Abstract This paper provides a philosophical discussion of how the concepts of "detachment" and "asceticism" are merely an attempt to escape the human condition. It defines detachment and how it varies from one person to another and gives examples of well-known individuals.
From the Paper " Detachment is a release from pain and desire that often manifests relief relaxation and tranquility in the individual. In Ways of Wisdom it is argued that people who have the capability for detachment do not engage in self-deception or inner ..."
Abstract Asceticism, which exploded in popularity with the adoption of Christianity as the official religion of Rome, is a concept not so readily defined. It took many forms, and meant many different things to many different people. This paper looks at the leading proponents of the ideas of asceticism and marriage in the church to further unravel the mysteries of the early years of Christianity and Constantinople. The paper also touches on a few specific groups of aesthetics, such as the Encratites.
Outline
Encratites
Monasticism
John Chrysostum
Jovinianism
Augustine of Hippo
Women and Sexual Asceticism Conclusion
From the Paper "Encratites were essentially an early sect, or group of sects who, based on their views concerning the origin of matter, abstained from eating meat, drinking alcohol, or getting married. They are very interesting in their development. Stemming from Stoicism and other generic branches of aestheticism, this group devoted their lives to chastity in all forms. Because they rejected marriage and considered all sexual encounters to be evil, they formulated theories that claimed all women to be evil beings. Also, as they were not predispositioned to eat animal products, they saw all alcohol as being given from Satan himself. After a certain period of decline, the Encratites were back in full swing and became known as Severan Encratites."
Abstract This paper begins with Weber's account of the existence and persistence of asceticism within the development of capitalism in the west, thus providing a backdrop for the elucidation of Veblen's instinct of workmanship. The two concepts converge when one's "industry and frugality" meets the other's ?bias toward serviceability and not waste.? The paper uses this juncture to compare asceticism and the instinct of workmanship and follow Weber and Veblen's separate paths on the road toward a modern capitalism. While there are some similarities along the way, they arrive at somewhat different conclusions.
From the Paper "Within Economy and Society and The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Weber explicitly discusses the crucial role of a specific type of asceticism in the development of modern occidental capitalism. Within a religious context he characterizes (he admits, particularly and narrowly) the "ascetic" as one with a "methodical procedure for achieving religious salvation" (Weber 1978: 541). Given this portrayal, with its emphasis on salvation, the world in which the ascetic exists, and subsequently moves beyond, assumes a distinct centrality. The world from a religious perspective is the social sphere of mankind that is intrinsically saturated with temptation?those "ethically irrational" sensual pleasures and the concomitant proclivities toward "complacent self-sufficiency and self-righteousness" that are counterproductive to the divine accomplishments necessary for salvation (1978: 542). As a Weberian ascetic, one's "methodical procedure" of living may emphatically engage this world of temptation or resolutely reject it."
Abstract This paper looks at Siddhartha, the protagonist in Herman Hesse's novel titled after the main character. Summarizing the book on Siddhartha's journey for enlightenment, the author describes Siddhartha's process of first studying the ways of the forest-dwelling ascetics, the Samanas. The paper then describes how, when that proves to be unyielding in lasting spiritual fruits, Siddhartha begins to embrace materialism and sensuality before realizing his goal of enlightenment with the understanding of unnecessary stringency of asceticism and the meaninglessness in a materialistic existence. The paper also discusses the tradition of asceticism as practiced in several major religions.
From the Paper "Asceticism played a major role in the psychological, social, and spiritual evolution of Siddhartha, the titular protagonist in Herman Hesse's novel. Modeled partly after the historical Gautama Buddha, Siddhartha begins his quest for enlightenment by following in the Brahmin footsteps of his fathers and forefathers. Finding little satisfaction in the rites and traditions of Brahmanism, Siddhartha starts to study the ways of the Samanas. The Samanas are forest-dwelling ascetics, rejecting all types of material comforts including sex, material goods, and any food except that which is required for the survival of the body."
Abstract This paper explains that Nietzsche's work, "The Genealogy of Morals", questions and evaluates the value of moral judgments according to a genealogical method, which in turn investigates the origins and meanings of various moral concepts. The paper further explains that "The Genealogy of Morals" discusses ascetic ideals or asceticism, a force that dominates modern thinking and life, and that Nietzsche views this as the expression of a weak and sick will that is unable to cope with its own struggle against itself.
From the Paper "The ascetic priest, Nietzsche writes, is the person who modifies the direction of resentment. While every suffering person instinctively look for the cause or agent of his suffering. The ascetic priest seeks living persons on whom he can unload his feelings in order to obtain relief from his mountains of resentment, revenge and similar torments. It his instinct to strike back as a merely reactive and protective measure or reflex .He needs them for emotional release and he must pretend utterly in order to produce it. He passes his guilt and vileness to others, assaults their past and present, look for what is dark and painful in these in indicating what needs to be healed. Finding cause, he blames it on others and thus keeps them forever bound to their guilt and to their need for his control (Nietzsche)."
This paper is a critical review of Max Weber's theory about the relationship of Protestantism and capitalism as presented in his book "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism".
Abstract This paper explains that Weber believed that the way of life for Protestants, specifically Calvinism, encouraged the development of western capitalism, which he defined as the pursuit of profit and forever renewed profit. The author points out that Weber identifies two main characteristics of Protestant belief, which encourage the development of Western capitalism: predestination and worldly asceticism. The paper states that Weber indicates that such beliefs create a psychological state of mind, which pressures the Calvinists to lead a successful life, defined in terms of money. The paper relates that some critics argue that it was not religion, which encouraged the development of Western capitalism, but the social exclusion of Protestants from professions; therefore, business offers the Protestants a channel to overcome their persecution. The paper includes quotations.
From the Paper "Weber found "Occidental" capitalism to be different from the "other" forms in many respects. Firstly, there was a lack of free labor in the "others" system. Secondly, household work and business work were not separated, as in the west. Personnel property was kept apart from corporate property, rational book-keeping techniques were used, and a rational legal and administrative system existed, which Weber believed played a role to limit speculative and opportunistic capitalism. Finally, Weber also acknowledged the role of technical advancement in playing its part to encourage the development of Occidental capitalism."
Abstract This paper uses Freud's theories of psychic economy to investigate Daniel Miller's notion of thrift in shopping. Miller, an anthropologist interested in consumption studies, studied grocery shoppers and noticed the pervasiveness of thrift in their activities. This paper tries to tie together psychological theory with anthropology and ethnographic study.
From the Paper "Daniel Miller's ethnography, A Theory of Shopping, highlights the routine shopping practices (primarily the acquisition of domestic foodstuffs) of seventy-six, North London households. Contrary to a more popular discourse of shopping, one connoted with self-directed recreational outings to malls and boutiques for gifts or non-essentials, Miller studies "rarely exciting and soon forgotten" quotidian provisioning, and produces a theory that posits shopping not as self-indulgence but as self-sacrifice?a ?devotional rite.? While his theory is but one of many possible accounts of a specific (and perhaps unique) focus in a specific region, he hopes that his argument, ?presented as a series of generalizations,? will "ring true" for the reader. Our concern, however, is not with the conclusions of his overall theory but with the centrality and interpretations of thrift. This thrift will be analyzed within a Freudian psychoanalytic apparatus, focussing on the connection between the shoppers? economic decisions and the economics of the psyche. Divided into three sections, this paper first reviews Miller's ethnographic accounts and his incorporation of thrift into his theoretical construct; then discusses pertinent Freudian conceptions of the psyche; and finally, engages specifics within Miller's theory to evince a Freudian psychoanalytic understanding of thrift within the context of shopping."
Abstract This paper explores Max Weber's theory of the "rational" in the Protestant Ethic. It explores Weber's use of Ben Franklin to help understand the capitalist spirit.
From the Paper "In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Max Weber seeks historically and causally to locate the religious origins of modern, western capitalism. Throughout the text he uses Benjamin Franklin's writings to elucidate this specific economic development and concomitantly, "to bring out the complexity of the only superficially simple concept of the rational.? Concerned with the, at some levels, irrational ideals of industry and frugality within Franklin's capitalist spirit, Weber emphasizes the dismissal of explicit religious motivations, despite Franklin's overwhelmingly ethical voice. This paper traces Weber's account of the Protestant, especially Calvinist, factors that predicate Franklinesque capitalism and, includes Weber's assessment of the consequent, perverse articulations of latter-day capitalist culture."
Tags:asceticism, calvinism, economics, frugality, industry, protestantism, social, theory
Abstract This paper examines some of the most important themes in this book by Thomas Merton, focusing on both his mysticism and the profound understanding that he had of the ways in which humanism and Christianity can be blended.
From the paper:
"We see this too in Merton, for while Merton is in many places in this book asking us to turn inward to understand the nature of the human soul, to examine as carefully as possible our own responsibilities vis-?-vis our own salvation, he is also asking us not to turn away from the world. The essence of a life well lived for a Christian, according to Merton's humanistic sense of the religion, is that of a life well lived here on earth with a constant attention to the next. He does not advocate an asceticism that denies both the pleasures of this world or the good that we can each do in our mortal span. For Merton, the good Christian is not the one who lives for heaven alone, but the one who lives for goodness and truth as well as God."
Abstract This paper looks at the way mixing of cultures and the reluctance of converts to totally drop old beliefs led the Bible to be thoroughly influenced by older religious cultures. The paper talks about the ancient Greek, Egyptian and Roman religions, Paganism, Mithraism, Gnosticism, Monasticism and Asceticism to name a few.
From the Paper "Ancient cultures had a marked effect on Early Christian beliefs and the writers of the Bible. I will prove this with examples of cultural and religious beliefs and practices from Phoenician, Sumerian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman Society, which parallel biblical themes.
"The Madonna. The first example is a common religious object found in ancient Phoenicia. A common religious object, in ancient Phoenicia, not confined to sacred places, is the "Astarte" figurine, depicting a nude woman, often with exaggerated breasts and genitalia, and sometimes holding a child. This was perhaps a fetish representing the mother goddess and used to stimulate conception, childbirth, or lactation. There is s resemblance to keeping to image of the Madonna in homes."
Abstract This paper is written about the end of the Western Roman Empire. The classic work in the field is provided by Edward Gibbon in "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire". Gibbon's essential argument was one that attributed the "fall" (the use of this term today being itself a source of controversy) to "Christianity, which he claimed had undermined the ancient warrior traditions of the Romans and, through the influence of monasticism and asceticism, turned them away from earthly things".
Abstract In Nietzsche's unpublished essay, "On Truth and Lies in an Unmoral Sense", regarded by some scholars as a keystone in his thought, he rejects the idea of universal constants. This paper argues, however, that reducing the thinking of Nietzsche to a system dominated by a few formulas is superficial and unwise and that every aspect of this thinking finds its opposition in another one from the same system. The paper brings examples of Nietzsche's views on religion, psychology, and human values to show the contradictions that exist within the text.
From the Paper "Nietzsche is making use of the purest ideal in order to judge its falsifications; after that he uses these falsifications to destroy the same ideal that he used as a measure: After he condemned the man in the name of the moral, he condemns the moral in the name of the man. But those two convictions mutually annul themselves.: how can you speak about moral lie if there is no moral truth?"
Abstract This paper examines Christianity in Egypt after the personal conversion by Saint Mark. It briefly discusses the Arian heresy and asceticism. Also, the spread of Coptic Christianity to Ethiopia is shown. A great portion of the paper explains the Christian role as a minority in Egypt.
From the Paper "According to recent figures, Coptic Orthodox Christians comprise over thirteen percent of Egypt's population. This is significant particularly because Egypt currently has the largest population in Africa. Today, Coptic Christians comprise over fifty million followers, mostly in Africa. The largest concentration of these Christians is in Ethiopia, with smaller communities in Egypt and Eritrea. Most of the native Orthodox Christians in Egypt are centered in the southern portion of the country. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when Portuguese Roman Catholic missionaries went to East Africa to convert natives, they were surprised to see Ethiopia already being constituted of practicing Christians. "
Abstract This paper presents Max Weber's controversial theory that capitalism originated from the very particular ethic of work held by the Protestant. The writer points out the shortcoming of the conventional viewpoint that capitalism always existed. Further, the writer notes that greed is always extant in society, but as a destructive element and cannot be the basis of a stable society. The writer notes that Weber shows that the Protestant, through his unceasing penchant for material acquisition, is actually practicing a form of asceticism, and thus he is protected from the subversive elements, and herein lies the origin of capitalism.
From the Paper "Adam Smith analysed capitalism in work, and from his analysis he derived a premise to an argument that aimed to describe social man in terms of avarice alone. Those who came across his analyses, as it appeared in the 1776 publication The Wealth of Nations, proceeded to base upon it the modern discipline of capitalist economics. Such economists, as Karl Marx put it, made a fetish of money and its workings, ignoring completely the social dimension. Despite this criticism, Marx himself does not really confront the social man, even though he attempts to describe society through the dynamics of the class struggle. His argument remains largely materialistic, though dictated by the idealism of Hegel. He brings the grand Hegelian dialectic to bear on the question, describing an eternal class struggle between the propertied class and their subjects. In the final analysis Marx's argument is a complement to that of Smith. It is the law of "demand and supply" taken to its logical conclusion."
Tags: reformation, justification, faith, individualism, state
