All papers by Kluge


There are 27 papers by Kluge

TitleTitle translationAuthor 1Author 2LanguageSessionPublishedAbstractonline
Aristotelian Substratum of the Bahá'í Writings, The   e Ian Kluge English 42 Lights4 read online  
Baha'i and Buddhism: Steps Towards an Ontological Rapprochement   e Ian Kluge English 65  
Baha'i Faith and Buddhism: Steps Towards an Ontological Rapprochement.   e Ian Kluge English 67  
Baha'i Writings and Buddhism: An Ontological Rapprochement   e Ian Kluge English 72 Lights8 Baha'u'llah teaches the essential oneness of all religions revealed by divinely sent Manifestations, one of Whom is the Buddha. This paper seeks to provide detailed illustrations of these teachings by showing that two different and apparently incompatible religions - the Baha'i Faith and Buddhism - share fundamental ontological principles. In other... read online  
Baha'i Writings and the Buddhist Doctrine of Emptiness, The: An Initial Survey   e Ian Kluge English - Lights20 Agreements and convergence of the Buddhist concept of sunyata with the Baha'i Writings. read online  
Baha'i Writings and the Process of Philosophy   e Ian Kluge English 46 Lights5 According to the Baha'i Writings, all parts of creation are in a perpetual state of flux, actualizing their potentials, growing or decaying, advancing or retreating. History, both biological and human-cultural, is an evolutionary process that culminates in super-natural or spiritual developments in humankind. Given such foundations, this pa... read online  
Buddhist Doctrine of Nothingness   e Ian Kluge English 102 `Emptiness' is one of the key concepts of Buddhism and especially of Mahayana Buddhism where we find numerous sutras and schools of interpretation dedicated to this subject. The differences among these schools notwithstanding, they all agree that `emptiness' refers to the fact that nothing has intrinsic or inherent existence, that nothing exists in...  
Call into Being: A Prolegomena to a Baha'i Existentialism   e Ian Kluge English 44 Lights4 read online  
Ethics and the Bahá'í Writings: A Philosophical Survey   e Ian Kluge English 116 Lights15 The Baha'i Writings promise an ethical renewal for all the peoples and cultures in the world and ethical guidance for the future personal, social and spiritual evolution of humankind. This paper pursues a philosophical examination of the Writings' ethical teachings, how they relate to the major ethical systems proposed in the past, and how they dea... read online  
Ethics Based on Science Alone?   e Ian Kluge English 109 In 2010, Sam Harris published The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values in order to demonstrate that values, ethics, morality do not require more than an empirical basis. There is no need for any appeal to a transcendental God, prophets or holy books in order to establish a viable system of personal and social ethics. Moreover, b... read online  
Freedom and the Baha'i Writings   e Ian Kluge English - Lights19 read online  
Further Explorations in Baha'i Ontology: Ontologies of self and change   e Ian Kluge English 60 Lights7 In this paper/presentation, we shall continue our exploration of Baha'i ontology that we began in "Baha'i Ontology: An Initial Reconnaissance." We shall examine, among other things, issues related to becoming and change; substance, soul, self and identity; the nature of being and nothingness; time; the one and the many; the nature of 'things'; what... read online  
Kant's Universal Peace and the Bahá'í Vision of a Future World Order   e Ian Kluge English 102 Lights13 In 1795, Immanuel Kant published Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch in which he outlined the practical steps necessary to end war among nation-states. Though focused on Europe, its intent was global and included, among other things, the establishment of a "league of peace" and a federal union of all nations. Because Baha'u'llah's proposals for... read online  
Meta-History and the Bahá'í Writings   e Ian Kluge English 137 Lights18 The doctrine of progressive revelation is a "grand narrative" or meta-historical account of humanity's spiritual and psycho-social progress over the length of human existence. In other words, this teaching presents the story of the unfolding or actualizing of uniquely human potentials in our struggle with the material world and our own animal natur...  
Neo-Platonism and the Bahá'í Faith   e Ian Kluge English 93 Lights11 This paper will analyze The Enneads of Plotinus and, to a lesser extent, Proclus' The Elements of Theology in order to identify how their teachings agree with and differ from the Baha'i Writings. Our analysis will begin but not end with an examination of the doctrine of emanationism and its philosophical and theological implications. It will deal w... read online  
Neo-Platonism and the Baha'i Faith: Part 2   e Ian Kluge English - Lights12 See abstract in Part One. read online  
New Atheism and the Bahá'í Writings, The   e Ian Kluge English 102 Lights13 In this paper we shall examine four of the foundational works of the new atheism movement which has become a strong presence in current debates about the role of God and religion in human existence both past and present, and the role of religion in regards to society, education, science and in public discourse in general. After an examination of th... read online  
Nietzsche and the Baha'i Writings: An Introductory Exploration   e Ian Kluge English 130 Lights17 First appearances to the contrary, the Baha'i Writings and Nietzsche's philosophy share a surprising number of features in common that allow Baha'is to re-vision Nietzsche from a new perspective. The basis of this re-visioning are the Aristotelian elements in the Writings which I have documented in a previous paper and similar elements underlying t... read online  
Ontology: A Basic Survey, Explications and Commentary   e Ian Kluge English 53 Lights6 Like the sacred scripture of all religions, the Baha'i Writings embody an ontology, that is, they contain teachings about the nature of what exists and the structure of reality. This paper is an initial survey and explication of the ontology implicit in the Writings. It pays special attention to the nature of human existence, that is, to nature of ... read online  
Panel Discussion on Minimalism and the Bahá'í Faith   e Ian Kluge Wolfgang Klebel English 74  
Panel Presentation on Post-Modernism and the Bahá'í Faith   e Ian Kluge Mahyad Rahnamaie English 74  
Plotinus and the Bahá'í Writings: Parts 1 and 2   e Ian Kluge English 95 This paper summarizes, builds on and expands the ideas presented in "Neoplatonism and the Baha'i Writings" in order to demonstrate how the work of Plotinus and his successors complements and offers new insights into the philosophy embedded in the Baha'i Revelation. Because the convergences and congruencies are numerous and far-reaching, it is my co...  
Postmodernism and the Bahá'í Faith   e Ian Kluge English 79 Lights9 read online  
Procrustes' Bed: The Insufficiency of Secular Humanism   e Ian Kluge English - Lights16 The argument of this paper is that secular humanism's inability to accommodate the empirically established universal presence of religion in human nature undermines secular humanism's claim to be a viable world-view for mankind. This failure to live up to its self-proclaimed empiricism unleashes a cascade of consequences that undermines its interna... read online  
Reason and the Bahá'í Writings   e Ian Kluge English 109 Lights14 Unlike the scriptures of other religions, the Baha'i Writings have a great deal to say about the importance of reason. Indeed, they tell us that "in this age the peoples of the world need the arguments of reason" (`Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 7) and that "If religion were contrary to logical reason then it would cease to be a religion... read online  
Relativism and the Baha'i Writings   e Ian Kluge English 79 Lights9 read online  
Some Answered Questions: A Philosophical Perspective   e Ian Kluge English 86 Lights10 By identifying and examining the philosophical positions explicitly and implicitly embedded in Some Answered Questions, this paper calls attention to the philosophical foundations of the Baha'i teachings. The goal is to understand these teachings philosophically, as distinct from understanding them historically or theologically for example. The are... read online