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Gregg,Thanks for this.The idea of slices through big history is intriguing.You mentioned Behavior and technology as maps of the territory.I can imagine analogous maps concentrating on governance, economies, social organization, land management (and ownership), mythology, family life, leisure time, sexual practices, etc.Repressing an integrated and accessible view of the information will be a challenge and a great opportunity.In the idea incubator I have previously suggested “Wiki Mural and The Big History Timeline”.Imagine being able to navigate through the three dimensions of time, geography, and “slices” with an interactive visualization that allows the user to zoom in to see detail or out to see perspective.
It would be important for this to be carefully integrated. For example a single ontology would be at the core of the data representation. This would demonstrate consiliance and stimulate a unification of vocabulary.
Thanks,
Lee Beaumont
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On Feb 22, 2022, at 5:39 AM, Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
############################Hi TOK Folks,I joined a Big History (BH) Research group and was invited to present on the ToK System model. It was a productive meeting as we were sharing different maps of BH. I thought I would share my note to the group here to give a flavor of what emerged. The idea of a coordinated attempt to systematically arrange the various maps of BH in proper relation has appeal to me.>>>Thanks, Dave and David.I enjoyed the meeting. I have a few thoughts. First, I would be interested to see if everyone would be in agreement, as it sounded like they might, that Big History represented thinking of the universe (or cosmic evolution) on the dimensions of time (Big Bang/Big Beginning to Present) and complexity. If so, that would be a potentially interesting joint statement.Second, I found myself wondering if people would agree that the various approaches and representations can be thought of as maps of that territory. If so, then we can frame the interrelations as different maps that have different legends.The “legend” that the Tree of Knowledge System, and its extension the Periodic Table of Behavior, operates on is “behavioral complexification.” That is, the ToK System represents and unfolding wave of behavioral complexification across time, which is defined by that increasing integration-differentiation of part-whole-group relations. The ToK System posits that nature is stratified into both these levels (i.e., Matter is organized into particles, atoms, and groups of atoms (molecules) across scale) and that there are dimensions of complexification that give rise to new complex adaptive planes of existence (i.e., Life, Mind, and Culture). These planes of existence are organized patterns of behavior that exhibit functional awareness and responsivity in qualitatively different ways as a function of novel information processing systems and communication networks. That is, cells, animals and persons behave qualitatively differently from inanimate matter as a function of evolving adaptive complexity that arise from the variation, selection, and retention feedback loops. The Periodic Table of Behavior shows how to arranged the stratified layers of nature into a 3 levels (parts, whole, groups across scale) by 4 dimensions of complexification (Matter, Life, Mind, and Culture). The ToK System and PTB extension thus give us a map of Big History that is focused on the stratified layers of nature framed in terms of behavior and complexification. It is argued that this onto-epistemology is a primary “language game” of natural science. That is, natural science is concerned with obtaining an ontological map of nature via an exterior empirical epistemological frame that is structured to “see” complexity and change (see E O Wilson’s Consilience).The ToK System is a map that is explicitly structured to deal with the problem of psychology. That is, the field of scientific psychology completely lacks a coherent definition and subject matter. My overall system, the Unified Theory Of Knowledge, of which the ToK System is a key idea, argues that this failure or problem is cause by a deep scientific/philosophical set of problems that arose during the Enlightenment, which I call the Enlightenment Gap. The EG refers to the fact that the Enlightenment failed to produce a coherent synthetic philosophy (or descriptive metaphysical system) that effectively framed the proper ontological relations between matter and mind (i.e., the mind-body problem) and the proper epistemological relations between scientific and subjective and social knowing (which can be seen in the postmodern critique of the modern science sensibility). The UTOK is structured to resolve the EG and solve the problem of psychology in a way that addresses the nature and function of the human psyche consistent with the insights of modern psychotherapy.I share this to help this group situate what I am doing with UTOK in general, and the ToK System/PTB in particular. I offer this as an example of what I mean by framing different approaches to Big History via the shared time by complexity cosmic evolutionary frame and by the more specific point that there will be different maps of BH that are structured to address different kinds of problems. The ToK System/PTB is designed to give rise to a descriptive metaphysical system that is up to the task of solving the problem of psychology. I would be curious about other approaches and if other authors see their works as maps designed to address a particular aspect of our understanding of BH. If so, a collection of such maps, with clarity about what they are getting at and their interrelations would be fascinating. To give one example of clarification, the ToK System is about “naturalistic evolutionary processes” meaning that it does NOT represented human technology explicitly. There are reasons for that, but, of course, many BH maps would include human technology and society/civilization more explicitly. These maps are not inconsistent with the ToK System, but simply are highlighting different aspects via a different legend.
Best,
Gregg__________________________________________Gregg Henriques, Ph.D.
President of the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (2022)Professor
Department of Graduate Psychology
216 Johnston Hall
MSC 7401
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
(540) 568-7857 (phone)
(540) 568-4747 (fax)
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