jerusalém, sendo que podemos atribuir a cada uma delas, respetivamente, mas não só, a escravatura, o imperialismo, e a expropriação, perseguição e isolamento de uma nação e de um povo, sob a égide de valores ocidentais como a “moderação” e o “politicamente correto”, apresentando-se a tese sem propor a antítese, a síntese, sua superação, é inexistente, isto na dialética hegeliana.

Os autores defendem ferreamente a união política, segundo eles, uma moeda comum só será viável se a federação for uma realidade, citam os tratados europeus como uma dos fatores que levam á obrigatoriedade de uma união política, em que não haveria um “abandono de competências dos estados nacionais”, tendo em conta que cada vez existem menos competências exclusivas aos estados e mais diretrizes e imposições legais da EU, torna-se difícil vislumbrar uma união política em que existam sequer competências exclusivas a cada estado que sejam relevantes, e aqui se estabelece outro ponto em comum com a URSS, a coação, num caso através da ocupação militar, no outro, por constrangimentos económicos e terrorismo financeiro.

Outro dos argumentos a favor da integração é o de que a Europa se desmoronaria numa difusão de “precariedade, desemprego, regressão social, miséria”, pergunto me em que iria diferir em países como Portugal e Grécia, em que todos estes fatores parecem já algo implícito, destaque-se a opinião de que “já não existe outra opção: ou a união política ou a morte”, uma sentença proferida sem qualquer argumento substancial, que não a repetição incessante de slogans de “solidificação”, “integração”, “cooperação”, “solidariedade”, no fundo, palavras opacas, quando não estão presentes medidas concretas para as sustentar. 

Concordarei, no entanto, que o modelo europeu atual falhou. Pode ser comparado a um doente em estado terminal a quem se continua a administrar morfina, não deixa de ser no entanto redutor que apenas se considere apenas uma via para o sucesso da Europa, sendo importante destacar que o sucesso da Europa nem sempre significa o sucesso de todos os seus estados membros, e mais importante, a que custo?

Não descurando as suas presumíveis e legítimas boas intenções, verificamos a típica linha de pensamento dos intelectuais, arrogando-se no direito de saber mais sobre os indivíduos do que eles próprios, desconhecimento sobre o “mundo real” e os processos de mercado, deificação ou crítica fácil, julgando-se moral e intelectualmente acima de tudo e de todos.

Por cada ditador da história, por cada Hitler ou Estaline esteve sempre presente um conjunto de intelectuais que legitimava a sua atuação do ponto de vista cultural, ideológico e filosófico. As massas terão tendência para exaltar textos deste cariz como sendo verdades absolutas e inquestionáveis, neste sentido, terminarei citando o escritor turco Mehmet Murat Ildan :

“A frase “Sabedoria das massas” não está presente na história, pois a sabedoria não é suficientemente abundante para formar massas.”

Friday 3 May 2013

Stoicism - The Philosophy of a freed slave and a Roman emperor

“A Stoic is someone who transforms fear into prudence, pain into transformation, mistakes into initiation, and desire into undertaking.” 


It has been said that the Stoic Philosophy first showed it's real value when it passed from Greece to Rome. The doctrine of Zeno of Citium and his successors were well suited to the gravity and practical good sense of the Romans . 

In the wretched times from the death of Augustus to the murder of Domitian, there was nothing but the Stoic philosophy which could console and support the followers  of the old religion under imperial tyranny and amidst general corruption.

The two best expounders of the later Stoical philosophy were a Greek freed slave and a Roman emperor.  Epictetus, a Phrygian Greek, was brought to Rome, we know not how, but he was a slave and afterwards a freedman of an unworthy master. Epaphroditus by name, himself a freedman and a favourite of Nero. 

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the author of "Meditations", Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and the last of the Five Good Emperors, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius  and Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, this term was coined by Machiavelli in 1503 in his Discourses . Even though Antoninus based himself almost entirely in Epictetus, their method is completely different. Epictetus adressed himself to his hearers in a continuous manner. Antoninus wrote down his reflection for his own use only,  in short unconnected paragraphs which are often obscure. 

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” 
― Marcus AureliusMeditations


The Stoics made three divisions of philosophy, Physic, καθάρσιο, Ethic, ηθική, Logic, λογική. This division, we are told by Diogenes, was made by Zeno of Citium, the founder of the Stoic sect, and by Chrysippus, but these philosophers placed the three divisions in the following order: Logic, Physic, Ethic. It appears however, that this division was made before Zeno's time and acknowledged by Plato, as Cicero remarks. Logic is not synonymous with our term of Logic in the narrower sense of the word.

In the midst of  war, pestilence, conspiracy, general corruption and with the height of so unwieldy an empire upon him, we may easily comprehend that Antoninus often had need of all his fortitude to support him. The best and the bravest men have moments of doubt and of weakness, but if they are the best and the bravest, they rise again from their depression by recurring to first principles, as Antoninus does. He constantly recurs to his fundamental principle that the universe is wisely ordered, that every man is a part of it and must conform to that order which he cannot change, that whatever the Deity has done is good, that all mankind are a man's brethren, that he must love and cherish them and try to make them better, even those who would do him harm. This is his conclusion.

"What then is that which is able to conduct a man? One thing and one thing only, Philosophy. But this consists in keeping the divinity within a man free from violence and unharmed,  superior to pains and pleasures, doing nothing without a purpose nor yet falsely and with hypocrisy, not feeling the need of another man's doing  or not doing anything; and besides, accepting all that happens and all that is allotted  as coming from thence, wherever it is, from whence he himself came; and, finally, waiting for death with a cheerful mind as being nothing else than a dissolution of the element of which every living being is compounded. But if there is no harm in the elements themselves in each continually changing into another, why should a man have any apprehension about the change and dissolution of all elements? For it is according to nature, and nothing is evil that is according to nature."

Sunday 28 April 2013

We are on facebook now

The internet has been very much shaped by the social networks in the past decade. It is imperative for any movement, community or even business to make use of the amplification that these cyber tools now provide to the publishers. As so, we gladly announce you that we have lauched our Leviathan Slain Facebook page. Please Like us, follow us, subscribe... whatever! We have some awesome contents for you, freedom lover!

http://www.facebook.com/leviathanslain

Thursday 25 April 2013

Morality or Efficiency - The Values for a Free Society

In most (even to say all) political arguments there are inherent elements to the debate that are disguised or even ignored, that would simplify objectively the discussion. Since all we say, ultimately, has strong ideological content (in other words, all we express are ideologies), that is derived from principles/axioms/premises and through reason and evidence we integrate them into conclusions on the ways we must guide our action.
That said, and the radical question arises "What is the root of ideology?" - well… Ideas. And what is the root of ideas? - More and more ideas. The intelectual self will inexorably deconstruct the root of all his ideas to morality (by deduction from moral principles) or by efficiency (by inducting from the wanted results to the root axioms). This could be examplified by the following situation:
If you were asked, in a dichotomy sense question, what would you prefer as the guiding/primary "value" of your society, would it be efficiency or morality? In other words, would you sacrifice morality for the sake of effiency, or would you give away efficiency for the sake of morality? - This is the root question of all socio-political thought, the argument between Individualism or Collectivism. Obviously, you can and should consider the short/long run consequences derived from your choice above.
As an individualist, I can clearly see the efficiency coming in the long run by preserving a solid moral basis, and not the other way around. This can also be seen as the question between the means and the ends. Since efficiency is obviouly the ends, where does morality stand (morally, do the ends justify the means)?
If it wasn't for the constant presence of institucionalized coercion and violence, I wouldn't be writing this post. I'm inspired by what I call the biological argument for anarchy (i.e. a free, voluntary society) - in nature, if you compare a monoculture, like a corn field, (higher short term effiency and productivity and a very low resilience - great risk of a systemic crisis) with a diverse culture, like a garden, (great resilience but lesser efficiency in the short term) you will (hopefully) conclude that the high risk of systemic crisis is going to cause unintended, destructive and depressive consequences eventually (e.g. the constant resource to cultural, military and economic warfare, the boom and bust and fiat inflated currencies cycles that enpoverishes millions and are the price to pay for state sovereignty).
It will, sooner or later, be the collapse of efficiency without morality, Nature's spontaneous order will take care of it, since it is an antithesis to the natural order. Then, to idealize the free society, it's imperative to start with morality, in order to achieve peace, coexistence and prosperity. To build this morality, we need universal axioms, like non-agression and self-ownership in order that our own freedom ends where others start.

Tuesday 2 April 2013

The Ethics of Friendship

“What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.” 
― Aristotle

In the VIII and IX books of Nicomachean ethics , Aristotle develops  a rational and concise case, concerning the several types of friendships and their ethical classification.  Being a treaty on ethics,this requires discussion, friendship is needed, therefore it is a virtue  or it implies virtue. One of the pillars of his assertion is that "No one would choose to live without friends, even if he had all the riches in the world , we can think that the rich and those who occupy the most important places and hold power are the ones that need friends the most; indeed, what would be the usefulness  of such prosperity without the opportunity to do  good, since it manifests itself in it's  most praiseworthy form when regarding friends?".

The disciple  of Plato created three different categories  for friendships, each of them is formed according to the qualities that  serve for their very own formation.  So, we have friendship according to pleasure, friendship  according to utility, and   friendship according to virtue, or, the perfect friendship. 


"Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit." 
— Aristotle


The first two, friendships derived from pleasure or utility, are ephemeral, a passing phenomenon that eventually shatters. This happens because one of the parties has ceased to be the same, since this particular friendship was only the means to access a  certain end.

We  face these friendships in several  stages of our life,  if  we remember the mundane school time we had, it is easy to identify which were and were not the friendships that we  established according to pleasure, the so called spirituous people, full  of life, are very often the ones that maintain a broad circle of friendships, not because of their virtue but because of their joviality, this happens not because of their character  or what they are within themselves, but of the amount of pleasure that such people can induce in others. Summing it up, these  people compensate their lack of qualities with an excess of joviality.


"A friend to all is a friend to none."
— Aristotle


Friendships according to utility are also from a similar nature. We  can identify them at  workplaces, imagining the relations between the workers of an office, or when we have a team or a group that works towards a common goal. In this specific case, these  people are focused not on a selfless friendship but they maintain their friendship because it will turn into something prosperous for each one of them, their desires and whims are ultimately selfish.

Friendships according to virtue, or perfect  friendships, are, as Aristotle says "perfect in the sense of the duration and every other aspect, and in it one receives, in a similar or different way, the same that one gives."

Aristotle also draws the line between "good men" and "bad men",  only good men are able to possess perfect or virtuous friendships,even if they can also have friendships by utility or pleasure, whereas bad men cannot aspire to perfect friendships and are confined to friendships by utility or pleasure,  the correspondence between Ethics and Friendship becomes clear.

"For Aristotle, friendship in its highest form has a political or civic dimension. We love our friends not just because we like each other or are useful to each other, but because we share the same values and ideals for our society, and come together to advance those ideals." 
— Jules Evans (Philosophy for Life)