Tuesday, November 14, 2023

The Processual Complex Memory of the Universe Is Significant for Cosmic Life




I'll provide the video meeting and transcript later... for now this is John Cobb's treatise towards living in unity with difference and stating that the universe/creation does have a teleology unlike what most evolutionary theories state. That in process thought evolution's theology is purposeful, meaningful, and processually forming... it is not a dead thing but a complexly living organism. And for the Christian, we may equate this evolving teleology to the God of Love and Self Expression who has embedded God's Self into God's creation.

R.E. Slater
November 14, 2023

Partners in Process, use the link below to join us for Tuesday's conversation with John Cobb & Friends!
November 14, 2023. David Bartosch. Towards a Philosophy of Cosmic Life: A Conversation with Dr. John B. Cobb, Jr. on a Burning Question of Our Time.
A January, 2022, conversation of John Cobb, David Bartosch, and other international scholars has resulted in a book edited by David Bartosch, Towards a Philosophy of Cosmic Life (Singapore: Springer, August, 2023). Co-editors are Hungarian Attila Grandpierre and Chinese Bei Peng.) Bartosch considers John Cobb's introductory chapter to be a classic text, which clearly creates the foundations of consciousness for a peaceful and long-term sustainable planetary civilization. His discussion with John Cobb about that chapter is the "main act" in today's conversation. Bartosch's own chapter on the idea of a transcultural and poly-contextual perspective on "cosmic life" relates to John's chapter and how it is inspired by John's pluralistic and transcultural approach to philosophy and science.

Dr. Bartosch is a German philosopher currently working as a distinguished research fellow at Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai in South China. He conducts research in the field of transcultural comparative philosophy, especially in the comparison of European and Chinese philosophical traditions, as well as in German philosophy. He has broad interests in various contemporary topics of general interest. For example, Bartosch is currently preparing a book on long-term sustainability for publication. He was a Cobb & Friends presenter on April 12, 2022. He discusses why a German scholar finds inspiration in ancient Chinese philosophy in brief excerpts from this television interview. A list of his publications can be found here: https://philpeople.org/profiles/david-bartosch.

amazon link

Towards a Philosophy of Cosmic Life: New Discussions and Interdisciplinary Views Kindle Editionby David Bartosch (Editor), Attila Grandpierre (Editor), & 1 more

Format: Kindle Edition $28.22 - $109.00 | Read with our free app
Hardcover - $114.76

ISBN(s) - 9789819921300
DOI - 10.1007/978-981-99-2131-7

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Just as the six branches of a snow crystal converge in regular proportions toward their common center, the six contributions to this book point toward a future philosophy of cosmic life. In this sense, this edited volume represents a multidisciplinary and transcultural polylogue of distinguished authors from three continents, which aims to establish highly innovative perspectives and open new frontiers of developing philosophical reflections and scientific foundations for the emergence of a common cosmic consciousness, for an integral ecology, and for a cooperative planetary civilization of humanity.

John B. Cobb, Jr. uses a process-philosophical foundation to describe life as living events expressing novelty and the cosmos as a process of self-enriching and self-evolving “Life Itself.” Chandra Wickramasinghe unfolds his scientific and philosophical perspective on cosmic life in twelve successive steps, offering a wide range of arguments and insights that support an up-to-date theory of panspermia. Attila Grandpierre presents the "Cosmic Life Principle" and the comprehensive science based upon it that is inextricably linked to the healthy and cooperative civilization, to the biological laws of nature, to the laws of logic, to the uplifting of the well-being of people and ecological communities. Chunyou Yan introduces the approach of his holographic philosophy, according to which the universe must be understood as a vast living entity, every aspect of which represents life. Bei Peng shows that the proportions of energy meridians in traditional Chinese medicine correspond to musical intervals, and on this basis she demonstrates the analogy of the human body to macrocosmic phenomena. David Bartosch offers an examination of three important systematic foundations for a poly-contextural, transcultural philosophy of cosmic life with roots in Greek, Chinese, South and West Asian, and European traditions of thought.


Titles by David Bartosch

Introduction



Abstract

This introductory chapter to the book Towards a Philosophy of Cosmic Life: New Discussions and Interdisciplinary Views provides an overview on a multidisciplinary, multitheoretical, and transcultural dialogue among six authors from three continents. The aim of this discourse is to establish highly innovative perspectives and to explore new frontiers for the development of philosophical reflections and scientific foundations for the emergence of a common cosmic consciousness, an integral ecology, and a cooperative planetary civilization of humanity. The chapter includes brief profiles of the authors and chapter summaries. The golden thread running through the spectrum of ideas and points of view outlined here is provided by the underlying view that life is not an accidental emergence in an otherwise exanimate infinity, but an expression or manifestation of a self-unfolding cosmic life principle, namely as an implicit but central and general factor in the formation of everything.


Cosmic Life


Abstract

The present contribution is a new text which has been written under the impression of more than seventy years of active dedication to the innovative development of process philosophy. In this context, the topic of cosmic life is of utmost importance. In view of this, new terrain is explored here. The first main segment presents the view of life as living events, that is, as living processes which express the feature of novelty. The author argues against the paradigmatic, and highly problematic, physicalist reduction of physics and life. In a second step, the whole cosmos is defined as Life Itself. One of the guiding questions is: Does the past exist? Furthermore, the factors of decision-making and of potentiality are discussed in relation to this. In a third step, the whole cosmos is described as a process of Life Itself, which is to be reflected as self-enriching and self-evolving in all its parts. In the form of an inner ideal, the (practical) force of Life Itself provides personal guidance in all of our daily or uncommon tasks and aspirations.


Admitting Our Inalienable Links with the Cosmos


Abstract

This chapter traces the progress of studies spanning many scientific disciplines and more than forty years of research. They all converge on the conclusion that life is a cosmic phenomenon. A comprehensive perspective on this field of scientific and philosophical knowledge is provided in twelve basic steps. Starting with the fact of the complex organic nature of interstellar dust, the author reflects on the implications of accepting the concept of cosmic life. He also considers the subject of exoplanets and the search for extraterrestrial life. The author then turns to the panspermia theory, which he has been instrumental in reviving and developing significantly since the 1970s. He argues for the cosmic origin of life using probability calculations and then discusses the direct spectroscopic evidence and other geological evidence for panspermia. The distribution of habitable exoplanets and the possibility of interplanetary transfer of life forms are discussed. This is complemented by the history of the research into meteorites, micrometeorites and cometary bacteria. Recent relevant studies on the controversial Polonnaruwa Meteorite are considered. With regard to panspermia, stratospheric sampling and the idea of diseases and pandemics from space are presented as important areas of existing and future research.


The Cosmic Life Instinct Points the Way to a Healthy Ecological Civilization


Abstract

Ervin Bauer formulated the most promising version of general theoretical biology in a mathematical form. He derived all the basic biological equations from a single fundamental principle, which is known as the Bauer principle. As this principle tells us, living organisms actively and continuously mobilize their free energy content to maximize their distance from lethal thermodynamic equilibrium. Although, for historical reasons, very few people know this principle, and even fewer recognize its power that originates from the fact that it transcends the framework of physics, this universal life principle represents a significant advance in our understanding of the structure and nature of the Universe, even more than the Copernican turn. This comprehensively life-centered worldview unites our physical, emotional, and intellectual aspects. It is also comprehensive in unifying individual, communal, and cosmic life. It offers an unexpectedly profound scientific basis for a cosmic ecology respecting all life forms, including the Living Universe. It offers new perspectives for our conduct of individual life as well as for good government and developing a healthy civilization.


Holographic Philosophy as a Philosophical Basis of Cosmic Life Theory


Abstract

Holographic philosophy was first introduced in China during the 1980s. It was initially referred to as ‘theory of cosmic holography’ and later renamed ‘theory of cosmic holographic unity.’ Its main proposition is that parts contain all the information of the whole. In the first section of this chapter, the general process of the emergence of holographic philosophy in Chinese discourse is described. The second main section provides an analysis of the basic principles of holographic philosophy and points out its provability. The universe is a vast living entity, and every part of it also contains life, which is the inevitable conclusion of holographic philosophy. The third section provides further explanations regarding the principle of holographic philosophy. From this point of view, all things are to be considered as aspects of cosmic life at different stages of evolution, and they are all evolving towards higher states of life. In the fourth and final section, the high significance of the holographic theory is discussed in more detail and in terms of the whole–part relationship.


The Human Body as the Singing Universe


Abstract

For millennia, the basic idea that there is a universal order that connects human beings and the universe has lived on in many cultures. This order has often been expressed in geometric or musical-harmonic terms. From Pythagoras to Kepler, universal scholars were firmly convinced that this order represented the primordial code of all things. This chapter explores a new interdisciplinary perspective that combines the fields of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), music theory, and Keplerian astronomical insights. By means of corresponding mathematical analyses, it is shown that the energy meridians of the human body correspond to a specific musical-harmonic order, which in turn is inextricably linked to certain relational aspects of the celestial bodies of our solar system. The study represents completely new discoveries in relation to this universal connection. In doing so, it also opens up new levels of understanding and provides new aspects for the further development of the concept of cosmic life.


Poly-contextural Cornerstones for a Transcultural Philosophy of Cosmic Life


Abstract

In this chapter, important transcultural and multi-civilizational foundations for a comprehensive philosophy of cosmic life are presented from a systematic and at the same time historical perspective. An “anacrusis” regarding the origin of the philosophical term ‘cosmic life’ is followed by systematic groundwork in relation to Gotthard Günther’s concepts of poly-contexturality and trans-classical science. These are extended and complemented by the views of other thinkers. Against this background, the new term ‘panenbiotism’ (“all-in-life-doctrine”) is introduced. Like ‘cosmic life,’ this term is then used as the basis for a transcultural comparative discussion of positions from ancient Hellenic and Chinese contexts, from South and West Asia, and from Europe. This discussion is organized in the form of three main sections which correspond to three basic themes concerning ‘cosmic life.’ Each of these is developed along the trajectories of related subtopics. In this sense, the first main section presents several views from various times and places in the context of which (cosmic) life is seen as an expressed principle of incessant self-(re)creation through metabolism and partial self-consumption. In the second main section, the transcultural comparative angle is applied to multiple perspectives and variations on the theme of cosmic life as an integral feature of a vast or infinite universe. Finally, the third main section presents family-resemblant views of cosmic life as an integral aspect of cosmic ‘light.’ This last section also links the discussion with some unorthodox and very innovative hypotheses of our time. The main thesis of this chapter is that a future philosophy of cosmic life must draw on a variety of philosophical traditions from different civilizations and, in a spirit of unrestricted openness, translate the ultimate inexhaustibility of all scientific endeavors into a more productive intellectual reality within the expanded scope of a new kind of trans-classical concept of science.




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