No es fácil escribir filosofía.
Es mucho pensar y
pensar cansa.
No hay que pensar demasiado.
Pobre Iris Murdoch.
Pobre Mamá.
Pero si hay que pensar.
Hay tiempos para pensar y
tiempos para no pensar.
It's not
easy to write philosophy.
A lot of thinking and
thinking fatigues.
One must not think too much.
Poor Iris Murdoch.
Poor Mother.
But one must think.
There are times to think and
times not to think.
Es ist nicht einfach, das Philosophieschreiben.
Viel Nachdenken, und
Nachdenken macht müde.
Frau darf nicht zu viel nachdenken.
Die arme Iris Murdoch.
Die arme Mama.
Aber frau muss denken.
Es gibt Denkmomenten und
Nichtdenkmomenten.
Philosophy is ordinary indeed. Perhaps not in abstraction.
But indeed. Studious as we human creatures are.
This does not mean that philosophy is easy by any means. On
the contrary, anything that must be done requires great effort. The body tires,
as does the mind. Philosophical doing is a lot of work. When I focus
philosophically, I tend to frown. It’s not “old”. It’s honest. Living leaves
marks. Ancient Greek philosophress Periktione (Athens, 4th and 3rd
century B.C.E.) says that
the meaning of philosophy is to get to the bottom of
things, to capture their essence, and to be metaphysics. (Gleichauf, p.22)
Author Ingeborg Gleichauf explains that
philosophy only happens when the human being creates a
distance between herself and that which preoccupies her on a daily basis, and wonders
about the origin and end, about the meaning of everything. (ibidem)
Perhaps, not everything is philosophy, not everyone a
philosopher, after all, though they could be. I feel grateful to live in a
place with a philosophical community. With schools, libraries, study centers
for body and mind. For good living. Making philosophy a part of the quotidian
life. In pursuit of happiness. Through Philosophy,
which means human art. The power of philosophizing is channelled through physical,
mental, and social activities (i.e. yoga, sports, and artistic expression; pictures,
books, curricula, media; gatherings, townhalls, clubs, parties, dialogues; et
cetera). People gather to train and think together, to discuss and develop, to
practice and profess, to contemplate, meditate and express. And humanity
thrives as people gather information for good living. As they seek to
experience good lives. Philosophy is extraordinary and it is available in public
spaces. Philosophy has always been around. Women have always participated in
it, even against all odds. Places for human study have always existed. For the study
of ourselves and the world.
The world is shared. There is no escaping this fact. Our Planet
Earth shares one of uncountable galaxies with countless other planets and stars.
On Earth, a carefully balanced ecosystem shares in dances of water, fire, earth,
wind, flesh, and wood. Earth’s creatures inter-are with their environments and
with each other. Every single one of us is “another”.
Simon de Beauvoir concluded that women were “other” to men. Perhaps,
I got too caught up in the whole “sex” thing to continue pursuing “gender” in
that way. I do feel her as a woman and philosopher. I have her to thank for my
master’s thesis. I feel, I understand her with the heart. And I salute her
courage, and dedication to exposing the social inequities related to conceptions
of gender and sex. She shook me awake. As a woman. As a feminist. As a human
being.
As I dive into the study of women philosophers, I find it
gives an amazing validation to my Nexistential identity. To my femme philosophy
to be. My work becomes clear: A philosophy of humankind through the perspective
of a woman – engendered, of course, by men and women alike in all their variations.
A philosophy born out of a woman’s womb of orgasmic intelligence. Women’s philosophies
and philosophical experiencing move me to the bone. I feel it in my flesh, it
beats in my heart and sings in my soul.
Men move me, too. But they also frighten me. For too long I
felt other to them, while at the same time identifying with their more profound
observations. The philosopher at the club talked about Friedrich Nietzsche (15.
October 1844 – 25. November 1900), who believed suffering to be a catalyst for
growth. He wondered: is suffering bad perse? Believed that our life is valuable
because we are vulnerable and finite, because it will end. He espoused the idea
of self-fashioning, a process of creating one’s own values. Materialism and
rationalism lead to godlessness and nihilism. The belief in the Christian God becomes
unbelievable and leads to a moral collapse. Mourning and disorientation result
from the loss of God. Crisis. Thus, we are faced with a moral restoration
project. The morality based on perceptions we inherited, we have to restructure
to our own moral perceptions.
I’ve come to similar conclusions. When I was a teenager, I
realized that we experience a social trauma. We get filled with notions given
to us by the social context which surrounds us. But indeed, what are we? Then I
lost God and lived as an atheist and nihilist for many years rejecting almost everything.
Particularly the philosophy of men, but also philosophy at large. An
existential crisis, which I have only begun to overcome in recent years. Nexistentialism
represents the next step, the restructuring, the self-fashioning, the process
of creating “new” values. A moral restoration project.
I thank Nietzsche for teaching to celebrate all of life
despite the suffering! And I wonder to what extent yoga may have inspired him.
So much is obscured from visibility in the thought-rivers of humanity. Patriarchal
societies have gone to great lengths to obscure the presence of women in
overtly public affairs. Such as government, art, and the celebrated public norms
true to contextual existential (day-to-day living over periods of time) realities
(moment-to-moment matters (personal, private, social, public, collective, planetary,
universal and so forth)).
I feared a closer study of Nietzsche since my youth. Or Kafka.
Though I did fall into the Kafka temptation about two decades ago. I was young
and fearfully carefree. I understood his “thought process” in the story Das
Urteil (1912) (“The Judgment/The Verdict”) about 12 years after reading it.
His thoughts about the matter simply ended there. His story ideas ceased. Regardless
of having come to any sort of conclusion. Thought happens that way. Sometimes,
an idea comes to an inconclusive end. I fear them because I feel them in my
soul. The others. Because I love them.
When I have time to myself, true self-time, I find that I am
much more ascetic than I imagine myself to be. A sign of enlightenment or
illumination? The gaze from within, without outer distractions, can be quite
peaceful. Silence is golden.
Yoga is a phenomenon, an existential force. Brilliantly
elaborated and formulated by ancient Indian philosophy and perceptive techniques,
indeed quite physical ones (i.e. pranayama, asana). A phenomenon articulated by
other systems, too. Various yoga traditions, as well as other perceptive
apparatuses. A force that seekers, thinkers, philosophers and other
practitioners might stumble upon. A force yoking existing and potential
structures through transformation and transcendence. Yoking thought with action,
will with power, study with practice. Did yoga inspire Nietzsche?
Philosphical Pairs 2
Friedrich Nietzsche – Fyodor Dostoevsky
Pythagoras – Theano of Crotone
Socrates - Aspasia
Without any specifications, who of the pairs do you guess to
be what sex, based on the name alone? Woman, man, someone else? German
philosopher F. Nietzsche was an admirer of Russian author F. Dostoevsky
(another one I fear).
Theano of Crotone was the wife of ancient mathematician
Pythagoras. She was born in the Greek colony of Crotone in Southern Italy, sometime
after 550 B.C.E. * (before the common era formerly known as Jesus Christ’s
birth in the year zero, marking a before Christ (B.C.) and an after Christ
(anno domini, A.D. (Latin)), now referred to as the common era (makes sense
with the whole “C” thing)).
Mistress Theano of Crotone had five children. When
Pythagoras died, she took over the direction of his school. She had been a
follower of his lifestyle. Their motto: prudence and moderation. With the goal
to better understand the soul, which is eternal and is born again. The mathematical
theorem of the golden mean ratio, or golden section, or sectio aurea (Latin) is
attributed to Ms. Theano. Despite her diverse writings about philosophy,
mathematics and medicine, only a fragment of her text “On Piety” made it*
through a thousand-and-five-hundred-year space-time wormhole. As I sit here, in
a living-room in the American West at the turn of the twenty-first century, I can
learn from a woman, a femme philosopher no less, from across the Atlantic Ocean
hundreds and hundreds of years ago. What a miracle!
Theano had many female students. She gave them intellectual
guidance, as well as rules for a morally valuable life as a woman. She held
marriage as the highest form of a relationship between the sexes. She accepted the
then dominant opinion about the right conduct of a woman: to be reserved, not
to strive for public recognition, and to care for the home and children. *
Considering the options for women at the time, this was a very intelligent way of
channelling the power of philosophizing, and ensuring some form of longevity,
if not immortality.
In stark contrast stands the tragic example of professor Hypatia
(ca. 370-413 CE (the Common Era)). Daughter of the philosopher Theon, she had an
outstanding education. She taught anyone who wanted to learn all subjects at
the top of the Platonic School. She was respected and esteemed for her
extraordinary intelligence, and moved naturally in the world of men, never
holding back her opinions. She corresponded with the ancient ideal of a life in
the service of science. She never married. She taught Plato’s ideas, astronomy
and geometry at the Museion, the University of Alexandria. She had a public
presence and an outstanding reputation amongst intellectuals. She is said to
have authored several books, which were all destroyed. Her tragic death is
remembered more than her words. She was brutally executed by Christian conservative
extremists. Her philosophy was forgotten. *
I wonder, was Theano of Crotone trying to protect her
students, women, from being harmed, by encouraging reserved behaviour? In order
to survive, live and thrive in a society, which appeared to punish the presence
of women in public spaces. It certainly didn’t invite women openly into these.
Maybe as servants? Who was getting served philosophy? Turns out, philosophy serves
both women and men in diverse circumstances. What constituted being a woman
back then? Opinions appear to vary even in ancient times. I wonder how much the
biological sex had to do with ancient conceptions of gender (sexual social role).
The women’s vulvaginas, mysterious caves, with the ability to give birth. The
men’s millions of seeds, held in evident dangling seed sacks, shooting out from
overt tubes of flesh.
Theano was a Pythagorean thinker. Pythagorean philosophy holds
that the human being is part of the world, which is animate and of divine
origin as well. There is never just matter. Everything is related to everything
else; nothing is isolated. The world and humankind live naturally in harmony
and one must be careful not to disturb this harmony. All excess is to be
avoided. Asceticism and spiritual work are called for. Numbers are the unifying,
regulative, and essential Element. Numbers give everything clarity and contour,
certainty and form. Without the power of the mathematical everything would be
chaotic and indefinite. Every single human being is responsible for a
harmonious day-to-day. Theano lived according to the precept that order is godly
and natural, and this is what she taught as well. *
In this context, philosophy has a strong practical
relevance. It does not develop independently from everyday life. To think about
the meaning of life includes the question of how daily life is to be fashioned.
Theory and practice are not separate. * In “On Piety” Theano wrote:
“I heard that many Greeks believe Pythagoras claimed that
all things arise from numbers. This claim contains a problem: How can things
that don’t exist, be understood as being? However, Pythagoras didn’t mean that
all things arise from numbers, but in accordance with numbers – on the ground
that numbers are the first order of everything and through the division of this
order all things that are counted can be assigned a 1. and 2. and everything
following.” *
Philosophical historian Ingeborg Gleichauf considers Theano’s thinking
to be very complex. Theano, like Pythagoras, considered that mathematics matter
greatly. She wondered how numbers and things relate to each other. Pythagoras
and Theano both hold that things and numbers have an intimate relationship, attributed
to the fact that humans are able to count things.
Ms. Gleichauf observes that in this early period of
philosophy, it already becomes clear that the first and fundamental question
for philosophizing is the issue of the essence of all things, of humans and the
world. Pythagoreans wondered how everything is linked together, and which is
the highest principle. They searched for what regulating power might be beyond
the sensory reality. They gained their
insight from experience and the contemplation thereof. We continue to ask these
questions today, she writes.
Theano of Crotone is not the only ancient woman philosopher
who is highlighted in Ingeborg Gleichauf’s 2005 book “I want to understand –
History of Women Philosophers”.
Woman philosopher Aspasia (ca. 460-401 BCE) was assigned the hetaera
(courtesan) profession by her father, a position held by highly educated women,
who were admired for their knowledge. She directed a hetaerae school in Athens.
She also headed a salon visited by the most important men of the city, such as
the philosophers Anaxagoras and Socrates. And the statesman Perikles, who fell
in love with her, left his wife, and took Aspasia as his pallake (illegitimate
life partner, concubine). All were enthralled by the sage woman. Aspasia’s
union with Perikles got her sued, and he freed her with great difficulty. After
his death in 429 BCE, she married the sheep merchant Lysikles.
The so called Periclean
age was characterized by a strong advancement of the arts, philosophy, and medicine.
But women had no civic rights. Their role was limited to the household responsibilities
and child rearing. Hetaerae were an exception, as they were very free in their manners.
The average woman hardly left her home, except to attend a big celebration. Shopping
was done by enslaved people. The hetaerae class of women was better educated
than the average wife, and sought after by men of thought and politics, who desired
female conversational partners. Aspasia was considered an excellent teacher in
the subjects of philosophy and rhetoric. Socrates sought her advice and sent
his students to consult her.
The intellectual giants of the city deeply trusted this
intelligent and educated woman.
Thanks to Plato’s (427-347 BCE) dialogue “Menexenos”, we
know that Socrates extolled his teacher Aspasia. He was even a bit afraid of
her, said he was almost beat up for being a forgetful student. He then repeats
one of her speeches, in which Aspasia lists the ancient virtues of the Athenian
people and calls the living to not lament the dead inordinately.
Rhetoric, the art of speech, was a very important discipline
in ancient times. Aspasia said:
“Following deeds well done, the well-spoken word bestows upon
the doers commemoration and upon the listeners honor.”
Aspasia’s philosophy thrived in the public sphere. She was a
thinker who embodied the dialogical factor and speech in the form of oration. This
manner of philosophizing through speaking has a strong pedagogical aspect,
according to femme philosopher Ingeborg Gleichauf. Aspasia’s style represents a
philosophy which is realized in speech, has an educational effect on people,
and thus, also has a social impact. Aspasia advocated wholeheartedly for her ideas
with the desire to inspire philosophizing. *
In Plato’s most famous dialogue “Symposium” (‘drinking party’)
we witness another woman philosopher, Diotima, who probably lived around 400
BCE. Sokrates refers to her as a wise woman and recites a speech by her about Eros.
He says she taught him about matters of love. *
“Eros”, according to Diotima, is something which lies
between human and God, between properties such as good and bad, beautiful and
ugly. It guides humans to aspire to the good and beautiful, and to seek the
truth. Diotima considers artists, philosophers and statesmen to be the most
interested in doing this. She thought of philosophers as neither reasonable nor
wise, but something in between, like Eros. She said:
“For wisdom is most beautiful, and Eros is love for the
beautiful; so that Eros is necessarily a lover of wisdom, standing philosophically
between the wise and the ignorant.”
Thus, Ms. Gleichauf concludes, Diotima considered love to be
the element out of which Eros operates, and the path to attain immortality.
This is true for both body and soul. It happens through reproduction, and through
art and science. When humans create progeny, something of theirs remains in the
world when they die. Artists, politicians and scientists immortalize themselves
in their creations through the power of Eros. It can be a poem, a scientific
insight or the fight for a just government. Those who seek immortality, could
also be rewarded otherwise: Maybe they’ll get to witness the pure beautiful and
good, and thus experience the highest bliss. The inherent beautiful and good has
an immutable being, does not pass away and is not bound to become. *
Diotima’s, like Socrates’, philosophies have been passed
down through Plato’s dialogues. Because of this, says Ingeborg Gleichauf, we
can imagine the liveliness of this kind of thinking.
Significant thoughts occur in an argumentative back and
forth. A woman or a man throws the ball of questions and hopes the other will
catch it and play. This type of philosophizing has a playful side that doesn't diminish its seriousness. Big life problems are at stake here, and they need to
be talked about. (Gleichauf, p.19)
Ingeborg notices a distinction between Pythagorean thought
and that of Diotima, Sokrates, and Plato. The former conceives of a world in
which everything is linked together. For Diotima, there exist two worlds. One is
relative, perceivable by the senses, and limited by time and space. The other is
eternal and goes beyond human holding capacity. (ibid. p.20)
In the context of Periktone, Ms. Gleichauf notices that the
act of seeking to capture the essence of things, of making philosophy metaphysical,
reveals a primal interest in the work of desiring insight. With an emphasis on
the word work. (ibid. p. 22)
In the philosophy of women, it’s not about giving out prescriptive
counselling. Thought work is hard and demands patience, but it is lively and concerned
with life. (ibidem)
Periktione authored “On Wisdom”, and wrote:
Humanity was created and exists to contemplate the
principle of nature as a whole. The function of wisdom is not to possess
things; its purpose is to observe things as they are. **
“Nature as a whole”
means to contemplate the cosmos, the world as such, to not get caught up in the
details. That’s what philosophy is to Periktone. Human beings live from hour to
hour, from day to day. They do their work, raise their children, do politics,
celebrate parties, work the fields, look at this and that, and think about one
thing or another. But that is not yet philosophy. (ibidem)
Philosophy only happens when the human being creates a
distance between herself and that which preoccupies her on a daily basis, and wonders
about the origin and end, about the meaning of everything.
*Gleichauf, Ingeborg. 2005.
Ich will verstehen - Geschichte der Philosophinnen. Deutscher
Taschenbuchverlag, München. p.10.
*ibidem p.11
*ibid.
*ibid. pp. 23-26
*ibid. p.12
*ibid.
*ibid. pp.13-16
*ibid. pp. 16-17
*ibid. p.18
**Ms.
Gleichauf appears to have misconstrued Periktione’s quote. It didn’t make sense
when I read it. Luckily, I found another representation online, also in German,
which makes more sense. I chose to translate that one into English. However,
the website mentions a two Periktiones, one with and one without a biography. The
second one is said to have lived around 450 BCE. She too was a Greek Pythagorean
woman philosopher, and the quote in question is attributed to her, Periktione
2:
“Humanity was created and exists to contemplate the principle of nature as a
whole.
The function of wisdom is not to possess things; its purpose is to observe
things as they are.”
http://sophie-lexikonderphilosophinnen.de/html/periktione-2.html
A similar quote is attributed to Periktione 1:
“It is the task of wisdom to witness and compose the property that belongs
universally to all things.”
http://sophie-lexikonderphilosophinnen.de/html/periktione-1.html
Why the creator of the online encyclopaedia of women philosophers has two
Periktiones, I don’t know. Personally, I suspect that it may be one and the
same person. Perhaps different accounts were identified without obviously
pointing to the same person.
