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By Delian Valeriani | February 7th 2009 04:54 PM | 13 comments | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
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About Delian Valeriani

Delian Valeriani recieved an Associate of Science from Central Maine Technical College and an Associate of Applied Arts in video production from Rockport College. He is an artist and is currently... Full Bio

Reality is deceptive. Life is all lies. We all live in subjective states of existence. One man’s truth is another man’s oppression. There is only one thing that is truly universal in life and that is the human need of empowerment.


The qualifiers of this universal principal are the different levels of empowerment. This is the secondary universality and it is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. From there universality breaks down and qualifiers spread to each individual and beyond.


This method focuses on studying ideas. Ideas are the bonding mechanism of society. They are the bond between individuals that make society possible. Without ideas… and the ability to communicate these ideas, there is no society. This is not a development of a new social structure but a new way of looking at ourselves and the societies we have created. This is a method of better understanding ourselves and of more efficiently utilizing structure of society already in place in a new way and with a conscious understanding of ourselves and our relation to external forces.



Fundamental Tenets:


Humanity is the universe’s awareness of itself.


All life on Earth is related and interrelated and can be described as an organism in and of itself, just as cells are component parts of the human body. This can be further applied to human society, and thus to any species. This principal is intrinsic to all life from cells and single organisms to life on earth as one whole, each group operates, as general entities, as a single organism with its autonomy qualified by the fact that it consists of individuals.


Life operates on a physical and a psychological level, objective and subjective planes. The more developed the mind of the organism, the more subjective and less objective the world is to that organism. Life at its most basic level is subject to the whims of the objective world completely. Once psychological ability reaches the human state the lines between the two planes blur dramatically. Evolutionary habits, social order, religion, moralsðics, and philosophy are not objects of the objective world. They are not dictated by physics as we have qualified it per se. These are attributes, in ascending order, of subjective states in relation to the objective world surrounding them.  Humanity has developed the ability to comprehend the objective world to a point in which the objective world affects them to a lesser degree, and their own subjective actions are able to dictate their futures. This is shown in the fact that we can manipulate our environment and ourselves by cognition, learning, “This action taken will produce this result” and thereafter implementing this notion. Housing, food production, government and genetic engineering all are evidence of this principle, we are enacting upon the objective world by imposing our subjective views upon it.


By this logic we can come to the conclusion that our subjective mental world has its own reality that comes about by our thinking it, what we think can come in contact with the objective world and produce objective results. This does not mean, (at this state of life i.e. humanity in our current physical or intellectual state), we can impose whatever whimsical physical properties we contemplate on to the objective realm (at least not yet!), however what it means is that our ideas in the subjective realm take on a form of reality in that they are able to interact with the objective world. This is more intuitive in the most basic sense of an individual thinking “I want to manipulate this object” and then physically manipulating it, however this reality is more ethereal when we are speaking of notions that a group of humans think is truth.


The idea of a “god” for example, does not make this god a reality in the objective physical realm; however, the idea of a god can manipulate the objective reality in that it has the ability to influence individuals to influence the objective world for it.  In this sense we may even define an Idea or meme as an individual there by instilling it with a form of life (the meme itself not being cognoscente but the humans it possesses being so). Even if the state of the concept can only be equated to an ameba in terms of its relative condition of life, it still would be considered a form of life. That being said, it is subject to evolution and death, as all life forms are. Not all ideas are as good or as valid as others, and those will be evolved out of the life cycle. We as humans are the driving factor in the evolution of these ideas and they must be submitted to the same rigors as nature imposed upon us during previous stages of evolution.

Right and wrong, good and evil have no meaning at this level. These are subjective judgments based on individual human perception.  What is important is that there are positive and negative memes. On this level all that matters is the extent to which Ideas benefit Life.

Allow me to preface this by stating that this is not a traditional ethical system, it is not intended to replace any other system of ethics by design. This ethical system is a tool for determining the validity and efficacy of ideas that are held on a large scale and for decision making that effects large masses of populous, not necessarily for everyday individualized ethics.


So how do we determine how we should interact with these memes? What discerns a “positive” meme from a “negative” meme is a good starting point. A good Idea should be subjected to the following questions.


1: Does this idea promote the continuance of the survival of the species? This question is the most basic as it is what the primary evolutionary standards are.



2: Is the idea benign or beneficial to the greater being of the earth i.e. does it apply positively to other species, plants, and elements that make life possible (water, air etc.)?



All of the following are contingent upon these above all other qualifications. Beyond this we move further into the realm of the subjective plane of existence



3: Does this idea promote the happiness of a larger proportion of individuals?



4: Does this idea have the ability to expand to individuals outside this secondary qualification i.e. upward mobility is innate to its existence?



5: Does the idea promote further learning? As in, does it allow the investigation of the nature of things in an objective manner?



6: Does the idea promote growth and further evolution of itself?



Not all ideas are broad enough to apply all these criteria; however, they should be workable within these boundaries.


The intents of this writing are as follows:


Provide a philosophical and political framework of conduct that will replace authoritarian and nihilistic ideologies.  This will discredit both religious and relativistic ethics putting forward situational ethics that give meaning and direction to human life in a scientific manner, emphasizing that blind faith must be replaced with rational discourse. Implicit in this is the acceptance of unknowns while still addressing the human needs of meaning and hope;


To attempt to understand the relationship between the objective and subjective realities and how, if at all, the human mind differs from physical reality in function i.e. does the human consciousness constitute a separate plane of existence. This is essential in the basis of situational ethics to understand how human mind is able to manipulate our destinies. I feel the understanding of this relationship will further our understanding of the implications of life within the universe;


Apply these concepts to the human experience in past present and future.


In order to understand popular opinions we must also understand historical and philosophical backgrounds of social movements. The forces that drive human social community are not always conspicuous. We must investigate where ideas stem from. Mass opinion does not appear from nothing, there is always something driving it. These opinions drive social change; if we are to understand sociology we must also understand history. If we are to understand our future we must understand social change.



Comments

Stellare's picture
I completely and heartily disagree with your statement:
"Life is all lies. We all live in subjective states of existence. One
man’s truth is another man’s oppression. There is only one thing that
is truly universal in life and that is the human need of empowerment."

Total relativism is utter nonsense. Thus the premises for the discussion in your article is wrong. I agree that both objective and subjective realities exist and must be considered when trying to understand the human social community. So you do raise several interesting questions. :-)

Steve Davis's picture
Bente, I think the statement that troubles you can be interpreted in several ways, and as you say the questions are interesting. I think Delian's points 1 and 2 can be summarised as: does the idea promote universal values? I would see universal values as being those that are applicable to all people, values that are not based on some narrow sectional interest. This would include protection of the environment, freedom from discrimination, the right to peace and so on. 

Diminishing View's picture

Right. I am infact denying relativism and saying that there are absolutes... but, only if we start from scratch. I am releasing segments of the work I am composing to judge readership interest in order to document a viable audience for publication of my work. I will continue releasing segments as interest is shown. I have seen a rapid rise of relativist ethics and am hoping to address those individuals who hold ethical relativism as their moral base, therefore I hope to bring them into the work. You will see if you remain interested that the following segments are attempting to demonstrate logically that there can be firm morals even without a religious or even spiritual basis. 



Stellare's picture
Is there a universal need or even a set of values for all of us - literally? That was one of the questions discussed at one course in international relations I took years ago. It seems, when we think of it, at least a little longer than superficially, that we, the humans, share an appreciation of the young or youth. That's about it (apart from basic physical needs like food, sleep etc), we were taught. I'm not sure about that, but I guess that seen from a purely cultural perspective there aren't that many things that we can all agree on when it comes to fundamental values.

On the side; from a personal empirical perspective I can say that you come a long way communicating with people across all cultural boarders by talking about food, travel and arts  on a general level. But that is of course colored by the fact that most of the people I communicate with have a certain level of education and international training. If you deviate too much from the general level your fingers get smacked, though. :-)

If I should choose to discuss environment, freedom from discrimination and peace I immediately enter the danger zone. In philosophical discussions I wouldn't be so much in danger as in a real life situation though. Having said that, we need to separate values from reality. It is not the same thing and maybe it is unclear to me what Delian talks about in this article?

This rant was on the side of the topic of the article for the most part. I still maintain that there is no such thing as total relativism. :-)

Gerhard Adam's picture

I have several problems with some of the statements being made, because when we're dealing with a subject like this it is extremely important that we be very precise in our words and meanings.

While it might not seem like much, I object to your use of the word "society" when I suspect you mean "culture".  The reason why I'm distinguishing these two points is that "culture" is ultimately how groups of people convey their values and belief systems, while society happens to be a collection of people that are living together.  This is why we can have a society that attempts to integrate a variety of "cultures" which is where the potential for conflict always occurs.


While I would certainly agree that humans see the world "subjectively" through the filters of their senses, and the additional intepretations taught by their culture, I would however be cautious in assuming that many people give it any thought.  Which also ties into the issues of what we consider to be "values".  I think one has to be careful in simply assuming that these values are universal, because many of them are actually part of human mythology. 


Some of the more common myths involve things like "rugged individualism" or "non-conformity", but even concepts like "freedom" aren't as real as we often imagine.  The point is that people don't actually want "freedom", they want order and independence from authority (to a degree).  Complete freedom is a messy, risky business so if people truly experienced it, a significant percentage would be frightened out of their minds.


The concept of assessing ideas ("goodness" or "badness") is fraught with difficulties because of our subjective filters and cultures.  Why would I worry about the species?  versus my culture?  versus my family?  versus myself?  This is precisely the sort of stuff that gives rise to nationalism, patriotic fervor, and even terrorism, because the relative importance of the idea is placed well above that of the individual.


Presumably much of the trouble occurring in the world is based precisely on this idea that someone, somewhere has made such an assessment and determined that it was a concept worth committing to.


Human culture is borne out of the teachings that attempt to convey information necessary for the group to survive.  Therefore regardless of logic or anything else, these teachings will tend to dominate all human endeavors because their entire purpose is to provide meaning for the subjective experience of being in the world.  This is precisely why religious beliefs are so ingrained and resistent to logical argument.



Diminishing View's picture
Yes, I agree with your rejection of the term society in certain contexts... you make a good point I may need to go through what I have an revise a few of these words. The basis for this was written at a time when I still had some confusion over the terms culture and civilization. I will attend to these issues. However I will also point out that what you call "freedom from authority" is a form of empowerment. I agree that humans do not want freedom generally but empowerment which is control over their lives. They do not want freedom if it interferes with their saftey. Though some may seek this, they would be the exception. If their saftey is threatened this is a loss of control... a loss of empowerment. I also will point out that we are entering a stage of civilization that becomes global. This will happen whether we like it or not, barring some sort of immiediate and devistating catastrophe. What we can choose is what that society looks like.  

Stellare's picture
Society, culture, values, are all words hard to define. Gerard says:

"I think one has to be careful in simply assuming that these values are
universal, because many of them are actually part of human mythology. "

To me the word 'value' has always been unclear. We use it in many contexts; from individual to group of people to nations. In any of these contexts I think it is hard to define and measure what values are.

Take a simple question about the right to live. Several (religious) cultures agree that we shall not kill each other as life and the right to live is valued. Yet the same group of people kill for all sorts of reasons with reference to other sets of rules justifying the killing. Where did the value/rule 'a right to live' go? Values are hard to grasp.

Delian says:
"Provide a philosophical and political framework of conduct that will
replace authoritarian and nihilistic ideologies.  This will discredit
both religious and relativistic ethics putting forward situational
ethics that give meaning and direction to human life in a scientific
manner, emphasizing that blind faith must be replaced with rational
discourse."

If Delian intend to discredit religious and relativistic ethics through defining a philosophical and political framework, that is a noble goal.  The fact that I interpreted her post as a defense of total relativism may of course be a sign of me being unable to read; or, it demonstrates the challenges of the topic. :-)

Diminishing View's picture
Maybe I should put out some other definitions as well since I haven't really done this in the text.
Relativistic Ethics assumes all beliefs are equal and that what one culture or individual belives is as true as any other. I feel this is wrong. The problem is actually destroys any meaning of ethics, it is impractical due to how open it is.

Religious Ethics are a fixed moral system based on a text or tradition that is unswayed from. This also is impractical because these morals are always strayed from and justified in some other manner; ie Thou Shalt Not Kill becomes thou shalt not murder your own.

I have termed my system (as a working title), which will be explained further later in the text, situational ethics. The problem with this designation is that Situation Ethics is an established ethical system that already has negitive connotations as it has been misinterpreted as relativistic ethics. It differs from my own system in that it is in fact a religious ethical system that uses "Love" as a method of determining ethicacy from and "agape" standpoint. It is not well developed it is too subjective to be useful.

There are other systems that are similar such as Utilitarian ethics however this is flawed in that it merely  states that the methods do not matter as long as it creates greater happiness. The problem with this as I see it is that it does not address the survival of the species or of life on earth which must be preserved at any cost or threaten to render life meaningless, if life is destroyed it becomes meaningless. As of now humans are Earth's life's best hope of survival from apocolyptic doom such as meteorites, super volcanoes, the eventual destruction of the galaxy as the sun runs out of fuel etc.

I hope that my position will become clearer as I post more of this text.

Diminishing View's picture
I suppose I might as well, at this point lay out the definitions of "culture" and "civilization", or at least one that I am preferential to. Oswald Spengler in his introduction to The Decline of the West defines civilization as "the inevitable destiny of the Culture". Specifically he is refering to the idea of the "world city" which he defines as "cosmopolitanism in place of 'home'".

What this means is that civilization is a restructuring of a people where centralized power structures take hold as cities that reject the traditionalism ... the culture of their heritage. He say "Pure Civilization as a historical process, consists in a progressive exhaustion of forms that have become inorganic or dead."

Civilizations feed off of the land that sowed them. Tradition becomes meaningless and all they can do is expand untill they fall. A dark notion if looked at linearly, however Spengler, at least in his earlier years viewed history as cyclical.

What I am writing is not for the civilization of today, which is currently in rapid deterioration but for the coming civilization beyond civilization; the Global Society. There are two paths after the collapse, which will come soon. One is footed right now to gain control of the forces already poised to fill the coming need. The other is everywhere. It is everyone. It is the Post-Civilization.
 
Central control over the emerging global which will begin by control over markets systems tied to a manufactured loss of confidence in capitalism, as well as control over gross national product by cap and trade through manufactured fear of environmental crisis, ... ... is doomed for failure. Only through decentralization and dissemination of empowerment will we emerge from the current crisis as a vital global society.

Gerhard Adam's picture
Perhaps I'm too cynical, but there is not now, nor has there ever been anything remotely resembling universal truth or agreement.  It matters little whether the group is a family or a country or the entire globe, there will never be any ground common enough to which everyone can willingly adhere.

The closest anyone has come has been with religions where billions of people have become participants, and yet within those groups there is no end to the chaos and strife that arises because of disagreement around simple, basic tenets.  Catholics and Protestants can't agree on the most basic elements of Christianity.  Sunni, Shi'ite, etc.   There is no agreement, so to suggest that there is some path to a "global society" strikes me as wishful thinking.

One thing I can guarantee, is that whatever should happen to evolve will NOT be based on logic.

Diminishing View's picture
I don't think we have an option... we already are a global society... Right now there are very powerful people attempting to gain control of the global economy, this is just the begining, those who control the economy control production, those who control production control the resources. The global economic crisis as well as global warming are being used as a pretext, through fear of crisis to gain control over the global economy. All we can do right now is attempt to prevent this from happening. I'm not talking about implementing utopia or anything, far from it, however there are trends toward interconnecting the global economies based on the course of the free market. We must allow this to be established as it spreads wealth and raises empowerment of the masses as well as creating interdependence. It's not perfect by a long shot but it is the best we have. I am wondering what of the basic principles I have outlined so far you disagree with. I don't want a global moral concenses on these anyway. That is, as you say, impossible. All this is is a Set of guidlines for decisions to be made by individuals who are making decisions that effect large numbers of people. They embace the basic principles to establish a succesful system; Survival of life and ability to adapt rapidly. I don't know the outcome, it is essentially organic... all I know is what we cannot have and that is a central global authority.

I do appretiate the comments and your interest. I hope As I continue posting my work its purpose will become more clear.

Gerhard Adam's picture

Perhaps if you simply articulated what your purpose was?  What do you suppose would be achieved?  What are you proposing be achieved?



Diminishing View's picture

This is a segment of a larger work, I have posted the next installment, this should begin explaining the purpose of this. There are multiple installments remaining however I will post after part two of the explanation a blog clarifying any remaining questions of intent if you remain interested.



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