In the latest detailed version (LDV: Journey in being-detail ) and earlier versions the Introduction is typically long. Here, the Introduction may be very short or even omitted

In the parts (I, III, IV, and V) that may have a single chapter, consider whether to elevate the sections to chapter level

Conventions. May have a section or preface which deals with conventions. Some issues: 1. Ch for Chapter and Ch’s for Chapters, § for Section and §§ for Sections, S§ (S§§) for Subsection(s). 2. Number chapters? Capitalization. Capitalization of Being, Universe, Void, Object, Logic

Eliminate styles Heading 3 red and Heading 3 aqua

Introduction & Preface

The audience may be assisted in understanding and appreciating a narrative when given an idea of what to expect, when appraised of features that may cause difficulty, and when provided with the author’s thoughts on what the narrative may contribute to the human endeavor

This essay describes discoveries and transformations and their foundation; it also narrates the continuing process behind this content—it contains but is not limited to formal content. One of the purposes to the narrative content is that process is seen as integral to content. This is a statement of fact; and there is nothing unusual about process lying behind discovery and transformation. However, the statement is also one of necessity and value. The necessity arises in a view of ideas as a limited form of being as well as in a vision of the future of the human endeavor in which transformation of being will be essential to advancement of being. Value arises in that enjoyment of process is essential to being—i.e., being will be shown to be ever-in-process and therefore ends are ever ephemeral even though enjoyed and that the height of process and the enhancement of ends lies in the enjoyment of process

A journey in being

The two focal concerns of the essay are ideas and transformation of being. The first aim is discovery and experience of the highest forms of idea and being available to human being

The journey of the title is one of discovery in ideas, transformation of being, and relations and interactions between ideas and transformation. All modes of transformation are of interest but the focus is on transformations of individual identity: thus a possible subtitle—Transformations in Ideas and Identity

Journey. One connotation of journey is that the process is nonlinear. The meaning of nonlinear as used here includes that neither path nor goal is clearly known at outset and that path and goals may continue (and have continued) to change with growth in understanding and experience. The idea of the journey is perhaps a template for any individual or group. Even in axiomatic systems where primitive terms are defined in the beginning, their explicit meaning continues to emerge with development. Connotations of journey emerge as the narrative progresses

A contribution in ideas and transformation of being. The essay draws from the traditions of thought and transformation but is not a compilation or review of the traditions: it is presented as a contribution to the human endeavor—i.e. it is presented as an original work. The main narrative begins, in Part I—Ideas, as a presentation of original ideas which are continued in Part III—Method and Part IV—Contribution. The ideas include an original worldview or metaphysics that is called the Universal metaphysics. The following are demonstrated: (1) The metaphysics itself and the possibility of metaphysics (2) The metaphysics is ultimate (in ways defined below) (3) There is precisely one metaphysics (which must therefore be the Universal metaphysics) and (4) The metaphysics enables an understanding of individual and universal identity which are shown to have occasional identity—the peak goal of the journey. The transformations in being, especially in identity, are the subject of Part II—Journey (Journey is placed before Method because the ways of transformation have significance for method.) It is shown that even when peaks are achieved, the journey of all being remains in process: realization is followed by dissolution: the adventure, which involves enjoyment and pain, is endless

Being. An unrefined conception of Being—What is there! A history of metaphysics includes a history of search for foundations—mind, matter, process, force or interaction, spirit, God, word, proposition, trope… these are all substances (An ideal substance is the simplest form of being that may be regarded as resulting in the manifest forms of the world. Why simplest? Perhaps because, as simple, it is ideal as foundation or basis of explanation: the simple founds and explains the variety. And, perhaps, the simplest form of being is a uniform, unchanging substance that deterministically results in the manifest forms of the world. Why deterministic? Deterministic unfolding appears to be simpler than the non-deterministic alternative.) There are problems with substance—First, there is no assurance that any substance is capable of manifesting as the world in its complexity; Second, even if there is substance how will we know when it is found. Because of the second concern, substances are typically posited (thus materialism and idealism.) But any posited substance prejudices development on both counts—Is there any substance? Is the posited substance the substance? As What is there, Being has no prejudicial commitments: this is the superiority of Being over posited substance. This is the power of Being in its most general sense—it has no restrictive connotations. This may perhaps turn out to also be a weakness: perhaps Being is too general to have any explanatory power. It is easy to argue, however, that this is not the case for use of Being at outset avoids prejudicial commitment while it also allows substance, if there is any, to later emerge. In Metaphysics, it will turn out that there is and can be no substance and yet Being, together with carefully and experimentally defined and chosen concepts, especially the Void and the Universe, result in the definitive Universal metaphysics: we did not know that Being would not be trivial but analysis shows it to be most powerful. Regarding the transformations, Being is pivotal in two ways: in its most general connotation, Being—the metaphysics—is a container for the experiments in and places of being. And, there are special connotations of Being, some suggested by the traditions and others that may emerge from reflection and experiment; thus Being is a container for the lesser and greater realizations that are and may be sought

The narrative

The essay is in four main parts—Ideas, Journey, Method, and Contribution. The parts are arranged topically into chapters:

I. Ideas—Intuition, Metaphysics, Objects, Cosmology, Worlds

II. Journey—Journey, Being

III. Method—Method

IV. Contribution—Contribution

The metaphysics has an independent though abstract foundation. The first main chapter, Intuition, provides grounding (as well as foundation) in human experience

The metaphysics and its foundation are developed in the second Chapter—Metaphysics. Some of its main concepts are Universe, Domain and Complement, Void, and Logic. On account of the novel metaphysics, it may be expected that though the terms are common, the concepts (meanings) and their articulation (relations) have novelty and are specific to the development. Therefore, understanding will be enhanced by careful attention to word meaning and system articulation. In the metaphysics, Being is pivotal—it is roughly ‘what is there;’ and its pivotal character derives from requiring no a priori commitment to such potentially prejudicial terms such as mind and matter. The metaphysics is elaborated in Chapters Objects and Cosmology. Chapter Worlds develops a system of understanding of our cosmos in light of the metaphysics. Worlds concludes the first part of the development of ideas which lays foundation for the Journey in transformation which is described in Chapters Journey and Being. The transformations are in-process: Journey describes experimental and traditional approaches, aims, and progress so far. Chapter Being takes up realization in the present

The novel developments in ideas are associated with developments in method—the how of discovery. There are two sources of method. First, the developments in ideas were an occasion to reflect on ‘what am I doing and how am I doing it.’ Second, the ideas include topics such as Logic which are an aspect of method. We sometimes think of Logic and method as prior to context; we occasionally think of the rules or laws of Logic as remote. Here, we see the interactive development of content and method. A canonical interpretation of logic is that it is certain (perhaps because tautologous.) However, modern logic has been revealed as empirical (in certain ways) and every law of logic has been criticized and alternative systems have been developed (in the literature.) This is part of the motive (details below) to defining Logic as the one universal law. Instead of being absolutely certain, Logic is revealed as the highest of certainties (absolute certainty is not ruled out and while some logics are certain the status of Logic is open to discovery.) The developments are also occasion to reflect on induction (inductive logic is no longer regarded as a kind of logic) and creation. These are the contents of Chapter Method

This work is presented as a contribution to thought and to the development of (human) being. It is important to show how and where the ideas supersede extant systems. The ‘how’ is distributed throughout the narrative. The ‘where’ (together with some thoughts on ‘how’) is the content of the final narrative Chapter Contribution

Understanding the narrative

The metaphysics or worldview. The reader will require time to become familiar with the worldview. Even with familiarity, the reader may wonder about its intrinsic validity as well as apparent conflicts with other worldviews. In addition to the demonstration of validity, the concern is amplified and addressed in a number of ways. It is shown that the worldview is consistent with science. The relation with religion is more complex—even if the metaphysics of a religion is archaic, its ethics may have validity and its ritual may have psychic (spiritual) significance. The metaphysics is central in showing a new possibility—a new conception—for religion as an ongoing experiment in thought, feeling and transformation toward the peak goal described above

Psychology of a worldview—this refers to the binding or integration of a worldview into the psychology of an individual (and not to foundation of a worldview in mental process.) Growing into being human includes having a worldview if only an implicit or tacit view. This worldview may typically be some extract of the individual’s experience—the places visited, the perimeter of these places and times, stories and myths heard, visions of the world built up from memory and imagination; as tacit this is embedded in the psyche: it is not necessarily conscious. Many persons go beyond that: the shaman, the creator of myth, the storyteller, the visionary, the founders of religion, the mystic, the metaphysician, the scientist, the skeptic whose worldview is no worldview or, even, no world… Sometimes the view is inspired, sometimes it is built up; some individuals may be attached to the view, others not (so much.) The source of attachment may be personal hubris or embedding in the psyche; a resistance may develop with or without being consciously reactionary. A brief personal account may perhaps assist the reader in his or her own process of assimilation (or rejection) of the development of the integrated worldview of the narrative—In the development of the metaphysics and worldview of the present narrative, I have had to work (1) To overcome earlier intuitions—with bases in the culture of my early development and then an education that emphasized both science and humanities—and positions regarding the nature of the world and the concepts used to understand the world (2) To not jettison what is valid about the tradition and my earlier intuition. I was working in the dark and the emergence of the articulated metaphysics of the narrative has required processing—first to see, then to demonstrate, and finally to integrate. It required demonstration to show the consistency of the new metaphysics and what is valid in the tradition and my intuition (and later to develop aspects of the tradition in light of the metaphysics—i.e., the integration into a local-universal view)

Sociology of a worldview—I identify two factors (1) Effect of others on belief: when others have the same or similar belief, it is self-affirming even if their reasons are no better, (2) The elements of a belief need not be articulated; we have seen their less than conscious aspect above; these elements are also implicit in a social context. Thus secularists, liberals, and fundamentalists shall have problems seeing the Universal metaphysics—they will tend to see it as a species of or opposed to their understanding

Mode of reasoning. The developments of the new metaphysics and the new conceptions of metaphysics and Logic and the reinterpretations of science and religion bring with them new arguments, new reasons, and even new forms of reasoning (Part III—Method.) It will take time for readers to become familiar with the new ideas, new shapes of argument, new idea-scapes. It will be useful to differentiate the tradition or traditions from the Universal metaphysics and consequent worldview. Tradition—I use this term to refer to accumulated human knowledge and even pretensions to knowledge. Although a pretender cannot be used as a foundation of an argument, it may reveal something about human nature; it may be the inspiration of an idea, argument, or experiment in being. In its present meaning, The tradition includes science. There are many glimpses of the Universal metaphysics in the tradition but the tradition does not contain the Universal metaphysics for the tradition lacks the proof, the coherency of system, the elaboration of development, the drawing of consequences. When discussing ideas with others I therefore often find myself in a strange position. It is sometimes useful (and sometimes practical) to argue from the point of view of the tradition. At other times it is necessary to argue from the point of view of the tradition as enhanced by the metaphysics (appropriately understood, the tradition is consistent with and part of the metaphysics.) This may result in confusion, but more importantly it often results in incomplete illumination of the new and immensely powerful worldview and its consequences

In this narrative I will avoid the problem just identified by distinguishing arguments based only on the tradition from those that are based on the new metaphysics (which may be taken to include the tradition)

The Introduction now turns to providing some detail on its three concerns—what to expect, sources of difficulty, and contribution. This is done in §§ The metaphysics or world view and Significance of the development. Discussion of sources of difficulty are part of these sections

The metaphysics or worldview

Individuals and narratives invariably have one or more worldviews if only tacit ones—a single view may be a patchwork; multiple perspectives may be patch-worked into a single view. When this view is common and therefore likely to be shared by author and audience it may remain tacit without causing difficulty in understanding

This essay develops a worldview—a metaphysics—that is significantly different from the prevailing worldviews. The reader who is not aware of this may suffer confusion and may be unable to appreciate the content and significance of the narrative

The worldview of the narrative is sufficiently elaborate and different from the modern views that it cannot be presented and appreciated in a few sentences—the view or metaphysics (called the Universal metaphysics) is developed in Chapters Intuition through Cosmology. However, the following orientation may be useful

The core of the present worldview is contained in the following

(1) An essential form of the view—The extension, duration, and variety of being in the Universe is without limit

(2) Uniqueness—There is precisely one metaphysics (it may be—and is—expressed in different forms and developed in greater or lesser detail)

(3) Proof—The worldview or metaphysics is not merely posited: it is demonstrated

(4) Consequences—variety of being—Our cosmos is but one of an infinite number that display repetition as well as an infinite variety of forms and laws; individual and universal identity are equivalent; therefore the individual will experience and become the variety

(5) Apparent conflict with science and reflective common sense—Any apparent conflict is resolved. First, that there is no limit to variety means that our cosmos and its science is not merely allowed by the metaphysics but is its necessary consequence (our cosmos is not an accident.) Second, science is often taken to specify the envelope of what is in the Universe; however this is based in misunderstanding; science says something of the variety of being in the known part of the Universe but is altogether silent on the full extent, duration, and variety of what lies beyond; therefore the metaphysics does not contradict science. There is, therefore, no conflict (A strong positivist interpretation of science—that only what is described in science exists—would contradict the metaphysics; and even though unconscious about their positivism many individuals in the modern world are tacitly positivist in this sense. This tacit positivism is precisely one of the habits of thought that, if held by the reader, will be necessary to overcome in order to understand and appreciate this narrative)

Significance of the developments

It will aid the reader’s understanding to know what I hold to be the significance of the narrative

The Universal metaphysics is demonstrated rather than merely posited. The foundation of the metaphysics is based on a kind of abstraction that is developed in Chapter Intuition. The modern prohibition and reasons for prohibition are negated and their errors shown. The metaphysics is ultimate in breadth and depth; its core concepts include Being, Void, Domain, Universe, Logic, Extension and Duration. The consequences are immense in significance and breadth. These are among the themes developed in the narrative and described briefly next which are a continuation of the description of the core of the worldview

(6) Depth—another demonstrated form of the metaphysics: The Void is equivalent to the Universe (Void: the Void exists and is the absence of being including all Law, all Objects; Universe: the Universe is all being and includes all Law and all Objects.) It follows that there is and can be no substance; the Void is indeterministic and therefore does not meet classical criteria of substance; the Universal metaphysics, against all modern understanding, is a non-relative metaphysics without substance. Further trivial consequences: if a creator is external to the creation, the Universe can have no creator; but, one part of the Universe may create another; since the Universe has no ‘outside’ there is a meaning of possibility, developed in the narrative, in which the possible and the actual are identical

(7) Breadth—another demonstrated form of the metaphysics: subject to Logic, every concept has reference somewhere and when in the Universe (Logic: the only Universal law and requirement for descriptions or concepts to have reference; approximated by the logics; definition shown in the narrative to be non-circular.) In item #1 it is seen that variety is without limit; here it is seen that the metaphysics implicitly captures this variety. That every concept has reference enables, in Chapter Objects, a definitive account of the idea of the ‘Object;’ and a unified account of what have hitherto been called concrete and abstract Objects and what, on all modern accounts, have been regarded as essentially distinct. The variety is developed systematically and in detail in the Chapter Cosmology

(8) Journey—In item 4 it is seen that the individual experiences universal identity; from item 7 the individual experiences the variety of being. A journey is essential in that the realization of the variety of being in the metaphysics (ideas) is implicit and at most implicit. It is then argued though not demonstrated that this realization will be most effective and enjoyed when it is undertaken as a program of experiment guided by ideas and feeling—whole being—and when it regards the path as a connection between this ‘world’ and the ‘ultimate;’ although guided by ideas and feeling, creation will occasionally require blind experiment though not irrational experiment; and the suggestion regarding enjoyment does not imply elimination of pain; pain is probably unavoidable and therefore should not be ‘avoided at all cost.’ ‘Journey’ realizes the metaphysics; in an extended meaning of ‘idea,’ the journey is the metaphysics

(9) Breadth of consequences—the following are illustrated in the narrative—there are consequences for just about every significant human endeavor including understanding of human being and world and the possibilities of the individual and culture; every major academic discipline from the sciences, humanities, and art and literature

(10) Consequences for science—scientific theories have a dual interpretation as ever tentative if regarded as universal but factual if regarded as revealing local patterns; the scientific method as understood today will be part of any future scientific method; it is perhaps reasonable to expect from the metaphysics that the ultimate form of the sciences will require individual becoming and not mere expression in terms of ideas; the whole being shall be involved and this shall include extra-rational elements (irrationality will of course not be cultivated)

(11) Consequences for metaphysics—a new conception of metaphysics as the discipline that is concerned with the limits of being; sheds light on numerous problems of metaphysics; resolves many

(12) Consequences for philosophy—conception of philosophy as the discipline whose boundaries are the limits of being; particular consequences for metaphysics, Logic, epistemology, and ethics

(13) Consequences for religion—item 7 revealed the unending journey and adventure (and enjoyment and pain.) Items 7 and 10 suggest that the effective journey will be enhanced by reason but that reason and science shall be insufficient. Therefore there is a role for something more—the whole being; the word ‘spiritual’ may apply but I prefer to avoid its suggestion of division of the individual into compartments; I prefer ‘whole being.’ Individuals may join effort, what is learned may form bases for further development; there is therefore, here, a role for religion as an institution of culture but only if the meaning or concept of religion shall change. In this conception the fixed systems will be abandoned; religion will become open and experimental. Religion: will or may be the experimental engagement of the whole individual (and perhaps community) in the discovery and realization of all being. The fixed religious beliefs, for all their positive values, have abandoned this ideal and have replaced it by dogma—this is their abortion; the liberal systems have abandoned dogma but also significance. Practically, I do not expect that the traditional religious systems will be abandoned; practically, the new practice will be, at most—in the beginning at any rate, a minority practice and an experiment; a cultural outpost. The new practice (religion) will not center upon a system of ideas alone whether flexible or dogmatic, whether of one or of many colors and strains; involvement of the entire being will be essential; practice will pervade the days of the week and the hours of our dreams; sacred and profane will not lie in different worlds; the one Universe will be so seen… What are the consequences for the traditional belief systems? The Universal metaphysics implies that if Logical flaws are removed the religious metaphysics shall have realization; it is not however implied that there is any great significance to such realization or that realization is immanent in our cosmos; it appears likely that such contrived metaphysics are realized rarely and transiently. (So that it may be useful as a source of significance, symbol, and meaning, it shall be important to see that the full meaning of the traditional systems lies in their practical meaning and practice as well as the symbolic and in their infusion into the days of the week; it cannot, for example, be, even though the practical power is immense, that the Bishop of Rome and his but-never-yet-her Cardinals shall define the practical religion of more than a billion ‘followers’ of the Roman Catholic Church, as centering on the belief that God entered the world through the Incarnation of his Son, the Christ or Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth (etc.) even though the Pope, the Cardinals, the Bishops, Priests, Deacons, and the lay and all excommunicates and the never communing may have an overt definitional subscription to the Canon and its iron judgment)

Ideas

Intuition

In LDV the §§ were Knowledge, Intuition, and A preview of the Universal metaphysics. Here, since the material is in Metaphysics, I may omit the preview of the metaphysics. § Intuition is restructured as §§ Intuition; Abstraction, faithfulness, and the empirical; and Universal Objects (should the latter name be abbreviated or should there be two sections?)

There is overlap of § Knowledge and Pt. / Ch. Method, § Knowledge and its nature. 1. Make a note of it 2. Deal with it. (a) Minimize this WRT detail and the later WRT explanation (b) Note that since the later § follows the Universal metaphysics it is definitive

Knowledge

Preliminary on the concept of knowledge. Should we define knowledge? At the outset? Given that we want to talk about knowledge we should have some agreement on what we are talking about. But perhaps something rough will be sufficient: in having knowledge we have some rough (mental) map of a context or the world. I do not want to go beyond that at this point. There will be occasion to be more precise. However, a general principle of this narrative is that it is counter to understanding to commit to precise definitions at outset. There are situations where precise definitions are given at outset: e.g. in Euclid’s Elements. However there are two differences between the Elements and the present situation. First, The Elements are well developed: preliminary investigation lies in antiquity. Second, The Elements are an axiomatic system

The idea of knowledge as justified true belief goes back perhaps to Plato. Among other things, Plato was an explorer; so it seems odd that the thought should be cast in stone (even though it is said to have stood for well over 2000 years.) Knowledge is this vast ponderous system and we want to capture it in an analytic statement. When a system is developed, definitions and axioms may be primary; otherwise the axiomatic approach may be one approach but not the approach or the definitive approach. Why does the notion contain the word ‘belief?’ The reasonable thinker will not believe unless justified; so belief is redundant. And what is justification if it is not justification of validity or truth? What can we know to be true unless we have justification? So the question that arises is What is justification? It seems reasonable that there are cases where intuition (in Kant’s sense) might be regarded as justification. If I see Sridharan put two marbles in his pocket, I may be justified in believing he has two marbles in his pocket; but the pocket may have holes; there may already have been a marble in the pocket; I may have seen incorrectly for Sridharan may actually have put three marbles in his pocket (one might have been transparent) and others may have seen him put three marbles in his pocket (the better justified statement would be that Sri has two more marbles than he had before minus marbles lost plus marbles not noticed.) What is going on here is that there are or may be said to levels of justification and that the lower levels may be practical for some purposes but perhaps that justification never quite approaches truth. I hold that we have never been justified in the justified true belief ‘theory’ and that to hold this ‘theory’ is premature (and perhaps this is the primary contribution of Paul Gettier)

Plato talks of a world of Forms that are perfect and can be known perfectly: in this world neither things nor knowledge is perfect. The highest Form is the Good which also constitutes the highest knowledge. The idea of grades of knowing is perhaps a good one but our plan is to allow the question of grades / no grades, multiple worlds / one world, perfect knowledge possible / impossible, epistemology / value, process / nature of knowledge, elements of process as sense / discursive / dialectic, the character and elements of this list to be part of the issues to be addressed

Significance

On the study of knowledge

Knowing is our window on the world. It is therefore useful to study knowledge so as to know what we do and what we do not know—either perfectly or partially. It is useful to know what we do know so as to be able to use such knowledge carefully. It is useful to know what we do not know so as to not make false claims and to not use false ‘knowledge’

Since knowledge is not the thing known, it is not inherent in knowledge claims to be perfectly faithful. This thought is not new and it is an aspect of Plato’s allegory of the cave. However, roughly since the time of Kant, the gap between knowledge and known has resulted in skepticism regarding perfect knowledge and an ascendance, in philosophy, of epistemology or the study of knowledge over metaphysics or the study of the world

It is possible to give excessive emphasis to the relative importance of the study of knowledge

In the first place there is nothing inherent in knowing that it should never be perfectly faithful. Although there are cases where knowing falls into error and, probably, cases where error is insurmountable it does not follow that error is universal. Therefore the correct attitude should be critical rather than skeptical

Secondly, much practical knowledge is imperfect but useful. If all knowledge were in error it would then be necessary to always base action on imperfect knowledge

Third, in § Intuition the foundation is laid for the perfect metaphysics in Ch. Metaphysics

A second reason to study knowledge is that the study gives two kinds of insight into the world (1) As an element of the world—and one use of the study from this angle helps dispel the false notion of separate worlds of things and of ideas. (2) In addition to affirming what we know, the study, in this narrative, will lead to immense enhancements of knowledge—i.e. of the variety of perfectly known things and the quality of the knowledge in the case of known things. That is, epistemology will be useful in the positive development of metaphysics and practical knowledge

Function

Validity

Extent

Worldview

The tradition

A brief section that defines the present use of ‘the tradition’

Kinds of knowledge

Sources of the capacity for knowledge: adaptation in evolution

Sources of know how: adaptation in development

Sources of knowing that: adaptation and adaptability of conception

Conception is understood as mental content and therefore includes feeling, perception, thought, and emotion

Comments on free-bound

Nature of knowledge

The first interest is in the constitution of knowledge. Secondarily we may be interested in criteria for knowledge. A criterion such as justified truth would be a test for a degree of certainty; however we may wish to admit degrees of certainty. Specifying that knowledge should be belief may be over-specification as well as under-specification in that no combination of qualifiers may result in a sub-set of beliefs that is identical to the set of items of knowledge—perhaps invocation of belief slants things such that knowledge is no longer recoverable and this may be the source of the Gettier problem; and, perhaps equivalently, talk of belief brings us no closer to constitution

Definition of an idea such as knowledge is notoriously difficult, firstly because it is inevitably difficult to include all things that we think should be and exclude all things that we think should not and, secondly, because different individuals will have slightly different intuitions regarding what constitutes knowledge and different intuitions regarding proposed examples of knowledge. Perhaps more importantly, knowledge may have an artifactual component so that the idea has not only definite qualities but is also, at least to some extent, in a process of coming into being on account, for example, of its cultural dimensions

Before further discussion of the question of knowledge some words on the imprecision of language will be useful. Infamously, language is imprecise. There are perhaps two kinds of imprecision: casual and essential. Essential imprecision is hard to pinpoint because when language runs into difficulty, refinement may overcome the difficulty: that difficulty might seem to be essential if we are immediately unable to overcome it. The imprecision of qualitative language took thousands of years to be overcome by the precision of language in mathematical form. Essential imprecision may also be hard to pinpoint because we may be unable to capture a concept precisely in language because of the indefiniteness of the concept rather than the imprecision of language. Casual imprecision is, roughly, careless use of language. If I say I will be working for another three hours, the hearer may assume I will stop working in three hours. That kind of use of language is rather normal because there is a mutual cultural understanding regarding unsaid and which makes communication easier and briefer; and it is not truly careless because clarification is often possible

In analytic thought, however, the kind of casual omission of the previous paragraph may lead to errors of various kinds. From the statement that the concept is not the object, critical thought may conclude that we can never truly know. However, it may be possible to show by some means that some concepts do correspond to objects. Perhaps, therefore, the best approach is to proclaim agnosticism. The critically minded may now think that agnosticism should be our philosophy of knowledge. However, the proclamation of agnosticism is premature; what should be really said is that we should be agnostic before investigation; and that in investigation, which is ongoing, we may find reasons to hold that some concepts do define their objects, some concepts define no object precisely but of these some retain practical utility, while that status of some concepts remains uncertain and of these perhaps some must remain uncertain (according to specified criteria)

Now, in general the object-as-conceived is a joint product of a knowing mind and the world. We may therefore think (1) there are no pure objects and (2) objects depend on being conceived for their existence. Item # 1 is false because there may be some concepts that correspond perfectly to objects. Item # 2 is false because, in the case of perfect correspondence, the object exists independently of being conceived, and in the remaining cases there is no definite object-in-itself that is conceived but there is the object-as-experienced-or-conceived that definitely exists (and there is in some cases some rough correspondence but in cases such as hallucination there is no correspondence except perhaps a recalled correspondence)

Thus we see definite difficulties for “representational realism states that we do not (and cannot) perceive the external world as it really is; instead we know only our ideas and interpretations of the way the world is.” Clearly, the “cannot” clause is an over-commitment if made at outset and as we will see is entirely false if it is intended to apply to all knowledge; and the notion that “we know only our ideas” is false in its intention for we do not know our ideas but our ideas constitute our knowing (we can of course have experience of experience but that is another matter for experience of an idea is knowledge of the idea but is in no way constitutive of the idea itself as knowledge)

I conclude, therefore, that we should be very careful in our initial notion and specification of a constitution of knowledge (and other concepts.) We want to be sufficiently on the mark so that we are in fact talking of knowledge and not something entirely different (even though it may not seem different) but we want to be sufficiently open that investigation may not be blocked by over-commitment. This is of course difficult. Perhaps the best way to approach the issue will include dialectic over the discursive at outset and that at some point dialectic may yield to the discursive in some directions while remaining open in others; but more, we may find that avenues of investigation require us to come back to the conception or constitution of knowledge itself and rethink it; this of course may be seen to be part of dialectic; and this, too, is no guarantee of any kind of positive outcome. There is no guarantee; there is only, perhaps, the happy circumstance of a positive outcome; and the circumstance of a neutral outcome; and of a negative outcome and even the latter are not truly unhappy for they will be contributions to knowledge (in this case of knowledge itself)

What may the ingredients of a ‘positive’ outcome be? In an open Universe, i.e. corresponding to an indefinite metaphysics, we are unlikely to find any certain and positive outcomes (it is not necessary for this discussion to make the assertion more precise.) A definite metaphysics may permit a definite and positive outcome regarding knowledge, its constitution, and its possibility. The metaphysics developed in Metaphysics is definite in certain directions and indefinite in others; and this combination of definiteness and indefiniteness will be found to transfer over to knowledge. Therefore any happy circumstance regarding knowledge is a function of happy circumstance regarding the metaphysics. I have recorded elsewhere that my initial reaction to my discovery of the metaphysics was one of surprise and definite happiness of circumstance. When I recalled the work and patience that had gone into the metaphysics, I realized that the development was not entirely luck. There remains, of course, an element of luck in the discovery, in my abilities whatever they may be, and in my personal situation. Still, the metaphysics itself reveals that it will be and has been discovered infinitely often in the Universe that is infinitely larger than typically conceived: the metaphysics reveals that the Universe has no ultimate limits even though there are normal limits that we may or may not experience as ultimate and that my being participates in it and its self-discoveries

It will be useful to revisit the question What is the object? We may ask Where does the object stop, where does the knower begin? Is it a mere convention that a tree is an object but the air around the tree, which contains oxygen and water vapor from the tree, is not… or that the tree as an object stops at its putative boundary and does not include the media that are the source of information regarding the tree: the sound of the wind swaying the tree, the light that constitutes transmission of a visual image? Perhaps there is some degree of individual and social convention regarding the putative tree as object but the demarcation of objects is also adaptive. However, this demarcation is not absolute

Generally, the object may be an irreducible joint product of knower and known with the contribution of the knower being more active and that of known being relatively passive. This makes the thing (in itself) nebulous in our knowledge of it and perhaps nebulous in its direct knowability but perhaps definite in its indirect knowability. And we should not overemphasize the case for even though the object is a joint product, it is treated as an independent object for many valid practical purposes. The conceptual problem remains but this case should not be overstated for general entanglement of knower and known allows that some cases may beyond disentanglement and in other cases complete disentanglement may be possible. This will be found, in the subsequent narrative, to be a satisfactory degree of permissiveness

Replica or correspondence view

Faithfulness and limitation of the view

Concepts

The word ‘concept’ has a number of uses—(1) Any mental content (2) The articulated concept e.g. force in physics or species in biology (3) A unit of meaning and others. In this essay (1) is the primary and formal use (2) Is used casually (3) Is not used explicitly. The casual use (2) may be significant and, further, an articulated concept may also occur as mental content

Thus concept as primarily used here is vague. But it is an essential vagueness that many thinkers in the Western Tradition suppress and ignore with the result that we often think, especially in human affairs, that we speak and think with greater clarity and precision than is actually the case. A word or sign is taken for a conscious thought and the conscious thought is taken to be the entire mental content. I think I think one thing but actually I cognize something else; I think I intend a particular action but actually I intend and therefore do something else. This false clarity is perhaps implicated in some failures in application of the human and social sciences but it was not given in the first place that perfect clarity even has meaning in such concerns

There is a second vagueness regarding mental content: the boundary between the mental and the non-mental is not definite and it is not clear that it needs to be definite. Subsequently this vagueness will be cleared up as far as it is useful here to do so

An aspect of this second vagueness is that mental content allows non-conscious content. Even more than the non-conscious it may, depending on how liberal one wants to be, the structure of the body in its adaptation to the world

It is not given that mind and matter are definite or given things waiting to be discovered. Universal metaphysics shows any given local concept to be limited. Even locally, however, there is freedom in the notion and extension of mind (freedom is limited only to the extent of definiteness of being which is not given and explanatory efficiency whose limits we have not yet encountered)

In this essay it will be possible to delineate a number of areas where, despite the general absence of a guarantee of precision, precision will be shown to obtain. There will be cases of perfect and universal precision as in the metaphysics developed in the next chapter and practical or good enough precision as in some sciences and some areas of everyday knowledge. In the practical or good enough case, precision may sometimes be surprising but it will be local rather than universal

As mental content, the term concept refers to emotion or feeling as well as cognition. Not all mental content has obvious or immediate reference even though, as it will be shown in Ch. Metaphysics, all mental content has the potential for reference provided that nowhere is Logic violated (what is actually shown is far more than ‘potential for reference’ but the development so far has not provided adequate preparation to state the results in question without arousing incredulity.) Emotion and cognition are not watertight categories; they interact at all levels and while they are discrete at higher levels there is a level at which the ‘relation’ is better described as seamless than interaction; the Object of emotion and feeling is or at least includes the body; these thoughts and their significance is developed later; one implication may be stated now: an objective of § Intuition, is to provide grounding-foundation for the metaphysics of Ch. Metaphysics in human experience—the implication is that this grounding-foundation is not exclusively cognitive (Note that the Metaphysics has an independent abstract foundation)

We often think in terms of (fairly) stark cognitions—definite images and thoughts, and emphatic emotions—clear happiness and sadness… At this level, there is an interaction between cognition and feeling. A cognition may be the source of an emotion. Emotion may drive or motivate a cognitive process

There is a base level at which cognition and emotion are not merely interactive but intertwined and (normally) inseparable. There is a low level of feeling that informs every thought regarding value and that glows in response to fluidity of thought. It is roughly what the Christians (and Heidegger) called ‘care.’ Provided that ‘care’ is interpreted appropriately, it is appropriate. It is not that the individual cares explicitly about every instance of mental content (although there is also a high or explicit level of care.) Rather, this care is the general feeling that is an expression of the productive and adaptive bonding of individual and world that is constantly in interaction with the information side of mental content

Meaning, word, concept, and Object

Fact and pattern. Pattern as fact

At this point, further precision regarding concept and Object would be out of place. E.g., in the Tractatus, Wittgenstein placed committed himself early to a metaphysics via an early commitment to Logical Atomism. Here, the appropriate level of precision must await the development of the metaphysics. There, later, such precision as is occasioned by the metaphysics will be incorporated into a concept of Logic. Since the metaphysics requires the elimination of deterministic substance theory; and a commitment to Wittgensteinian Logical Atomism is a commitment to substance, it will follow that no determinate Logical Atomism is possible

Object and phenomenal Object

The Object is the thing-in-itself and the phenomenal Object is, roughly, the Object as experienced

In thinking of the Object-as-experienced, the first thought may be of the Object-as-perceived. However, free conception adds to phenomenal knowledge and therefore the phenomenal Object is the Object-as-known. Since we can never get completely outside conception, the concept is an effective stand-in for the phenomenal Object. It will therefore be superfluous to continue to talk of the phenomenal Object. It is necessary to talk only of concept and Object (and of course word and meaning)

It seems however, that any resulting philosophy will be inadequate. This is not the case for (1) The gap between concept and Object implies that it is not inherent in the concept that it is perfectly faithful to the Object but it is no implied that no concepts are perfectly faithful or that such faithfulness can never be demonstrated (2) There is a wide range of Objects for which the concept, though not perfectly faithful, is good enough in some sense and for some context. These include the Objects of common experience and of science. And although the study of such Objects is not pure philosophy or pure metaphysics, the methods of philosophy and metaphysics may be useful adjuncts, e.g., to science and common knowledge

Critique

Adaptation, implicit and practical faithfulness, action and faith

Non-essentialism

Sources of conceptual knowledge

Observation—direct source of facts

Inference—new facts from old

Critical approach of the present narrative

Intuition

The idea and use of intuition

Kant’s use of intuition

Assessment of Kant’s framework

There are two kinds of assessment—Intrinsic and Practical. An intrinsic assessment is an evaluation of a work against its own historical background. A practical one evaluates the work against today’s background and the objective is to see what may be useful for today’s use rather than to evaluate the quality and rank of the work

Intuition in this narrative

Bringing all knowledge and sources of knowledge under intuition. Motive for this

Abstraction, faithfulness, and the empirical

Abstraction

The source of distortion is the demand of precision of detail. Giving up either allows an abstraction whose character includes perfect faithfulness

This abstraction is empirical

Necessary Objects

Examples of necessary Objects

E.g. mind or experience, space and time

Universal Objects

The following need not be written as S§§

Just some mention. Details and development deferred

Experience and Being

Universe and Void

Logos and Logic

Domain and Complement

Extension and Duration

Mind and Adaptation

Space and Time

Metaphysics

LDV had three §§: Introduction, The Universal metaphysics, and Applied Metaphysics. Here Introduction becomes Introduction to the Universal metaphysics, The Universal metaphysics is expanded into a number of subsections including one on Logic and Logos, and Applied metaphysics remains the final section

Introduction to the Universal metaphysics

Include relevant material from the LDV § Introduction. De-emphasize history; emphasize the issue of the possibility of metaphysics

Incorporate any pertinent remarks from the preliminary to § The Universal metaphysics of LDV

The concept of metaphysics

The possibility of metaphysics

There is at most one metaphysics

Systematic approach from Intuition

The Universal metaphysics

Significance of the development

Pure and applied metaphysics

Pure metaphysics: general and special

Applied metaphysics

Strictly, not metaphysics. Alternately, metaphysics but not perfectly faithful… but may be practical

In any case not to be conflated with pure metaphysics

The disciplines…

Plan of development

Being

Review the sequence of development—Existence, Experience, External world, Being

Conflate existence and experience

Use the scheme of About journey in being.html

Existence

Experience

External world

Being

The Universe, Domains, and the Void

Universe

The concept of the Universe

The atemporal sense of Being

Other conceptions of universe. Reason for selection of the present concept

There is exactly one Universe

The Universe has neither cause nor creator

The ideas of law and Law

The Universe which is all being Exists and contains all Law

Possibility and actuality

Introduction to logic and logos

Keep this?

Domain

Domains and complements

Cause, creation and infusion

Limited gods

Extension and duration

This section goes to Sub§ Physical cosmology below as Being, Extension and Duration, and includes an introduction to Space, time and being

A remark may be entered here regarding these topics

Void

Derivation of the existence and properties of the absence of being

The absence of being exists, contains no Law or Object, and exists

The Void is defined as the absence of being

Therefore the Void, which is the absence of being, exists and contains no Law or Object

The fundamental principle of metaphysics

Deploy as pivotal. Since the Void has no Law, it has no limits: there are therefore no limits to being. And: the only unrealized concepts are those that violate Logic; this is the first definition of Logic in the sense that it makes Logic minimally dependent on our concept and formulations of logic

Primitive form of the fundamental principle—in terms of the Universe, its existence and properties

Pivotal form of the fundamental principle—in terms of the Void, its existence and properties

Original form of the fundamental principle—as the principle of reference

A proof—a proof $ Void º ~$ Void

Seeing the fundamental theorem—our intuition assigns the properties of the matter of the cosmos to the spaces in-between; this includes the Void. But is not this assignment extreme extrapolation? Can anything be assigned to the Void? No; and therefore its ‘properties’—the Void is the absence of being, the absence of all Objects (including Law and Property)

Three attitudes to f theorem (i) Outer limit of being and thought (ii) Hypothesis (expt: faith) (iii) proven (D) Journey-transformation; soc & creation of being as secondary.

Logos and Logic

Concepts of logic and Logic

Clarify that there is more to Logic than the logics; and the more is the more that Plato sees in the world as connected in contrast to Aristotle’s way; that the more has to do with some kind of holism; and that herein lies a possibility for advance

Inference

Include comment on Logic and inference

The fundamental principle in terms of Logic

The fundamental principle in terms of Eriugena’s conception of the Universe

The definition of Universe of this narrative is equivalent to that of Eriugena. More precisely

Although the concept or intension of the present definition of Universe is distinct from that of Eriugena, their Objects or extensions are identical

Proof and interpretation

A metaphysics that is explicitly ultimate in depth. Elimination of substance

Relative and non-relative metaphysics

Determinism and indeterminism

The fundamental principle in terms of indeterminism

Why there is manifest Being. Why this is not a fundamental problem

Necessity

Add the comment that the order of necessity relative to the Universe is maximally liberal (rather than maximally exclusive)

Being and existing

Some properties of the Void

Logos

Form

The fundamental principle in terms of Law

That there is no universal Law implies the principle in terms of Logic and is therefore a form of the fundamental principle

That there is no cosmos after which the entire universe is patterned means that there is ever another cosmos, another element of variety. The principle of variety implies, in turn, that there is no cosmos after which the entire universe is patterned

A corollary form of the principle in terms in law is therefore that there is no cosmos after which the entire Universe is patterned, or

The Universe is absolutely non-cosmomorphic

Doubts, objections and responses

The functions of doubt

Truth

Criticism vs. Skepticism

Action in presence of doubt

Formal doubts

Paradoxes regarding the Universal Objects

Previously this was part of Formal doubt regarding consistency (LDV)

Deduction of the fundamental principle

Consistency of the fundamental principle

Previously this was part of Formal doubt regarding consistency (LDV)

Doubt from science, the standard worldviews and common sense. The concept of the Normal

Subjective doubts

That so much is at stake

A new doubt expressed

This and the next doubt are not formal. Still they provide motive to a critical approach, one of whose components is scrutiny for error and doubt

That so much appears to have been derived from so little

Metaphysics as artifice—the metaphysics is as if a deus ex machina

Humanistic doubt—Logic is austere, its use dehumanizing

Also see § Liberation and Logic of elements\the sacred and the spiritual.doc

Alfred P. Sloan’s objection

Include this?

The positive form: every being recreates meaning

Residual doubt

Significance and magnitude of the metaphysics

Possibility of metaphysics

One metaphysics

A metaphysics that is explicitly ultimate with regard to depth. Substance

Depth via triviality

Elimination and impossibility of substance

A metaphysics that is implicitly ultimate with regard to breadth. Endless adventure

True fundamental problem of metaphysics

Basis of human endeavor: action and transformation

Implications for classical and modern metaphysics and their problems

A system of Universal and necessary Objects

Forms of the metaphysics or fundamental principle

Include the subsections Introduction and Further characteristics of the metaphysics from LDV?

1. Primitive form of the fundamental principle—in terms of the Universe, its existence and properties

2. Pivotal form of the fundamental principle—in terms of the Universe, its existence and properties

3. Original form of the fundamental principle—as the principle of reference

4. The fundamental principle in terms of Logic

5. The fundamental principle in terms of Eriugena’s conception of the Universe

6. The fundamental principle in terms of indeterminism

7. The fundamental principle in terms of Law

8. The Universe is absolutely non-cosmomorphic

9. The cosmological form of the fundamental principle—the principle of variety

Further candidates

The order of necessity relative to the Universe is maximally liberal

If a state of affairs is actual in a conceivable world it is actual in the Universe

Relative to the Universe, the possible and the actual are identical

A many worlds metaphysics?

Preliminary comments on method

Introduction to the concept and theory of the Object

Metaphysics and action

Faith and the Universal metaphysics

Introduction to cosmology

The cosmological form of the fundamental principle—the principle of variety

A preliminary development of the variety of being

Miracles

This was in Applied metaphysics

A metaphysics that is implicitly ultimate in breadth

The true fundamental problem of metaphysics concerns the variety of being or Objects

I.e. of what exists

Introduction to physical cosmology

Being, Extension, and Duration

The necessity of extension and duration (brief)—new here

In becoming from the Void, extension and duration are coeval: reflect on space-time manifold (and write these reflections down if significant)

Space, time and being—introduction

Applied metaphysics

In LDV, the Introduction was untitled. The subsequent sections are a reformulation of LDV. This needs further work. Discussion must be brief

S§ Miracles is now in § Cosmology, above

Introduction

The idea of applied metaphysics

Methods of applied metaphysics. The normal

Metaphysics and science

Developments

Objects

Review (internet) any distinction between particular and concrete Objects

The final § Logic, grammar and meaning of LDV is omitted? Re-introduce? Here? Elsewhere?

Introduction

There is an untitled introduction in LDV; later, the title to this § may be eliminated

Goals

Clarify word, concept and Object; reemphasize that the phenomenal Object is implicit in the concept. Emphasize the place of feeling and emotion

In the following review the case of relation. Look up the web and other sources for examples and kinds of concrete and abstract Objects

Clarify ‘Object’ with reference to particular or concrete Object. Include process, interaction, and… states of affairs and more generally state-relation / interaction-process Objects, pattern, Law… question of physical, causal, spatio-temporal status of particular Objects

Introduce identity and personal identity as particular

Observe that even at outset the demarcation of the concrete-particular is not clear

Introduce abstract Objects via examples, review extant theory as preliminary. Introduce present theory of abstract Objects

Develop a unified theory of Objects. Address practical distinctions

Implication and elaboration: One Universe—one world / Values / Variety of Being

Review

In this section, pertinent information from previous Ch’s is reviewed

Concept and Object

The goals of this section are to consolidate, improve, and distribute forward and backward—specially to Intuition and Method—(1) the ideas of concept, reference, phenomenal Object, and Object (2) practical and necessary Object

The principle of reference

Add an emphasis that although concepts do not always define local Objects faithfully, there is always some corresponding Object (subject to Logic)

Repeat commentary on general and special metaphysics? It should fit into the previous paragraph

Particular Objects

Reasons to prefer ‘particular’ to ‘concrete.’ Here, particular is not identical to another meaning in which particular contrasts to universal. It will be seen, however, and this point needs to be reviewed, that the other meaning of particular is closer to the present one than may have been expected

What is a particular Object? Paradigm cases

Identity and Personal identity

Identity

Personal identity

Role of synthesis and analysis of meaning

Thoughts taken from S§ Some general reflections

Indefinite demarcation of the particular

Despite normal intuitive clarity

Perhaps preparatory for the abstract and the continuum particular « abstract

Summation

In LDV this is Summary of the main ideas

Abstract Objects

Introduction

In LDV, this is the S§§ Introduction and Examples of abstract Objects

Number as abstract

Possible characteristics

Further examples

Received theory

Issues with the received theories

A new section that highlights issues of the received theory—some received, some perhaps new

Number as abstract: further analysis

A way into a new theory

The theory of abstract Objects

Unified theory of Objects

The unified theory

Practical distinctions

The surprising character of the theory

The theory is non-exclusive

Keep?

The Object as the fundamental concept of the Universal metaphysics

One Universe—one world

Origins of the idea of multiple worlds

There is one world or Universe

Values

Introduction and preliminary analysis

The concept of value

Includes the LDV S§ Justification of the chose concept of value

Universal value

Objectivity of human value systems

The variety of being

Brief

Recapitulation

A system of Objects

Significance of abstract Objects for variety

Systems of grammar and Logic as having meaning

I.e. an entire system of grammar is a compound concept

The entire system of Logic is a concept whose Object is Logos

Cosmology

The concept and principles of Cosmology

General and physical cosmology

The concept of Cosmology

Principles of Cosmology

Metaphysics and cosmology

Significance of Cosmology

Variety and its origins

Universe, Domain, and Void

Logos. A variety

Particular and Abstract Objects

Exploring Objects: via categories of intuition and symbol

Inhabiting abstract Objects

Process

The nature and necessity of process

Observe that it is the constitution of being that there be extension (due to variety)

Nature of process—duration and change

Necessity of process

Process in general

Origin of a manifest phase of the Universe

A new section. Brief. Addresses the physical side of the question of origin of the physical universe to parallel evolution in biology

Imports LDV §Variety and its origins >> S§ of Origins of variety in structure. Begins

The next two §§ were level 3 in LDV

Origins of variety and structure

Mechanism and indeterminism

Evolution

A mode of evolution is the normal mode of origin of structure. Thus there may be an evolution of causation and dynamics as well as an evolution of biological systems. There is and can be no argument that incremental evolution is the only kind of origin although it is a reasonable argument that this mode is normally necessary and universally most probable

Examples of evolutionary systems

Is it necessary to have two S§§: this and the next… or even any S§

Evolutionary systems

Causation and Dynamics

Combines the §§ Causation and Dynamics of LDV

Process and extension

In Einstein’s mechanics, space and time no longer had the independence that they had in Newton’s mechanics

Is there a way to see this in ‘becoming from the Void?’ If the becoming is such that the interaction and articulation of extended being is mediated by a finite signal speed, the answer is ‘Obviously yes’ and this is because one derivation of special relativity begins with the finite and constant speed of light. A deeper derivation comes from field equations such as those of Maxwell; the speed of light is at least implicit in these equations; the derivation is deeper because the equations are the equations of the dynamics of being. Then, since Laws are immanent, or perhaps in so far as they are immanent in being, it is obvious that propagation must be at speeds allowed by the laws

This is the ‘normal’ case; the quotes remind us that the normal is dependent on our knowledge

In the extranormal case, however, there is no limit to signal speed and there can be more than one such speed: non-local interaction in quantum theory. This also has implications for non-loss of identity in normal singularities

Mind

Approach to the analysis of mind

The first two S§§ were part of the second L3 § of LDV. They are now imported here

Meta-theory: the nature of explanation—concept and object

Explanation of mind

The original LDV content may go to the next S§

The essential content may be the distinctions: element as Object vs. what is it like to be an element / element as atom vs. element as monad / first and second order being / generalized matter and generalized mind

This essential content emphasizes that mind and matter in the generalized sense are not different substances or substances at all but the isolated and related aspects of being

The issue of the tripartite theory—EXPERIENCE, ATTITUDE, and ACTION

Introduce the foregoing to S§ The concept and nature of mind below

Sequence and plan of development

This single topic was two in LDV: S§§ of the L3 S§ Approach to the analysis of mind. They are now combines

Sequence concerns sequence

Plan concerns where the development occurs and may incorporate comments on the idea that mind is explicit even though use was casual (S§ Explanation of mind of LDV.)

The concept and nature of mind

General analysis of mind

Remaining issues

Outline of phenomena to be explained

The phenomena

§ Mind and its nature

§ The elements of mind

§ Modes of organization

§ The categories

§ Timelines and origin of the higher elements of mind

Mode of explanation

Consciousness and awareness

Introduction

Recapitulation of the discussion of experience

Introducing consciousness

Brief history of consciousness and studies of consciousness

The problems of consciousness

Plan for the treatment of consciousness

What is consciousness? Discussion of the on-off character of consciousness

Awareness without consciousness?

Some characteristics of consciousness

Human consciousness

Free will and the source and nature of novel mental constructs

What is freedom of the will?

A standard argument against free will

There are and have been many motives to argue against freedom of will

Objection to free will—the problem of Free Will

Argument for free will and counterargument to the objections to free will

Creativity is essential to freedom of will

What is the source of creativity?

A preliminary psychological account of Objects

The nature of the phenomenal Object

Topics. Adaptation. Good enough negotiation. Intuition. Neurological explanation interesting, difficult, not necessary for present objective

Some characteristics of the phenomenal Object

Kinds of explanation—mind in terms of mind, mind in terms of neurology, adaptation

Phenomena—object binding, object constancy and, not in LDV—illusion, hallucination and delusion

The question of psychic powers

The following S§§ are new

Normal powers

Other powers: mind to body and mind and body to world

Identity and death

The normal view of identity and death versus the view from Metaphysics

The theory of identity

Merging of identity with Identity

Karma

Realization in this life

Introduction

What is sought here

Adventure in being

Space, time and being

Extension and duration: their necessity and interaction

Space, time and being

Is that all there is?

Worlds

Reflect on this title

Introduction

In LDV the Introduction is not labeled. Later, the titles introduced here may be eliminated

The following introductory paragraphs are not in LDV

Focus

The focus in Worlds is on the Normal, i.e. detailed study of local systems with special concern for ‘our cosmos—the physical and the living worlds and the worlds of human being and human endeavor. Spirit is not excluded but is included to the extent that its knowledge claims and other functions have validity (the investigation of spirit would be emphatically experimental with regard to thought and being)

Goals

The purposes of Worlds are (1) The study of our world—the cosmos, the sciences, earth, human and animal life, human culture and endeavor (2) To provide ground for the experiments in thought and transformation that constitute the Journey and (3) To anticipate, perhaps tenuously, places that might be visited on this Journey

Approach

The original dual approach

In Worlds, consideration leaves behind the precision of metaphysics—not even the indirect ‘knowledge of’ of special metaphysics is available. However, the position in the narrative with regard to faithfulness must continue to be critical or non-essentialist. This allows that (1) Since concept and Object are distinct, faithfulness may lie in the range from no match of intended reference and Object to perfect and that determination of what actually obtains shall be case by case or perhaps class by class, and (2) The metaphysics always frames special and local knowledge and this frame may, again case by case or class by class, show the inherent limit of the local… and the local approach or method, with or without certain kinds of enhancements detailed below, may have the potential to approach this limit (actual achievement of the limit must be demonstrated in the particular case or class

Examples

The examples shall include (1) Mind as second order Being and development of the theory of consciousness and free will; and (2) Extension, Duration, Being and its application to the question of absolute versus relative space-time (and ‘matter’)

Exceptions

The exception is perhaps the rule. Still, the approach remains non-essentialist

The natural sciences appear to capture the spirit of nature. However, the Universal metaphysics shows them to be—even when powerful and immensely precise in their local application—necessarily incomplete (so far and almost without doubt for all time.) In application the natural sciences are powerful—with potential for great good as well as harm. Is this a deficit of the sciences them selves or in our ignorance, naïve or willful, of outcomes? Certainly, the natural sciences are not universal and thus lack universal faithfulness

Even when useful the social sciences lack the conceptual completeness and precision of application that the natural sciences have. The lack of precision appears to stem from incompleteness of theory as well as computational difficulties and these factors stem in part from complexity and the kind of abstraction deployed

Therefore an alternative or enhancement to the original dual approach is sought—a tiered approach

A tiered approach

Introduction—an approach that incorporates the scientific method and non-instrumental alternatives

The tiered approach is an enhancement of the dual approach to account for (a) Limitations of the instrumental side of knowledge on account of complexity and (b) Inescapable perturbation of the Object by the observer-analyst. This perturbation is not compensated by more theory but by acknowledging the perturbation and using it positively as participation

Since the dual approach involves interaction among the metaphysics and the tradition, discussion begins with some thoughts on the traditions

The tiered approach is sufficiently broad that it may reduce to a variety of non-instrumental alternatives to science in those areas in which its effectiveness is significantly less than in natural science—i.e. the human sciences of person and society

Preliminary—the traditions

The contents of this section are in elements/science.html#Preliminary_the_traditions

The framework of science

Science—universal or local

Scientific method

Human endeavor and its normal limits

Use the corresponding section in LDV; turn the lower level headings into non-headings; edit and eliminate

The purpose of this section was to show that the various endeavors such as science and religion considered reasonably normally contain a measure of their limits (while allowing openness for further discovery) and therefore there is no contradiction with the Universal metaphysics

At this time the idea has become manifest in the writing in general. Therefore this section may be eliminated or, at most, a mention of (1) The endeavors and (2) Their limited character

§ Common and experimental endeavor

§ The categories

§ Modes of being and knowing and normal their limits

§ The animal

§ Primal holism—early religion-myth, and science

§ Religion / religion

§ Science / science

§ Secular humanism

§ More on the common human endeavor and its limits

Future of the ideational form

A dual approach

Use the outline of LDV; this contains science and the explanatory triad. A possible criticism of the explanatory triad is its apparent base or origin in the physical sciences. A response (1) the framework of unit entity, unit process, and unit interaction is based on the idea of being, division and therefore entity, and time and interaction… (2) Therefore the main criticism is, first, the introduction of the unit and, second, the degree of detail and discrimination in the formulation… and the responses are, first, that beginnings are essential and the road to overcoming error may be through rather than around it and, second, that particular implementations will and need not have the full degree of detail permitted by the framework

The dual approach: tradition and Universal metaphysics; the metaphysics frames the disciplines (local studies of the tradition)

The tradition is not taken as static or given but as capable of improvement. An option to work dually with the tradition and the metaphysics (as frame) in interaction may be exercised

There is no reduction of the phenomena to the elements; rather there is a conversation between phenomena and elements and explanatory framework

This scheme is an aspect of ongoing interactive emergence of content and method

The ‘vertices’ of the explanatory triad are not altogether distinct. Particularly, the divide between elements and explanatory framework is not rigid

Conversation

Already anticipated in the Preliminary. ‘Conversation’ has a metaphorical use. In the aspect of science in which science is ever open to error, how is reliability maintained? One opposite of the grand theory: conversation with the real—i.e., remaining empirical. I.e., the local theory is not the only alternative to the grand; another is the empirical

Participation

Already potent in ethno-science. In Ethnobotany and anthropology it is argued that the traditional ethnic environment is appropriate for participant observation (and that traditional and modern world stand to benefit) but that the approach is not applicable in modern civilization

I provide a counter-argument and modification of the participant approach. Because of complexity and difficulty with qualitative theory—i.e. that psychology and sociology are not inherently qualitative, and that qualitative theories are difficult to develop and compute—an initial realm of application is in sociology and the social sciences… and, of course, in the realm of the psyche

These comments on the quantitative notwithstanding, the future application of the quantitative and the qualitative remains open

Unlikely to have immediate inroads into natural science except perhaps in animal studies in the field where the effect of the observer is already recognized

However, the physics and biology, and psychology of the ‘far’ future may well be participant oriented. And the Universal metaphysics shows (suggests) that once beyond some imprecisely defined but definitely (existing point in the range of far cosmos to beyond the cosmos and physical death) participation-and-knowing may be the only way

Local cosmology

Introduction

Introduction of LDV is divided into this and the next section

Explanatory triad

Origins

In LDV this was Evolution and evolutionary theory; Origin of cause dynamics

Cosmos and law

In LDV this was Physics and physical cosmology

There are two classes of phenomena in which physics deviates from the classical accounts (roughly, Newton through Maxwell even though Maxwell’s theories contain a kernel of the special theory of relativity.) These are (1) Relativity which primarily manifests when the influence of matter on the curvature of space-time is significant due to high matter density or due to large intervals of space-time and when relative speeds are significant fractions of the speed of light and (2) When the classical description of matter under the mutual influence of local action (wave) fields breaks down. More precisely the quantum description involves non-classical phenomena associated with a quantity known as Planck’s constant. In the limit when Planck’s constant is (theoretically) allowed to approach zero in an appropriate manner, the classical phenomena are recovered. In practice, there is a variety of conditions under which quantum behavior is present but practically negligible. What is quantum behavior? It includes (a) The idea that being (‘matter’) is non-local but may manifest as an interaction between discrete-like local and distributed or non-localized items (particle-like items and wave-like items—the particle-like behavior may be that of a field that is highly ‘peaked,’) (b) Therefore, whereas classical theory prescribes precisely localized and definite being (matter,) this is disallowed in quantum theory (‘uncertainty principle;’) and non-local interaction which is disallowed in classical and relativistic theory is allowed in quantum theory (entanglement.) Quantum theory appears to have a probabilistic aspect. The wave function, e.g. for an electron regarded as a point particle, does not generally specify the position or momentum of the electron. Instead, given a position or a value of the momentum, the wave function specifies the probability that the electron occupies the given position and momentum. The wave function, in some interpretations, is not itself real although some aspects of it are real. The wave function itself evolves deterministically. It is therefore not clear whether probability is essential or an artifact of treating the electron as a point where, in fact, it may be a distribution. When a measurement of position is made, the result is always some location. However, prediction of the result of the measurement can be specified only probabilistically; this, again, suggests that probability enters because a distribution is being treated as (or ‘collapsed to’) a point. The question is open and there is no consensus in the field. Some physicists hold that quantum mechanics is not the final theory of quantum behavior and that the final theory will be probabilistic; others hold that the final theory will be deterministic

In short, it is not clear whether probability arises in quantum mechanics is intrinsic or the result of dealing with entities as though they were classical particles. In any case, the Universal metaphysics asserts that the Universe is essentially non-deterministic (and as seen earlier this requires that there must be deterministic-like processes.) Further, the Universal metaphysics also requires that our cosmos be indeterministic. This may be argued many ways but here I mention only that determinism of our cosmos would make it eternal and in this way violate the fundamental principle

It is interesting that there are situations (bound states, spin) where (1) Values of variables can take only certain discrete values that differ by multiples of Planck’s Constant and (2) Systems that (e.g. due to radiation) would be unstable in the classical case are stable structures in the quantum case (an example of a situation in which (at least apparent) indeterminism results in structure

With regard to local or physical cosmology the following are important

Large scale theory of the physical universe

Curvature of space-time due to matter distribution (general curvature including strange topologies regarding time and space, e.g. time loops and wormholes)

Massive objects with locally non-classical (quantum) behavior, e.g. black holes

Quantum theory—physics at small scales

Implicated in origins and subsequent evolution

Nature of matter

Non-classical communication of distant parts of the cosmos (and other cosmoses)

Life and organism

Explanatory triad

Life

New

Organism

New

Human organism

From Human being

Human being

LDV S§ Human organism is now in § Life and organism

Introduction

The biological aspects of the human organism are discussed above. This section on Human being concerns the experience of being human and therefore concerns psyche or mind over the biological aspects of human being

For a human being, self-interest entails an emphasis on the study of human being. This emphasis does not suggest separateness from or superiority to other species. Understanding is enhanced by similarity and difference

Goals of the study of human being

§ Human being has two goals:

1. Achieve and present an understanding human being as human being. It is natural that such an understanding should be in terms of human experience or psyche. Study of the organism, e.g. of neurobiology, may complement this study

2. Provide ground for Journey. Again, this goal will be most effectively achieved if the study of human being is done in terms of human experience or psyche

Background

Background for § Human being includes:

1. The general discussion of mind of § Mind, Ch. Cosmology. The discussion of consciousness and awareness is particularly important. Also important is the reference to the emphasis in analytic philosophy on experience, attitude, and action as the three aspects or ‘dimensions’ of mind—and the reasons for emphasis, in this narrative, on experience and de-emphasis of attitude and action. In other words, in this narrative experience is the essential characteristic of mind; attitude and action are seen as augmentations of ‘mere’ experience

2. The explanatory paradigm described in the introductory sections of this chapter

3. The Universal metaphysics provides essential background for the discussion of mind in human being

4. The general discussion of mind of § Mind in Ch. Cosmology

Human psyche and experience as the core of human being

New

On the approach to study in terms of human experience

To understand human being as such, it is the experience of being human that is essential. Therefore the approach will be to understand psyche in terms of elements of psyche or mind. Additionally experience and psyche are too complex to explain in material and or biological terms

The situation is similar to understanding in biology—the modern view is that the living organisms are physical (and chemical) even though for understanding the complexity of life requires biological concepts such as species and biological theories such as incremental evolution by variation and selection

Despite the similarity, the situation regarding psyche is different from that regarding life in that experience and existence (mind and matter in parochial terms) can be seen as equivalent aspects of being. Thus the existential side is reflected in the experiential

The argument

To understand what it is to be human is to understand what it is like to be human—in actuality and in potential

Therefore mind and experience are at the core of human being

Understanding in terms of the elements of mind is most effective from the point of view of explanation as well as the understanding of human being

Biology—especially anatomy and physiology—is not excluded; it has an image in experience. Therefore the crucial role of biological differences in evolution and adaptation is not excluded. The development may be supplemented by direct appeal to biology

Psyche or mind and its nature

Reasons to select experience. Inclusion of attitude and action via afference and efference

A system of explanation for mind at the level of human being

The title was Mind at the level of human being

Explanatory triad

The elements will be mental or psychic

Import from LDV—Human being > Introduction > The explanatory triad. Reduce and recombine

Phenomena

Phenomena considered earlier—§ Mind, Ch. Cosmology

(a) Experience and its essential character—its essential character, primitive feeling, awareness, and consciousness; while consciousness is not consciousness of consciousness, the latter is an immense enhancement (b) Free will (c) Psychology of Objects—how certain conceptual contours are identified as Objects even under varying aspects (d) The functions of mind—the concept as mental content and its forms as cognition and emotion… and the completeness of this system (e) Categories of experience and Object (f) The dimensions of human freedom—creativity and the element of creativity; volition, choice and action—physical and moral (g) Personality, identity and growth of the individual; commitment and discovery over the static good; the nature of commitments and their place in growth and meaning-as-significance (h) Aspects of health and disorder or integration and acuity versus disintegration and decay

Of these phenomena, the first four have been considered earlier—in § Mind, Ch. Cosmology. There is some repetition among these phenomena and they may be combined as a system:

1. Experience

2. Human freedom and its dimensions

3. Cognition and emotion

4. The Object and its psychology

5. Categories

6. Personality and identity

7. Growth, commitment and discovery

8. Health and disorder—or function, acuity, and integration

The phenomena fall under general groups (A) Mind as mind—item 1 (B) Indeterminism and structure—human freedom and mental function—items 2 and 3 (C) Objects and categories—items 4 and 5 (D) The aspect of time—items 6 and 7 and (D) Health and disorder which has aspects lying under A, B, and C

Elements

Import from LDV—Human being > Mind at the level of human being > Elements of mind: the phenomena to be cataloged andor explained > The elements of mind. Combine with all other §§ of same title

There is some arbitrariness to the divide between elements and explanation. Here, elements are kept to a minimum

Feeling, its characteristics and elaboration

Import elements from LDV

Process—deterministic, indeterministic

Conceptual or explanatory framework

Import from LDV? Combine

§ Modes of organization and mechanisms of integration

Import from LDV—Human being > Mind at the level of human being > Elements of mind: the phenomena to be cataloged andor explained > Modes of organization

Import Mechanisms of integration which was, in LDV, a separate section under § Explanations below

Characteristics and elaboration of feeling. Categories

Adaptive integration

Layering

§ Adaptation

The local world and its modalities

Nature…

Physical—light, sound…

The Universal metaphysics

The explanations

Import from LDV

Elements

Import from LDV—Human being > Mind at the level of human being > Elements and concept of mind: explanations of the phenomena > The elements… and modify

Experience

Human freedom and its dimensions

Was Introducing states that include elements of volition regarding mental content

Include the spark

Cognition and emotion

New (title)

Absorb LDV § Of perception and judgment? If absorbed rename Perception and inference and explain fact and inference in terms of bound-free

The Object and is psychology

Import from LDV

Personality and identity

Growth, commitment and discovery

There are many ‘models’ of growth. Many are ad hoc andor obscure. Naturally, there will be some guesses and not everything will be clear—the human organism is complex and opaque relative to its own powers of self-perception. However the goal is to outline a framework that is clear demonstrably comprehensive with regard to the dimensions of being (m-n-s-p-u) including psyche (this comprehensive character would be expressed in the form of a matrix)

Lack of clarity, ad hoc aspects, and mere guesses might arise, as necessary to provide some explanation for some phenomena, within this structured framework

Health and disorder—or function, acuity, and integration

Was health and disorder. Review the new title

Origins

Reflection on origins may improve understanding

The minimum to explain is (a) Consciousness (b) The ladder from s-r up (c) The functions (d) The spark

It is crucial to show higher consciousness not as something new at some stage but as the amplification of something already there in primal form

The original title was Timelines and the origin of the higher elements

Since dates are not given, the title may be changed to Evolutionary sequence of development of the aspects of human psyche

Significance? (1) Insight into the nature of the elements (2) Insight into integration and layering

Participation

New… see Ch. Journey

Meta-theory

The idea is that development of understanding (knowledge) and how to develop understanding are interactive

Relevant comments are now in § A dual approach

LDV S§ Human organism is now in § Life and organism

Society

Rethink this and the next two sections

Introduction

The explanatory triad

Participation and intervention in the social realm

Was Method in Social Intervention (in LDV)

A history of ideas

See LDV for details

§ Positivism and structural functionalism

§ Historical Materialism and Conflict Conflict Theory

§ American Sociology—rather outside the European Tradition; has emphasized Scientific Methodology and Pragmatism

§ Sociological Antipositivism and Verstehen Analysis

Charisma and Patriarchalism

Culture

Freedom

The concept of the institution

Institutional form and the idea of institutional purity

The institutions

People—persons—and groups

Culture

Language

§ Introduction

§ What is language?

§ Approaching language

§ Pre-language

§ Meaning

§ Speech

§ Context

§ Para-verbal communication

§ Writing

§ Symbol and icon

§ Summary, conclusions, further development

Organization and transaction

§ Design

Topics include policy and planning

Was § Civilization > History and design > Policy

Some definitions and explanations

People and groups

Culture

The culture of the institution

Religion

§ Religion as an institution

§ The limits of institutional religion

§ The future of the idea of spirit or the ideational form

§ Religion and spirituality

Religion—issues: The received religions cast a pall on the idea of religion by being stereotypes “If you do this, then that will result” (there are no guarantees; instead the process is unending and does not end with death; and the ‘this’ and the ‘that’ are severe limits to imagination.) The concepts of ‘God’ and the metaphysical scenarios are extremely limited. Further issues in the sources below

Sources—2010 folder: This document—especially Introduction > Significance of the developments, About journey in being.doc, Journey in being-detail.doc; elements folder: a future for religion.doc, introduction module.doc, introduction module-brief.doc, religion.doc, the sacred and the spiritual.doc

Organization and transaction

See LDV for details. Rationalize a system to derive the functions below. Consider others, e.g. moral. Legal, moral, performance, and political may become one

There is no absolute saying which function is most important. All are necessary but the emphasis will depend on circumstance which includes internal circumstance or culture. The political is most important in a certain significant sense because it reflects the highest value in the means and emphasis of decision and execution in all social function; it reflects creation and resolve without which the other functions lack direction and become unstable and whose only control is then plenty and scarcity

Economic, political, legal, learning, discovery, performance

The network of institutions

Ethics, value

Civilization

On civilization

History and design

§ Policy now in § Society > The institutions > Organization and transaction

The state of civilization

Was The state of civilization—an ongoing concern

Human endeavor and its normal limits

Now in A tiered approach > Preliminary—the traditions > Human endeavor and its normal limits

Journey

Consider whether to combine Ch’s Journey and Being

In the parts (I, III, IV, and V) that may have a single chapter, consider whether to elevate the sections to chapter level

Journey

Introduction to a journey in being

Outline and aims of the chapter

Origin of the idea of a journey

A sense of mission

Openness of the way and ambition

The epic journey in literature

Being as a framework for the journey

Being as framework

Expansion of scope of a journey made possible by a system of ideas centered on Being

Journey

Character and aim

§ Journey as Being

§ Aim

Range and process

§ The range

§ Process

§ Modes and means

§ Dimensions

Significance

An individual journey

Aims of this subsection

Characteristics that contribute to the journey

Development of the Journey

Discovery and demonstration of the Universal metaphysics

After the establishment of the Universal metaphysics

Logic

Method—Justification

Method—Discovery, dialectic, reflexive process

Evaluation—criticism and creation

Transformation of being and identity—method

Dynamics of being

The dynamics

Basis in the Universal metaphysics

Essential aspects of the dynamics of being

On the nature of the Object

Deployment of the dynamics

Enhanced states of awareness and modes of transformation

Types of state

Approaches

Enhancing, inducing, or catalytic factors: general

Enhancing, inducing, or catalytic factors: drug use

§ Plants

§ Psychoactive chemicals from animals

Enhancing, inducing, or catalytic factors: sacred places, ritual, texts

§ Sacred places

§ Ritual

§ Sacred texts

Enhancing, inducing, or catalytic factors: sensitivity

Enhancing, inducing, or catalytic factors: charismatic transformation

Enhancing, inducing, or catalytic factors: savant states

History of transformation—appendix to Enhanced states…

Aims of a study of history of transformation

Shamanism and other systems that date back to prehistory

Indian systems

Western systems

Deployment of the dynamic

Illustrations of the dynamic

Ideas

Identity or being-as-being

Identity and Personality

Relationship and charisma

Dynamics of mind and (self) awareness

Body, healing and medicine

Discovery and development of the dynamics

Design—a minimal system of experiments or transformations

Ideas

Transformation of being

A minimal system—transformation of being and identity

Assessment: the way ahead

Pure being

Secondary phases

Society and culture

Organic and material being

Narratives and narrative form

A program of development with sources

General

Thought as a source

Human knowledge

Doubt and imagination

Patience

The ideas of the narrative

Method

History

Intuition

Knowledge

Meaning

Concept

Intuition

Object

Metaphysics

History of metaphysics

Metaphysics

Substance

Being

Articulation of concepts and working out of conclusions

Mereology

Universe

The Void

Domain and complement

Transcendental method

Logic and mathematics

Logos

Scientific method

Traditional and modern religions

Art, literature, music, dance, drama

Objects

Critical thought

The modern theory of objects

Cosmology

The Universal metaphysics

The logics and modern logic

Mereology

The history of metaphysics and cosmology

The principle of plenitude

Modern science

Myth and literature

Analytic philosophy

Process philosophy

Philosophy of mind

Topics

Worlds

The entire system of human knowledge

The Universal metaphysics

Value

Particular topics—disciplines and endeavors

Journey

The concept of a journey

The transformations in being

Secondary transformations

Transformations in society and culture

Transformations in organic and material being

Pure being

History

Method

The significance of method

External sources

Essentialism and substance

Internal sources

Narrative

The future

Being

History

What is History?

Vision

Transformation

History in light of being

Pure being

The idea

A problem

Attraction and repulsion

Pure being

Method

My interests have long included ideas and their application. If method is the how of ideas, it should cover aspects of creation and validation (discovery and justification)

In the reflections behind the ideas of this narrative I found that I was required to reflect on the how of what I was doing and that the conclusions regarding content and reflections as well as conclusions regarding method were necessary to one another

Modern education tends to leave an impression that justification is more important than creation, that methods of justification and demonstration are received and at least tinged with the a priori, and—a literature on creativity notwithstanding—that creation is largely private and idiosyncratic

I have found that method and content are interactive sides of a single process: that method and content in interaction, that method is after all a kind of content (ideas are in the word,) that a prime example of this is the identity of metaphysics and Logic, that creation and justification are empty without one another, and that while there is truth to the thought that creation has an element of idiosyncrasy powerful guiding ideas (rather than strict rules) regarding creation may be written and situations that are conducive to effective establishment of ideas may be cultivated

I have learnt that there is no absolute method-as-received, that method and content arise together, and that method is a kind of content. Although we may think of discipline and meta-discipline, there is perhaps no final distinction

When we wonder about the future of humankind we may include thoughts on the possibilities of human intelligence. The Universal metaphysics suggests that if we do not restrict reflection to our present form there may be no limit. In the present form, the same metaphysics shows that there is no limit with regard to depth because it is finite and that while human intelligence in its present form may be limited with regard to breadth there should be no expectation that it is more than a mere instrument of discovery

Introduction

A brief historical account of method

The idea and significance of method

The idea of method

Significance

‘Against method’

Method and content

Preliminary comments on knowledge and method

Origin of the present special interest and developments in method

Origin

Development

Necessary and contingent aspects of the development

Purposes of Part III: Method

Relation to the history of thought

What is derived from the tradition

Implications for the traditions

Outline of Part III: Method

Prerequisites

Knowledge and its nature

Kinds of knowledge

Fixed adaptation

Adaptability

Icon and symbol; knowing and communicating

Knowing how versus knowing that

Summary

Implicit faithfulness

Knowledge and its nature

Knowledge and the larger context of action

Elements of method

Introduction

The main elements of method

Outline of Elements of method

Justification

Creation

Observation

Kinds

Creation—what to observe

Justification

Inference

Kinds

Creation

Justification

Justification and creation—human and institutional factors

Human

Institutional

The range of disciplines

Creation of conceptual systems—analysis of knowledge

Creation of conceptual systems—analysis of meaning

Meaning is relative to a context

Meaning integrates experience

An example of analysis of meaning—the Universe

Selection and development of articulated systems of concepts

The necessary Objects

Abstraction and intuition

Adequate precision

Grounding

The practical Objects

Reflexivity

The concept of reflexivity; relation to creativity

Some sources of the idea of reflexivity

Reflexivity applied to itself: generalized reflexivity

Reflexivity in the development of the Universal metaphysics

Reflexivity and metaphysics

Formal and informal use of reflexivity

Examples of formal use of reflexivity

Some informal uses of reflexivity

Interaction between the formal and the informal

Journey and reflex process

Creation versus criticism

Faith, hypothesis, and action

Themes

The idea of method

Discovery and justification

Hierarchies of certainty

Observation and inference

Method and content

Epistemology: elimination of essentialism

Method as guide versus method as definitive

Implications for the tradition

Knowledge

Sources of knowledge

Science

Significance of science and scientific method

Comparison and contrast of science and philosophy. Does philosophy have a subject matter?

§ Knowledge

§ Science. Scientific concepts require precision but not perfect faithfulness

§ Pure metaphysics requires and philosophy has the ideal of perfect faithfulness

Scientific method

§ The nature of science

§ Difficulties in extending science into other realms

§ Participatory versus non-participatory science

§ Application of participatory ‘science’ in modern society

§ Dual approach in future natural science

Journey and participation in realization of the ultimate

Logic

Method

Mathematics

Method

Philosophy

Foundation in this world

Concepts

Approach

Metaphysics

Approach

Induction and necessity

Prior metaphysics

Art and religion

Religion

What is religion? Preliminary thoughts

An institution without a name

Symbolic and literal content

The concept of religion

Religion and metaphysics

The sacred

God

Method for religion

Art

Approach

Transformation of being

Group decision and action

Method

Journey in being

The approach

Some thoughts on the character of method

Perfection

Contribution

Purpose of this chapter

Significance of the contributions

To show extent

To sum up

Attitude to the contributions

In thinking of one’s work there is, it has been said, a dual tendency to private arrogance and public humility

In the normal individual (I omit consideration of pathology even though in many but not all creative individuals the creativity is linked to a pathology) these tendencies remain in check and are also balanced by the desire and ability to contribute

I attempt to maintain a medium between the extremes of false humility and unwarranted arrogance—a medium that is my personal view and the one that I present. This moderate position is that while I tender the results below as contributions, I would not present them as such unless I thought I had good reason to believe them to be contributory to the human endeavor

It is important to be open about doubts regarding one’s work—especially if one believes it to be significant. I hold that truthfulness is an intrinsic good. Here, however, the motive is practical. I may have doubt regarding a piece of reasoning that, except for the doubt, appears to be robust. If I am clear about doubts regarding the reasoning behind a claim then a dual approach is opened up. First, provided that the doubt does not refer to a violation of logic, I may regard the claim as a hypothesis and use it as the basis of experiment. Second, the doubt is a spur to overcoming doubt. Third, maintaining doubt may lead to discovery of irreducible doubt which is good for we then know it as an essential characteristic of the Universe to be lived and even celebrated rather than resisted (except that even regarding irreducibility there may be doubt.) Finally, if I am open about doubt then other thinkers who are moved by my ideas will know where to take up the thread of investigation

Criteria

In what order should the following §§ be placed

Validity

Newness

This § is new

Significance

Main developments

The main results

An estimate of novelty

In LDV this was the long § What is new in this work? Here, the § will be brief

Potential contributions

Was a separate (final) §

Implications for human endeavor

Covers ideas and human destiny. The corresponding §§ previously titled Significance for the history of ideas did not include destiny

Philosophy and metaphysics

Includes the old level 3 S§ Problems of metaphysics

Will include Logic which was not previously included

Destiny

Emphasizes human destiny. Includes the Principle of identity, transformation of being, and journey-process-path

May include lesser endeavors—including phases experiments in artificial being, and social action and interaction

Method

Will include thoughts on (a) science, mathematics, and the disciplines including thoughts that may have been in other §§ and (b) method for transformation of being

Will include some comments on the nature and significance of human knowledge

A map of human knowledge

May change to An encyclopedic map of human knowledge. Previously Human knowledge

Of course there is no claim to originality regarding the discovery of the structure and elements of the atlas. What is new? (1) The general divisions of Symbol, Universe, and Artifact (2) The placement of metaphysics and ethics under ‘Universe’ and the integration of metaphysics and the sciences of nature (3) Consequently an expansion of the domain of what is known, and (4) Restructuring and re-conception at a number of places in light of the metaphysics and other considerations. A prominent example concerns faith and religion. There are other minor examples

Reference

Sources

What is not the purpose—to cite authority, to show familiarity, to provide a review, to show every source of my thought (the latter is impossible)

What is the purpose—to acknowledge main influences and to point readers in these directions and to maintain a dialectic between my thought and the history of thought