Information AboutLogos |
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The Greek word λόγος or ''logos'' is a word with various meanings. It is often translated into English as " Word " but can also mean thought, speech, Reason , principle, standard, or Logic , among other things. It has varied use in the fields of Philosophy , Analytical Psychology , Rhetoric and Religion . USE IN ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY In Ancient Philosophy , ''Logos'' was used by Heraclitus , one of the more eminent Pre-Socratic Greek philosophers, to describe Human Knowledge and the inherent order in The Absolute Universe , a background to the essential change which characterizes day-to-day life. ''Logos'' as the inherent Rationality of the universe is also something of a precursor to the concept of the Collective Unconscious , described by Carl Jung , as these two fragments from Heraclitus suggest: One must follow what is common; but, even though the Logos is common, most people live as though they possessed their own private wisdom. (Fr.2) The common is what is open to all, what can be seen and heard by all. To see is to let in with open eyes what is open to view, i.e. what is lit up and revealed to all. The dead (the completely private ones) neither see nor hear; they are closed. No light (fire) shines in them; no speech sounds in them. And yet, even they participate in the cosmos. The extinguished ones also belong to the continuum of lighting and extinguishing that is the common cosmos. The dead touch upon the living sleeping, who in turn touch upon the living waking. (Fr. 26) By the time of Socrates , Plato , and Aristotle , ''logos'' was the term used to describe the faculty of human Reason and the knowledge men had of the world and of each other. Plato allowed his characters to engage in the conceit of describing ''logos'' as a living being in some of his dialogues. The development of the Academy with Hypomnemata brought ''logos'' closer to the literal Text . Aristotle, who studied under Plato and who was much more of a practical thinker, first developed the concept of Logic as a depiction of the rules of human rationality. The Stoics understood Logos as the animating power of the universe, which further influenced how this word was understood later on (in 20th Century Psychology , for instance). USE IN RHETORIC In Rhetoric , ''logos'' is one of the three Modes Of Persuasion (the other two are Pathos , emotional appeal, and Ethos , the qualification of the speaker). Logos refers to logical appeal, and in fact the term ''logic'' evolves from it. Logos normally implies numbers, polls, and other mathematical or scientific data. Logos has many advantages:
Logos also has many disadvantages:
The best way to present an argument is to combine logos with the other forms of appeal. USE IN CHRISTIANITY In Christianity , the Prologue of the Gospel Of John calls Jesus the Logos (usually Translated as "the Word" in English bibles such as the KJV ) and played a central role in establishing the Doctrine of Jesus' Divinity and the Trinity . (See Christology .) The opening verse in the KJV reads: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word [''Logos'' was with God, and the Word [''Logos''] was God." Some Scholar s of the Bible have suggested that John made creative use of double meaning in the word "Logos" to communicate to both Jew s, who were familiar with the Wisdom Tradition in Judaism , and Hellenists , especially followers of Philo . Each of these two groups had its own history associated with the concept of the Logos, and each could understand John's use of the term from one or both of those contexts. Especially for the Hellenists, however, John turns the concept of the Logos on its head when he claimed "the ''Logos'' became flesh and dwelt among us" (v. 14). Similarly, some translations of the Gospel of John into Chinese have used the word " Tao (道) " to translate the "Logos" in a provocative way. were contained in the Bible itself and were therefore not a Secular principle imposed on the Christian Worldview . On April 1 , 2005 , Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (who would later become Pope Benedict XVI ) referred to the Christian religion as the religion of the ''Logos'': "From the beginning, Christianity has understood itself as the religion of the SIMILAR CONCEPTS Within Eastern Religions there are ideas with varying degrees of similarity to the philosophical and Christian uses. Three concepts with some parallels to ''Logos'' are Tao , Dharma , and Aum (from Hindu Cosmology ). In New Age Mysticism , the Odic Force is sometimes described as "the physical manifestation of the creative Logos." In ancient Egyptian Mythology , Hu was the deification of the word spoken to create existence. Maàt was the concept, and goddess, of divine order. In Surat Shabda Yoga , Shabda is considered to be analogous to the Logos as representative of the supreme being in Christianity. SEE ALSO REFERENCES
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