Bishwa Darpan

Monday, April 11, 2022

Interview With Desh Subba On Trans Philosophism

Trans Philosophism Is A Terminator

Desh Subba

Desh Subba was born in Nepal and lives in Hong Kong. He has been writing various books in 'Philosophy of Fearism'. His book 'Trans Philosophism' published in 2021. He is a founder of 'Philosophy of Fearism'. On its base, several books and articles have been written. Bishwa Raj Adhikari has interviewed him for Bishwa Darpan:

1. May we start the interview with the introduction of your writings?

I am Desh Subba. I have written different genres of literature. Since 1999, I have been concentrating on the 'Philosophy of Fearism'. It took a long time to shape a philosophy. I researched; consulted with professors and studied to support it. It was hard to find a clear outline. In the beginning, Fearism was a matter of mocking concept because it was hard to accept as philosophy. No one thought and heard such Fear+ism before. As for them, fear was an average thought as others’ emotions. It was true in a sense. It was the reason that it became a joke. It was not happening to me only. Most of the philosophers faced such difficulties. In my experience, people learn a piece of philosophy. A piece of learning cannot complete the learning process. We cannot understand if we start from the middle. It is the same as watching a movie after one minute or starting to read a book from the 2^nd page. When we miss the beginning, then we get lost somewhere. It is the trend of our academic research and study. Suppose, somebody read Marxism and said I know Marxism. At least to know Marxism needs to reach to Socrates and Plato because thesis, antithesis, and synthesis came from Meno and 'The Republic'. Once Meno asked Socrates,

Meno: "Can knowledge (virtue is written in Wikipedia) learn and teach?"

Socrates: "Cannot because it exists within us".

Meno: "How to draw it out?"

Socrates: "Through dialectic method."

He was talking about conceptual knowledge. Until the synthesis, dialect must continue.

Similarly, word communism first came from Plato. He used it in how to rule Athens. He said, "Ruler and warrior class are not permitted to keep the private property because if they acquire private property, they can be corrupted." He had a fear of corrupting the state. In a social measure, he preferred the communist system. We are playing a role like scholars of Socrates. After conversing with scholars, he said, "We do not know—neither the sophists, nor the orators, nor the artists, nor I—what the True, the Good, and the beautiful are. But there is this difference between us: although they believe they know something; whereas, I, if I know nothing, at least have no doubt about it."

2. 'Philosophy of Fearism' is now widely read. Can you explain it in the simplest form? 

It is a philosophy as other philosophies. Its primary subject is fear. It looks at life and the world on its basis. It is my understanding; most of the influential philosophies have come from suffering, pain, pleasure, happiness, will, desire, etc. Fear was left behind, even some philosophers had given the place but it was negative, harmful, and secondary. We (fearists) are giving full focus on it. Its major quotes are "life is conducted, directed, and controlled by fear", and the "(Existence of) fear precedes essence". At present, politics, economics, education, healthcare, entertainment, and relation is conducted, directed, and controlled by fear of Covid—19. It is very practical. It is not negative; it is the most positive motivator. We see the fear of pandemic activated government, scientists, and medicines. If it was not spread, it would not require the invention of medicine, insulin and issue the laws. We are not doing it just for Corona, we did since early civilization. The bottom line of our invention, development, and construction is fear.

3. 3. End of last year, your new book 'Trans Philosophism' was published. Can you say some words about it?

It is a metamorphosis of 'Philosophy of Fearism' in one sense and terminator in another sense.  By name, if we go through, it has four words Trans+Philo+sophy+ism=Trans Philosophism.  It argues that the later philosophies have to turn on 'Trans Philosophism' way. It has operated, refuted, criticized, and fearmorphosed (metamorphosed) the political theory of Thomas Hobbes, Communist Manifesto, Of Grammatology of Derrida, postmodernism, the subaltern studies, ecological crisis and Existentialism. 

4. How can it be metamorphosis and terminator?

When the variant of philosophy comes that is a metamorphosis; if it strongly refutes and takes into an advanced level that is the terminator. Das Capital is an offspring of the Communist Manifesto. Several philosophies are in metamorphosis form. It is in Communism, Existentialism, modernism, postmodernism, etc. Some parts of Hegelian idealism (idea, or mind, or reason, spirit, or and Giest) is the metamorphosis of Purush and Prakriti of Sankhya philosophy. The spirit of Hegel and Purush of Sankhya has a common base; it has the potential to create matter. Similarly, the political theory of Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau is a kind of metamorphosis because their first form is the state of nature. An animal is a living thing, so the same animal changes in different forms. An idea needs to change through philosophers. We cannot ignore the metamorphosis structure of the Communist Manifesto, Das Capital, Leninism, Maoism, and some other communists. If we see in the context of Nepal, there are plenty of metamorphosed offspring of communists. They are metamorphoses in the 'Trans Philosophism' terminology. 'Trans Philosophism' is a terminator because it terminates the previous meaning. In reality, fear is a terminator. It terminates other emotions. To look from a fearism point of view is fearmorphosis.

5. How is the development of Philosophy of Fearism?

It is growing to the adolescence stage. It will grow into teenagers and adults. On its base, almost 20 books and lots of articles have been written. Trans Philosophism is among them. Dr. Bhawani Shankar Adhikari has applied it in his Ph.D. dissertation. It is a healthy symptom. In some books, I involved myself. Several universities have kept it in reference lists. Within 8 years, its progress is zeal.

6. Do you have some words for readers?

It is my experience, if we want to learn philosophy, we must go back to 570 BC, and nevertheless, we miss the page. Around 600 BC is its beginning. As I said, reading from the 2^nd page misguides our knowledge. 

Presented by: Bishwa Raj Adhikari

http://bishwarajadhikari.blogspot.com/2022/04/interview-with-desh-subba-part-2.html?m=1

This is the inside back cover of the Bio. for Samuel Nathan Gillian (1939-2015). I had a friendly (email relationship) with Sam since May 2004 until March 2005. And recently with one of his nieces (thankfully) contacting me--now I am in conversation with his wife Bernice, and there is a new project on my plate to write an intellectual biography on SNG. Just wanted to let you all know that. He has written two amazing books on fear (and education) [1], and I know of no one who has done that, and especially with him being an African-American black man, again, I know of no black person who has written two major books on fear; this combination puts his work out as an important historical record in Fear Studies. Intellectually, he developed some close links at one point with the Ernest Becker Foundation and he absorbed the writings of Ernest Becker. Sam was likely an existential thinker. Bernice says, with a great "zest for life." He also puts his own spin on fear and how best to relate to it, based on his life's experience and being one who loved children and teaching. In 2020 I wrote a technical paper on my initial connections with Sam and why he and I had our overlapping same interests and our differences about fear and fearlessness [2]. 

IF ANYONE has further information, of any kind, about SNG, please contact me: r.michaelfisher52@gmail.com

FYI: I just posted May 10/22 on "Cornel West" (see FM ning)-- as it is truly West's liberal-radical philosophy that in many ways (not all) is very much akin to Gillian's philosophy.

Notes: 

1. Gillian, S. N. (2002). The Beauty of Fear: How to Positively Enjoy Being Afraid. Phemore Press, Inc.; Gillian, S. N. (2005). Terrified by Education: Teaching Children to Fear Learning. Phemore Press, Inc. 

2. Fisher, R. M. (2020). Samuel N. Gillian's Beckerian Educational Philosophy of Fear/Terror. Technical Paper No. 102. In Search of Fearlessness Research Institute. 

This new video, "Taking Children to the Edge" is first in a series of "Stone Teachings" as I call them. In this video you find how I think about making the transformation from a culture of fear to a culture of fearlessness, and we'd better start doing this with how we educate and socialize children. Thus, parents, teachers, caregivers of young people may find these thought insightful or at least provoking of your own thinking. 

As for the larger audience for this video, as the citizens of this planet earth and the crises we face, I think you too will gain something from these teachings, from the stone, through me, to you ... and finally, to the children of the world. 

New Video (35 min.)... where I describe how I am stepping up full of inspiration to enter "politics" (i.e., from the perspective of the political sphere, a holistic-integral approach)... 

Entitled: The Great Citizen: Future Process Politics & Learning

[companion video recently: The Great Collapse: How Afraid Should We be?]  Note: my play off the term/concept "The Great" [1] has an intellectual history behind it, important for those readers and viewers who really want to understand where I am coming from. 

New Video- Description: The Great Citizen

Dr. Fisher talks of how he is moving to make a commitment over the next 10 years to enter the political sphere and politics. He shares his experience professionally as a teacher and differentiates that from being an educator (especially, adult educator). He questions and critiques politics and political figures but also supports their differing pieces of the puzzle toward the making of a great citizen, great society, etc. What makes a process philosophy, thinking, person is explored, and he shows his intention to study the history of transformation in the last 100 years especially and how it is essential to understand what is transformation and its role in the political sphere and politics of which he mentions Marianne Williamson as an exemplar for a holistic-integral approach as she is currently running for President of the USA in 2020. Always asking: "What are we learning?" is key to his educational philosophy and thus "learning to learn" is both a meta-cognitive skill but also the basis for a great learner/citizen and it is essential to analyzing the problems and crises we face individually and collectively.

(action still from my video)... 

End Note

1. The first book and stream of intellectual thought on the telling of 'Big Story' narratives per se came from my encounter in the late 70s-early 80s sometime, and reading the little booklet I ordered from the US by eminent Thomas Berry, the self-identified geologian (cultural historian) at the time, entitled "The New Story" (also a recent video has been put together on this work http://thomasberry.org/publications-and-media/the-new-story-1)--and, much later Berry wrote a critically important work to many in the holistic movement called "The Great Work: Our Way Into the Future" (2000) [2]; but the more substantive perennial philosophy work I read sometime in the early 80s was one that was promoted as foundational in the transpersonal philosophy of Ken Wilber at that time, and it is the classic (1936) book "The Great Chain of Being: A study of the History of an Idea" by Authur O. Lovejoy. There was that sense of "The Great" something, historically, evolutionarily and beautifully articulated, as what Wilber later called the "spirit in evolution" basically. And that's all resonant with my own soul and sensing that there is some 'big picture' (a fav. term of Wilber's) going on that I or anyone could learn about and feel there is an alternative view of history (and the future) than what the straight-up historians (and evolutionists in biology) have been and still were (and still are) painting about the nature and destiny of humans, Homo sapiens, and humanity and human nature, etc. The next in the trilogy on "The Great" works that came to me is David C. Korten's (2005), "The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community"--again, much could be said on how important this book and teaching is, and to say the least Korten has attracted a huge following across a lot of different areas, but yes, still within the alternatives movements. To be interested in "transformation" at the core of my process philosophy, politics and education, one has to link these triad or quadrad of influences to my work to make sense of what "transformation" means to me. And with a little research there are others who have their own versions of The Great Turning, e.g., a very important leader, and Buddhist eco-activist, Joanna Macy, https://vimeo.com/191169785 ;

2. "Great Work" (i.e., magnum opus) is a term with spiritual-philosophical rooting that apparently goes back to ancient Hermetic (esoteric) philosophy, at least, as a legacy and tradition of thinking about the reality and future reality that the human and consciousness is participating in, and can shape and can be shaped by.