Summary & Concepts: The Origin of Flow
This text criticizes the contemporary tendency to replace "fixed origin" with "absolute flow". Philosophers like Bergson, Whitehead and Deleuze, when trying to free thought from rigidity, ended up creating a new absolute: the incessant becoming. OCE proposes a middle path: the origin is neither fixed nor fluid, it is an event place of stabilization.
Summary of Key Points
- O Novo Absoluto If before the problem was the fixity eternal, now the problem is the eternal flow. Saying that "everything changes all the time" is as paralyzing as say that "nothing changes".
- Criticism of Vitalism Ideas like "élan vital" Bergson still hide a mysterious unifying force behind the change.
- Situated Origin For OCE, the origin is a concrete event: the moment when chaotic flows gain a stable form (even if temporary).
- Fragile Truce Reality exists in tension between the chaos (flow) and order (form). The origin is this truce.
Concept Map
OCE's alternative to absolute flow.
Essential Definitions
| Fluxo Absoluto | The idea that reality is pure change, without any stopping point or stability. |
|---|---|
| Vital Moment | Bergson's concept of the creative force that drives evolution. OCE sees this as a remnant metaphysical. |
| Devir (Becoming) | The process of becoming. In process philosophy, becoming is more fundamental than being. |
| Estabilidade Local | OCE concept: islands of order that emerge in the sea of chaos. The origin is the creation of a of these islands. |