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Journey—Foundation Written
Summer, 2011 Latest File entry or Edition January 24, 2012 ANIL MITRA Contents
MetaphysicsBeing—that which exists (or has existence). Universe—All Being. Law—as Being. Void—absence of Being and therefore of Law. These are among the objects of pure metaphysics—knowledge of things as they are—known perfectly by abstraction of an undistorted net from the details It is clear that metaphysics and epistemology are simultaneously and interactively present in the very beginning of this development. Such simultaneous development of content and method of knowledge is essential. The title of this section should perhaps contain ‘Epistemology’ and perhaps other terms that arise below. However the title should not be Metaphysics and ‘a’ and ‘b’ and so on but Metaphysics and how it contains ‘a’ and ‘b’ and… The simultaneous development of metaphysics and epistemology is significantly ignored in the history of thought. The very first passion regarding knowledge is to know; this is closely followed by the passion to critical thought. This is seen in the development of individuals and in culture; and often there is a tendency to arrest at one of these states. Culture has not progressed beyond this stage to an amalgam (necessary to their maximally transparent and self-evident development) of these rather artificially separated aspects—content and method—of Being. And it may be seen from the observation that since knowledge is in the world that method is a form of content and that the separation though important in discovery is nonetheless an artifact of the process of discovery Here we find that relinquishing a priori commitment (though not the passion of such commitment) and allowing neutral commitment and emergence is key. Neutrality implies neutrality with regard to both neutrality and commitment. In other words it is not our intent to commit or not commit but we may do so when the occasion arises. In this document we do not enter into details but note already the emergence of the reflex approach in which every maxim is applied to itself and this self-generalizes to a reflex in which every principle, critical or creative, may be applied to another. The idea of reflexivity is important in creative concept formation as well as criticism What is here called pure metaphysics is roughly what is called metaphysics in the literature of philosophy. However, there is no general agreement as to what metaphysics is This is because the literature has not advanced metaphysics to the ultimate degrees that it is here advanced The Principle of Being (PB)—The Universe has no limits, follows from the properties of these objects: the Void has no Law and is therefore equivalent to any state of Being; therefore the Void and, consequently, the Universe have no limits PB says that the Universe is ultimate with regard to limitlessness It immediately follows that any state of Being is equivalent to every state of Being. Therefore there is no need for classical substance or unproved axiom or undefined term or uncertain method of proof (Being is a name for the given and therefore primitive term and fact; Logic falls out of the system). The metaphysics developed, called the Universal Metaphysics, is non-relative without substance or axiom. In it shatters the common position that substance free metaphysics must be relative (i.e., with infinite regress). It shows ultimate foundation or depth which is at the same time trivial and profound. Though trivial in form, arriving at the Universal Metaphysics and even shaking oneself free of standard—classical through modern through recent—thought sufficiently to see it require non-trivial effort PB implies that the Universe has diffuse and acute states of feeling, consciousness, mind… and of Identity. It implies that if the Universe were in a state of non-manifest Being, manifest Being would result. I.e., there must be times when there is something and times when there is not. This resolves the well known problem of ‘why there is something rather than nothing’. Heidegger called this the fundamental problem of metaphysics Now take up Logic, the requirement (semantic, syntactic…) for concepts of referential type to have reference, which is not a limit (or law) of Being; and Logos, the object of Logic, is the Universe in all detail. This conception of logic is suggested by PB. It includes the classical notion of logic as inference by consideration of the Logic of related concepts and it includes the logics as tentative or approximate Logics. Therefore, our knowledge of Logic is far from empty but also at an unlimited remove from completion. It follows from PB that all Logical concepts have reference but the working out of what counts as ‘Logical’ implicitly trivial but explicitly daunting Logic may seem to be a limit but it is not; it is a condition on realistic concept formation The Universe has no limits. Therefore there is no limit on the variety, extension, and duration of Being. In terms of concepts we may say that, within the bounds of Logic (WBL) every (referential) concept is realized. Thus the Universe is ultimate with regard to variety, extension, and duration of Being. In other words the Universe is ultimate in breadth. This is the foundation of a General Cosmology below that harbors foundational aspects of modern physics, biology, psychology, and social science (this treatment will be limited to a few comments in this regard). That the Universe is ultimate in breadth follows in the Universal Metaphysics—i.e., from PB. But Universal Metaphysics it self does not generate or show how to generate the variety. Therefore Universal Metaphysics is implicitly ultimate in breadth or variety Power is degree of limitlessness; therefore the Universe has ultimate power. Except for conditions of coexistence every object inherits this powerlessness (otherwise there would be a limit on the Universe). This inheritance extends to individuals. Therefore, individuals occasionally enter into explicit identity with the Universe and its states of awareness; and they can have some direct experience of this identity by introspection (the present knowledge of it is via free concepts and therefore not altogether direct) Our world and its common objects including the Individual have apparent limits. This join of Being and knowledge regarding our world and other limit defined contexts called Normal; Normal limits (Laws) are contextual, not necessary; such limits do not contradict limitlessness. In the Universal context, what is Normally but not Logically impossible is very improbable and what is Normally though not Logically Knowledge of Normal objects is not Epistemically perfect and from the projective nature of knowledge even the meaning of object and epistemic perfection is in question (the objects of pure metaphysics are projective and their perfection comes from their abstract-but-immediate character). Knowledge of Normal objects is not perfect but ‘good enough’ in a net non-epistemic sense via adaptation. There is however a value sense which includes the idea of ‘good enough’ according to which all proper knowledge is perfect This proper knowledge is Applied Metaphysics which is not metaphysics at all in the pure sense and includes pure metaphysics, proper science and common knowledge and value, and their mutual illumination Death is real. However, as absolute, death is a Normal concept. Therefore identity of individual and Universe do not contradict the Normal concepts of individual limits and death Notes. 1. The essential dependence of the foundations above is on the pure object. 2. Science, common knowledge, and value are Normal—and therefore any contradiction between science and the Universal metaphysics is no more than merely apparent From the problem of projection, it is reasonable to suggest that the fundamental problem of metaphysics should be ‘What has Being?’ or to Define (the) objects that have Being ObjectsThe foregoing epistemology provides a theory of Objects. The theory of the Object is given in detail in other treatments at http://www.horizons-2000.org Matter and MindThe foregoing suggests that neither matter nor mind are ultimate categories. However a universal meaning can be given to these terms and this meaning may be used to diffuse the well known ‘mind-matter’ or ‘mind-body’ or ‘science versus metaphysics of consciousness’ problems. In the following, matter and mind are given universal but specific meaning and the terms should not be identified with their Normal senses even though there is some approximate connection between their universal and Normal meanings Universal matter is being-as-such. Mind is the signature (effect and projection with regard to, e.g., shape, quality, intensity) of one object in another. Matter is, roughly, thing and mind is experience of thing. Matter is object, mind is subject; matter is external and mind is internal. Clearly however, the terms ‘object’, ‘subject’, ‘external’, and ‘internal’, are not to be invested with their full common literal meanings In the case of compound objects, mind includes self-signature From PB however every atom is a cosmos and every cosmos an atom. Every object is compound, the element or atom is a Normal concept as is substance. The mind-matter distinction is finally empty and every part of Being—every part of the Universe—has mind IdentityIdentity is the sense of sameness (of an object or person) over change andor time Identity is a part of object-hood and therefore the ideas of identity (entity, person) require no further definition or basic understanding In Normal contexts objects are typically experienced as finite in extension and duration. The objects of pure metaphysics are not subject to this confinement DomainA domain is a part of the Universe. Except for conditions of coexistence, domains inherit the limitlessness, the unlimited power of the Universe A cosmos is a relatively stable domain that is well enough adapted over its history to have some degree of stability and has good enough coherence in extension and duration An individual is a relatively stable organism and is typically part of a self-adapted ecosphere and has Normal mind and sense of personal identity Cosmos and individual are Normal structures CosmologyGeneral cosmology concerns the variety and kinds of Being in the Universe and their relations, configurations and history 1. The variety, extension and duration of Being in the Universe is unlimited, infinite ( the term ‘unlimited’ is far more potent than the term ‘infinite’) 2. Every Logical concept is realized. These include individual, identity, cosmos, and fragments of scriptures and literature; and art… and all (Logical) physical like Laws and for each Law all of its possible realizations and unlimited repetition of each realization. Coherence of the entire system according to Logic is a program for study 3. Ghosts and spirits, continuity of information in identity (soul) across death and states of non-manifest Being A Hierarchy of BeingGod—the greatest power, original and greatest creative power, its power is identical to the power of the Universe; gods, mythic and other Beings of Logical fantasy—great and other powers and kinds God exists by definition above. WBL PB implies the Being of gods etc. Human Power: power of individuals and groups; includes enhancements by technology; limited in Normal contexts—identical to the greatest power in ultimate context Regarding GodThere is no external or original creator of the Universe. The Universe is self-sustaining The gods may create, sustain, destroy, be involved with, meddle with domains, individuals, cosmological systems or be powers in these processes Understanding, discovery, and development of God (Universe and Being) is ever in process but is often regarded as closed by the stories from the religions This is one of the great distortions due to the traditional religious cultures Still, WBL the discrete, stylized forms of religion, myth, culture are realized even though artificial. However the organic—stable enough, well enough adapted—forms are vastly more significant (e.g., frequency x duration). Perhaps the organic and the artificial lie on a continuum The foregoing gives no support of the idea that any given traditional or other account obtains in any given cosmological system. Still, the artificial forms may possess symbolic significance It might seem that except for symbolic significance it might be well to not use the terms ‘God’ or ‘god’ at all However, the issue of God as a stable and robust individual is far from closed The general includes the specific and myth. The poles of continua may be seen as opposites or as cases that fall under an inclusive species. There is advantage to Inclusivity as an element of method. Inclusivity may be taken to be an excuse for or justification of sloppy thought. However, true inclusivity would include discrimination and therefore the optimal case or range is both imaginative and critical ValueNormal value concerns Normal worlds (in the first place); Supernormal value concerns transitions from and among normal worlds; and Ultimate value concerns transition to the Ultimate 1. There may be conflicts among the levels (just as there are conflicts among individuals and among cultures) 2. Sources for value include all cultures, metaphysics, imagination, reason, and experiment in transformation 3. The ultimate is wide open 4. One ultimate value is realization of universal identity (God, Brahman) MethodIn the infancy of the culture of knowledge as well as in individual growth regarding knowledge the first passion seems to be to know. This manifests in early metaphysical thought Then, error arises in various forms A natural second passion is correctness. It is not as though epistemic concerns must await a phase of history but the history of thought is that there is a swing from metaphysics to epistemology that may be roughly identified with the modern period We remain rather in this period. There is a passion for criticism whose appeal is perhaps not only correctness and its epistemic and economic importance but also to the early development of the ego because it allows the culture and the individual to sweep away so much prior development. Perhaps such prior development needs sweeping away but perhaps more maturely it requires epistemic rehabilitation Here, we have found a more natural approach. In the first place we do not know that knowledge is our central value; obviously living itself is or at least may be where it is at. This is not to displace knowledge or its criteria but to suggest that these may be subservient to life. This is an important consideration but it is enough to go back to the idea of a more natural approach We simply and initially focus on metaphysics. We note that a fundamental problem of metaphysics is ‘What is there?’ Then, knowledge is an object. The process of living is an object. The development of knowledge is an object within the process of living These thoughts have been worked out We have found in the end that Being must be a journey without end. The way is not predicted and as such while intelligence and design are crucial to efficiency and enjoyment, engagement is crucial. The future of science is immersion. All knowing falls here under the rubric of Applied Metaphysics but this immediately expands to Being-in-the-process In a more detailed version, the developments might be reviewed in this section but here reference is made to the developments themselves These occur especially in relation to the terms method, epistemology, Universal Metaphysics, neutrality and emergence, reflexivity, applied metaphysics The treatment requires elaboration and this is done in other documents at http://www.horizons-2000.org In a mature culture process is key, the knowledge and other elements may be regarded as instruments but regarded naturally they fit in naturally as emerges above and as continued in the next section JourneyValue, goal, process An ultimate value is realization of Brahman Brahman does not exclude the immediate and moments A process—Being, i.e. Being as becoming A directed process—A journey The journey is adventure in variety without end. There are summits, plateaus, and dissolutions. There is no limit to the variety and elevation of the summits Means Metaphysics Pure and applied metaphysics includes tradition, pure science and religion by experiment, imagination and hypothesis, reason, imagination, relation, participation, and immersion The present, the intermediate, and the ultimate The present—whole Being: body, psyche, and environment Intermediate—nature (physical and living), society, psyche and culture, and the universal Ultimate—ultimate Being and Identity |