Alexandru-Costin Udrea

Student, freshman at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, passionate about philosophy (Friedrich Nietzsche, the School of Tradition), sports, history and overcoming myself; lustful for learning foreign languages and interpreting books of wisdom

Poetic Inquiry into Human Thought Foundations (III)

Shortcuts to riches possibly include unlawful activity, damaging to uninvolved parties. Understandable motivation can degenerate into overreaction or well-thought countercurrents directed against structural power centres. Spite and scorn mix with a feeling of furious helplessness and the ethical helm of conduct is abandoned. If beautiful summits are unreachable, then the very base is shaken by all possible means. The final outcome depends on the collective power of these abhorring such “unthankfulness” and refusal to make the best of their own abilities or continue their development. Raging overthinking can easily be confounded with inaction, and more often than not a dangerous spillage of negative emotions floods a society. More

Poetic Inquiry into Human Thought Foundations (II)

Alexandru-Costin Udrea

Modern power dynamics are a continuation of a past in which liberty was not a principle to be taken into account by then-leaders. Former times constituted a division between dictatorial societies and authoritarian civilizations. The variation of the degree of statism depended on political movements succeeding one another. History tells us that this perpetually change does not follow a logical slide from a democratic government form to an authoritarian, then dictatorial one. Regardless of this, the giving up of freedoms is an “encouragement” for corruptible power centres to go on with their policies, until a state of anxiety, then fear, instils into a disoriented people. Whatever a “golden pencil” writes is holy, is “for the people” and can hardly be contested, unless one wants to become an enemy of state commanders. More

Poetic Inquiry into Human Thought Foundations (I)

Alexandru-Costin Udrea

The argument for a multidisciplinary approach to comprehension of human thought and its translation into action seems to be irreproachable, as it demonstrates a thorough knowledge of sociohistorical phenomena and their propagation across times marked by remarkable events aplenty. However, the crossover of arts – of which da Vinci probably is the most telling example – is not as common as this much more common and mere “intellectual multilateralism” of appealing and borrowing from different fields of knowledge. Could there possibly be anything more beautiful and sublime than a sculpture represented in a wondrous painting More

Benedetto Croce – Liberal, Idealist, Activist (In This Order)

Alexandru-Costin Udrea

Many people throughout history are known for acts of great courage and grand conquests. Some live by through immortal creations forever bearing their name. Others were examples of irreproachable ethics and conduct, strength of character and Olympian serenity. They are usually separated in men which demonstrated either active or passive involvement in asserting dedication to their ideals, much more rarely both. But even far less are those who showed they had achieved all these signs of distinction during their lifetime, troubled by the fatality of history and hazardous game of eras. In the shade of the dusk of epochs rise strong characters ready to resist the darkness of upcoming times and bring back the light spread by the flame of liberty. After years of spiritual wickedness, ethical scarcity and social cowardice, it is possible that justice be made. If so, those who once took up their role as freedom fighters and tirelessly took action in favour of what they believed to be just shall get their sincere recognition from their admirers. More

A Reactionary Response to a Likewise Football

Alexandru-Costin Udrea

Context: TheChampions League (CL) is the greatest inter-club football competition in Europe and the entire world. Organised every year, it includes the best 32 European football club teams: 26 qualified in advance, while six of them have to go through a preliminary round, three qualifying rounds and a play-off round, all played over two legs (except in this “pandemic” year when only the play-off round was played over two legs). Eight groups are formed; each team plays every other team in its group twice (once home and once away). At the end, the first two teams of each group with the highest number of points progress to the knock-out stage, therefore 16 teams. The teams which finish 3rd in their CL groups relegate to the second-tier competition, the Europa League (EL), which works basically in the same way as the CL, except that the team that finishes third in its EL group goes nowhere (at least so far). Then, a draw takes place in Geneva. A kick-out style tournament commences, with double-legged matches until the last act of the competition is reached – the big final. More

Charter Cities: Vernian Fantasy or Human Reality?

Alexandru-Costin Udrea

In 1895, the French novelist Jules Verne launched one of his many visionary ideas that either became reality or something future next generations are expected to achieve. Propeller Island follows the story of four musicians whose services are demanded on Standard Island, a floating fabricated island which is the home of Milliard City, the capital city inhabited only by remarkable and eccentric American millionaires and wealthy and adventurous Yankees who gathered into what can be considered a self-governing city-state. Notwithstanding the particular adventures of the quartet, the requirement of being a millionaire and certain technologies which facilitate life in the fictional Milliard City, the idea of an independent city, built from the ground up in this way, with its own jurisdiction and socio-economic system, may not be so ahead of our times. History is littered with city-states and there are some still existing today, but since all land outside of Antarctica is claimed by sovereign entities, it seems impossible to create such a city by design. Standard Island is still unrealizable for us and, while we applaud Verne’s imagination, we should turn to the closest form of organization that could resemble this island – that of the charter city. If fully realized, the masterminds behind this audacious project can end up with their own novel and with the satisfaction of having advanced the good of humanity, as the objective of charter cities is declared to be. More

ADI DASsler’s “Impossible is Nothing” and “The Miracle of Bern”

Alexandru-Costin Udrea

“It’s over! Over! Over! Germany are the World Champions!”, Radio reporter Herbert Zimmermann’s jubilant words still resound in the hearts of many Germans, as a newly-created West Germany conquered the most coveted trophy in international football, having beaten the famous “Golden Team” of Hungary in the 1954 World Cup Final. Thus, one of the greatest surprises in the history of the sport opened up new horizons for post-war Germany. What is often overlooked, though, is how Adolf Dassler’s entrepreneurial spirit paved the way for this remarkable performance, for his famous sports shoes helped the German players attain a decisive advantage over their rivals, since the football field from Bern was soaking wet at the hour of the match because of the heavy rain that had fallen that day. More

(Corpo)Rational Person(ality)

Alexandru-Costin Udrea

It is perhaps characteristic of modern times to gather large groups of people who share the same perpetual quest for what is called freedom of expression and action within a free world, to make use of it with every single opportunity they might have. As such, and also due to the possibilities of assembly offered by the Internet, there arises the “popular” attitude that seeks righteousness and pretends a just and fair treatment from each of its components and especially from the big players on the world-wide stage. Over the last few decades, an antagonistic reaction has been artificially maintained against this borderless notion of “the People” and its supposed deadly foe that is conspiring against it – “the Corporation”. More

No Way In, No Way Out

Alexandru-Costin Udrea

Scratching beneath the surface of socio-political matters results in a multitude of findings and novelties. It is time that enough answers were given to the everlasting questions which naturally follow the inquiry into the reasonableness of dominating conceptions and policies. Gone are the days of a vigorous desire to make up for the “barbarity” of the past and build up ideals on the fertile land of the human mind. Instead of this, we are witnesses to an open confrontation between the remains of this desire (becoming ruinous) and the emergence of a cycle which, although seemingly new, learns from the goods and bads of history and looks forward to putting a halt to the illusions of a well-intentioned world in its bulk, but not so as regards the elites behind it. Following these hypotheses and beliefs, the European and then the national perspective are considered in this article, fundamentally bordered by the individual perspective. We unapologetically dismiss any attempts to “total objectivity”, typical of a world of make-believe. More

The Neighbourhood and Its Meanings

Alexandru-Costin Udrea

In order to know the Romanian society as it is today more intimately, it is preferable that we analyse it from the inside to the outside, for the general characteristics and conclusions that might be traced from this “outside” (such as national psychologies or civilizational traits) are brought into existence by a set of norms and behaviours embraced by the “inside” (which, in this case, refers to every individual, to his family and then to his immediate community). More

A Pragmatic Approach to Higher Education – University 4.0

Alexandru-Costin Udrea

The 4th Industrial Revolution has changed the industrial practices of manufacturing and production, now transformed by digitization and automation and supported by advanced technologies and techniques. The adjustment process of industry to the latest developments, leading to its structural change, has been named Industry 4.0. This article proposes a mature consideration of the necessity to transform he educational system which trains people to function in the economic life of this new reality. We will start from the essential supposition that the free market is or should be the one that shapes the educational system and not vice versa, which is essential for a healthy industry manifested within a free market economy as a basis for economic progress. Today, industrial development is partly based on a thorough but standardized knowledge base traditionally accumulated and perfected behind the thick walls of academia over a standardized period of time that is required for certification. More

The Press – Social “Mediator” or “Instigator”?

Alexandru-Costin Udrea

On the 3rd of May we celebrate World Press Freedom Day. The power of the Press (hereinafter deliberately written with capital P, in speaking precisely of its societal vocation) and its impact on the average citizen and on the wider masses of the people is prodigious. As far as we are concerned, mass-media must act as a carrier and spreader of democracy, its values and of peace all over the world. The accuracy of reporting significant events to people around the globe is the most important factor when talking about what really matters regarding the primary role of the Press. War correspondents, sport reporters, photographers, columnists and journalists alike form a particular guild, mediating the transfer and processing of information from myriad sources and from event in most secluded corners of the world. The influence of mass-media, as the “fourth estate”, is significant. It takes only one article, one “breaking-news”, one new leak of information in order to stir up entire populations and raise the temperature of the entire world. And so, we might ask the question: what is the role of the mass-media? Is it to merely report events or to provoke and incite discussions, to engage in public debate in a deep way, in other words, to create dialectical forces and to push the boundaries on individual choice and social norms? More