Letter to Forel

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The Letter to Forel is a teaching letter of the Baháʼí religion that discusses the evidence of the existence of the soul and God in the context of modern science and philosophy. The letter, dated November 21, 1921, is one of the last writings of Abdul-Baha ' , the son of the founder of the religion, and was addressed to Auguste-Henri Forel , an important Swiss psychiatrist . The letter was written in response to Forel's inquiry on December 28, 1920 and is considered to be "one of the most weighty writings" of ʿAbdul-Baha. Forel's questions aim at the compatibility of religious beliefs with the knowledge of modern science. Specifically, he is concerned with believing in a human soul and in a God . The main focus of the letter to Forel are two classic questions of philosophy and religion: the mind-body problem and the evidence of God .

The background of the request Forels

Like many scientists, Forel saw behind creation a formative principle or force, “a world potential that creates matter and life”. He saw himself as a monist , but not a monist “in the narrower sense” who explains everything in a strictly materialistic way, but looks for a metaphysical side in monism that is well founded for scientists. He rejected traditional church teachings. At the age of 16 he refused confirmation , which was very unusual for the 19th century . He described himself as an " agnostic " and considered God to be "absolutely unknowable for humans". Forel had joined the Baha'i movement in 1920 mainly because of its social teachings and at the end of the same year (December 28, 1920) turned to 'Abdul-Baha' and asked him:

  • the relationship between the human soul and the functioning of the brain
  • the very narrow limits of the statements that one can make about God as a human being

The soul

ʿAbdul-Baha ' compares the soul with the sun. The mental abilities of humans, such as thinking , dreaming, creativity etc., are like the rays of this sun and the human body (including the brain ) like the mirror in which the rays are reflected. The activities of the brain are thus the manifestations of the working of the soul through the mental faculties, the soul enables thinking, but it is not thinking. The mind is bound to the body and senses, but the soul is active without the five senses (e.g. in a dream ) and thus free from the body. This freedom of the soul enables people to gain new knowledge from the known, to circumvent the laws of nature and B. to fly with the help of an airplane. In doing so, the human being uses abilities (intellect, creativity, will, ...) which do not occur in nature to such an extent. Hence the soul does not spring from nature but from a higher mental metaphysical reality. It is therefore immortal and is not harmed by illness or physical ailments.

It is the soul that acts as a “unifying force” and aligns the mental abilities (analysis, interpretation) as well as the physical body functions (movement of the hand, foot when setting up a measuring device in the wind tunnel and performing the measurement). This can be transferred to the animal world, where the animal soul aligns abilities such as growth and reproduction with one another. It is analogous in the plant world and in the world of minerals. For each level of being, the next higher level is the metaphysical level and cannot be understood. In this way the soul becomes the "starting point of the properties of each level of being [plant, animal and also mineral] and thus the cause of the differences between the different levels of being".

Evidence of God

Abdul-Baha 'cites four important proofs of God, whereby he formulates variants of the cosmological and teleological proof and gives a wide scope. These tie in with the scientific observation of nature. As the argument progresses, he explains his method of evidence and states that the evidence is not compelling . In natural science, an explanation is derived for phenomena that have a lasting preferential direction, i.e. are not random, whereby this is not a compelling proof, but the most plausible explanation that best describes the observation. This is how one leads from free fall on earth, i.e. H. the observation that objects do not move in any direction when they are released, emits an invisible force (gravity). Another observer can decide against this explanation for a less plausible one, but has to give sufficient reasons so that his approach can still be regarded as scientific. Just as with free fall, one can deduce from the fact that creation has evolved from simple elementary particles to the human body as the most complex living being since the Big Bang , and that this development has taken place in a sustainable manner, that there is an invisible force that drives this evolution . So ʿAbdul-Baha 'defines life as the creation of new things through the connection of existing things (elementary particles combine to form atoms , these combine to form molecules , these to chemical compounds , these to [amino acids], these to simple living beings up to the human body ) and states that the visible universe has evolved from the simple to the complex and thus has a preferred direction. Because of this preferred direction, this development cannot be caused by chance, as chance works in any direction. Then new, but simpler kinds and things would also have to emerge from higher living beings. So there must be a directed, "invisible force" behind this development.

Since this power ensures that complex living beings arise from simple things, it must be able to produce complexity and intelligent living beings such as humans and is therefore intelligent and knowing. Similar to the soul, which aligns the mental and physical functions of man with one another, this force aligns the interactions between things - and thus also the laws of nature - with one another and enables the existence of creation. Since creation and nature are self-similar , one can conclude from this that this force is intelligent, has a will, a consciousness, etc. However, these properties that are ascribed to it are "taken from the existence and observation of living beings". Like "all human ideas, they are contingent, not absolute". It is this force that people call God and "it is impossible to comprehend it" since "the broader principle is not discernible for the less comprehensive".

Epistemological classification in the mind-body discussion

In the letter, which contains "basic statements of the Bahā'ī religion in relation to the nature of man, the nature of God and creation" in "systematic form", "Abdul-Baha" explains how these different worlds are represented by a principle of "Perfect connection" are held together and thus overcomes the "opposition between monism and dualism or pluralism". The dualism that proceeds from animate and inanimate substances, for which the mental “is an ontologically independent area”, can not explain phenomena such as psychosomatics , nor can “how these [different worlds] are held together in a common world”. Monism cannot explain how a multifarious world emerges from the One. In this way, Abdul-Baha 'fills the gaps that the monistic and dualistic approaches of Aristotle , Plato and Descartes and Ernst Haeckel leave open.

literature

  • 'Abdu'l-Bahá: Letter to Forel . Baháʼí-Verlag, Hofheim 1998, ISBN 3-87037-072-6 ( holy-writings.com ).
  • Sheila Banani: The Life and Times of August Forel (=  Lights of 'Irfán . Volume 6 ). 2005, p. 1-20 ( irfancolloquia.org [PDF]).
  • Alexander von Muralt: August Forel, Swiss Heads Issue 4/5, Zurich, Orell Füssli Verlag, 1928
  • Abdu'l-Bahá: Letters and Messages, 1992, Hofheim-Langenhain
  • Keven Brown, Eberhard von Kitzing: Evolution and Bahai Belief, 2001, Los Angeles
  • William S. Hatcher: Logic & Logos - Essays on Science, Religion, Philosophy, 1990, Oxford
  • John Paul Vader: For The Good of Mankind - August Forel and the Bahai Faith, Oxford, 1984
  • Ansgar Beckermann: The body-soul problem - An introduction to the philosophy of the mind, 2008, Paderborn
  • Ansgar Beckermann: Brain, I, Freedom - Neuroscience and Image of Man, 2010, Paderborn
  • Godehard Brüntrup: The body-soul problem - An introduction, 2008, Stuttgart
  • Zendeh: Harmony as an ontological principle: the relationship between the mental and the physical in the Bahá'í faith, 'Irfan Colloquium 2015 (in preparation)
  • Sobhani: The human soul from the perspective of the Baha'i religion, Hofheim, 2013
  • 'Alī Murād Dāvūdī : Malakūt-i-Vujūd - The Majesty of Existence, thoughts on Abdu'l-Bahá's tray o Dr. Auguste Henri Forel, Darmstadt, 1998
  • Aristotle: De Anima - Translated and edited by 'Alī Murād Dāvūdī, Tehran, Hekmat Verlag, 1970 (1349 Iranian calendar)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Shoghi Effendi : God is passing . With an introduction by George Townshend. Baháʼí-Verlag, Hofheim 2001, 20:28 ( [1] - English: God Passes By .).
  2. ^ German translation of the questions in 'Abdu'l-Bahá: Letter to Forel . Baháʼí-Verlag, Hofheim 1998, ISBN 3-87037-072-6 ( [2] ).
  3. ↑ So Alexander von Muralt: August Forel Swiss Heads Heft 4/5, Zurich, Orell Füssli Verlag, 1928, p. 28.
  4. ↑ Forel: s. Article Monism in: Concise Dictionary of Philosophy. Ed. V. Wulff D. Rehfus. 1st edition, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht / UTB. ISBN 978-3-8252-8208-0 , Brüntrup describes this world view as "physicalistic" (Godehard Brüntrup: The body-soul problem - An introduction, 2008, p. 21), the human being then appears as "through and through physical Essence "(Ansgar Beckermann: The body-soul problem - An introduction to the philosophy of the mind, 2008, 20)
  5. ↑ Inquiry Forels to ʿAbdul-Baha 'in' Abdu'l-Bahá: Letter to Forel . Baháʼí-Verlag, Hofheim 1998, ISBN 3-87037-072-6 ( [3] ). , P. 12.
  6. ^ 'Abdu'l-Bahá: Letter to Forel . Baháʼí-Verlag, Hofheim 1998, ISBN 3-87037-072-6 ( [4] ). , P. 12. The conclusion of his lecture at the conference of the German naturalists and doctors in Vienna, 1894: “We are making a front against the idolatry of outdated, untenable childish legends and dogmatic ideas of anthropomorphic properties. ... We, on the other hand, worship in the deepest humility the eternal, unfathomable omnipotence of the infinite God, which reveals itself everywhere in every world atom, who is at the same time the universe, rules in the universe, represents world consciousness. ”(Alexander von Muralt: August Forel Swiss Heads, Volume 4/5 , Zurich, Orell Füssli Verlag, 1928, pp. 28-29).
  7. ↑ Some of the western Baha'i communities had the character of a (new) religious movement in many respects well into the 20th century , but are now consistently stable and institutionalized religious communities.
  8. ↑ Here, based on the body-soul discussion, the pair of terms mental-physical is used instead of mental / spiritual vs. physically. Typical examples are the work of Ansgar Beckermann and Godehard Brüntrup in the bibliography.
  9. ^ 'Abdu'l-Bahá: Letter to Forel . Baháʼí-Verlag, Hofheim 1998, ISBN 3-87037-072-6 ( [5] ). , Pp. 21-22.35.
  10. ↑ Abdul-Baha ': Answered Questions, p. 206.
  11. ↑ Dāvūdī: Malakūt-i-Vujūd - The Majesty of Existence, thoughts on Abdu'l-Bahá's tray o Dr. Auguste Henri Forel, Darmstadt, 1998, p. 45. Ali Murad Davudi , was professor of philosophy at the University of Tehran and published on the philosophy of the mind in Greece and Islam. He was a Baha'i and has examined and commented on the sacred scriptures of his religion on the subject of the soul from the perspective of Greek, European and Islamic philosophy.
  12. ^ 'Abdu'l-Bahá: Letter to Forel . Baháʼí-Verlag, Hofheim 1998, ISBN 3-87037-072-6 ( [6] ). ., P. 35. Dāvūdī: Malakūt-i-Vujūd - The Majesty of Existence, thoughts on Abdu'l-Bahás tray o Dr. Auguste Henri Forel, Darmstadt, 1998, p. 47.
  13. ^ 'Abdu'l-Bahá: Letter to Forel . Baháʼí-Verlag, Hofheim 1998, ISBN 3-87037-072-6 ( [7] ). , P. 25.
  14. ↑ Dāvūdī: Malakūt-i-Vujūd - The Majesty of Existence, thoughts on Abdu'l-Bahá's tray o Dr. Auguste Henri Forel, Darmstadt, 1998, p. 51.
  15. ↑ Dāvūdī: Malakūt-i-Vujūd - The Majesty of Existence, thoughts on Abdu'l-Bahá's tray o Dr. Auguste Henri Forel, Darmstadt, 1998, p. 63.
  16. ↑ For a systematic presentation of proofs of God according to Kant's classification, s. Article Evidence of God in the concise dictionary of philosophy. Ed. V. Wulff D. Rehfus. 1st edition, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht / UTB. ISBN 978-3-8252-8208-0
  17. ↑ Abdu'l-Baha: Letter to Forel, p. 30. Dāvūdī: Malakūt-i-Vujūd - The Majesty of Existence, thoughts on Abdu'l-Bahá's tray o Dr. Auguste Henri Forel, Darmstadt, 1998, pp. 48, 62 comments on this, referring to the Answered Questions, where Abdu'l-Bahá says at the end of the first chapter that concrete evidence for “weak souls” is cited because “where that opens inner eye, it sees hundreds of thousands of clear evidence. This is to say that the person who feels the spirit within him does not need any further proof of the existence of the spirit. But for those people who do not partake of the blessings of the spirit, one must provide evidence from the objective world. ”Davūdī distinguishes between knowing God, feeling (Arabic. Iḥsās, احساس) and proving (Arabic. I th bāt و اثبات, whatever is the term for mathematical proofs). Since Kant it has been clear: “Reason cannot generally prove metaphysical ideas such as God, freedom and immortality [of the soul]…. But neither can she refute them. In this respect, space has been created to believe them ”(Störig: Kleine Weltgeschichte der Philosophie, p. 409. For an introductory presentation of Kant's critique of reason in the context of Kitáb-i-Íqán see Saiedi: Logos and Civilization, pp. 137-140 and S. 160–164.) The fact that belief cannot be necessarily proven can already be found in Thomas Aquinas, who in his introduction to De Rationibus Fidei (2: 7) differentiates between evidence ad satisfactionem and ad probationem . Origen expresses himself similarly in: Peri Archon, IV 1: 7.
  18. ↑ "persistent, conssitent, and significant deviation from randomness": William S. Hatcher: Logic & Logos - Essays on Science, Religion, Philosophy, 1990, Oxford. Often people confuse the plausibility of the scientific explanation with truth. With mathematical logic it can be shown that for a finite number of facts (scientific observations) there can be an infinite number of theories that are incompatible with one another. A single, binding theory for the phenomenon cannot be derived from a finite number of observations. Theory is always under-determined by facts ( Quine : Words and Object, p. 78, quoted in William S. Hatcher: Logic & Logos - Essays on Science, Religion, Philosophy, 1990, Oxford. For a detailed treatment see Hatcher: Logic & Logos.
  19. ↑ Basically, the image that the Baha'i religion conveys of creation is an evolutionary one. The difference to the theory of evolution is that it does not support the conclusion that the spiritual soul of man has also evolved from material nature. For a discussion on the history of science see: Eberhard von Kitzing: Evolution or Creation: two mutually exclusive concepts? in 'Irfán-Studien zum Bahá'í-Schrifttum, Hofheim, ISBN 3-87037-424-1 , 2004, p. 179 and more detailed Keven Brown, Eberhard von Kitzing: Abdu'l-Bahás response to Nineteenth-Century Darwinism, 2001 .
  20. ^ William S. Hatcher: Logic & Logos - Essays on Science, Religion, Philosophy, 1990, Oxford; Dāvūdī: Malakūt-i-Vujūd - The Majesty of Existence, thoughts on Abdu'l-Bahá's tray o Dr. Auguste Henri Forel, Darmstadt, 1998, pp. 47, 63-65.
  21. ^ 'Abdu'l-Bahá: Letter to Forel . Baháʼí-Verlag, Hofheim 1998, ISBN 3-87037-072-6 ( [8] ). , P. 28, Dāvūdī: Malakūt-i-Vujūd - The Majesty of Existence, thoughts on Abdu'l-Bahás tray o Dr. Auguste Henri Forel, Darmstadt, 1998, page 48.
  22. ↑ Abdu'l-Baha: Letter to Forel, p. 29. Hatcher: A Scientific Proof of the Existence of God, Journal of Bahá'í Studies, Vol. 5, Number 4, 1994. Dāvūdī: Malakūt-i-Vujūd - The Majesty of Existence, thoughts on Abdu'l-Bahá's tray o Dr. Auguste Henri Forel, Darmstadt, 1998, page 64.
  23. ↑ Abdu'l-Baha: Letter to Forel, p. 34.
  24. ↑ "the part is a sign for the whole", Abdu'l-Baha: Letter to Forel, p. 29.
  25. ^ 'Abdu'l-Bahá: Letter to Forel . Baháʼí-Verlag, Hofheim 1998, ISBN 3-87037-072-6 ( [9] ). , P. 36.
  26. ^ 'Abdu'l-Bahá: Letter to Forel . Baháʼí-Verlag, Hofheim 1998, ISBN 3-87037-072-6 ( [10] ). , P. 27.
  27. ^ Keyword monism in the concise dictionary of philosophy
  28. ↑ Manfred Hutter : Handbook Bahā'ī. History - theology - relation to society . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-17-019421-2 , pp. 79 (( limited preview in Google Book search)).
  29. ^ 'Abdu'l-Bahá: Letters and Messages, p. 60, Hofheim-Langenhain
  30. ^ Keyword monism in the concise dictionary of philosophy
  31. ↑ Beckermann: The Body-Soul Problem - An Introduction to the Philosophy of Spirit ", p. 19.
  32. ^ Keyword monism in the concise dictionary of philosophy.