Thanks, Shina.
Thanks for the reference too. Will keep it in mind to consult.
All these questions you present are cosmological because they are mutually implicated.
The term 'cosmos' relates to the totality of existents understood as a systemic whole.
Such a systemic totality would naturally be understood in terms of questions deriving from primary categories evident in how humans experience and structure the world- the categories of spatial and temporal order- periphery and centre, beginning, middle and end.
These are issues of spatial and temporal structure and of process.
Spatial and temporal order- periphery and centre, beginning, middle and end- may be understood purely in physical terms or purely in abstract terms of value and meaning or a combination of both.
When we address issues of value and meaning in relation to this template, we integrate what you describe as a world view.
The idea of a beginning may imply a point of temporal commencement, a beginning in terms of initiating process or a beginning in terms of motive force.
A temporal beginning implies the time when the cosmos came into being.
It may also imply the question of the processes that brought it into being.
May we understand the meaning of the cosmos, a teleological direction perhaps, from studying its process of emergence and its development?
Does it demonstrate a developmental logic that may help us gasp the ultimate direction unfolded from the character of its beginning?
Could this logic be nothing more than a demonstration of states of physical development and their possible relationship to the cognitive development represented by human consciousness?
Does the emergence of consciousness in the cosmos not indicate that the development of the cosmos cannot be understood purely in physical terms?
What relationships exist between cosmic development and the development of consciousness in the past and what possibilities may one project for the future?
A beginning in terms of motive force implies the question of the rationale for a beginning understood as a reflective choice- what is the rationale for the cosmos coming into being?
Is there no rationale?
Is it an accident?
Is there no beginning?
If there is a rationale, what or who is the source of that rationale?
A rationale implies a body of justification for an action. Justification implies intelligence and will, which are not possible without consciousness.
Could the cosmos represent a process set in motion by a consciousness in terms of a particular rationale, perhaps a rationale unfolding as the cosmos develops, a rationale implicit perhaps in its constitution and dynamism?
Spatial order may also be understood in terms of questions relating to the unquantifiable, of value and meaning.
A centre may be understood in that context not in terms of a spatial centre but a centre of meaning, of ultimate value.
Why does the cosmos exist?
Is its existence relevant only in terms of its character as is perceptible to most humans at present or does it demonstrate a meaning that goes beyond such limited, relatively atomistic perception?
In relation to this centralising value or purpose, what may be understood as the manifestations of this ultimate meaning and perhaps purpose?
May we describe this meaning as the cosmic centre and the manifestations in terms of its orbiting expressions of this centre, extending from the centre to a periphery and back towards the centre?
Scientific cosmology has , to a significant degree, addressed these questions in terms purely of the physical character of the universe without addressing questions not reducible to the quantifiable values of the physical character of the cosmos.
Such extra-physical questions, to adopt a term from the account of how Aristotle's Metaphysics came to be so named by an editor, as the book coming after Aristotle's Physics- were left to religion and philosophy.
Early modern science, as in Newton's wonderful example in the General Scholium of his Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, however, at times also chose to integrate both aspects of cosmological study, the physical and quantifiable and the non-physical and unquantifiable, addressing questions of ultimate meaning and value in relation to the physical character of the cosmos.
More recent scientists are doing the same, even though perhaps not within the pages of their academic papers, preferring perhaps to use general science books in addressing such questions, such as the books of Paul Davies as in The Mind of God and God and the New Physics.
I believe I have demonstrated how your conception of world view is integrated in terms of an understanding of cosmology.
Thanks
toyin
On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 4:39 PM, <shina73_1999@yahoo.com> wrote:
Toyin,
Been a while. Sorry for the silence. Let me return to my quest for understanding from you.
A worldview is often considered a 'philosophy of life', implying a wide concern that goes beyond just mere cosmological inquiries. For instance, I will highlight some questions necessary for the formulation of a worldview:
a. What is the nature of the universe? How is it structured, and how does it function? [That immediately answer your cosmological concerns, si?]
b. Why is the world the way it is, and not something else? Where did the universe come from?
c. Where are we going in the universe? What will be the fate of human and non-human lives in the universe?
d. What are the kinds of futures open to us as human species in the universe, and how do we go about choosing these futures?
These questions are found in Diederik Aerts et al, World Views: From Fragmentation to Integration, 2007.
What do you think?Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2013 06:05:37 +0000ReplyTo: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.comSubject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - COSMOLOGY BUILDING : GENERAL CONCEPTIONSThanks, Shina.Just seeing this.I wonder if world views and cosmologies can be easily differentiated.I can understand why one could see "cosmologies just essential features of a person's worldview" in the sense of a cosmology being a description of the cosmos as an integrated whole in its development, as being a subset of the concept of world-view, if I am getting you right.May we not describe a cosmology as a more explicit description of a world view?I am particularly interested in the more abstract ideas conventionally suggested by a cosmology.I am interested in broad outlines that may be encapsulated in a few summative principles, described in terms of concepts or narratives or both, which one may now use in developing what may be described as the more expansive content of a world view as a continuous programme of development.My inspirational background is in myth, religion, philosophy and mysticism, which deal more with broad principles, in my view and those forms of the visual and verbal arts that do the same.Would you like to suggest any texts that address the relationship between world view and cosmology in a way that could help clarify issues?On building a cosmology or world view.I think I get your point about such forms as not being 'fun constructs'.Your attitude depends on your purpose in relation to the exercise.It is true that humans are shaped by particular interpretive constructs that define the meaning of their existence.It is also true that competing constructs exist inviting people to see things from the point of view of that construct.Instead of organising our orientations in terms of our current dominant mental construct, one could explore other constructs.This is done traditionally by adopting a religion, a philosophy, even a lifestyle defined by change of association and habits.Now, instead of adopting construct A or B to the degree that it can be defined, since these constructs, once they are intimately intertwined with the mind are difficult to pin down in precise terms, inhabiting the crevices of the self, why not treat them as options, a smorgasbord you may choose from.. Even possibilities to play with.I, for one, shift daily between various cosmologies at different times of the day. Yet, I dont treat any one as summative or even claim that any is fully independent of me, all of them being forms of creative play.I could begin the day with a meditation that involves simply listening to myself and even praying to myself, inspired by the AMORC-Rosicrucian concept of the God of My Heart-interpreted as both my personal understanding of God and the notion that God is at the heart of every person, even though that is more an article of faith than of knowledge for me.I could choose later in the day to work on a prayer/invocation to the Fulani deity, Kaidara, who operates in a cosmology different from that of the Buddhist monk Milarepa whom I could meditate on in the afternoon, and both being different from the Hindu deity Tripurasundari with whom I could end the day. I could also choose within the day to meditate on one of the evocative nsibidi symbols of the Ekpe society of South Eastern Nigeria.In between, I could engage in spontaneous meditations and prayer in relation to what T.S. Eliot described as 'spots of time', moments that seem to hold particular significance even though nothing in particular is happening in that moment in terms of action or development of ideas, relate reverentially with empty space intuited as a contemplative companion, a silent witness and assistant in mental activity, or with natural forms as reminders of aspects of being beyond and larger than the self.These peregrinations imply moving between different cosmologies in the perception that they all have some underlying value for me deriving from their essential unity as demonstrations of human culture demonstrating the forms that configure human understanding.We often cannot see the future but one could practice the art of imagining oneself in the future in relation to a particular situation and observe the effects of that in terms of your mental impressions. That may be helpful in understanding attitudes one holds deep within oneself which one has not articulated to oneself.One may play with such ideas and practices in relation to the notion that none of them is fully accurate and they might even be shadows or dim reflections of reality.One could also play with them in the understanding that the mind in the absence of ideological constructs,to the degree that such absence is possible, demonstrates an identity that is beautiful to explore.These interpretations are motivated by your questions rather than being ideas I had thought through before now so they could need some polishing for clarity. Also, I might be better able to respond to your queries with time. What I posted that you referred to is actually my response to a friend's queries.thankstoyin--On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 9:14 PM, <shina73_1999@yahoo.com> wrote:
Toyin,
I have a sneaky feeling that what you ascribe to cosmologies may essentially belong to worldviews. Or, to put it another way: aren't cosmologies just essential features of a person's worldview?
What is the relationship between a worldview and a cosmology?The above description confuses me. I sort of agree with the sense of a cosmology as an explanatory tool, yet I balk at the above description of cosmology as constructs we develop 'to reshape the mind'. This applies more to a worldview than a cosmology. And worldviews are not fun constructs. Our meaningful existence depends on the kind of worldview we craft for ourselves.
"I see them as being tools we discover, craft, experience that help us shape our worlds.
Why develop them? For fun. To gain power. To see the world in different ways. To reshape the mind. To catalyse extraordinary experiences, among other possibilities."
Adeshina AfolayanSent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTNFrom: OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <tvade3@gmail.com>Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 05:07:05 +0000To: usaafricadialogue<usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>; Mwananchi<Mwananchi@yahoogroups.com>; <mythsoc@yahoogroups.com>; Akin Solanke<aakinsol@gmail.com>; Tony Abolo<abolotony2@gmail.com>; yewande okuleye<yewyokuleye@gmail.com>; Ighile Mark<mighile@gmail.com>; MARK DUNN<sleipnirdrum@yahoo.co.uk>; Norma Rosen<normahaasrosenlibrary@hotmail.com>ReplyTo: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.comSubject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - COSMOLOGY BUILDING : GENERAL CONCEPTIONSCosmology BuildingGeneral ConceptionsOluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
CompcrosComparative Cognitive Processes and Systems"Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge"CompcrosI have set up Compcros research and retreat centre in Histon, Cambridge, dedicated to expanding old cosmologies and building news ones, in the conviction that cosmologies are ways to tell stories about what cannot be fully conceptualised but can be partially represented from various angles, those angles being variant cosmologies."Are you saying the true thing of every path up the mountain leads to the top? That each blind man touching the elephant sees a different reality, even though it is one thing?I do like your idea of cosmological stories being one snapshot of a partial reality, but new ones? and- where do you think this will lead, and why do you want to get there[Email Postscript]-Art is the shining forth of one's interiority.- MuXin "Thanks for those analogies but would I use them in characterising my project?Not sure.They might suggest I know what the mountain top is, which I dont.
I would prefer to say cosmologies try to describe what people understand, most of it interrelated, like a kaleidoscope, but I wont say I am fully confident of how this kaleidoscope reflects reality and takes part in shaping it.I see them as taking part in shaping reality and as reflecting it to a degree.I love cosmologies.They are both beautiful toys and powerful devices.They are forms of art as well as a kind of technology.I see them as being tools we discover, craft, experience that help us shape our worlds.Why develop them? For fun. To gain power. To see the world in different ways. To reshape the mind. To catalyse extraordinary experiences, among other possibilities.I like this- Art is the shining forth of one's interiority.- MuXinComparative Cognitive Processes and Systems"Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge"--
CompcrosComparative Cognitive Processes and Systems"Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge"
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