1. "Reality" is a subjective perception. It is not fully accessible. There is no one accessible true reality. Humans are limited to using their own perceptual abilities, and these are, by nature, specific to that human. They are necessarily, then, limited, biased, conditioned by education and subject to great misunderstanding.
2. Due to the subjectivity of all human perceptions, it is remarkable that we agree upon almost anything. However, it turns out that we have many common general interests. Among them are the desire for a “good life” of some sort, the desire to be loved and/or respected, a desire for family of some sort, and usually a desire to contribute something to our community or culture. These may manifest in a variety of forms.
3. We are social animals. We are interdependent by design or nature, needing others in order to achieve more complex goals. While a few of us may be able to survive off the land … most need, and see the value of, a life with higher goals than survival … hence … we learn we must interact with others in mutually beneficial ways. In short, we learn that we need help to do many things and that we need to help others if we hope to be helped ourselves.
4. Expanding in scale from the simple perceptions one, two and three … we may see that all people depend on one another … that all people have subjective perceptions of Reality, that all people must interact with one another in mutually supportive fashion so that all people may have at least a modest chance for a comfortable life and general happiness.
5. Recognizing that reality is and can only be perceived in a subjective manner, we necessarily have to give up the notion that OUR REALITY IS REALITY. Our reality is an image we create in our minds, highly colored by our experience, early and ongoing education (informal as important as formal), the zeitgeist of our culture, our specific immediate interests, long-range goals, etc. Comprehending this deeply, we can leave off with the age old effort to try to get everyone to believe exactly what we do, see exactly what we see and admit that our version of reality is THE TRUTH. It cannot happen, will not happen and world wars are the extension of this ridiculous mission to get people to submit to MY PERCEPTION AND TO MY VIEW OF WHAT SHOULD BE!
6. Rather, time is productively spent finding ways where your perception and mine are compatible, where yours might enhance or extend mine and vice versa, where I can learn from you and you from me. We may look for ways where we can support one another, focusing more on what we have in common than on what divides us. Importantly, accepting that we are different instead of trying to force everyone into our pattern… we can come to appreciate the diversity, and find ways in which all the variations of human manifestations can co-exist in healthy, mutually sustaining, creative and productive ways.
I think the six premises listed provide a basis for individual, small group and macro scale interactions, if understood, adopted and maintained. What would be your handful of operative premises for a better planet, for better relationships? What do you think of these six?
Relative to adopting.... I guess we adopt what we believe will be effective or seems as though it will be. So the premises need to be broadly disseminated... Social media is a new possibility for broad circulation. The goal is education... To educate children in the skills of collaboration, perhaps arbitration, and to the interdependent nature of our global community. It's about raising consciousness and, obviously, these ideas are not original.... They come from various religions and philosophies, from psychology, etc. Adaptation can't be forced.... My take is that the attractive power of effective truths (human truths mind you), should sell them. In practice however, they can be applied to the structure of public education, used in religious education, promoted in family therapy and self help type books, etc. I imagine that business could use these ideas as well... They apply to any situation that requires more than one human working towards a goal.
For someone with mental illness who hears voices, that is their reality- but we know it is not real...Our perception of reality tells us that dogs do not talk to us, but for some people the voices are reality? I think I can understand your points, but I can't agree with number 2. Not everyone wants to be happy. Some people want to be angry and lash out at anyone. They want anything but peace because in their reality they only feel good when fighting or watching others suffer. I dig the notion that accepting reality is different for each of us may lead to a higher understanding and evolution of the human brain.
Perhaps I still have a chance........
With the advent of smart phones and the world wide web, I see a time when we will have instant knowlege capability. Perhaps this will lead us to a new enlightenment period. As for World peace- we are generations away from that.
Thanks for the dismissive swipe, btw. Free thought really isn't encouraged in your blog, is it? Pretty much like the average faculty lounge.
In a documentary to be broadcast by RAI, the Italian state broadcaster, this morning, a former American soldier who fought at Fallujah says: "I heard the order to pay attention because they were going to use white phosphorus on Fallujah. In military jargon it's known as Willy Pete. "Phosphorus burns bodies, in fact it melts the flesh all the way down to the bone ... I saw the burned bodies of women and children. Phosphorus explodes and forms a cloud. Anyone within a radius of 150 metres is done for." Photographs on the website of RaiTG24, the broadcaster's 24-hours news channel, www.rainews24.it, show exactly what the former soldier means. Provided by the Studies Centre of Human Rights in Fallujah, dozens of high-quality, colour close-ups show bodies of Fallujah residents, some still in their beds, whose clothes remain largely intact but whose skin has been dissolved or caramelised or turned the consistency of leather by the shells. A biologist in Fallujah, Mohamad Tareq, interviewed for the film, says: "A rain of fire fell on the city, the people struck by this multi-coloured substance started to burn, we found people dead with strange wounds, the bodies burned but the clothes intact."
Are we not barbaric? And yet I would guess a tiny percentage of Americans even know the name Fallujah much less what we did there.
T. S. Kuhn was inspired by Hanson's book to write The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. That article/book is worth reading. Kuhn borrowed from Polanyi and noticed the social element in science, which went beyond what Hanson had observed. Kuhn said that science does not so much build upon itself and evolve, but rather works towards a point where it appears to be broken and then a revolution takes place. He noted the Euclidean geometry explained all that it could but reached a point where it could explain no more, and then Newton came along with revolutionary paradigm. Likewise, Newtonian physics hit a dead end and then Einstein came along. Einstein came along and the next revolution was quantum mechanics, and so on....... The next logical step of each revolution was not based upon a logical deduction of the previous paradigm any more than you or I can deduce Newton from Euclid, or Einstein from Newton. Don't waste your time on Feyerabend.