And now for a Word.....

[DayRaven]

I'm shamelessly fishing here.

I'm currently engaged in studying the concept of the Logos: its history in Greek thought (particularly Stoicism) and its influence on the writer of John's gospel.

Any folks got ideas they would like to share? Any books, articles, dirty pictures that may be of interest?

Thanks.

 

[Ouroboros]

Unity of opposites. It fits with ground of being, ein sof, tao, and many other similar or identical ideas.

 

[Revoltingest]

I'm curious if you've read Tom Wolfe's "A Man In Full".
It deals with stoicism, & I've no idea how a knowledgeable reader would view his treatment.
Btw, I liked the book....all of his books.

 

[Banjankri]

John's gospel:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God; 3 all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

Pancavimsa Brahmana:
This, [in the beginning], was only the Lord of the universe. His word was with him. This word was his second. He contemplated. He said, "I will deliver this Word so that she will produce and bring into being all this world. (BP XX, 14, 2)
Pancavimsa Brahmana

 

[Brickjectivity]

Heraclitus of Ephesus (about 535-475 BCE) assumed as the principle of substance aetherial fire. From fire all things originate, and return to it again by a never-resting process of development. All things, therefore, are in a perpetual flux. However, this perpetual flux is structured by logos-- which most basically means 'word,' but can also designate 'argument,' 'logic,' or 'reason' more generally. The logos which structures the human soul mirrors the logos which structures the ever-changing processes of the universe. ---> Taken from Ancient Greek Philosophy | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

also see --- logos -- Encyclopedia Britannica

 

[DayRaven]

I'm curious if you've read Tom Wolfe's "A Man In Full".

No, I have heard of it, though.

What did you think of it?

 

[Ouroboros]

Quantum Physicist Vlatko Vedral consider that the universe is made out of Information. That would correspond to Logos, I think.

 

[Brickjectivity]

Quantum Physicist Vlatko Vedral consider that the universe is made out of Information. That would correspond to Logos, I think.

@Ouroboros
Thanks for mentioning that. I think that sounds cool, and I wonder how he goes about discussing it. He has 140 papers on arXIV.org. Lots of fun stuff, much of it beyond my ability. Could you direct me to where he makes this comment?

 

[Ouroboros]

@Ouroboros
Thanks for mentioning that. I think that sounds cool, and I wonder how he goes about discussing it. He has 140 papers on arXIV.org. Lots of fun stuff, much of it beyond my ability. Could you direct me to where he makes this comment?

I read it in some science article months ago. Can't remember which. I had to look up his name though, and I know there are other scientists who lean that way too. Some recent experiments show that it's possible to separate quarks from their spin, i.e. the data can travel one way while the the carrier of the data (!) another. Very strange stuff. Just look for "universe is information" or similar and relating to quantum mechanics.

Here's one article:Vlatko Vedral: 'I'd like to explain the origin of God' | Interview | Science | The Guardian
But it's not the article I read a while back. I suspect it might have been in New Scientist or something.

 

[Brickjectivity]

Thanks for the help. Its actually a book
Decoding Reality: the Universe as Quantum Information

But the person who started it is Luciano Floridi who wrote The Philosophy of Information Luciano Floridi | Philosophy of Information and came up with "Informational Structural Realism." So the ideas that Vedral is talked about reinterpreted that philosophy and pressed it together with quantum mechanics. I'm getting most of this from a paper by T.W. Bynum at this link to Bynums paper, who actually researched the various authors.

Now there are already major different schools of thought about Information. In addition to Floridi's ISR, there is a similar theory called a 'Digital ontology' related to Pancomputationalism but that is unrelated to Floridi. --Also Bynum's paper isn't really focused on the nature of reality so much as the computational abilities of 'Qbit' computing and ranges over a lot of weird things like Quantum Foam. So he isn't focused on the 'Logos' but rather on applications for computing.

 

[Ouroboros]

Thanks for the help. Its actually a book
Decoding Reality: the Universe as Quantum Information

But the person who started it is Luciano Floridi who wrote The Philosophy of Information Luciano Floridi | Philosophy of Information and came up with "Informational Structural Realism." So the ideas that Vedral is talked about reinterpreted that philosophy and pressed it together with quantum mechanics. I'm getting most of this from a paper by T.W. Bynum at this link to Bynums paper, who actually researched the various authors.

It rings a bell. It might have been Luciana Floridi I read about back then.

Now there are already major different schools of thought about Information. In addition to Floridi's ISR, there is a similar theory called a 'Digital ontology' related to Pancomputationalism but that is unrelated to Floridi. --Also Bynum's paper isn't really focused on the nature of reality so much as the computational abilities of 'Qbit' computing and ranges over a lot of weird things like Quantum Foam. So he isn't focused on the 'Logos' but rather on applications for computing.

Sure. But it's the concept or idea of the world being constructed by information rather than particles or matter that's ties into the idea of "Logos", I think.

I think it's just interesting thoughts, nothing I say must be true one or the other way.

 

[DanielR]

If you subscribe to the idea of logos (stoicism), do you also subscribe to the idea of Eternal Return or 'Recurrence', meaning that this is obviously the perfect world and that it will return in the same manner infintely?

 

[DanielR]

Plus, what I've always wanted to know is, is the logos of Xianity the same as the logos of Stoa?