The Metaphysics of World Order

A Synthesis of Philosophy, Theology, and Politics

Laos

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9781498201025
• Topic: Philosophie
• Subtopic: Histoire et théorie de la philosophie

In this book, Nicolas Laos studies the meaning of the terms "world" and "order," the moral dimensions of each world order model, and wider issues of meaning and interpretation generated by humanity's attempt to live in a meaningful world and to find the logos of the beings and things in the world. The aim of this book is to propose a unified theory of world order (i.e., a theory that combines philosophy, theology, and political theory). In this context, the author provides a thought-provoking (re)interpretation of classical philosophy (placing particular emphasis on Platonism), an in-depth inquiry into medieval philosophy and spirituality (placing particular emphasis on the cultural differences between the Greek East and the Latino-Frankish West), and an intellectually challenging review and evaluation of modern Western philosophy (including Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Husserl, and Heidegger) and of Nietzsche's and the postmodernists' revolt against modernity. He then elucidates the philosophical foundations and "pedigree" of each of the three basic political theories of modernity (i.e., Liberalism, Communism, and Fascism), and he studies the basic theoretical debates in International Relations, Geopolitics, and Noopolitics. Finally, Laos proposes a new, "fourth," political theory which he calls "metaphysical republicanism."

1

Logos and Ancient Philosophy

Logos and Myth

The ancient Greek polis (city-state) has a unique characteristic on the basis of which and due to which the institution of polis has been differentiated from other forms of organized collective behavior, and, furthermore, it has given rise to the notions of ‘political art,’ ‘political virtue,’ and ‘political science.’ This unique characteristic of the ancient Greek polis consists in a collective attempt to institute a community whose telos, or existential purpose, is not exhausted in the management of needs, but it is an attempt to live in harmony with the principle of truth.1

From the aforementioned philosophical perspective, we can talk meaningfully about ‘politics’ and ‘civilization’ only when the organization and management of collective life does not aspire merely to the maximization of a utility function. We can talk meaningfully about ‘politics’ and ‘civilization’ only when the telos (i.e., the ultimate goal) of collective life is the ‘truth,’ which, according to Plato and Aristotle, consists in the imitation of true being, i.e., of that mode of existence which is free from corruption, alterations, and annihilation.2

In the context of Plato’s and Aristotle’s philosophical works, politics is, in essence, an existential goal of the human being, a collective struggle that transcends the logic of individual and/or collective utility, and it aims at the truthfulness of human existence. In other words, the telos of politics is to help humanity to exist authentically through and within a social system. This aspiration is the core of classical Greek political thought.

In order to clarify the arguments that politics consists in the pursuit of truth and that truth consists in the imitation of true being, we should, first of all, turn to the semantics of the Greek words aletheia, meaning ‘truth,’ and logos, which means word, speech, a ground, a plea, an expectation, account, and reason.3

The Greek word aletheia is a combination of the prefix a- (signifying lack) and the Greek word lethe, meaning forgetfulness. Therefore, for the ancient Greeks, truth means un-forgetfulness, un-concealment, and disclosure. In the early- to mid-twentieth century, the German philosopher Martin Heidegger interpreted the Greek term aletheia by relating it to the notion of disclosure, or the way in which things appear as entities in the world.4 Hence, aletheia is distinct from both the correspondence theory5 of truth and the coherence theory6 of truth. In terms of the Greek word aletheia, everything that exists appears as an entity in the world, and ‘existence’ corresponds to ‘disclosure.’ The term that the ancient Greeks used in order to refer to the event of disclosure was logos. Disclosure speaks about and declares the existence of an entity in the world, and, additionally, it refers to a conscious being that is aware of the event of disclosure. Hence, from the perspective of the Greeks’ notion of aletheia, truth emerges from the relationship between a disclosed entity and the viewer of this disclosure.

As a result of the above arguments, logos is the event of disclosure and the elucidation of the way in which disclosure takes place. That which exists is disclosed through its form, or species (i.e., through its distinctive way of being). For instance, the form of a pot ‘says’ to its viewer that the given object is a pot. However, logos is not only the individual form of beings, but also their overall formation (i.e., the way in which they relate to each other). Furthermore, according to ancient Greek aesthetics, the overall formation of the entities that exist in the word has kāllos, which means beauty.7 The Greek noun kāllos is semantically related to the Greek verb kalō, meaning attract and invite. By viewing and contemplating the way of the overall formation of the entities in the world, the ancient Greeks recognized the harmony and, hence, the beauty of the world. Therefore, the ancient Greeks called the universe cosmos, which, in Greek, is semantically related to the Greek noun cōsmema, meaning jewel, ornament, and embellishment.

The logos of the entities that exist in the world consists in the way in which they participate in the corresponding species/form and, also, in the way in which they relate to each other in the context of the cosmic harmony and order. The logos of the cosmic entities that belong to the same species is common to all of them, and, furthermore, it is unchangeable and eternal, independent of the characteristics of particular entities. For instance, every particular rose and every particular lion will perish, and, eventually, they will be annihilated. But the form of a rose, i.e., its logos, or the way of its participation in existence, which makes it what it is (the given plant), and the form of a lion, i.e., its logos, or the way of its participation in existence, which makes it what it is (the given animal), are not susceptible to corruption, but they are unchangeable and eternal. Moreover, the set of the relations in which every particular plant and every particular animal participate (e.g., the way of a plant’s sowing, vegetation, and blossoming, and the way of an animal’s birth, development, and reproduction) is an integrated, unchangeable, and eternal whole.

As a result of the aforementioned awarenesses, from ancient Greeks’ viewpoint, logos (i.e., the way in which beings exist, or the disclosure of true being) is the only true existential given, in that it is unchangeable, perfect, and eternal. That which exists actually, authentically, and, hence, free from corruption, change, and death is exclusively contained in the logos. In other words, in the context of classical Greek philosophy, logos means that relationship of participation in the corresponding (eternal and unchangeable) form which makes existents what they are and, additionally, the relationship of participation in the formation of the entire cosmos.

True being (i.e., the way of eternity and immortality) is the participation in the logos, and, therefore, according to Plato, it is clear what a human being must do if he “seeks . . . to be immortal”8: he must imitate the logos of the relations of participation in the formation of the cosmos; for instance, he must understand and organize society as an event of participation in the order, harmony, and decency of the relations that constitute the eternal cosmic beauty. This is the essence of politics and the way of the ancient Greek polis (city-state).

The aforementioned unified and universal criterion of truth unifies all aspects of the Greeks’ life into a common species, and, thus, it constitutes the distinctive characteristic (the cultural identity) of the Greek way of life. Since this way of life can be primarily attained in the city, it is a product of the city (polis), and, therefore, it is called civilization (in Greek, politismōs).

In general, by the term ‘civilization,’ we should understand a way of life. Civilization is a structure that consists of institutions and technologies, and, from a broad perspective, it includes culture. Culture is the...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Logos and Ancient Philosophy
• Chapter 2: “The Logos Became Flesh”
• Chapter 3: Modernity and Postmodernity
• Chapter 4: The Three Basic Political Theories of Modernity
• Chapter 5: The Three Basic Theoretical Debates in International Relations
• Chapter 6: Geopolitics
• Chapter 7: Noopolitics
• Chapter 8: The Fourth Political Theory
• Bibliography