{"id":4355,"date":"2026-06-15T15:06:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T15:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/?p=4355"},"modified":"2026-06-15T15:06:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T15:06:39","slug":"osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/","title":{"rendered":"Osage Philosophy and Religion: A Comparative Inquiry into Ancient Western Philosophy"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n

di Federico Nicolosi<\/p>\n\n

The being of \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 and \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 as being remain unprovable because \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 does not need a proof, for wherever a \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2-being stands in the open, \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 has already shown itself and stands in view[1]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Like the infinite, ever-changing, geomorphological configurations that the Earth has assumed since its birth four and a half billion years ago, the history of human thought is an unlimited source of pathways \u2013 at times broader, at times narrower; sometimes more accessible, sometimes more slippery \u2013 that, at different points in space and time, have been explored, walked, and abandoned. The philosophy of the Osage Natives, a people whose earliest documented attestations date to the late seventeenth century along the banks of the homonymous American river, represents one of these paths and, like many archaic non-European forms of wisdom, it is among those least investigated by historical-philosophical research.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1. The Osage Nation from the End of the Seventeenth Century to Now<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Recently brought back into the spotlight by Martin Scorsese\u2019s film Killers of the Flower Moon<\/em>[2]<\/a> (based on the famous 2017 volume by David Grann)[3]<\/a>, the history of the Osage Indians has no clearly identifiable beginning \u2013 as a matter of fact, it is plausible that the Native population started inhabiting the banks of the Osage and Missouri rivers several centuries before the arrival of the English settlers \u2013 but it does have a precise and circumscribable end: the year 1897, when a rich oil reservoir was discovered beneath the Osage County in Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Prior to that date, the Osage Natives conducted an autarkic lifestyle, based on agriculture, animal husbandry, and prayer, according to specific schedules and rituals that will be examined in the following Chapter. Unlike the so-called \u201cFive Civilized Tribes\u201d (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole), who had already been deported to the Indian reserves of Oklahoma during the winter of 1838 by the English settlers [4]<\/a>,\u00a0 the Osage managed to retain a certain degree of autonomy until 1870, when they \u00abhad been driven from their lands in Kansas onto a rocky, presumably worthless reservation in northeastern Oklahoma, only to discover, decades later, that this land was sitting above some of the largest oil deposits in the United States\u00bb[5]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In practice, the discovery of oil in 1897 did not bring disastrous consequences for the Osage Nation until more than one decade later, when the U.S. economy definitely settled on the capitalistic model of the so-called \u201cRoaring Years\u201d and the oil market acquired a crucial importance. It was during this period (1918-1931) that dozens of pure-blood Osages, who had earned considerable profits from special hereditary oil royalties (the \u201cheadrights\u201d) began to die under suspicious circumstances. Judged incapable of reason \u2013 that is, essentially non-human[6]<\/a> \u2013 the wealthiest members of the tribe were deceived by numerous politicians and English magnates, who deprived them of the oil rights through arranged marriages, fraudulent businesses, and, ultimately, the systematic elimination of target-individuals (mostly elder citizens whose deaths could well be passed off as natural). In a climate of total collusion between the settlers and the white authorities of the County, \u00abthe Osage, including children, continued to die in alarming numbers, while applicable evidence would conveniently vanish: bullets disappeared during an autopsy; sheriffs proved ineffective, and doctors failed to recognize symptoms of poisoning\u00bb[7]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Recalled by the surviving Osages as the\u00a0\u2018Reign of Terror\u2019,<\/em>\u00a0the years between 1919 and 1924 claimed more than a hundred victims, until<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

in 1924, the Indian Rights Association, which defended the interests of indigenous communities, conducted an investigation into what it described as \u201can orgy of graft and exploitation\u201d. The group documented how rich Indians in Oklahoma were being \u201cshamelessly and openly robbed in a scientific and ruthless manner\u201d and how guardianships were \u201cthe plums to be distributed to the faithful friends of the judges as a reward for their support at the polls\u201d[8]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The bloodshed against the Osage Nation had slowed down only with the intervention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which was being established at that very time, and came to an end toward the 1930s. While acknowledging the atrocities perpetrated by Whites against these Natives, the investigations brought to light only a tiny part of the names involved in the arrangement of the massacre, and, as a matter of fact, almost no one was legally pursued[9]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The consequences, as Beason underlined[10]<\/a>, were devastating for the Osage population not so much in numerical terms as in cultural ones. Stripped of their traditions as well as their possessions, many Natives left the reserve: in this way, \u00abapart from the ongoing trauma experienced by survivors, the Osage language and culture, both dependent on a community of active users, became especially endangered\u00bb[11]<\/a>. Almost nothing of their rich religious life, their customs, their vivacity has been preserved, except for the information gathered through ethnographic research conducted in the twentieth century and the stories of the few Osage Natives still living today.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

2. \u00abInvisible, remote, giving, awesome, unansewring\u00bb: Wah\u2019Kon-Tha as a metaphor for the perfection of the Cosmos<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

According to Bailey, \u00abreligion and religious beliefs were not merely the core of Osage culture; they were Osage culture\u00bb[12]<\/a>. This thesis proves accurate as we consider not so much the complex Osage ritual system, which undoubtedly held a significant part of the daily life of these hunter-farmers, but rather the essence of their religious system.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For the Osage,<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

there was no separation of the secular from the sacred. Everything that existed in the universe was an expression of an all-controlling invisible force, called Wakonta; therefore everything was sacred. Everything the Osage did, whether it was the making of a pipe, the planting of a cornfield, the naming of a child, or the mounting of a war party, was not a reflection of their beliefs but, rather, an expression of their beliefs. Every action involved, as an ancient Osage would have said, putting portions of the cosmos into motion for a specific objective[13]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Wah\u2019Kon-Tha is a name for everything and for the All. It is an inclusive, plural, hybrid concept. It is the name of all that is horrific and chaotic in this world, and also the name of all that is sublime and tidy in it. It is neither the god-person of the Abrahamic monotheisms, nor a deity in the broader sense of polytheistic gods: Wah\u2019Kon-Tha is the Divine that exceeds the divine, that is, the cosmos itself, appearing through it without being reducible to it. It is<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

the mysterious life-force that pervades the sun and the moon and the earth and the stars; the force around which the Osage had structured their lives for centuries, hoping to bring some order out of the chaos and confusion on earth; the force that was there but not there \u2013 invisible, remote, giving, awesome, unanswering[14]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Necessary<\/em>, and therefore perfect, is the universe in its entirety according to the Osage, including that small fragment represented by the rocky planet we inhabit. This is the Sacred<\/em> in Osage cosmology, what deserves to be venerated: the cosmos as it is[15]<\/a>. Far from being a \u201ccreator god\u201d separated from matter, Wah\u2019Kon-Tha is the matter itself in its being and becoming; not an ontological principle, but the connective tissue that holds together beings, events, and processes in their occurring. Wah\u2019Kon-Tha is\u00a0Ereignis<\/em>; it is the pure manifestation<\/em> of the existent and, as such, it is what by definition hides itself while appearing. Just like the Tao (to which I will soon dedicate a comparative analysis), it is what \u00abgives rise to all forms, yet it has no form of its own\u00bb[16]<\/a>: in other words, Wah\u2019Kon-Tha is Being as it was conceived by the Greeks, by Heidegger and by Jaspers \u2013 meaning to say, the\u00a0Umgreifende<\/em>\u00a0which, embracing all beings, escapes every criterion of calculation.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The fact that Wah\u2019Kon-Tha, as a force exceeding the mere presence of beings, eludes rational comprehension should not lead one to think that it was the object of an abstract and wholly irrational cult. On the contrary, Osage religion is a religion that celebrates<\/em> knowledge: indeed, \u00abit was only through knowledge of the cosmos that humans could secure and maintain God\u2019s blessings\u00bb[17]<\/a>. Wah\u2019Kon-Tha does not need to be known or discovered in any sacred text \u2013 Osage\u2019s is not a revealed religion \u2013 but must be continuously re-vealed in the one and only sacred book that is Nature: this, if we pay attention, constitutes a radically theoretical<\/em>, not fideistic, attitude. And perhaps it is also for this reason that, as Grann reports, \u00abOsages were often described as being \u2018the happiest people in the world\u2019\u2026They had a sense of freedom because they didn\u2019t own anything and nothing owned them\u00bb[18]<\/a>: as unanimously outlined by various ethnological sources, such existential tranquillity and such acceptance of the necessity of becoming and death[19]<\/a> cannot be entirely attributed to the lifestyle pursued by this people, but must represent the outcome of something deeper that defines<\/em> them as people. This thing is religion, which, as Bailey correctly observed, does not constitute an accessory apparatus of Osage culture, but rather the intimate foundation of it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Osage cosmology can be considered an authentic philosophy<\/em> also because it consecrates the annihilating power of becoming and, instead of escaping from it, affirms it strongly by identifying it with \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 itself. This means \u2013 as Aristotle said in his\u00a0Physics<\/em> \u2013 that time, as the measure of becoming, does not simply represent a constitutive element of the nature, but is<\/em> nature itself. \u00abNature is a principle of change, so if we do not understand the process of change, we will not understand nature either\u00bb[20]<\/a>. Nature (Wah\u2019Kon-Tha) is the identity of that which, while changing in time and space, remains. As an eternal process of generation and corruption, or better of transformation of beings into other beings, Wah\u2019Kon-Tha has therefore no beginning in time, nor did it \u201ccreate\u201d time \u2013 which proves the inapplicability of any creationist schema to Osage religion \u2013 but holds a processual and intrinsically temporal being itself.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This is also reflected in the complex system of cults of the Osage Nation, whose prayers did not possess only a symbolic or invocative value. On the contrary, \u00abthe rituals served to emphasize the unity of the cosmos. [\u2026] Wakonta assumed many different expressions and manifestations, yet Wakonta was a single integrated and unified force\u00bb[21]<\/a>. The plurality of rites and prayers, which can hardly be situated here within a strict liturgical system as in the case of monotheisms, is a reflection of the plurality of Wah\u2019Kon-Tha, who reveals and hides itself through every being, even the most ordinary one. Among these populations, and more generally in all pantheistic religions, \u00abla preghiera \u00e8 custodia, custodisce il mistero e trattiene l\u2019uomo nelle sue prossimit\u00e0. La preghiera si esprime per immagini, per analogie, spesso ripete se stessa, come nella carenza del linguaggio rispetto a ci\u00f2 che si vuole nominare nell\u2019invocazione\u00bb[22]<\/a>. Dances, banquets and rites are figures<\/em> through which humans carry out a dialogue with the divine, welcoming it and preserving it by means of the a-rational language of poetry. Through prayer, the human being \u201cbrings himself\u201d to the Sacred, safeguarding its inexpressibility through the only language that is free from any trace of subjectivism, that is, poetic language. Prayer in pantheistic religions is not blind and methodical veneration \u2013 in fact, written prayers are very few or, in some cases, even absent \u2013 but rather an attitude of mind<\/em>: it is both a\u00a0thinking (Denken<\/em>) that gives thanks (Danken<\/em>) and a \u201cthanking\u201d that thinks. This form of gratitude, which in the evocative, ambiguous word of poetry preserves the radical ineffability of being, has been also defined by Heidegger as\u00a0Gelassenheit<\/em>, which could be translated as \u201cabandon\u201d or \u201cletting-be\u201d:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

That which is opened up, that to which a presentative statement as correct corresponds, are beings opened up in an open comportment. Freedom for what is opened up in an open region lets beings be the beings they are. Freedom now reveals itself as letting beings be. [\u2026] However, the phrase required now – to let beings be \u2013 does not refer to neglect and indifference but rather the opposite. To let be is to engage oneself with beings. On the other hand, to be sure, this is not to be understood only as the mere management, preservation, tending, and planning of the beings in each case encountered or sought out. To let be \u2013 that is, to let beings be as the beings that they are \u2013 means to engage oneself with the open region and its openness into which every being comes to stand<\/em>,<\/em> bringing that openness, as it were, along with itself<\/em>. [\u2026] To engage oneself with the disclosedness of beings is not to lose oneself in them; rather, such engagement withdraws in the face of beings in order that they might reveal themselves with respect to what and how they are<\/em>, and in order that presentative correspondence might take its standard from them[23]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Dawn was the time dedicated to prayer, when the first rays of the sun coloured the surface of the Osage River in shades of orange. Similarly, noon marked the hour for funerals, and storms were seen as an occasion for contemplation and silence in front of the power of Wah\u2019Kon-Tha[24]<\/a>. Pipes, bison heads, horns and tree trunks were venerated and raised toward the sky as a sign of gratitude for the generosity of the earth, which alone was sufficient to cater for all the needs of these people. Hence, \u00abwhen an Osage chief was asked why he didn\u2019t adopt the white man\u2019s ways, he replied, \u201cI am perfectly content with my condition. The forest and rivers supply all the calls of nature in plenty\u201d\u00bb[25]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

3. A Comparative Analysis with Ancient Greek and Taoist Philosophies<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Having argued to what extent Osage cosmology can be considered a philosophy \u2013 thus, a form of thought by nature critical and anti-dogmatic \u2013 we are now in a position to argue that Osage cosmology is, more specifically, a metaphysics<\/em>. The thought of these Natives, like that of the early Greek and Eastern philosophers, is intrinsically oriented toward being and intended to uncover its fundamental mechanisms: birth and death, identity and difference, movement and stasis.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

These conceptual pairs, which in Osage pantheism find their common denominator in Wah\u2019Kon-Tha, have followed the history of metaphysics from its very beginning and have manifested, depending on geographic areas, in ways that have been very different but identical in substance. In the view of Xenophanes, for instance, \u00abearth is the source of all things, and all things end in earth\u00bb[26]<\/a> according to a cycle that has never had a beginning nor will ever have an end in time, but that will always be, by decree of \u1f08\u03bd\u03ac\u03b3\u03ba\u03b7. This infinite becoming of the cosmos, within which the appearing and dissolving of particular beings takes place, would have been later called by Anaximander \u1f04\u03c0\u03b5\u03b9\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd, while by Heraclitus \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2, which, in the form of fire, \u00abwill judge and condemn everything\u00bb[27]<\/a>. In front of this eternal process, man is only asked to step back and to accept \u2013 against every form of anthropocentrism \u2013 one of the most elementary truths of being: the fact that<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

the universe includes our earth, this minute speck of matter on which our existence is enacted. Here is our world, the life of plants and animals, natural settings, meteorological phenomena, the vault of starry sky; here we are men among men. The universe, so tremendous that compared with it all this is as nothing, is to our knowledge only a lifeless waste of matter in awesome motion[28]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The incorruptibility of \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2, which manifests itself through cycles of birth and destruction that eternally recur, had been theorized far before Nietzsche, the Osage, and even the Greeks, by the mysterious Chinese monk Lao Tzu (6th-5th century BCE), who called this truth Tao<\/em>. Thus, in\u00a0Tao Te Ching<\/em>, the fundamental text of Taoism, we read:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There was something formless and perfect<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

before the universe was born.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It is serene. Empty.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Solitary. Unchanging.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Infinite. Eternally present.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It is the mother of the universe.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For lack of a better name,<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I call it the Tao.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It flows through all things,<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

inside and outside, and returns<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

to the origin of all things.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Tao is great.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The universe is great.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Earth is great.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Man is great.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

These are the four great powers[29]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Being \u2013 the fact that we call it \u2018Tao\u2019 rather than \u2018Wah\u2019Kon-Tha\u2019 or \u2018\u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2\u2019 is irrelevant \u2013 is not a supreme Entity, a \u201csuper-being\u201d that administrates the cosmos according to its absolute freedom. Being is the process<\/em> that brings everything from non-existence into existence and vice versa; it is the natural appearing, changing, corrupting, dissolving, and recomposing of various beings into different forms, which Empedocles referred to as \u00aba mixing and then a separating of what was mixed, but by mortal men these processes are named \u2018beginnings\u2019\u00bb[30]<\/a>. Being does not come \u2018before heaven and earth\u2019 in a chronological order (according to the creationist interpretation of the universe), but in an ontological<\/em> order: heaven, earth, waters and animals in fact represent only an insignificant, peripheral portion of being; they are one<\/em> expression of it, not the<\/em> expression.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It is in this sense that, after Wah\u2019Kon-Tha, Osages used to admit the \u2018secondary forces\u2019, which are described as follows in a monologue from Scorsese\u2019s film:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

They [the Osages] call the Sun grandfather, the Moon mother, the Fire father. They call it the \u201cFlower Moon\u201d, when tiny flowers spread over the blackjack hills and the prairies. There are many, so many. It\u2019s as if Wah-Kon-Tha<\/em> looked down upon the Earth, smiled and sprinkled it with sugar candies[31]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As in Taoism, the forces of nature are neither personified nor identified with proper names (this is a significant difference with Greek gods), but are designated through familiar figures evoking, at times, the wisdom of a grandfather, at times, the warmth of a maternal womb. Their relationship with the One is not hierarchical, as in the case of Plotinian hypostases, but horizontal: fire, earth, water, sun and moon are emanations<\/em> of Wah\u2019Kon-Tha and, in this sense, they can be said to be \u201csubordinate\u201d to it; yet, they subsist as necessary<\/em> and therefore perfect<\/em> attributes of the One. In this particular sense, Osage religion can be defined as a pantheistic monism: the cosmos (or Being) is one<\/em>; the One, which coincides with matter in its entirety, is the sacred<\/em>. \u00abEssere e uno sono del tutto equivalenti perch\u00e9 pur dividendosi non fanno altro che ricostruire a ogni passo un\u2019identica totalit\u00e0, quella dell\u2019uno che \u00e8. L\u2019essere \u00e8 uguale all\u2019uno, eppure sono due\u00bb[32]<\/a>. Beyond the All, to put it in Nietzsche\u2019s terms, there is nothing; and consequently, there can be nothing sacred as well.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Everything that deserves to be venerated can be found here<\/em>, not in a mysterious \u201cthere\u201d beyond time and space. This is the anti-fideistic axiom that makes pantheism a metaphysics of immense theoretical fecundity and an ethics of incomparable existential wisdom. An axiom that has assumed different forms and names, yet remains valid for the ancient Greek religion, for Spinozism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, for the religions of Native Americans, and which can so be summarized:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There are those who derive energy from worshipping<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

and meditating on divine beings and deities.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If you feel inclined to worship, then worship these:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Worship the fiery sun, repository of yang, and the<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

watery moon, repository of yin;<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Worship the Eight Great Manifestations: Heaven,<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Earth, Water, Fire, Thunder, Lake, Wind, and Mountain;<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Worship the sixty-four hexagrams of the I Ching,<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

which illuminate the underlying harmony of the universe;<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Finally, worship the Great Tai Chi, in which all things<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

are contained, balanced, and reposed[33]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To venerate the Tao or to venerate Wah\u2019Kon-Tha is to consecrate the Nothingness<\/em>. Not mere non-being, but that nothingness in the absence of which no being could manifest. Here, nothingness is not conceived as the simple opposite of being, but as \u201cthat which is not<\/em> any determination.\u201d Nothingness, in its identity with being, is what can be found before and beyond rational definitions; it is what we can \u00ablook, and it can\u2019t be seen. Listen, and it can\u2019t be heard. Reach, and it can\u2019t be grasped. Above, it isn\u2019t bright. Below, it isn\u2019t dark. Seamless, unnamable, it returns to the realm of nothing. For that includes all forms, image without an image, subtle, beyond all conception\u00bb[34]<\/a>. Wah\u2019Kon-Tha, \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2, Tao are \u201cimmanent transcendence\u201d that inhabits all things and simultaneously coincides with their harmonious totality: this is what the Greeks meant by \u2018Nature\u2019; this is what deserves to be contemplated, heard and thought. The place from which we come and to which we will return, once we have paid our penalty \u2018according to the ordinance of time\u2019.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The existence of the Osage Natives before their deportation to Oklahoma was devoted to the knowledge of the cosmos and its plural manifestations. For this theoretical<\/em> people it was inconceivable that humans, as any other being, could be the \u201cowners\u201d of the Earth or could enjoy a somehow privileged condition over the other creatures; it was inconceivable that life had been given as a \u201cgift\u201d by a supernatural being, still less by an anthropomorphic entity such as the Judeo-Christian God. This deistic credo, totally unfounded,<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

is a consequence of creation out of nothing, according to which the Creator (Genesis<\/em> 1 and 9) hands over to man all the animals, just as if they were mere things and without any recommendation to their being properly treated, such as even the seller of a dog often adds when parting with the animal he has reared[35]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Untouched by the \u1f55\u03b2\u03c1\u03b9\u03c2 of Abrahamic faiths, Osages used to call themselves \u00abNi-U-Kon-Ska: children of the middle waters\u00bb[36]<\/a>, that is, children of Missouri and Osage Rivers, which from the very beginning had sustained these people and which only had the faculty of deciding about their survival or non-survival, as with all the other creatures inhabiting their banks. Not the will of a punitive and jealous God, but the hieratic proceeding of a Nature that simply regards none of its beings as indispensable and, consequently, has no reason to reward some and punish others.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The moment when this metaphysical truth is forgotten coincides, according to Lao Tzu, with the birth of ethics, which means, the birth of the dominion of man over man, of nationalisms, and, obviously, of monotheistic religions, which are all exquisitely prescriptive religions. Indeed, the virtues upon which monotheisms are founded are not existential<\/em> virtues such as knowledge, courtesy, or honesty, but rather theological<\/em> virtues. And, in the Christian case, these virtues are faith, charity, and hope: all dispositions to which we can hardly associate any genuine behaviour apart from the blind prayer.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Where the sense of measure<\/em> is lost, where\u00a0\u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 is cast aside, there the monotheisms do arise with all that they bring about: envy, intolerance, and resentment. Three features of Abrahamic religions that Schopenhauer has brilliantly analysed and that, with high probability, offer by themselves an explanation for the tragic facts that involved the Osage Nation in the 1920s.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This is really the worst side of religions, namely that the believers of every religion regard themselves as justified in committing every crime against those of all the others and have, therefore, treated them with the greatest wickedness and cruelty; thus the Mohammedans against the Christians and Hindus, the Christians against the Hindus, Mohammedans, American natives, Negroes, Jews, heretics, and others. Perhaps I go too far when I say all religions, for in the interest of truth I must add that the fanatical cruelties arising from this principle are really known to us only from the followers of the monotheistic religions, thus Judaism and its two branches, Christianity and Islam. We hear nothing of the kind about Hindus and Buddhists. [\u2026] Indeed, intolerance is essential only to monotheism; an only God is by nature a jealous God who will not allow another to live. On the other hand, polytheistic gods are naturally tolerant; they live and let live. In the first place, they gladly tolerate their colleagues, the gods of the same religion, and this tolerance is afterwards extended even to foreign gods who are, accordingly, hospitably received and later admitted, in some cases, even to an equality of rights. [\u2026] Thus it is only the monotheistic religions that furnish us with the spectacle of religious wars, religious persecutions, courts for trying heretics, and also with that of iconoclasm, the destruction of the images of foreign gods, the demolition of Indian temples and Egyptian colossi that had looked at the sun for three thousand years[37]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This long passage from\u00a0Parerga and Paralipomena<\/em>, which was nonetheless worth quoting in full, is one of the finest answers ever given to the question: \u201cHow was all that possible?\u201d So<\/em> it was possible. So it is and will continue to be possible, in accordance with the inner logic of monotheism, which is a vile and intimidating logic. A logic that, fortunately, the Osage nation and, with it, many other native populations \u2013 now extinct or reduced to a few dozen individuals \u2013 have never known and will never know.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> M. Heidegger, On the Essence and Concept of <\/em>\u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2<\/em>. Aristotle, <\/em>Physics, B, 1<\/em>, in Id., Pathmarks<\/em> (Wegmarken<\/em>, 1976), edited by W. McNeill, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge-New York-Melbourne 1998, p. 201.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Together with Francesco Bellomo, I conducted an in-depth analysis of the genesis, narrative structure, and aesthetics of Scorsese\u2019s film in the article F. Bellomo, F. Nicolosi, L\u2019ascolto dell\u2019altro: arte, violenza e razionalit\u00e0 in Killers of the Flower Moon<\/em>, forthcoming in the journal\u00a0\u00abAisthesis: pratiche, linguaggi e saperi dell\u2019estetico\u00bb. A concise discussion of some of the themes that will be further developed in the present work is already included in Chapter I (L\u2019essere, l\u2019arte, il sacro<\/em>) of the article co-authored with Bellomo.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Cfr. D. Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon. The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI<\/em>, Doubleday, Broadway 2017.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> On the \u201cTrail of Tears,\u201d as it has been defined by the Natives themselves, during which over 4,000 Indians died from hardship between 1838 and 1840, see M. Conti, I sentieri delle lacrime. <\/em>Olocausto degli indiani nativi d\u2019America<\/em>, in \u00abBibliomanie. Letterature, storiografie, semiotiche\u00bb, vol. 11\/2007, n. 6, pp. 1-11.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> D. Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon. The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI<\/em>, cit., p. 6.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> According to Morska, the foundation of the Osage genocide (as of any other extermination) lies in that portrayal of the victims as \u201cbeasts,\u201d without which it would have been impossible to justify such atrocities. Indeed, \u00abif [and if only] Indians were not men (if they were beasts or descendants of medieval monsters or \u201chalf men\u201d), they could be treated as \u201cnatural slaves\u201d\u00bb (I. Morska, Animality as an excuse for murder: David Grann and Killers of the Flower Moon<\/em>, in \u00abBeyond Philology\u00bb, vol. 4\/2022, n. 19, p. 104). Unfortunately, this method is far from uncommon in the history of European and American colonization.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Ivi, pp. 119-120.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> D. Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon. The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI<\/em>, cit., p. 166.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> A notable exception is represented by the magnate William K. Hale, whose role was among the most significant in the planning of the murders. Both Grann\u2019s research and Scorsese\u2019s film have dedicated a prominent place to the figure of Hale, emphasizing his cynicism and his skill in eluding the justice system.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Cfr. J.L. Beason, Osage or Americans? The Lingering Effects of Colonization on Notions of Osage Resiliency<\/em>, in B. Sengar, A. Mia Elise Adjoumani (edited by), Indigenous Societies in the Post-colonial World. Responses and Resilience Thorugh Global Perspectives<\/em>, Springer, New York 2023, pp. 57-75.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> I. Morska, Animality as an excuse for murder: David Grann and Killers of the Flower Moon<\/em>, cit., p. 120.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> G. Bailey, Osage Cosmology<\/em>, inId., D.C. Swan (edited y), Art of the Osage<\/em>, with contributions by J.W. Nunley, E.S. Standingbear, Saint Louis Art Museum in association with University of Washington Press, Seattle-London 2004, p. 27.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> Ibidem<\/em>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> D. Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon. The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI<\/em>, cit., p. 23.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> To gain a better understanding of the Osage cosmological theory, it may be helpful to recall the Greek term \u03ba\u03cc\u03c3\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2<\/em>, which, as is well known, already among the Pythagoreans designated both the cosmos in its empirical structure (physical level) and the order\/harmony or the \u201clegislation\u201d immanent to that structure (metaphysical level). The parallelism with the Pythagorean conception of the universe, which will be further explored in the following chapter, proves particularly effective as we observe the way in which \u00abOsages considered the cosmos to be an ordered system that was dynamic, ever changing, and logically integrated, with everything in it having meaning and purpose\u00bb (G. Bailey, Osage Cosmology<\/em>, inId., D.C. Swan (edited y), Art of the Osage<\/em>, cit., p. 27).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a> B. Walker (edited by), Hua Hu Ching: The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu<\/em>, HarperCollins, New York 1995, p. 8, \u00a76.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[17]<\/a> G. Bailey, Osage Cosmology<\/em>, inId., D.C. Swan (edited y), Art of the Osage<\/em>, cit., p. 27. Personally, in light of what has been discussed so far, I feel up to rejecting Bailey\u2019s use of the term \u201cGod\u201d in this passage, as it risks framing the Osage conception of the divine within some conceptual categories that are fundamentally foreign to it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[18]<\/a> D. Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon. The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI<\/em>, cit., p. 288.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[19]<\/a> \u00abAll things born, whether it is the day, the year, a human being, an animal, a bird, a tree, a species of animal, or even a group of people such as the Osage, would die. \u201cNothing in the cosmos moves backward.\u201d All things in the world of the living followed the same relentless path, like that of the sun, from east to west, from birth to death. The ancient priests called this the path of life\u00bb (G. Bailey, Osage Cosmology<\/em>, inId., D.C. Swan (edited y), Art of the Osage<\/em>, cit., p. 28).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[20]<\/a> Aristotle, Physics <\/em>(\u03a6\u03c5\u03c3\u03b9\u03ba\u03ae\u03c2 \u1f00\u03ba\u03c1\u03cc\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2, IV sec. a.C.), transl. by R. Waterfield, with an Introduction and Notes by D. Bostock, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1996, Book III, p. 56.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[21]<\/a> G. Bailey, Osage Cosmology<\/em>, inId., D.C. Swan (edited y), Art of the Osage<\/em>, cit., p. 38.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[22]<\/a> U. Galimberti, Il tramonto dell\u2019Occidente nella lettura di Heidegger e Jaspers<\/em>, Feltrinelli (\u201cUniversale Economica\u201d), Milano 2005, \u00a735, p. 249.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[23]<\/a> M. Heidegger, On the essence of truth<\/em>, in Id., Pathmarks<\/em>, cit., p. 144. The italics are mine.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[24]<\/a> An interesting historical-ethnological study on Osage ritual practices, to which I refer for deeper exploration of this topic, was conducted by the already mentioned G. Bailey (edited by), Traditions of the Osage: Stories Collected and Translated by Francis La Fleche<\/em>, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque 2010.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[25]<\/a> D. Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon. The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI<\/em>, cit., p. 43.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[26]<\/a> Xenophanes 21 B27 DK, in R. Waterfield (edited by), The First Philosophers. The Presocratics and Sophists<\/em>, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2000, p. 28.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[27]<\/a> Heraclitus 22 B66 DK, in Ivi, p. 42.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[28]<\/a> K. Jaspers, Philosophy is for Everyman. A Short Course in Philosophical Thinking<\/em> (Kleine Schule des philosophischen Denkens<\/em>, 1965), transl. by R.F.C. Hull and G. Wels, Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., New York 1967, p. 6.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[29]<\/a> Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching<\/em>, edited by S. Mitchell, Harper Perennial, New York 2006, \u00a725, p. 25.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[30]<\/a> Empedocles 31 B8 DK, in R. Waterfield (edited by), The First Philosophers. The Presocratics and Sophists<\/em>, cit., p. 145. The same interpretive line emerges clearly from \u00a716 of\u00a0Tao Te Ching<\/em>\u00a0and \u00a765 of\u00a0Hua Hu Ching<\/em>, where the Tao is described as a \u00abMysterious Mother\u00bb who does not consider any of her children as fundamental. All beings are characterized by temporariness and are destined to disappear and reappear in new and different forms through an eternal \u00abreproductive dance\u00bb (cfr. B. Walker [edited by], Hua Hu Ching: The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu<\/em>, cit., \u00a765, p. 83).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[31]<\/a> M. Scorsese (directed by), Killers of the Flower Moon<\/em>, Apple Studios-Imperative Entertainment-Sikelia Productions-Appian Way Productions, USA 2023.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[32]<\/a> G. Chiurazzi, \u2018Se l\u2019uno non \u00e8\u2019. Ipotesi sul <\/em>Parmenide, in P. Amato, A.G. Biuso, V. Bochicchio, M.T. Catena, F. Masi, V. Pinto, N. Russo, S. Venezia (a cura di), Metafisica dell\u2019immanenza. Scritti per Eugenio Mazzarella<\/em>, Vol.I: Ontologia e storia<\/em>, Mimesis, Milano-Udine 2021, p. 23.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[33]<\/a> B. Walker [edited by], Hua Hu Ching: The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu<\/em>, cit., \u00a774, p. 95.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[34]<\/a> Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching.<\/em>, cit., \u00a714, p. 14. In light of this interpretive key we should also read the privative alpha in Anaximander\u2019s\u00a0\u00e0-peiron<\/em>: that is, a form of renunciation to positively define what necessarily eludes both language and calculation. From this point of view, the ancient wisdoms demonstrate a mature understanding of what Heidegger would have later called Ontologische Differenz<\/em>, namely that the essential feature of Being consists precisely in its not-being-entity.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[35]<\/a> A. Schopenhauer, Parerga and paralipomena. Short Philosophical Essays <\/em>(Parerga und Paralipomena: kleine philosophische Schriften<\/em>, 1851), transl. by E.F.J. Payne, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1974, vol. II, p. 370.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[36]<\/a> M. Scorsese (directed by), Killers of the Flower Moon<\/em>, cit.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[37]<\/a> A. Schopenhauer, Parerga and paralipomena<\/em>, cit., vol. II, pp. 358-359.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

di Federico Nicolosi The being of \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 and \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 as being remain unprovable because \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 does not need a proof, for wherever a \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2-being stands in the open, \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 has already shown itself and stands in view[1]. Like the infinite, ever-changing, geomorphological configurations that the Earth has assumed since its birth four and a half […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","footnotes":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[]},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nOsage Philosophy and Religion: A Comparative Inquiry into Ancient Western Philosophy - Il Pequod<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"it_IT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Osage Philosophy and Religion: A Comparative Inquiry into Ancient Western Philosophy - Il Pequod\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"di Federico Nicolosi The being of \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 and \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 as being remain unprovable because \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 does not need a proof, for wherever a \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2-being stands in the open, \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 has already shown itself and stands in view[1]. Like the infinite, ever-changing, geomorphological configurations that the Earth has assumed since its birth four and a half […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Il Pequod\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ilpequod\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-15T15:06:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-15T15:06:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Copia-di-Nicolosi.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1660\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"846\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"info@ilpequod.it\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Scritto da\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"info@ilpequod.it\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Tempo di lettura stimato\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"30 minuti\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"info@ilpequod.it\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/#\/schema\/person\/b0e8a50ae99408714b653526c41c72e9\"},\"headline\":\"Osage Philosophy and Religion: A Comparative Inquiry into Ancient Western Philosophy\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-15T15:06:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-15T15:06:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/\"},\"wordCount\":5454,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Copia-di-Nicolosi.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Scritture ritrovate\"],\"inLanguage\":\"it-IT\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/\",\"name\":\"Osage Philosophy and Religion: A Comparative Inquiry into Ancient Western Philosophy - Il Pequod\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Copia-di-Nicolosi.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-15T15:06:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-15T15:06:39+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"it-IT\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"it-IT\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Copia-di-Nicolosi.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Copia-di-Nicolosi.jpg\",\"width\":1660,\"height\":846},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Osage Philosophy and Religion: A Comparative Inquiry into Ancient Western Philosophy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/\",\"name\":\"Il Pequod\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"it-IT\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Il Pequod\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"it-IT\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Logo_____.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Logo_____.png\",\"width\":1010,\"height\":230,\"caption\":\"Il Pequod\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ilpequod\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/#\/schema\/person\/b0e8a50ae99408714b653526c41c72e9\",\"name\":\"info@ilpequod.it\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"it-IT\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f2c1e75ba1e20e77b527557a845805b2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f2c1e75ba1e20e77b527557a845805b2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"info@ilpequod.it\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/author\/infoilpequod-it\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Osage Philosophy and Religion: A Comparative Inquiry into Ancient Western Philosophy - Il Pequod","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/","og_locale":"it_IT","og_type":"article","og_title":"Osage Philosophy and Religion: A Comparative Inquiry into Ancient Western Philosophy - Il Pequod","og_description":"di Federico Nicolosi The being of \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 and \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 as being remain unprovable because \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 does not need a proof, for wherever a \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2-being stands in the open, \u03c6\u03cd\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 has already shown itself and stands in view[1]. Like the infinite, ever-changing, geomorphological configurations that the Earth has assumed since its birth four and a half […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/","og_site_name":"Il Pequod","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ilpequod\/","article_published_time":"2026-06-15T15:06:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-06-15T15:06:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1660,"height":846,"url":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Copia-di-Nicolosi.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"info@ilpequod.it","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Scritto da":"info@ilpequod.it","Tempo di lettura stimato":"30 minuti"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/"},"author":{"name":"info@ilpequod.it","@id":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/#\/schema\/person\/b0e8a50ae99408714b653526c41c72e9"},"headline":"Osage Philosophy and Religion: A Comparative Inquiry into Ancient Western Philosophy","datePublished":"2026-06-15T15:06:17+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-15T15:06:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/"},"wordCount":5454,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Copia-di-Nicolosi.jpg","articleSection":["Scritture ritrovate"],"inLanguage":"it-IT","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/","name":"Osage Philosophy and Religion: A Comparative Inquiry into Ancient Western Philosophy - Il Pequod","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Copia-di-Nicolosi.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-15T15:06:17+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-15T15:06:39+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"it-IT","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"it-IT","@id":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Copia-di-Nicolosi.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Copia-di-Nicolosi.jpg","width":1660,"height":846},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/osage-philosophy-and-religion-a-comparative-inquiry-into-ancient-western-philosophy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Osage Philosophy and Religion: A Comparative Inquiry into Ancient Western Philosophy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/","name":"Il Pequod","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"it-IT"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/#organization","name":"Il Pequod","url":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"it-IT","@id":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Logo_____.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Logo_____.png","width":1010,"height":230,"caption":"Il Pequod"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ilpequod\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/#\/schema\/person\/b0e8a50ae99408714b653526c41c72e9","name":"info@ilpequod.it","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"it-IT","@id":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f2c1e75ba1e20e77b527557a845805b2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f2c1e75ba1e20e77b527557a845805b2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"info@ilpequod.it"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/author\/infoilpequod-it\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4355"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4363,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355\/revisions\/4363"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilpequod.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}