Over-Determination
La ilaha illa allahu. - (There is no God but God) (- ash hadu Allah illa allahu wa ash hadu anna Muhammad (SAW) abdoolu wa-rassoolu (I bear witness))
the question Caden asked is how did I
0:38 come to think that way and I'm going to
0:41 answer that but I want to start by
0:43 making sure
0:45 we are kind of all on the same page
0:47 about what this is
0:50 and and here's how it is explained at
0:53 least the best I can do on a basic level
0:58 one way to think about how and why
1:00 things happen in the world
1:03 is to use the notion of cause and effect
1:08 anything that happens why you chose a
1:11 red sweater to wear today or why
1:14 interest rates are going up or why there
1:16 was a Civil War in the United States
1:19 back in the 19th century whatever the
1:21 question the object of your question the
1:24 topic
1:25 you can ask and most people feel
1:28 comfortable what was the cause
1:31 of that event
1:33 and by that you both mostly mean what
1:37 were the main things that brought it
1:40 about what was happening in your head
1:43 that made you choose a red sweater you
1:46 know maybe you saw a film the other day
1:48 that really moved you and the characters
1:50 were wearing red and you were kind of
1:53 wanting to identify with them or with
1:56 the Civil War you might say the struggle
1:59 over slavery here in the United States
2:01 was the cause that then erupted in a war
2:06 in other words you look for one or two
2:10 or three major factors major causes in
2:15 philosophy we we say the determinants
2:19 what determined that you would wear a
2:22 red sweater what determined that a civil
2:25 war would happen
2:27 that way of reasoning is so common that
2:31 for an awful lot of people it seems
2:35 simply natural normal the way everybody
2:39 always thought the way you should think
2:43 but it isn't any of those things it's
2:46 not normal it's not natural and it
2:49 surely hasn't been the only way
2:52 for thousands of years people who are
2:55 interested in how things work in the
2:59 world
3:01 people who are sometimes called
3:04 ontologists how does the world work
3:08 how do we know how the world Works
3:10 people like that usually philosophers of
3:13 one kind or another
3:15 they have asked their questions and they
3:18 have figured out among many important
3:20 things
3:21 that there are other ways to look at the
3:25 world that cause an effect
3:27 and one of the most important in my mind
3:31 has been the one that got the name over
3:34 determination and the idea there was
3:37 that things that happen are never the
3:41 result of one or two or three causes
3:45 they're always the result
3:48 of all the other things going on in the
3:52 world
3:53 and that things to be explained if
3:57 you're really going to explain why
4:00 something happened whether it's your
4:02 choice of the red sweater
4:04 or of the Civil War you're going to have
4:08 to look at all of the causes and there
4:13 are get ready millions of them in fact
4:16 in philosophy we say the causes of
4:19 everything that happens are infinite in
4:22 number
This has been(?) always the Muslim understanding of things - at least from what I've learned and know...nothing happens per chance but Allah is in control
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Russia Kherson Offensive; Putin Rejects Globalism, Fair World System, Warns of Great Dangers Ahead Alexander Mercouris 124K views 23 hours ago (10/28/22)
but anyway let's get on with Putin's speech and this is
14:37 delivered to the valdoi group this is a meeting that takes place every year
14:44 bringing together various um
14:49 intellectuals heavyweights foreign policy experts that sort of thing it's
14:55 it's a place where the Russian leadership meets and discusses the broad
15:00 range of foreign economic and such policies and some
15:07 people have compared it with Davos and the meeting of the wef at
15:14 Davos they say that it's a kind of Russian equivalent to Davos well perhaps
15:21 it is certainly the Russian greater the good do tend to meet at valdi but
15:26 regardless of that there is usually in fact There is almost always a big speech
15:32 from Putin at this conference and
15:37 we got such a speech this time and it should be understood in my opinion
15:46 as the last
15:52 in the sequence of speeches which Putin has been making which extend
15:59 all the way back to that speech he made in 2007 at the Munich security
16:05 conference in which he first criticized the unipolar system the
16:12 um Global dominance of the United States and said that this was something that
16:19 was dangerous and wrong and of course since making that speech in 2007 Putin's
16:26 language has steadily strengthened he's now become an outright critic of
16:32 globalization of the American hegemonic system as he describes it of the
16:40 collective West and all the rest and he sometimes used extremely harsh language
16:46 I mean he's referred to the United States and the Western powers on
16:52 occasions as the Empire of Lies for example and he's made some very very
16:59 strong comments of that nature well in this speech and in his subsequent q a
17:06 which by the way was interminably long as many Putin's q and A's are
17:13 Putin was much more measured in fact of this series of speeches going all the
17:19 way back to that speech Putin gave way back in 2007 in Munich this was for me
17:26 Far and Away the most philosophical and perhaps because of that it was also the
17:34 most temperate and Putin um actually quoted a string a Russian
17:41 intellectuals both people on the right like Alexander solgenitsin and people on
17:49 the well you could call them the left like the philosopher Alexander zenoviev
17:54 first time I think he's ever referenced zenoviev in a speech which is
18:00 interesting Zenovia um who passed away some years ago is
18:05 becoming an increasingly influential figure in Russian uh in Russian
18:10 commentary and thinking as I've noticed but anyways the first time to my
18:15 knowledge that he referenced zenoviev and of course he did reference Genovia
18:21 and interestingly enough Putin also acknowledged that these quotes from some of these
18:28 philosophers were not quotes that he himself knew or found that they were
18:34 actually found for him by his staffers this is the first time I've seen Putin
18:40 make that kind of admission in a speech and again it perhaps conveys the rather
18:48 relaxed tone of its contents very different by the
18:53 way as I'll discuss in a moment with the way in which this speech was has been
19:00 talked about in the west but anyway very philosophical speech very
19:08 moderately worded speech now its essence
19:14 comes back to something that Putin has been talking about for many many many
19:20 years now in the Q a Putin did discuss at some length the current
19:27 conflict in Ukraine itself but in the speech he said very little
19:34 about him most of the speech was devoted to
19:41 the global problems created by the
19:46 West's attempts and I I would stress Putin talks about the West he justifies
19:53 that he's used to that expression early on in the speech he accepts that the
19:59 West is not a monolithic block he says it's to a great extent an artificial
20:04 concept but he does say that there's some justification in using that expression and he does go on and use
20:12 that expression even though he makes it very clear as he progresses that of
20:17 course at the core of the West is the United States and the people who lead
20:22 the United States anyway what Putin says is that the United States the collective
20:30 West since the collapse of the Soviet Union has become as the Russians would
20:35 say dizzy with success it imagine that it would be in a position to direct and
20:42 shape the progress of human civilization it became convinced that it had all the
20:50 secrets about how human civilization ought to develop and
20:57 that it has been trying to impose the neoliberal model on the world the
21:04 neoliberal model of democracy all countries must share the same kind
21:10 of democratic structures or what Putin called quasi-democratic structures as those
21:17 which the West have there must be no deviations from this that they must accept a certain homogeneity in culture
21:26 and in cultural and lifestyle choices I have to choose again very careful words
21:33 here though I should say for once Putin did the same in the speech itself
21:40 and he also spoke about how at the same time as the West the collective West as
21:49 I said as he puts it has been trying to impose these structures on everyone else
21:55 in the world on every other culture and society and State
22:01 it has been acting to obstruct and prevent their independent development he
22:09 actually makes a really rather um powerful point which is that the West
22:15 not only tries to block other forms of
22:22 independent development by other countries by other nations out of
22:29 a belief in the in the superiority of its own model and out of pure commercial
22:36 reasons but because if a certain
22:42 brittleness a lack of confidence a fear that if other countries
22:49 are allowed to develop by themselves developing their own models by
22:56 themselves they might actually prove to be more successful than the West
23:03 thereby calling into question the West's belief that it represents the only
23:11 conceivable future I mean these were his words I take these
23:17 from this is the translation the official translation from the Kremlin website a direct threat to the political
23:24 economic and ideological Monopoly of the West lies in the fact that the world can
23:30 come up with alternative social models that are more fair effective
23:37 I want to emphasize this more effective today brighter more appealing than the
23:45 ones that currently exist these models will definitely come about this is
23:51 inevitable by the way U.S political scientists and analyte analysts also
23:58 write about this truthfully their government is not listening to what they
24:03 say although it cannot avoid seeing these Concepts in political science magazines and mentioned in discussions
24:13 so the West has an ideological need
24:19 to block the development the free development of other societies using
24:26 models different from those of the West itself because it cannot tolerate a
24:33 successful alternative to itself because such a successful alternative might
24:41 undermine the authority of the West's own neoliberal model now has been said
24:49 as Putin has pointed out before but to my knowledge it's the first time
24:56 that a world leader has actually come out and spoken about it in quite such a
25:02 straightforward way and Putin
25:08 also talked about again culture
25:13 and life start your choices and he said that the important thing
25:20 is not to try to impose a culture or lifestyle choice
25:27 but to respect choices and very intriguingly he said that that
25:35 can include respecting the choices that the West
25:41 itself makes so he says this
25:48 Traditional Values are not a rigid set of postulates that everyone must adhere
25:53 to the difference of the so-called Leo liberal values is that they are unique in each particular instance because they
26:01 stem from the traditions of a particular society its culture and historical
26:07 background this is why Traditional Values cannot be imposed on anyone in
26:13 other words everyone has their own Traditional Values which can evolve and
26:20 change as the society that produces them changes but it's not for all Outsiders
26:26 to come on come in disrespect those Traditional Values that are there and
26:33 seek to impose idea its own ideas and then Putin goes on to say they must be
26:38 they must simply be respected and everything that every nation has been
26:43 choosing for itself over centuries must be handled with care
26:52 this is how we understand Traditional Values and the majority of humanity
26:58 share and accept our approach this is understandable because the traditional
27:03 societies of the East Latin America Africa and Eurasia form the basis of
27:10 World Civilization and then he goes on to say respect for
27:16 the ways and customs of peoples and civilizations is in everyone's interests
27:21 in fact this is also in the interest of the West which is quickly becoming a
27:27 minority in the international Arena as it loses its dominance of course the
27:35 Western minorities right to its own cultural identity must be insured and respected but
27:44 importantly on an equal footing with the rights of Every Other Nation
27:50 if Western Elites believe they can have their people and their societies Embrace
27:58 what I believe are strange and trendy ideas like dozens of genders or gay
28:04 pride parades so be it let them do as they please but they
28:11 certainly have no right to tell others to follow in their steps
28:17 and then Putin goes on to say that as far as Russia is concerned it
28:24 does not seek to impose its ideas its own social norms its own economic models
28:31 on other societies and other nations
28:37 um Russia does not interfere in such matters and has no intention of doing so
28:43 unlike the West we mind our own business we are hoping that pragmatism will
28:49 Triumph and Russia's dialogue with a genuine traditional West as well as with
28:55 other co-equal Development Centers will become a major contribution to the
29:01 construction of a multi-polar world order and then he goes on to say again
29:08 at a very considerable length in various places that in fact the Russians still
29:15 hope one day that when the West finally comes to its senses when it understands that the
29:23 forces of multi-polarity are irresistible that the unipolar moment
29:29 that it is clinging onto has indeed passed and cannot be revived that at
29:36 some point all the various elements that make up the global system or the various
29:42 cultures societies Nations Sovereign Nations he's very clear about the need
29:48 for Nations to remain sovereignty Sovereign that they will all finally be able to do that which they have been
29:55 unable to do up to now which is negotiate and come to sustainable
30:02 peaceful understandings with each other um through equal dialogue it might be at
30:11 the moment a rather naive you but it's what Putin is talking about at the
30:17 present time and then he goes on to say that Russia utterly Rejects
30:26 what attitudes which he says are very prevalent in the
30:32 west at the present time and which he doesn't hesitate at times to refer to as
30:37 neocolonial imperialist and even racist and he says that I will be direct about
30:47 certain things as an independent and distinctive civilization Russia has
30:54 never considered and does not consider itself an enemy of the West American
31:00 phobia anglophobia francophobia and germanophobia are the same forms of
31:07 racism as russophobia or anti-Semitism and incidentally xenophobia in all its
31:16 guises um and he then talks
31:22 a little bit in contradiction to some of the other things he says about the two acts 2s at least two and maybe more but
31:31 two at least the west of traditional primarily Christian values Freedom
31:36 patriotism great culture and now Islamic values as well a substantial part of the
31:43 population in many Western countries follows Islam and interesting
31:49 uh uh an interesting idea to reach out to the predominantly immigrant
31:57 populations Islamic immigrant populations that are now so now so prevalent in Western countries and to
32:04 conflate them with those of the traditional old west if you like I wonder I suspect
32:12 many people in the west might raise their eyebrows at that but anyway that's what Putin said and then he goes on to
32:19 say that this traditional West is close to us we share its common even ancient
32:26 roots but there is also a different West aggressive Cosmopolitan and neocolonial
32:33 it is acting as a tool of neoliberal Elites naturally Russia will never
32:40 reconcile itself to the dictates of the West
32:45 and he then talks about how the Russians have at various times reached out to the
32:52 West how they did for example after the Jihadi wars in the Caucasus which were
32:59 taking place when he became president in which the West was covertly backing so
33:05 he says how despite all of that the Russians still wanted to develop good
33:11 friendly relations with the west and how in fact they found that every attempt
33:17 that they made to try to establish a modus vivendi with the West Was Then
33:23 thrown back into their faces and um he says that this is unacceptable and
33:30 that Russia is simply upholding its right to exist and to develop free freely we will not become a new Hagerman
33:38 ourselves Russia is not suggesting replacing a unipolar world with a
33:44 bipolar tripolar or other dominating order or replacing Western domination
33:50 with domination from the east north or south this would inevitably lead to
33:56 another impasse in other words what the Russians want is a stable International
34:02 system in which everybody's views are respected where nobody seeks to dominate
34:08 or dictate to anybody else certainly not on matters of culture or economics or
34:16 lifestyle issues or such things and such a world as he believes would be a great
34:23 deal more hormone harmonious and stable than the present one and he quotes a
34:32 Russian philosopher Nikolai danilevski who said and says that danilevski
34:38 believed that progress did not consist of everyone going in the same direction
34:44 this would only result in progress coming to a halt progress lies in
34:49 Walking the field that represents Humanity's historical activity walking
34:55 in all directions no civilization can take pride in being the height of human
35:03 development well that's the essence it seems to me of
35:10 what Putin said the philosophical core of it uh respect every country must
35:16 respect each other there must be no single Center he's scathing by the way
35:21 about the rules-based order he says what rules
35:27 nobody even knows what those rules are and they change from one day to the next and the West always reinterprets those
35:34 rules in order to um in order to in order to serve its own interests and
35:43 that is in the nature of rules that are imposed from one Center upon everybody
35:48 else and he talks about how that is not a mechanism for stability that it is a
35:56 mechanism for chaos he also then goes into a lot of other details he talks
36:02 about for example the dollar the excessive
36:08 use by the west of its control of the financial system the world financial
36:13 system he enlarged on this considerably by the way in his q a but the essence of
36:20 what he says said was this that the world needs to understand the West needs
36:26 to understand that there is a multiplicity of
36:32 different civilizational and cultural models all of which find themselves uh
36:39 structured around sovereign states that the only way to build a sustainable
36:46 balance is for each to respect the other not to seek to engage in Crusades or
36:55 moral Crusades or other Crusades trying to change society's direct or shape the
37:01 whole structure of the world impose one single economic social or legalistic or
37:09 quasi-legalistic model which is identical for everyone and Putin also
37:17 said and he's quite interestingly spoke about the need that for the need for democracy
37:23 to be strongest in the sphere of international relations
37:29 in other words each state each Nation should be treated equally and there
37:37 should be a genuine partnership and democracy in
37:43 international relations with the rights of countries even Gulf monarchies for
37:49 example being respected alongside those of the democracies or quasi
37:58 democracies or pretended democracies liberal democracies if you like of the West
38:05 itself quite an interesting speech as I said very
38:11 philosophically structured very temperate in town
38:18 once more offering once the um
38:24 present crisis passes away forward towards a
38:34 New Balance even a new dialogue between Russia and the West as I said the most
38:41 temperate of the speeches that he has written speaking for myself I found one
38:47 of the most interesting passages um was one in which he
38:54 implicitly criticized a book which I
38:59 personally detest and that is Carl poppers famous book The Open society and
39:08 its enemies now in doing so I think Putin well by the way he didn't actually
39:14 mention Papa and he didn't in fact mention the book so if you read his words it's quite clear that that is what
39:21 he's referencing and I think he went a bit too far in stating its importance he
39:28 said that this was this this was a turning point because it meant that
39:34 Classical liberalism the liberalism of well Voltaire and people like that the
39:40 liberalism that accepts and respects alternative points of view
39:46 is replaced by new model where there is something called the open society
39:53 which is threatened by all sorts of enemies who must be canceled
40:00 and again it's perhaps as I said taking that book
40:05 further than is Justified the influence of that book further than it's than it's
40:12 Justified but of course it's clearly a jab at those who cite that particular
40:18 book Popper's work um as a sort of text Bro cool
40:24 philosophical Bible or plan of action whatever you like to call it and also
40:30 it's another dig a really clever dig at the council culture which Putin says is
40:38 now so widely expressed in the west anyway now it's quite interesting now
40:46 at the end he did say that the situation is in fact
40:53 becoming quite dangerous at the same time and the speech ended with these
40:59 words the collapse of the Soviet Union upset the equilibrium of the geopolitical
41:06 forces the well West felt as a winner and declared a unipolar world
41:11 arrangement in which only his will culture and interests have the right to
41:16 exist now this historical period of boundless Western dominance in world
41:23 affairs is coming to an end the unipolar world is being relegated into the past
41:29 we are at a historical Crossroads we are
41:34 full we are in full probably the most dangerous
41:40 unpredictable and at the same time most important decade since the end of World
41:47 War II the West is unable to rule humanity single-handedly and the
41:53 majority of Nations no longer want to put up with this this is the main
41:59 contradiction to the of the new era to cite a classic
42:07 this is a revolutionary situation to some extent the Elites at cannot and
42:15 people do not want to live like that any longer
42:21 and the state this state of affairs is fraught with global conflicts or a whole
42:28 chain of conflicts which poses a threat to humanity including to the West itself
42:34 today's main historical task is to resolve this contradiction in a way that
42:41 is constructive and positive that's a very powerful
42:48 section with which basically he ends his speech and the classic that he's quoting
42:55 the references to a revolutionary situation I'm not going to be
43:01 I'm not absolutely categorical about this but I think that he's essentially
43:07 actually quietly referencing a work of Lenin's that this is a period of
43:15 enormous turbulence the new world is appearing the old globalist
43:24 neoliberal U.S dominated Western world is however unwilling to give up it's
43:33 hegemonic position and as a result there is
43:40 potential for things going wrong for a great deal of violence for
43:47 in effect revolutionary change I said that it was a quote from
43:54 I think he's referencing Lenin but of course another Marxist thinker Antonio
44:00 Graham she once said that the old is dying and the new cannot be born in this
44:06 ignorant interregnum there arises a great diversity of morbid symptoms
44:13 others by the way have quoted Graham's grams she is saying that in the period
44:18 between the new and the old there will be an age of monsters I'm not sure whether it's gramshi that
44:26 Putin has in mind I think is more likely Lenin actually the expression revolutionary situation to my mind
44:33 points to learning but anyway in a sense that's less important than the than the
44:40 underlying message that this is a period of tremendous and
44:46 dangerous change that given the determination of the western powers to
44:54 hold on to their Global Leadership there is a very real risk that they will do
45:01 something dangerous and irresponsible and Reckless and that
45:08 means that the next decade will be an extremely dangerous one
45:13 I don't think looking at the current International situation most people
45:20 would seriously dispute that whether the vision for the future
45:26 the Putin outlines have a great community of Nations each going its own
45:33 way domestically developing its economy and its culture
45:41 but acting in harmony with all other nations whether that is a practical one
45:48 whether that is a realistic vision of the future well that's another question
45:53 again and it's not one that I propose to explore in this program what I will say
45:59 again is that it's a vision
46:06 which many especially in the global South will be strongly attracted to and
46:13 in fact are strongly attracted to it is why
46:19 Putin and Russia are winning friends in places like India China Africa the
46:27 Middle East even amongst the gulf monarchies Latin America and such places
46:33 where American leaders and Western leaders preach where um
46:39 where people like Joseph Burrell contrast the beautiful garden that is
46:47 the European that is Europe either European Union with the terrifying jungle that is supposed to
46:54 exist um elsewhere in the world that is what Burrell said in a recent speech to
47:02 European diplomats to considerable outrage around the world where people
47:07 like Burrell talk like that where um American leaders always talk about
47:13 you know America's support for freedom and democracy about America's
47:19 determination to uphold its values which in effect means imposing its values on
47:28 others Putin says let everybody mind their own business
47:34 let everybody develop as they choose in the way they choose developing their own
47:41 societies their own cultures their own lifestyle choices as suits them but let
47:49 us all cooperate together peacefully for the good of the world and in order to
47:56 maintain peace and let's do so with respect with respect for each other
48:03 and in a truly equal Democratic way it's
48:08 not surprising that this is a vision as I said that is much more attractive to
48:14 people in the global South than the Western one which many people in the
48:21 global South and not just the global South East Asia must find overbearing arrogant
48:29 and in some respects as Putin says neocolonial and oppressive so one can
48:37 see as I said the power of this message and I get to say something else I don't have any doubt myself that put it
48:45 believes it that he's sincere he's personally sincere in what he says I
48:52 don't think he always thought this way I think he has gradually found his way
48:58 there but that's the position he's taking now and notice that he says it's in the
49:05 interests of the West to actually accept this model they can't
49:11 hold on to their hegemony but if they drop these dangerous ideas