Hi Lists,

Figured I would share with folks a post I made this morning with another list, where I was asked by Alexander Bard how I define Culture and MetaCulture.

 

Best,

Gregg

 

From: Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2019 7:46 AM

 

Dear Alexander,

 

Thanks much for the question. It is indeed crucial to be clear regarding the language games we are using. Before answering directly, let me share a brief description of my background with IDWers.

 

My language system emerged over the last twenty years, starting with the Tree of Knowledge System (which first appeared in my head in 1997), which is a new approach to natural philosophy/science writ large. The ToK System resulted from my realization that modern scientific psychology was hopelessly fragmented and confused, in part because philosophy never got the matter and mind relationship quite right. I came to call the hopeless fragmentation of psychology “The Problem of  Psychology,” and ultimately the ToK System emerged as a novel solution. In 2003, I produced the first outline of the system, in  The Tree of Knowledge System and the Theoretical Unification of Psychology. A few years later I examined the system’s capacity to serve as a new consilient approach to nature philosophy/science via comparing it to E. O. Wilson’s in this paper
The Problem of Psychology and the Integration of Human Knowledge: Contrasting Wilson’s Consilience with the Tree of Knowledge System. I then provided a book length treatment of the system in A New Unified Theory of Psychology. I have since been working out the practical philosophical implications of the system, both for professional psychologists, and for everyday living and psychosocial well-being.

 

The central insight of the Tree of Knowledge is that the universe (from our scientific point of view) is an unfolding wave of behavior (much as Whitehead’s process philosophy and Lee Smolin’s version of reality), that pops into existence at the Big Bang, and unfolds as four strongly emergent dimensions of behavioral complexity, which are labeled Matter (the behavior of and on the energy-matter-space-time grid); Life (the behavior of organisms); Mind (the behavior of animals w/brains); and Culture (the behavior of human persons). The reason that, following Matter, Life, Mind, and Culture are strongly emergent (as opposed to weakly emergent properties, which is how I conceive of the relationship between physics and chemistry and other “within” dimension emergences) is because each is associated with the appearance of a novel and functional information processing and communication system. Genetics serves that for “Life”; the nervous system for “Mind”; and human language for “Culture”.

 

Between each dimension of complexity is a “joint point,” which refers to the conceptual structure that provide explanations for the emergence of the higher order dimension of behavioral complexity.  

The ToK posits Behavioral Investment Theory as the joint point for the emergence of Mind.  The Justification Hypothesis (now referred to as Justification Systems Theory) is the joint point for Culture. It is a framework that allows for a clear understanding of the functional organization of the human self-consciousness system and the socially constructed systems that coordinate/mediate the behavior of human persons. Capital “C” Culture on the ToK refers to the large scale systems of justification (i.e., linguistic meaning making) that emerged between 200 and 50K ago, and lines up with Donald’s mythic culture. Our laws, politics, scientific theories and the reasons we give when we are late, are all “justifications or justification systems” in the language game of the ToK. As is this narrative.

 

MetaCulture has its primary origins in writing, which also represents the shift from pre-modern to “modern history” (as opposed to Big History). I am using “Meta” to mean above and beyond. So, I am referring to a theoretical conception of behavior that transcends modern Culture. On the Tree of Knowledge, MetaCulture emerges as “The Fifth Joint Point.”

 

Let’s ask: Why is it happening now, what is driving it, and how might it be guided? It is happening now because we are seeing the emergence of a new form of information processing, communication and memory systems, in the form of “digital.” That is, digital becomes akin to genes, neurons, and human language, and is the driving force. It my hope that its emergence will be fused with the emergence of coherent integrative wise knowledge systems that enable a synthesis of human nature, the nature of our planet and cosmos, and technology with a valued based vision of the future toward the True, Good, and Beautiful. That is, I conceive of the 5^th Joint Point as a “transcendental beacon” to serve as a call for wisdom that coalesces and coincides with the digital revolution and provides a path to a higher or meta form of cultural consciousness. In other words, a post, postmodern grand meta-narrative.

 

Attached is a visual that attempts to capture this graphically.

 

Thanks for the opportunity to share my version of reality.

 

Best,
Gregg

___________________________________________

Gregg Henriques, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Graduate Psychology
216 Johnston Hall
MSC 7401
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
(540) 568-7857 (phone)
(540) 568-4747 (fax)

Be that which enhances dignity and well-being with integrity.

Check out my Theory of Knowledge blog at Psychology Today at:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/theory-knowledge

 

Check out my webpage at:

www.gregghenriques.com

 

 

 

 

 

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