Utrum peccatum blasphemiae sit maximum peccatum

" ideo, cum blasphemus intendat nocumentum inferre honori diuino, simpliciter loquendo grauius peccat quam homicida. Homicidium tamen primum locum tenet in peccatis inter peccata in proximum comissa." Tomás de Aquino, Suma Teológica, Parte II, Seção 2, Questão 13, Artigo 3.

[Portanto, quando o blasfemo tem a intenção de fazer suportar danos à honra divina, simplesmente falando peca mais seriamente do que o homicida. O homicídio, contudo, ocupa o primeiro lugar nos pecados, entre os pecados cometidos contra o próximo.]

Risos... é piada isso, né, Tomás?

Rumo ao Cirenaísmo

On the way to Cyrenaicism

Unterwegs zum Kyrenaismus

In the sunset of dissolution

"In the sunset of dissolution, everything is illuminated by the aura of nostalgia."

  The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Parte 1, Milan Kundera.

Nostalgia; Saudade

Nostalgia; Saudade. Tenho saudades de retornar (νοστεῖν) para um lugar que nem deixei ainda.

"The Greek
word for "return" is nostos. Algos means "suffering." So
nostalgia is the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return.
To express that fundamental notion most Europeans can utilize a word derived
from the Greek (nostalgia, nostalgie) as well as other words
with roots in their national languages: añoranza, say the Spaniards;
saudade, say the Portuguese." Ignorance, Milan Kundera.

ich hab mir eine Höhle gebaut

"ich hab mir eine Höhle gebaut
und in dieser denke ich ziemlich oft an dich
und ich wünsche mir dass du bei mir bist.
(...)
Ich schiebe die Wolken zur Seite
und beginn meine eigene Reise
nehm´ den Koffer in die Hand
und verlasse das Land" - Lass los, Lea-Marie Becker

 
“Construí para mim uma caverna
E nela penso muito frequentemente em você
E eu desejo para mim que você esteja ao meu lado
(...)
Eu coloco as nuvens de lado
E começo minha própria viagem
Levo a bagagem na mão
E deixo o país (das Land)” – Lass los, Lea-Marie Becker

Kafka, Der Prozess

"Jemand musste Josef K. verleumdet haben, denn ohne dass er etwas Böses getan hätte, wurde er eines Morgens verhaftet." Kafka, Der Prozess.


[Alguém deve ter caluniado Josef K., já que sem que ele tivesse feito algo errado, ele foi detido em uma manhã.] Kafka, O Processo.

Nachträge zur Lehre von den täglichen Tod

“Auf jeder Stufe, welche die Erkenntniß beleuchtet, erscheint sich der Wille als Individuum. Im unendlichen Raum und unendlicher Zeit findet das menschliche Individuum sich als endliche, folglich als seine gegen Jene verschwindende Größe, in sie hineingeworfen und hat, wegen ihrer Unbegränztheit, immer nur ein relatives, nie ein absolutes Wann und Wo seines Daseyns: denn sein Ort und seine Dauer sind endliche Theile eines Unendlichen und Gränzenlosen. – Sein eigentliches Daseyn ist nur in der Gegenwart, deren ungehemmte Flucht in die Vergangenheit ein steter Uebergang in den Tod, ein stetes Sterben ist; da sein vergangenes Leben, abgesehn von dessen etwanigen Folgen für die Gegenwart, wie auch von dem Zeugniß über seinen Willen, das darin abgedrückt ist, schon völlig abgethan, gestorben und nichts mehr ist; daher auch es ihm vernünftigerweise gleichgültig seyn muß, ob der Inhalt jener Vergangenheit Quaalen oder Genüsse waren. Die Gegenwart aber wird beständig unter seinen Händenzur Vergangenheit: die Zukunft ist ganz ungewiß und immer kurz. So ist sein Daseyn, schon von der formellen Seite allein betrachtet, ein stetes Hinstürzen der Gegenwart in di todte Vergangenheit, ein stetes Sterben. Sehn wire s nun aber auch von der Physischen Seite an; so ist offenbar, daß wie bekanntlich unser Gehn nur ein stets gehemmtes Fallen ist, das Leben unsers Leibes nur ein fortdauernd gehemmtes Sterben, ein immer aufgeschobener Tod ist”[1]

---

[1] SCHOPENHAUER, Arthur. Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung I – Viertes Buch - § 57. Zürich: Diogenes Verlag, 2007. 389p.

A Terceira Margem do Rio

“Eu já sofria o começo de velhice – esta vida era só o demoramento.”[1]

“A gente teve de se acostumar com aquilo. Às penas, que, com aquilo, a gente mesmo nunca se acostumou, em si, na verdade.”[2]

---

[1] GUIMARÃES ROSA, João. A Terceira Margem do Rio. In: Primeiras Estórias. In: Ficção Completa. vol. 2. Nova Aguilar: Rio de Janeiro, 2009. 423p.

[2] GUIMARÃES ROSA, João. A Terceira Margem do Rio. In: Primeiras Estórias. In: Ficção Completa. vol. 2. Nova Aguilar: Rio de Janeiro, 2009. 422p.

Review of David Benatar's "Better Never to Have Been"

http://www.amazon.com/Better-Never-Have-Been-Existence/dp/0199296421

http://www.livrariacultura.com.br/scripts/cultura/resenha/resenha.asp?nitem=2446364&sid=001630228121015759743824281&k5=2BC052&uid=

Applied Ethics. Very argumentative. Benatar has caused turmoil in some philosophical circles. He's been read by people in Cambridge, Oxford, Princeton and other great knowledge centers. His ideas are indeed a threat to many of our naive assumptions. He criticizes common moral conclusions using premises that are generally accepted. He assumes for example that the reader agrees that:

1)          it is wrong to bring someone into the world if that is going to cause that person so much pain.

e.g. If you are sure that person is going to have AIDS or live in extreme poverty, so that she will suffer immensely a excruciating pain.

2) He, then, argues that all lives, even the best ones are very bad.

3) Therefore, it is wrong to procreate.

Further conclusions:

In this line of thought, abortion, for instance, in the early stages of pregnancy is not only right, but morally mandatory. In addition, he establishes a very important difference between "lives worth continuing" and "lives worth starting", arguing that we are not morally obliged to kill ourselves. Absolutely not. But since by bringing someone into life I will expose this person to serious harm, it is best not to bring anyone into life.

Arguments to defend 2:

1)      Pleasures and the hedonistic project are condemned to defeat, since any pleasures you have will not be able to undo the pain you will necessarily suffer.

2)      Pain is part of the structure of the world and by bringing someone into life you are, ipso facto, exposing that person to serious harm. We entirely overlook the daily discomforts of daily life, even thought they are so pervasive. Even the best lives are very bad, because our pleasures or moments of desire fulfillment are so few compared to the common negative states we experience everyday constantly. And this in a healthy common life, not to say someone who has a terminal disease or something worse.

3)      Happiness is but a temporary absence of suffering, satisfaction is the ephemeral fulfillment of desire.

e.g. After one has eaten or taken liquid, bowel and bladder discomfort ensues quite naturally and we have to seek relief. There are moments or even periods of satisfaction, but they occur against a background of dissatisfied striving.

Against the view that humans cause the world to be so bad, he said the following, during a radio interview, when unexpectedly, many listeners called saying they agreed with his thesis that it is wrong to procreate, causing surprise during the radio-show:

“Well I certainly think that humans have contributed their fair share of misery to the planet. (...) But I think even if we did everything right, nature is still constructed in such a way that there would be an immense amount of suffering. It’s just unavoidable, It’s written so deeply into the structure of sentient life that it’s unavoidable. We can minimize it or maximize it, now I certainly think we should minimize the amount of pain that there is, but we can’t even come close to eliminating it all.” 

All that said, if you had never existed, you would not feel pain, nor die everyday, constantly, bit by bit. Therefore, someone who hasn't been brought to life, who technically isn't even a person yet, is in clear advantage to someone who came into being. Ergo, it is wrong to bring someone to life.

I believe this book will become a philosophical classic, probably not as much as Nagel's Mortal Questions, but perhaps something close to it. He's certainly an author I liked to read. His book is very clear. It is important to mention that he does not assume prior philosophical knowledge from the reader and that the book is very concise.

I highly recommend it.

Review of Rhodes' "A Commentary on the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia"

http://www.amazon.com/Commentary-Aristotelian-Athenaion-Clarendon-Paperbacks/dp/0198149425/ref=cm_cr-mr-title


Just what I was looking for. A Cambridge professor recommended this book for me and it helped me so much. It comments line by line the greek text of pseudo-Aristotle's Constitution of the Athenians, that is, Athenaion Politeia (AP).

It is very detailed and comprehensive. Furthemore, it is very clear and readable. The greek is that of the AP, which should be easy or, at least, not difficult, even if you didn't study a lot of greek (between 1 and 2 years should be enough.)

1) It discusses, for example, the dokimasiai, the graphai paronomon, the difference between nomoi and psephismata, and many other topics minutely and percussively.

2) It reviews the existing literature in a wonderful manner, assessing the view of many different scholars. Mogens Herman Hansen's views are almost always mentioned. Generally, Rhodes disagrees with Hansen but he is, usually, very argumentative.

3) He investigates the functions of the guardianship of the Constituion, that were, at first, responsability of the boule h tou areou pagou (council of the areopagus), called he thes politeias fylake (the guardian of the Constitution), and that were, later, as Athens got more democratic, distributed between the dikasteria, the ekklesia and the boule. This analysis has become standard in the literature of the genre. It is repeated for example by Martin Ostwald in his book and makes a lot of sense to me.

I don't want to write too long of a review, therefore I'll stop here. But there are so many other reasons that make this book worth it. I absolutely recommend it. It makes the reading (or re-reading) of AP so much more informative and full of nice surprises.

y así progresivamente van volviendo a ser lo que no son

"Y después de hacer todo lo que hacen, se levantan, se bañan, se entalcan, se perfuman, se peinan, se visten, y así progresivamente van volviendo a ser lo que no son." Julio Cortázar, Amor 77, In: Un tal Lucas.

et feliciorem utroque iudicaui qui necdum natus est

uerti me ad alia et uidi calumnias quae sub sole geruntur
et lacrimas innocentum et consolatorem neminem
nec posse resistere eorum uiolentiae cunctorum auxilio destitutos
et laudaui magis mortuos quam uiuentes
et feliciorem utroque iudicaui qui necdum natus est nec uidit mala quae sub sole fiunt.
(Ecclesiastes 4, 1-3.)

[Voltei-me para outro lugar e vi as calumnias que ocorrem sob o sol
 e lágrimas dos inocentes e nenhum consolador
Nem poder resistir à violência deles destituídos do auxílio de todos
E avaliei melhores os mortos do que os vivos
E julguei mais feliz que ambos aquele que sequer nasceu e não viu os males que acontecem sob o sol.]

inhumanior, quia inter homines fui.

"Quid me existimas dicere? avarior redeo, ambitiosior, luxuriosior? immo vero crudelior et inhumanior, quia inter homines fui." (Sêneca, Epístola VII, 3.)

[Que julgas eu dizer? Que volto mais ávido, mais ambicioso, mais luxuriante? De forma alguma, na verdade, mais cruel e desumano, porque estive entre humanos.]

Cântico dos Cânticos

Consultando a versão em latim da Bíblia e lendo as notas à versão em hebraico fiz umas opções diferentes de tradução ecumênica da bíblia, mas são bem poucas.

Todos os trechos abaixo são do Cântico dos Cânticos

Beije me com sua boca porque melhores são seus seios (traduzem aqui também por carícias, mas lit. é seios, seios que dão de mamar principalmente) são melhores que o vinho, que a fragância dos melhores perfumes. Seu nome é um óleo efuso (=derramado).

Evoquemos teus seios mais que o vinho.

Meu querido permanece entre meus seios, como um saquinho de mirra.

Quão bela és, minha companheira, quão bela és.

És toda bela, minha companheira, e não há mácula em ti.

Golpeaste meu coração, minha irmã-esposa, golpeaste meu coração com apenas um de seus olhos.

Quão belas são tuas mamas, minha irmã-esposa.

Teus seios são mais belos que o vinho e o odor dos teus perfumes está além de todos os aromas.
Seus lábios são um favo destilando mel e leite sob tua lingua.

Suas pernas duas colunas de mármore.

Águas abundantes não poderão extinguir o amor, nem rios submergirão ele.


Meio erótico esse livro da Bíblia, não? risos.

Kosenamen

Von Männern für Frauen

1. Schatz
2. Maus, Mausi
3. Engel
4. Süße
5. Sonnenschein
6. Liebste, meine Liebe
7. Baby
8. Herzchen, Herzdame
9. Ein und Alles
10. Herzblatt

Von Frauen für Männer

1. Schatz
2. Hase, Hasi
3. Bärchen, Bär
4. Süßer
5. Liebster
6. Romeo
7. Ein und Alles
8. Herzblatt
9. Liebling
10. Hengst (sexuell)