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100 лет героической обороне крепости Осовец в Первой мировой войне
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Cappello N.
POTENTIALITY OF RUSSIAN COSMISM FOR WESTERN CULTURE.
A PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACH TO SCIENTIFIC IMMORTALISM1
Universita di Torino, Torino, Italy, niccolo.cappello@edu. unito. it
I came to Russia to work on Russian cosmism. In my opinion, it may give to western Philosophy a lot of interesting topics to work on. Russian Philosophy, by the way, is hardly discussed in western culture [1], with the only exception of Vladimir Solov'ev.
The first thing I want to focus on is the specificity of philosophical approach. In Russian philosophy, neither theory nor practice in dominant one on the other, but the two of them entwine in a unique worldview. In other words, a philosophical theory can have a practical output, and that output may have a philosophical meaning in itself: this sort of peculiar approach can be seen, for example, in the philosophy of Nikolaj Fedorov [2].
In Fëdorov's idea, mankind must rediscover a sense of "kinship" that unites our whole species and build the "kingdom of God" on Earth Otherwise, on judgement day, mankind will be divided in two parts, one, composed of worthy men, condemned to eternally look at the torments of the other, composed of unworthy. The practical way to solve this theological problem (the old problem of the eternal retribution for Good and Evil) is to make the whole humankind work to accomplish one task: we must look for immortality. Moreover, since every man is part of the humankind, it is necessary resuscitate our ancestors, every other man who died in the past times. In this way, mankind will be able to overcome the dominance of time ^dorov thought that the idea that people we loved and died are forever lost is inacceptable) in both directions. The resuscitation of ancestors will overcome past time and the actual immortality will make our dominance upon the future. That "recovered" people will become the new body of the mankind, and that "transformed" body will be the fulfilment of our specie. The logical consequence is that, since there will be too much
1Каппелло Никколо, Туринский университет, Турин, Италия. niccolo.cappello@edu.unito.it. Потенциальная ценность русского космизма для западной культуры. Философский подход к научному иммортализму.
100 лет героической обороне крепости Осовец в Первой мировой войне
humans for our planet, our species must reach the outer space. By this mean not only time but also space will be philosophically conquered [3].
My work, by the way, in mostly related to the philosophy of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky [4-5]. I began to translate his philosophical works, which have never been published outside of Russia, during the last year. I believe that there are at least two main topics in his theories which are worth to be discussed. First of all, I think it is necessary to understand his theory of knowledge.
Tsiolkovsky believed that the whole matter has, on a lower or higher level, the property of perception. This property is defined as "reactiveness" (отзывчивость, in Biomedicine also «реактивность»), the ability to respond to stimulation. This is the main condition the atoms, which are considered, in this conception, alive beings, capable of perceive the Universe. The clearness of perception depends on the development of the body the atom composes. As for a rock, the "reactiveness" will be like a white speck on a black paper (hardly anything), while in a superior being - like humans - it develops to the "sensitiveness" (чувствительность). This theory of knowledge involves also the foundation of reality. We might refer to the chapter of his work «Монизм Вселенной» (Monismo dell 'Universo2, Monism of the Universe) entitled «Три основы суждений» (Tre fondamenti del giudizio, Three Basis of Judgement). We can read in this chapter [4]:
"Per i nostri ragionamenti abbiamo tre principi, o tre elementi: tempo, spazio e forza. Tutto il resto deriva da essi, persino la sensibilita. Questi tre concetti sono caratteristici soltanto delle menti superiori e ne sono il prodotto (ovvero meccanismi del cervello). [...] Senza materia non esistono ne tempo, ne spazio ne forza. Per converso, dove c'e uno di questi concetti, la c'e anche la materia."3 Even if time, space and strength are considered constituents of matter, they are described as "abstract opinions, existing separately from everything". To properly understand this conception, we should consider what Tsiolkovsky says in the first
2 From now on, when I'll quote Tsiolkovsky I will refer to my Italian translation.
3 "From our reasoning we have three principle, or three elements: time, space and strength.Everything else derives from them, even sensitiveness.These three concepts are typical only of superior minds and are their product (that is are mechanisms of the brain) [...] Without matter don't exist neither time, nor space, nor strength. Conversely, where there's one of these concepts, there is also matter" «Для своих рассуждений мы имеем три начала, или три элемента: время, пространство и силу. Все остальное вытекает из них - даже чувствительность. Эти три понятия свойственны только высшему разуму и есть его результаты (т. е. устройства мозга). .Без материи не существует ни время, ни пространство, ни сила. И обратно, где есть одно из этих понятий, там есть и материя».
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100 лет героической обороне крепости Осовец в Первой мировой войне
quotation: these three concepts are product characteristic of superior minds, are produced by mechanisms of their brain. Time, space and strength have no actual reality because are construction of the mind of an extremely complex organism, like human's. They are just the ways an organism experiences the world. By this means, we can conclude that the problem of matter in Tsiolkovksy is a problem of epistemology, concerning the process of knowledge, more than the foundation of reality. Time, space and strength are basically modalities of experience, depending on the complexity of beings.
We can consider this the main philosophical field from which the theories of Tsiolkovsky developed. On the other hand, in his conception, is marked most of the time that humanity has to work to improve its own existence, first of all on the imperfection of its biological side. Several paragraphs of "Монизм Вселенной", are dedicated to this topic. In chapter "Заселение Вселенной" (Muoversi nell 'Universo, Movement in the Universe):
"L'ingegneria del futuro dara la possibility di superare la gravita terrestre e viaggiare per tutto il sistema Solare. Visiteremo e studieremo tutti i suoi pianeti."4 "Risulteranno molte e diverse specie perfette: adatte alla vita in atmosfere diverse, con un diverso peso, su pianeti diversi, adatti all'esistenza nel vuoto o tra gas rarefatti, di vivere col cibo o senza di esso"5
"Dominera il tipo di organismo massimamente perfetto, che vive nello spazio e che si nutre di energia solare immediata."6
The future of the human race must aim to the colonization of the Cosmos. The first step toward this goal is the enhancement of human biology. We must get rid of every human weakness (imperfection), such as the need of sleep, oxygen and external nourishment. The human of the future will be some sort of "autotrophic man", a man
4 The future engineering will give the chance to overtake Earth's gravity and travel through the whole Solar System. We will visit and study every planet." "Техника будущего даст возможность одолеть земную тяжесть и путешествовать по всей солнечной системе. Посетят и изучат все её планеты"
5 There will result many and different species: able to live in different atmospheres, with different weight, able to live in void or rarefied gases, to live with or without food." «Получатся очень разнообразные породы совершенных: пригодные для жизни в разных атмосферах, при разной тяжести, на разных планетах, пригодные для существования в пустоте, живущие пищей и живущие без неё - одними солнечными лучами»
6 "There will dominate the most perfect type of organism, who lives in the space and feeds on raw solar energy" «В прочем, будет господствующий наиболее совершенный тип организма, живущего в эфире и питающегося непосредственно солнечной энергией...»
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100 лет героической обороне крепости Осовец в Первой мировой войне
who is capable to exist in every condition, even in open space. To perform this, obviously, the role of medicine is essential, since an autotrophic man is also immune from every disease. It is interesting to notice, also, that this kind of "perfect being" is also free from death. It is immortal and never-aging. This can be related with works on Gerontology made by contemporaries of Tsiolkovsky: N.K. Roerich or, especially, founder of this science I.I. Mechnikov [6-7].
However, in my opinion, these ideas should not be seen only as a call for medical, technological and scientific development. If we relate them with what I said before concerning Tsiolkovsky's theory of knowledge, we can find a different meaning on the quotations above. I think that this quotation from the chapter «Чувство атома и его частей» (La sensibilita dell'atomo e delle sue parti, The Sensitiveness of the Atom and Its Parts) can help us:
"Il tempo assoluto - questo e cio che viene esperito da un essere che vive a lungo, senza morire ne andare in letargo. Questo essere, certamente, e immaginario. Il tempo assoluto determina le ore, la rotazione dei corpi celestie altre misurazioni del tempo naturali e artificiali."7
The main idea of this paragraph is that absolute time (but we can extend the meaning also to space and strength) is in factsome sort of subjective time. The difference lies in the organism (subject, using a philosophical word) who experiences time. Later the concept of subjectivism of biological time was advanced by V.I. Vernadsky [8]. In fact, matter has not, philosophically speaking, actual reality. It is defined by the basis of judgement which are produced by the brain of superior beings and are determined by their own complexity. To perfect an organism, in this kind of conception, means not only to make it capable to exist in the Cosmos as a whole (to make the Cosmos his own homeland), but also to make it able to understand the Cosmos on a higher level, since sensitiveness develops according to complexity. The ideas of human empowerment, trans- and post- humanism are extremely important in the modern philosophical debate. The role of Russian Cosmism in context of these discussions was already mentioned recently [9-10].
7"Absolute time - this is what is experienced by along-living, not dying and not sleeping being. This being, certainly, is imaginary. Absolute time determines hours, rotation of celestial bodies and other natural or artificial measurements of time." «Абсолютное время-это то, которое наблюдается ровно живущим, не умирающим и не спящим существом. Существо это, конечно, воображаемое. Абсолютное время определяется часами, вращением небесных тел и другими естественными или искусственными хронометрами».
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100 лет героической обороне крепости Осовец в Первой мировой войне
In my opinion, the Philosophy of Tsiolkovsky may be very useful to this discussion. He was able to focus on a topic very little discussed in the history of Philosophy, which is that a human is not only a consciousness but also a body and that the development of one of them cannot go beyond a certain limit without the other. This, definitely, has a considerable meaning not only for Philosophy, but for all sciences, studying Homo, including Health and Social Sciences.
The full understating of the laws of the Universe, maybe the chance to modify them, passes only through the human enhancement. But this enhancement and we return to my first statement, that the most interesting idea in Russian culture is the entwinement of theory and practice must be both physical and intellectual.
Literature
1. Young G. M. The Russian Cosmists: The Esoteric Futurism of Nikolai Fedorov and His Followers. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
2. Фёдоров Н. Ф. Сочинения. - М.: Мысль, 1982. - 709 с.
3. Churilov L.P., Stroev Y.I. The Life as a Struggle for Immortality: History of Russian Gerontology with an Immunoendocrine Bias/ Annal. Tradit. Chin. Med. (Hong Kong a.e.: World Scientific Publ.) Eds: P.C. Leung, W. Kofler, T. Woo, 2013. - V. 6 "Health, Well-being, Competence and Aging", Chapter 6. - Pp. 81 - 137.
4. Циолковский К.Э. Монизм Вселенной. Интернет-ресурс, URL: http://tsiolkovsky.org/ru/kosmicheskaya-filosofiya/monizm-vselennoi/, дата доступа: 15.11.2015.
5. Циолковский К.Э. Воля Вселенной. Неизвестные разумные силы. Калуга, Изд. автора, 1928. - 23 с.
6. Рерих Н. К. Человек и природа: (Сб.ст.). - 2-е изд. исправ.- М.: Международный Центр Рерихов, 2005.
7. Мечников И.И. Этюды о природе человека. Изд-во АН СССР, 1961. 290 с.
8. Вернадский В. И. Размышления натуралиста: В 2-х кн. - Наука, 1977.
9. Чурилов Л.П., Чурилов И.Л. Русский космизм как прививка от постгуманизма // Biocosmology - Neo-Aristotelism. 2013. V.3.-N3.-Pp. 489-515.
10. Горлачев В.П., Бернюкевич Т.В. Русский космизм как явление культуры // Гуманитарный вектор. 2012. №3(31). С. 30-35.
Ключевые слова: русский космизм, глобальный эволюционизм, научный иммортализм, диалог культур, К.Э. Циолковский, Н.Ф. Федоров, реактивность, трансгуманизм, постгуманизм.
70-лет Победы в Великой отечественной войне 100 лет героической обороне крепости Осовец в Первой мировой войне
Key words: Russian cosmism, global evolutionism, scientific immortalism, cross-cultural dialogue, K.E. Tsiolkovsky, N.F. Fedorov, reactiveness, transhumanism, posthumanism.
