from Lawrence, SUNDAY PhiloMadrid meeting at 6:30pm: Failure helps our maturity + News

Failure helps our maturity + News


Dear Friends,

This Sunday we are discussing: Failure helps our maturity. We can also
rephrase this title as "failure helps us to mature" without losing any
part of the meaning.

The parallel to this claim is the other expression 'learning from
experience'. It is well documented that failing at something is one of
the best forms of learning. The immediate value of failure is precisely
the knowledge that one does not know something and secondly we know
exactly what we need to learn. In other words failure ought to be a
motivating force.

Indeed, we can say that failure is a luxury if we are allowed to learn
from our mistakes. And I will use mistakes and failure as synonyms here.
Unfortunately, we are not always afforded this luxury. And in the place
where failure and mistakes ought to be taken as opportunities for
learning, these powerful tools are used to exclude, to stigmatise and to
punish. I am of course referring to institutions of education, where
conformity is more valued than creativity and intellect.

Remembering and knowing a set of facts does not mean that we are
intelligent but only that, we remember set of facts. And equally true
getting the answer right does not mean that we have learnt how to use a
concept. Intelligence, one might argue, is an ability to apply facts
and knowledge correctly. But this requires more than just filling the
blanks correctly.

So what is the difference between being intelligent and being mature? Of
course, by mature in the context of our topic does not mean getting
older, but rather acting with responsibility and making every effort to
do what is right; i.e. what is right for a desires outcome. We also
usually associate maturity with life matters, whereas when we speak of
experience we refer to specific skills or behaviours. For example, we
might be experienced travellers and we also know how to act maturely
when we encounter an adverse situation especially in a social or
cultural context. A mature person would know how to deal with an awkward
situation, whereas an experience person would be more like to know how
to avoid such situations.

Indeed, failure does help us to mature and gain experience, but failure
is a very powerful tool and being mature means having a read advantage
over others in a zero sum game; knowledge is king in a strategy game and
knowing how to apply it correctly is a stroke of genius. So when we
punish the young for their mistakes are we really teaching them a lesson
or are we really depriving them of a valuable lesson in life?
-------

In the meantime I have this news from David;

Cementerio Británico – British Cemetery Madrid

Martes, el día 7 de junio, a partir de las 19,30 horas, los de la
comisión gestora del cementerio harán acto de presencia allí y se ponen
a disposición del público. Hay muchas personas entre las que hayan
disfrutado de las visitas guiadas las que nos han expresado su deseo de
traer a sus amistades y familares y también otras muchas que quisieran
comentar con los de la comisión gestora sobre el presente o el futuro de
este lugar especial, objeto de tanta atención de parte de los medios de
comunicación por su valor histórico.

On Tuesday the 7th June, from 7,30 p.m. onwards, the members of the
Cemetery Committee will be at the Cemetery and hope to meet there some
of the many people who have enjoyed a guided tour and who have expressed
their wish to make a return visit in order to share their impressions
with friends and family. This will be everyone's opportunity to express
to committee members suggestions for the present and for the future of
this unique place which in recent times has been the object of so much
interest from the media because of its historical importance.

David Butler en representación de la Comisión Gestora del Cementerio
Británico
Details here: http://www.britishcemeterymadrid.com


Best Lawrence

tel: 606081813
philomadrid@gmail.com <mailto:philomadrid@gmail.com>
Blog: http://philomadrid.blogspot.com.es/
<http://philomadrid.blogspot.com.es/>
PhiloMadrid Meeting
Meet 6:30pm
Centro Segoviano
Alburquerque, 14
28010 Madrid
914457935
Metro: Bilbao
-----------Ignacio------------
Open Tertulia in English every
Thursdays at Triskel in c/San Vicente Ferrer 3.
Time: from 19:30 to 21h
http://sites.google.com/site/tertuliainenglishmadrid/
<http://sites.google.com/site/tertuliainenglishmadrid/>
----------------------------





from Lawrence, SUNDAY PhiloMadrid meeting at 6:30pm: Failure helps our
maturity + News

from Lawrence, SUNDAY PhiloMadrid meeting at 6:30pm: Is the Future Predictable? + News

Is the Future Predictable? + News


Dear Friends,

This Sunday we are discussing: Is the Future Predictable?

I have written a few ideas below, but first news from Elena:


---Elena
Fundación Ramón Areces
Simposio: La utopía, motor de la historia. Con motivo del V Centenario
de la publicación de "Utopía", de Tomás Moro
Director: Juan José Tamayo-Acosta
Cátedra de Teología y Ciencias de las Religiones. Universidad Carlos III
de Madrid.
Fecha y hora: viernes 27 de mayo de 2016, 9.30 h
Lugar: Salón de Actos de la Fundación Ramón Areces. Calle Vitruvio, 5 -
28006 Madrid.
Le agradeceremos la difusión de esta información entre personas y
entidades interesadas. Asistencia gratuita. Aforo limitado.

Información
http://www.fundacionareces.es/fundacionareces/portal.do
Inscripciones
http://www.fundacionareces.es/fundacionareces/cargarFormularioActoSimposio.do?idAgendaEvento=1892

-------


Is the Future Predictable?

Expanding the question a bit, we can ask these two questions: can the
future be predicted? And can we predict the future?

The problem with the first question is this: what is the future exactly?
What is the objective here? Are we looking at a set of events, a set of
effects, an outcome, a state of affairs? But is the question "can the
future be predicted?" inevitably linked with our ability to predict the
future?

The ontological problem is probably a question that we cannot really
answer simply because there might be a way of predicting the future but
is a method that we cannot simply know or have access to. On the other
hand, can we predict the future is equally fraught with problems.

If we accept the doctrine of cause and effect, then when ask "Can we
predict the future", and for that matter, "is the future predictable",
do we expect also to know all the minute details of every cause and
effect that will lead us to the thing we wish to predict?

Let us say, for example, we want to predict whether our flight to city X
in two weeks time will leave on time: do we want a "Yes" or "No" answer,
but how we get to "yes" or "no" is just irrelevant, or do we also expect
to know the details all the way to the "yes" or "no" answer?

Of course, there is no such method that will lead us to secure knowledge
about the future simply because we are looking at the future with our
subjective interpretation of the world around. In other words, the
future is something that, if you like, lives in our brain and our
understanding of the world around. The future we have in our head and
the reality of the space-time continuum are two different creatures.

But this does not mean that we are completely blind about the future.
Slowly, but surely, we are becoming more familiar with the way the
universe functions, at least that part of the universe we interact with.
The regularities that we sometimes glimpse at in the universe tell us
what we can expect. Thus knowing how things interact with each other
will give an insight of the causal process and hence any effect.

Furthermore, knowing how a system works and functions can also help us
to know what to expect next. The more we know about a system the more we
can tell what it will do next and what will make it fail.

From an epistemological perspective, we have the scientific method to
guide us into what is probably possible, given our stage of knowledge
now, and what is probably not feasible. Understanding the functions of
probability will give us a type of certainty about the future even if it
is not a populist one.

What we know for sure is that we need to be able to distinguish between
what we wish and what is possible. And then put in the hard work.

Best Lawrence

tel: 606081813
philomadrid@gmail.com <mailto:philomadrid@gmail.com>
Blog: http://philomadrid.blogspot.com.es/
<http://philomadrid.blogspot.com.es/>
PhiloMadrid Meeting
Meet 6:30pm
Centro Segoviano
Alburquerque, 14
28010 Madrid
914457935
Metro: Bilbao
-----------Ignacio------------
Open Tertulia in English every
Thursdays at Triskel in c/San Vicente Ferrer 3.
Time: from 19:30 to 21h
http://sites.google.com/site/tertuliainenglishmadrid/
<http://sites.google.com/site/tertuliainenglishmadrid/>
----------------------------





from Lawrence, SUNDAY PhiloMadrid meeting at 6:30pm: Is the Future
Predictable? + News

from Lawrence, SUNDAY PhiloMadrid meeting at 6:30pm: To Forgive

Dear friends,

This Sunday we are discussing: to forgive

This topic is one of the central issues in ethics and even more so in
religion. But of course we are only interested in the ethical discussion
and not religion.

Indeed what do we mean by forgiveness? To forgive someone who's done us
wrong does not mean that it is alright to do wrong, nor does it mean
restitution to a position before the wrong was done. Nor does our
forgiveness mean that the wrong doer might not feel guilt or remorse.

From an objective perspective the harm done cannot be physically
removed, take back nor, so to speak, "unexperience" the wrong done.
However, there is one thing that forgiveness does, and that is to bring
peace of mind to the forgiver. In a way forgiveness is like restitution
of a balanced state of mind rather than a balance of events. But this
begs the question: is to forgive a sign of weakness or a sign of an
urgent need of bringing back mental equilibrium in our life? Does this
mean that our need to have a balanced state of mind is so urgent and so
pressing that we are even prepared to overrule such basic instincts as
revenge and pride.

Best Lawrence

tel: 606081813
philomadrid@gmail.com <mailto:philomadrid@gmail.com>
Blog: http://philomadrid.blogspot.com.es/
<http://philomadrid.blogspot.com.es/>
PhiloMadrid Meeting
Meet 6:30pm
Centro Segoviano
Alburquerque, 14
28010 Madrid
914457935
Metro: Bilbao
-----------Ignacio------------
Open Tertulia in English every
Thursdays at Triskel in c/San Vicente Ferrer 3.
Time: from 19:30 to 21h
http://sites.google.com/site/tertuliainenglishmadrid/
<http://sites.google.com/site/tertuliainenglishmadrid/>
----------------------------





from Lawrence, SUNDAY PhiloMadrid meeting at 6:30pm: To Forgive

from Lawrence, SUNDAY PhiloMadrid meeting at 6:30pm: Tenderness and Aggressivity

Dear Friends,


This Sunday we are discussing: Tenderness and Aggressivity.

Carmen has sent us a short essay about her ideas on the subject. A
subject that can seem a mismatch at face value but in reality a very
basic one as Carmen points out. I also include a few ideas from a
slightly different perspective, but at the end all perspectives leads to
one conclusion.


---From Carmen
All human beings are born with a tender impulse which informs us about
our needs, and at the same time we come to this world with an aggressive
impulse which goal is mainly to satisfy our needs. In order to develop
these two impulses adequately, the child must be provided with a
respectful and adequate environment.

That means that the person that would act as a mother would cover the
child's needs adequately raising him up in a progressive way so the
child will understand that things come to him/her not immediately. On
the other hand, the father would place him in the world in order that
the child gets into action and therefore would be able to be satisfied.

When babies have lots of repetitive moments of frustration. the part of
themselves that inform them about their needs would be damaged and they
would start to develop defensive mechanisms. As a result, he would be
alienated of his genuine and real need. Also, if the father is not able
to assume his role or might be extremely dominant and demanding, the
relevant functions involved to satisfy his needs, would be severely damaged.

This is a very basic summary. We have to take into account that above
the three or so years old of the child, he not only starts to have needs
but also desires (which are needs covered by emotions).

As adults, it's fundamental to know what we really need, what we feel
and also what we want, and not what society dictates. It's very
important to have access to needs, feelings and desires (working, asking
for it instead to become a delinquent) in order to be relaxed instead of
being constantly stressed.

Carmen


--- Lawrence

I guess we are very familiar with these two human traits. And, of
course, we are much more familiar with aggression than tenderness. Maybe
we can even detect a bit of a mismatch with this topic since aggression
is ubiquitous and we can experience it from those close to us to people
on the other side of the world. The actions of people can have an
aggressive effect on us if it wasn't intended.

Whereas we don't really expect tenderness from all and sundry; this
would be distressing and out of place to say the least. Indeed we expect
tenderness from those close to us such as parents or partners. We
mustn't mix our emotional joy about someone to tenderness. Tenderness is
not about us feeling good, but about us making others feel good.

This implies that we have a special relationship with only a few people
that qualify to convey their tenderness on us. Is tenderness, therefore,
a necessary and sufficient condition for love? I wouldn't argue that
tenderness was a sufficient condition for love, but a necessary
condition certainly. Tenderness means non aggression and an intentional
act to convey love to someone else, even if that someone is very close
to us. Tenderness goes beyond the act; we cannot fake tenderness.
Unfortunately, tenderness seems to be in short supply throughout our life.

Best Lawrence

tel: 606081813
philomadrid@gmail.com <mailto:philomadrid@gmail.com>
Blog: http://philomadrid.blogspot.com.es/
<http://philomadrid.blogspot.com.es/>
PhiloMadrid Meeting
Meet 6:30pm
Centro Segoviano
Alburquerque, 14
28010 Madrid
914457935
Metro: Bilbao
-----------Ignacio------------
Open Tertulia in English every
Thursdays at Triskel in c/San Vicente Ferrer 3.
Time: from 19:30 to 21h
http://sites.google.com/site/tertuliainenglishmadrid/
<http://sites.google.com/site/tertuliainenglishmadrid/>
----------------------------





from Lawrence, SUNDAY PhiloMadrid meeting at 6:30pm: Tenderness and
Aggressivity