Naslov
Bošković’s Epistemological Approach: the Foundation of a New Spirituality?

Autori
Brassard, Francis

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Poglavlja u knjigama, ostalo

Knjiga
Rudi Siebert Festschrift

Urednik/ci
Byrd, Dustin J.

Izdavač
Brill

Grad
Leiden

Godina
2020

Raspon stranica
218-242

ISSN
1573-4234

Ključne riječi
Ruđer Josip Bošković ; epistemology ; spirituality

Sažetak
The purpose of this article is to suggest, based on Bošković’s epistemological approach, a middle way between a scientific activity aiming at the discovery of the realities of the objective world and a mystical endeavour whose ultimate goal is to bring about a complete transformation of the subject. These two forms of human creativity could be seen as the two ends of a spectrum with regard to what they produce in terms of ideas related to, among other things, the status of the material world and the existence of a spiritual Being. Indeed, in the first case, as it is believed that our development and autonomy depend exclusively on our ability to understand and manipulate the world as it is presented to our senses, there is a tendency to evacuate from our discourses any reference to transcendental realities. In the second case, as our ultimate happiness hinges on the ability to dissolve any link to the objective world, there is a propensity to portray that world as entirely negative or even to deny it any form of real existence. In short, for some scientists, God is a delusion ; for some mystics, the world is an illusion. Thus, between these two extremes leading humanity to a state of some kind of schizophrenia, there should be room for a path of reconciliation that reunites the aspiration for subjective transformation with that for the discovery of objective realities.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

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