Monday, April 30, 2018

Personal Growth and Self

The concept of Increase entails temporal continuity and comparison.  Thus, so, too, does that of Growth, which is Biological Increase.  Furthermore, that an Increase constitutes an improvement requires an evaluative comparison.  Thus, any concept of praiseworthy Personal Growth requires a concept of Self that can be the bearer of temporal continuity and evaluative comparison.  Hence, concepts of Self as either fragmentary or fixed, e. g. Hume's, Spinoza's, or Kant's, are inadequate to any concept of Personal Growth

Sunday, April 29, 2018

Self-Interest, Profit, Self

A fundamental premise of Capitalism--the equivalence of Self-Interest and Profit--is not as well-grounded as the wide taking for granted of it suggests.  At minimum, its divergence from a better-established principle like Will to Live requires justification.  But it is unclear if Capitalism has the resources for such a justification.  For, as applied Phenomenalism, Smith's system is committed to Hume's concept of the Self as a 'bundle of perceptions'.  So, Capitalism has a fragile basis for any concept of Self-Interest, and less for that of Profit, which, entailing Increase, requires an ordered Temporal development, to which the vague concept of a 'bundle' is hardly adequate. Furthermore, it shares the charge that Phenomenalism faces--that its 'Self' is an alienated concept, i. e. that of a Whole that has been fragmented. Associated with that charge is that Profit is reified Growth, a degradation of a vital principle in inanimate objects, i. e. the contrary of the sublimation of a vital principle.  So, in effect, the Capitalist equivalence of Self-Interest and Profit, in the absence of better grounding, can be diagnosed as a dehumanization of the Selves involved.

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Morality and Catalysm

In Chemistry, a catalyst is a part of an interaction that contributes to the transformation of other parts, while itself remaining unchanged.  Accordingly, 'Catalysm' can be the Psychological and/or Moral theory in which a person remains unchanged as they modify external persons and conditions.  Now, even a casual summary easily reveals that most theories of either sort, despite other sharp differences, are Catalystic, even those that are adamantly agnostic about any concept of Personal Identity over Time.  Thus lacking has been any Moral Value of experiences that are commonly characterized as 'personal growth', or any capacity for evaluating behavior in those terms.

Friday, April 27, 2018

Morality, Will to Live, Will to Power

Nietzsche's departure from traditional Morality begins by his challenging not any of its past contents, but the hitherto unexamined premise that it is an end in itself.  Early, influenced by Schopenhauer, he proposes that 'Morality' is at the service of the Will to Live--an illusion that gives 'meanimg' to Life, and therefore makes it 'worth living'. Later, with the supplanting of the Will to Live by the Will to Power, he reconceives Morality as a mode of the latter, with two different implementations--as a program of Self-Overcoming, i. e. 'Master Morality', or as a weapon of subjugation of rulers by the ruled, i. e. 'Slave Morality'.  Now, unclear in his later phase is whether or not either variety is still illusory, as is that of his earlier phase.  Thus obscured in the controversies generated by Will to Power Morality is whether or not Morality is also at the service of a species instinct, which is what the Will to Live is.  Also therefore lost is the possibility of considering that Evolving is the Self-Overcoming of a Species.

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Morality and Writing

Like the fig-leaf girdle of Genesis 3, Morality can be conceived as either a cover-up of sordid behavior, or an expression of human inventiveness.  Now, one undebateable characteristic that Morality for the most part shares with Genesis 3 is that it is a product of Writing.  Hence, it is a consequence of the evolutionary emergence of the uniquely versatile human thumb.  So, even if that characteristic does not establish conclusively that Morality is a useful invention, e. g. a means to a better organization of the species, it does explain why this species is apparently alone in having such a thing as 'Morality', regardless of its content or function, and, of course, likewise, a 'bible'.

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Fig-Leaf, Morality, Evolution

Among the most significant phases of the events of Genesis 3 is an action that is rarely noticed, even by 'literalists'.  As the scene develops, Adam and Eve eat fruit that can "make one wise", immediately following which, "the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked."  Now, what ensues is generally glossed over--"they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves girdles", i. e. the usual rendering, "fig-leaf", as singular, abstracts from the sewing.  So, what is portrayed in the sequence is, deliberately or otherwise, the first human invention, a girdle, the production of which requires the first human instance of Techne, i. e. sewing, as the immediate example of the attainment of wisdom from eating the fruit.  And then, God's anger is directed at their having become aware of their nakedness.  So, the close reading supports the interpretation of the passage as a Promethean moment, better than as a drama of illicit fornication.  The Evolutionist might also note that the act of sewing requires the dexterity that is distinctive of the human species, thereby reading the passage as better describing a moment in the evolutionary development beyond previous animality, than as a fall into it.

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Nakedness, Morality, Evolutionism

A significant influence on some Moral doctrines has been the account in Genesis 3, on the basis of which reproductive processes have become some of the fundamental themes of those doctrines.  However, a careful reading of those passages suggests an inadequacy in the doctrines.  For, contrary to the conventional image of the scenario, Adam and Eve are not 'ashamed' by the realization that they are naked, and God's anger is directed not at their nakedness, but at their coming to realize that they are naked, which they have been all along.  So, the widely accepted premise that shame at being naked reflects the sinfulness of fornication is not faithful to a literal reading of the passage.  Also lost in the popular image of the scenario is another implication of that nakedness.  For, it implies that clothing in Eden is unnecessary, as a protection against cold, wetness, the burning sun, etc., i. e.  that the climate in Eden is unlike that of anywhere known on the planet.  So, conversely, Genesis 3, presents a theory of the origin of clothing in human history.  Now, Evolutionism repudiates the usual focus of the scenario, i. e. by showing that reproductive processes are part of the evolutionary legacy received by humans, and, hence, are nothing new to the first humans, thereby undercutting the Moral tradition that is based on the purported sinful discovery of fornication in the passage.  On the other hand, it is less successful in explaining the invention of clothing, since it has yet to offer a compelling demonstration of how the human loss of fur constitutes an evolutionary advance, the most plausible analysis to date perhaps being the ad hoc speculation that fur would be too hot and/or cumbersome for an organism with the mobility of a human.  Still, that analysis is better grounded than the account that has had significant Moral consequences for centuries.

Monday, April 23, 2018

Evolutionism and Morality

There have been a variety of Moral doctrines, serving a variety of purposes, Theological, Political, Psychological, etc.  But one feature that they tend to have in common is the overcoming, if not suppression, of a 'lower' part of a person by a 'higher' part.  Furthermore while there are differing interpretations of the higher--Reason, divine spirit, etc.--there is general consensus that the lower part is 'animal', which, implies, conversely, that animals lack the capacity for Morality.  However, by conceiving the animal-human relation as not opposed, but as less complex-more complex, Evolutionism rejects the usually antagonistic hierarchical concept.  Instead, it implies the possibility that humans uniquely have Morality for the same reason that they uniquely wear clothes--as a supplement to natural characteristics.  That is, just as the human skin is not sufficiently protective, human instinct does not suffice for the promotion of the best interests of the Species via its Members.  Accordingly the relation of Morality to the instinctual behavior of humans is an extending, not an overcoming.  So, one of the consequences of Evolution is that is renders the grounds of traditional Morality obsolete.

Sunday, April 22, 2018

Morality, Evolutionism, Alienation

Kant's Moral doctrine is an original formulation of one solution to a traditional premise--that there is an antithesis between Individual and Community.  But, one of the heterodoxical features of Evolutionism is its Biological orientation, with the concept of Organism as one of its elements.  Now, as a combination of Unity and Multiply, the concept of Organism exposes any alleged antithesis between them as based on inadequate thinking, and perhaps as a product of alienation.  Thus, Evolutionism possibly renders much previous Morality, e. g. not only Kantian, but any that posits an antithesis between Selfishness and Altruism, obsolete.

Saturday, April 21, 2018

Reason, Community, Species

Kant does not explicitly apply his category of Community/Reciprocity to Practice.  But it is implicit in his concepts of End-in-Itself and Kingdom of Ends.  So, insofar as those are concepts of Pure Practical Reason, that they are imperatival implies that the Subject that it bears upon is otherwise primarily motivated by instinctual selfishness.  Now, Spinoza does not disagree with the latter psychoanalysis; his dispute with Kant is, rather, because of their Theological differences, as has been previously discussed, that there is no antithesis between Reason and Instinct.  Accordingly, in Spinoza's doctrine, there is no necessity for a category of Community/Reciprocity, i. e. because cooperating with others out of selfisness is sufficiently Rational for Spinoza.  Consequently, Community is only contingently an innate principle, i. e. when derived from specific Theological premises.  Now, lacking in the doctrines of both Spinoza and Kant is a concept that does otherwise ground the principle--Species.  For, in the context of a Species, a Communal instinct can function as promoting the interests of the Species by effecting the coordination of its Members.  So, it is not until the arrival of a concept like Evolutionism, the subject of which is a Species, that the value of Kant's discovery of the Community/Reciprocity category can fully emerge.

Friday, April 20, 2018

Reason, Theology, Community

Perhaps the strongest challenge to Kant's concept of Reason comes from not successors such as Schopenhauer or Hegel, but from a predecessor, Spinoza, which he recognizes, but, arguably, fails to effectively refute.  The basis of that challenge is the clear difference in Theological commitment, beginning with the contrast of Spinoza's immanent corporeal deity vs. Kant's transcendent incorporeal deity.  As a consequence, Kant's concept of Reason is arbitrary--it must be incompatible with Instinct, whereas for Spinoza, they are not only incompatible, but united, in both his deity and its human modes. Accordingly, absent his Theological commitmemts, Kant might have recognized in his Rational category of Community/Reciprocity an Instinct that is not in potential conflict with Morality.  He might have, thus, not reserved Practical application of the category for an explanation of the possibility of divine reward, and, instead, examined the implications of it for Conduct, e. g. that there might be in humans an instinct for Community that is not irrational.

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Relativism and Subjectivism

'Relativism' sometimes has a derogatory connotation, usually in reference to 'Moral Relativism' or 'Cultural Relativism'.  In such cases, the target of derision is valuation that is specific to to some individual or collective Subject, on the basis of the thesis that the particularity of the valuation is transcended by some Absolute standard.  Now, Relativists of these sorts are usually unfazed by the antagonism, often challenging that the thesis is itself particularist in some respect, e. g. that it is 'ideological'. Regardless, these uses of the term sharply contrast with that of Physics, in which Relativity is a bilateral relation between two frames of reference, not a unilateral relation between a Value and a Subject.  Accordingly, 'Subjectivism' is more appropriate classification for the latter relation.  Likewise, as has been previously discussed, the concept of Primary Qualities as 'in' the Perceiver, rather than as between Perceiver and an Object in a perceptual field, is Subjectivistic, rather than Relativistic.  Plus, since, as has been previously discussed, the bilateral version is shown by Kant to be grounded in Pure Reason, the Relativism that it connotes is not easily derided as particularistic.

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Relativism and Pure Reason

One of Kant's Categories, an expression of Pure Reason, in the mode of the Understanding, is Community, or, equivalently, Reciprocity.  His two extended applications of the Category are to Newton's Third Law, and to the concept of Deservedness.  But, he does not consider its relevance to the experiential context itself.  He thus misses that it grounds the Perception of an Object as a frame of reference to which the Subject might be referred. Likewise, it grounds the cardinal features of his Moral doctrine--the treatment of others as Ends, and the Kingdom of Ends--more elegantly than does his strained attempts to derive them from the Principle of Contradiction.  Plus, it re-casts 'the existence of others' as an a priori, rather than an Emprical, concept, thereby easily resolving this perennial Philosophical problem.  Thus, this category of Community/Reciprocity provides Relativism with a Rational basis.

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Relativism and the Existence of Others

For Physicists and Astronomers, that an object of perception can be a Frame of Reference has been fruitful for, if not essential to, their developments over the centuries.  Yet for many Philosophers, 'the existence of others' has been a vexing perennial problem.  The source of the difficulty is that evidence that would guarantee that an encountered Object is indeed also a Subject seems to be lacking.  Thus, the problem is conceived as Epistemological, with Certainty its criterion.  But, if the problem is actually Moral, with the Subject of the encounter having the choice of treating its Object as either a Person or a Thing, then the perplexity disappears.  Likewise, Relativism in social contexts incorporates a Moral dimension that is extrinsic to, and, perhaps, antithetical to, alternative theories of Perception, e. g. Subjectivism.  Meanwhile, Physics and Astronomy are experimental endeavors, in which the measure of a heuristic device like Frame of Reference is its fecundity, so Epistemological Uncertainty is irrelevant to Relativism in those contexts.

Monday, April 16, 2018

Relativism, Egocentrism, Egofocalism

A Circle is a special case of an Ellipse, i. e. an Ellipse with one focus.  Accordingly, Egocentrism can be re-conceived as Egofocalism, in which that one is the center of one's world does not preclude the possibility of other centers.  Indeed, while an Ellipse is usually defined as having two Foci, the formula leaves open the possibility of an indefinite number of Foci, the general case being what might be called a Super-Ellipse.  In any case, re-conceiving Egocentrism as Egofocalism exposes as contingent abstractions, theses and doctrines based on the former, e. g. the Selfish vs. Altruism antithesis.  Egofocalism thus provides a context for Relativism, in which a Subject is distinguished from a perceptual Object, but is in a symmetrical relation with it, which entails that the relation is relative to it, as well, that it can be a Subject, as well.

Sunday, April 15, 2018

Heliocentrism, Relativism, Soul

Two related problems that Heliocentrism poses to Medieval Theology are: 1. The former displaces the deity of the latter from its location at the circumference of the universe, and 2. It thereby sunders the contiguity of the deity and terrestrial life, without which the Cosmological Proof is groundless.  Now, a third follows from the Relativism that, as has been previously discussed, constitutes Perception.  For, as Hume and Kant each show, but is not fully developed for another century or so by notably  Durkheim, Dewey, Mead, and Heidegger, the Self might transcend a specific experience, but it is not independent of Experience per se.  In other words, it follows that the concept of the Immortal Soul is also challenged by Heliocentism.  Accordingly, Berkeley's attempt to subjectivize Primary Qualities, and, hence, all Perception, as part of his thesis that they are private signs from a deity, may reflect a Theological commitment, rather than a merely Epistemological variation of Lockean Empiricism.

Saturday, April 14, 2018

Knowledge and Relativism

What Berkeley shows is not that Primary Qualities are Secondary Qualities, but that they are characteristics of a relation between Subject and Object, including, usually implicitly, that they are moving at the same Velocity, i. e. that the Object appears as 'at rest', a characteristic that is usually not noted.  Likewise, colors, sounds, etc.  are modifications of that relation.  In other words, he shows, unwittingly, that the fundamental thesis of Empiricism is that Knowledge of Objects is based on a relation between Subject and Object, a relation that is originally sensory.  At the same, entailed in the thesis is also the converse--that Knowledge of the Subject is Knowledge of its relations to Objects.  This concept of Self-Knowledge is explicitly expressed in Kant's Refutation of Idealism in the B edition of the 1st Critique, and is implicit in Hume's concept of Self as a Bundle of Perceptions--in which the content of each Perception is some Object of Perception.  Now, this Relativist concept of Perception also exposes the flaw in most concepts of Reflection.  For, it demonstrates that the Object of Reflection is a Subject-Object relation, and not the mere Subject itself.  Thus, for example, Sartre's concept of Reflection as an infinite hall of mirrors is groundless.  Likewise no more than heuristic is the Newtonian concept of Absolute Motion, i. e. because the Motion of an object cannot be determined independent of reference to that of any other object.

Friday, April 13, 2018

Heliocentrism and Relativism

The Heliocentric revolution demonstrates that what might appear to be the motion of the Sun in one direction is actually the motion of the Earth in the opposite direction.  But it also implicitly demonstrates that the same appearance would obtain if both were in motion in their respective directions.  Indeed, the possibilities are infinite, since what appears is the sum of two motions, which can be constituted in an infinite number of combinations, one of which is the Geocentrist thesis that the Earth is at rest, another is the Heliocentrist thesis that the Sun is at rest.  Physicists have, of course, respected this plain evidence, but aside from Kant, Philosophers seem to have been side-stepping the implications, Berkeley, for example, as has been previously discussed.  What is plain from the example is that the immediate object of ordinary perception is a relation between perceiver and perceived, e. g.  an increasing distance between Sun and location on Earth, naively interpreted as an encounter between two independent entities.  But the atomization of the scenario is an error; for, from the perception, nothing can be inferred about either Subject independently or Object independently, e. g. the velocity of either the Earth or the Sun.  So, the Epistemological lesson from the Heliocentric revolution is that Perception is fundamentally Relativistic, not Perspectivistic, which usually connotes that Subject and Object are at rest, and certainly not Subjectivistic, despite the Berkeleyan effort to reduce it to the mere private entertainment of a Phenomenon.

Thursday, April 12, 2018

Heliocentrism and Capitalism

That the Earth orbits around the Sun does not entail that it spins on an axis that is not perpendicular to its orbit.  In other words, two of the significant implications of Heliocentrism--terrestrial diurnality and seasonality--are contingent features of it that override some corresponding features of Geocentrism, e. g. that the Sun daily transits across the sky.  Thus entailed in those features is a challenge to foundational Empiricism, i. e. a demonstration that an apparently absolute perception is relativistic.  Now, Physicists have better appreciated this demonstration than have some Epistemologists.  For example, by reducing Primary Qualities to Secondary Qualities, Berkeley conflates Privatism, e. g. the thesis that colors are the product of an internal modification, with Relativism, e. g. that a Circle is perceived as an Ellipse because of the angle between perceiver and object.  Likewise, in his application of Berkeleyan Epistemology to Economics, Smith reduces an objective concatenation of gain and loss to a moment of private enjoyment, thereby suppressing its social co-implication. So, the sometimes radical Individualism that has developed from Smith's doctrine has its roots in a failure to appreciate one of the fundamental Epistemological lessons of the past several centuries.

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Evolution and Extraterrestrial Travel

A significant vacillation in Darwinism is between the Evolutionary Principle and the Survival Principle.  Generally, the former is subordinated to the latter.  But that one species evolves out of another as a means to survival is not only sheerly speculative, but is undermined by the fact of the survival of members of the species that did not evolve.  Consequently, for the general public, the Survival Principle predominates, especially because the 'survival of the fittest' thesis, which entails neither mutation nor increase in complexity, i. e. the cardinal characteristics of evolutionary transformation, is probably the most common understanding of the theory.  Accordingly, insofar as Human extraterrestrial travel is attributed to 'evolution', it is most typically conceived as a survival strategy, an adaptation in reaction to an environment that is becoming increasingly uninhabitable due to industrial causes.  But, that concept does not take into the consideration the possibility that the human drive to transcend terrestriality long precedes the ruination of it, perhaps as encoded into the species from the outset.  That interpretation makes the Space Age more of an adventure and less desperation.

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Global Communications, Extraterrestrial Travel, Species-Consciousness

After initial developments in the context of the Cold War, the two main fruits of Modern Science--the global communication system and extraterrestrial travel--are now each factors in the cultivation of a Species-Consciousness in its members.  The former is the medium for interpersonal connections that transcend all particularities, while the solidarity among terrestrial beings that is implicit in the concept of extraterrestriality is now explicit in the international cooperation that routinely occurs high above traditional particularities.  So, the cultivation of this Consciousness is compounded in the combination of the two technologies--satellite-mediated global communication systems.  Thus, perhaps the sharpest current social division is not any of the continuing particularist animosities--geographic, ethnic, religious, class, etc.--but between the institutions that perpetuate them and the planeterizations that are now concretely transcending them.

Monday, April 9, 2018

Evolution and Space Era

While the challenge by Evolutionism to traditional Theology that is best-known to the general public is Phylogenetic, i. e. regarding the origin of the Human species, of probable greater interest to Biologists is the entailed thesis that Species are not fixed.  Now, perhaps the most noteworthy of those mutations are the ones that involve a radical change of environment, e. g. fish adapting to land, reptiles flying, etc.  But, still unnoticed even by Biologists is the possibility of a current mutation of that kind--the human species beginning to leave its terrestrial environment.  So, this nascent episode may come to be known as the Space Era in Evolutionary history

Sunday, April 8, 2018

Evolutionism and Internet

While Evolutionism is now widely accepted as a possible alternative to the predominant Theological Phylogeny, i. e. the account appearing in Genesis, its broader implications remain generally unconsidered.  They include: 1. Human history is an episode in Natural history, a prelude to the origin of some as yet non-existent species; 2. The ultimate subject of this episode is the species; 3. The theme of this episode is its ultimate principle--to Evolve; and, accordingly 4. The ultimate Psychological principle of each member of the species is its role in the Evolutionary episode.  Thus, acceptance of Evolutionism entails the interpretation of the historical significance, and psychological impact, of the emergence of the Internet and other global communication systems in terms of that doctrine.  Nevertheless, for most, the technology is just one more worldly good--a toy or a convenience.

Saturday, April 7, 2018

Individuation, Diversification, Alienated Consciousness

According to most of a long tradition, which includes both Parmenides and Schopenhauer, that privileges Unity over Multiplicity, the latter is irreal in some respect.  However, Schopenhauer unwittingly exposes the inherent flaw in any such subordination.  For, in his system, Universal Will is real, the Individual is irreal, and the Individual is the product of the Principle of Individuation.  So, his unresolved, and, perhaps, unresolvable, dilemma is the status of the Principle, i. e. qua Principle it must be real, and, so its product must be as well.  Likewise, even if Multiplicity is illusory, the process of illusion-generating itself must be real, thereby requiring a divergence from the purported Unity.  Now, Organicism avoids this problem without lapsing into Atomism, by conceiving 'individuation' as diversification by the given Whole, thereby preserving the Unity, the Multiplicity, and the process of generating the latter from the former, the virtue of which is explained by Darwin.  Likewise, an Organic Consciousness avoids two types of Alienated Consciousness--one that suppresses the existence of a collective of which one is a member, the other that suppresses one's own existence.

Friday, April 6, 2018

Organic Consciousness, Power, Alienated Consciousness

An Organic Consciousness is an awareness that one is a Part of some Whole, e. g. a sports team, a performance ensemble, etc.  Now, the Parts of an Organism exercise functions.  Hence, an Organic Consciousness is Practical, and empowering.  Thus, an Alienated Consciousness may be a disempowered one, so the cultivation of it can be an effective ideological tool.

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Alienated Consciousness and Organic Consciousness

Another factor in the engendering of an Alienated Consciousness has been the standard Philosophical concept of One and Many being mutually exclusive.  Consequently, one or the other has been privileged, often via the denial of the reality of the other.  For example, according to Atomism, the Unity of any Multiplicity is merely nominal.  Likewise, according to Social Atomism, i. e. Individualism, any alleged Whole is actually a special interest Totalitarianism, and hostile to any Individual interests.  However, the ubiquitous example of the Organism, which is a Unity of a Multiplicity, plainly demonstrates the inadequacy of the standard concept of their antagonism, and, hence, the inadequacy of the traditional resolutions of it, including Individualism.  So, with the emergence of Evolutionism, in which the Species-Member relation is re-cast as that of Organism-Part, there now arises the prospect of an Alienated Consciousness being supplanted by an Organic Consciousness, via cultivation of a Species-Consciousness in Internet users.

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Alienated Consciousness and Sexuality

Alienated Consciousness is so pervasive it is engendered even when one's membership in the species is most patent.  This occurs in reproductive activity, the Species nature of which is immediately suppressed by the common replacement of 'reproductive' with 'sexual', e. g. the awareness of the principle of Species Propagation is commonly rendered as that of one's 'sex drive'.  This estrangement has been reinforced by the most influential Psychological theory of the past century, Freudianism, according to which the principle of Species Propagation is interpreted as the self-indulging Pleasure Principle.  Thus, while Freudianism is commonly conceived as subversive with respect to a Theological tradition that promotes chasteness, each in its own way suppresses one's membership in the Species, i. e. via the corporeal individual Pleasure-seeker and the incorporeal individual Soul, alike.

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Alienated Consciousness and 'Human'

Perhaps the most subtle source of an Alienated Consciousness is the common use of 'human'.  Most frequently it is presented as synonymous with 'fallible', and occasionally with 'mortal'.  Now, in these cases, what is signified is some personal characteristic, one that happens to be instantiated in each person.  But typically lacking in the awareness that one is 'human' is any Species-Consciousness, i. e. that one is part of an organism, intrinsically related to every other 'human'.  In other words, according to the common use of 'human', one's Humanness consists in fallibility, and, perhaps, mortality, thereby suppressing the fact of one's membership in the Human collective.  This engendering of an Alienated Consciousness is thus ironic.

Monday, April 2, 2018

Disjoint Consciousness and Internet

What can be called a Disjoint Consciousness is one in which is held two unreconciled beliefs.  The two beliefs might not necessarily involve a contradiction, just a heterogeneity, e. g. one might be a non sequitur with respect to the other.  The two need not be of equal degree, e. g. one belief might be more clearly and distinctly entertained than the other.  Now, as has been previously discussed, an Alienated Consciousness consists in a contradiction between a belief and an objective condition, regarding one's membership in a group.  So, if an Alienated Consciousness became modified by an awareness, even dimly felt, that one is, in fact, a member of the group, while still believing that one is not, then a Disjoint Consciousness can be the result.  Thus, for example, in a society that promotes Individualism, but a Species-instinct nevertheless occurs, a member might experience a Disjoint Consciousness, perhaps what Freud calls a Discontent.  Likewise, a Disjoint Consciousness could result from the use of the Internet in an Individualistic society.  However, without adequate conceptual resources, a Psychologist might never be able to correctly diagnose behavior stemming from a Disjoint Consciousness, e. g. persistent use of the Internet, especially during work hours, might be diagnosed as a malign 'addiction', rather than as a symptom of a need for social connection.

Sunday, April 1, 2018

Alienated Consciousness and Private Property

Probably the most common example of the separation of one Human from another is in the context of private property.  Now, the acquisition of property occurs in two ways--staking a claim, and receiving a distribution.  But, receiving a distribution presupposes that what has been distributed has been the property of the distributor, which, in turn, presupposes an initial claim-staking.  So, all property originates in staking a claim.  Now, in itself, staking a claim is a contingent event.  Hence, it, and any subsequent distribution, is a matter of convention.  But, of course, over the centuries, the acquisition of property has been frequently buttressed by some transcendent principle--either 'Natural Right' or 'Divine Right'.  Thus, where either of these is a factor in an experience involving private property, one's awareness of the situation is an Alienated Consciousness.  In other words, the origin of this estrangement is not in the separation per se, but in the suppression of an actual process of dividing, by a purported pre-established division, e. g. the concept of private property that is entailed in the Invisible Hand distributive principle.