Part Three
THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE
Subjective
Purposes
Every individual
has needs and wants which spring from the imperative to survive and the
demand for satisfaction of desires. Purposes arise from these needs and
wants and the set of purposes determines the intellectual development of the
mature individual. Purposes give rise to objectives. Objectives may be
formed subjectively, although most people adopt the conventional objectives
of their country and class. Thomas Kuhn observes that people who adopt the
conventional objectives of their society are more likely to be successful
according to that society's scale of values.
Individuation has been widely held to be the
consequence of the physical body. It is, however, possible and common, for
an individual to be unindividuated mentally, even though he or she
recognises physical separation and personal physical characteristics. The
subordinated person identifies totally with the group or groups of which he
or she is a member. There is an extreme condition of blind acceptance of the
culture, and of the ideology driving that culture, in which individuals
uncritically accept and obey all ideological demands. Abraham Maslow has
identified the opposite condition to subordination as self-actualisation,
and claims that self-actualisation is the maximisation of individual
potential, and this is the characteristic of outstanding people.
Individuality and subordination are
consequences of cultural influences. Group-oriented ideologies inhibit
individuality and produce subordination. Knowledge, which is intellectually
empowering, leads to individuality and self-development. The understanding
of the self, whether as self-actualising or subordinate, and its
relationship to the understanding of reality, govern the individual's
purposes, objectives and behaviours in life.
Top
Experience
and Knowledge of Reality
The Pursuit
of Knowledge
Chapter One
THE MOTIVATION TO
KNOWLEDGE
Philosophy
and the Self
Every individual
forms a subjective philosophy. The individual's philosophy comprises an
understanding of the Self and an understanding of reality. Taken together
these understandings give the individual an understanding of his or her
life. It defines what reality is thought to be, and the individual's part in
that reality. Purposes follow from the individual's needs and wants in
relation to the subjective understanding of reality, and these govern
behaviour.
The diversity of understandings of reality
leads to a multiplicity of opinions on how to behave in pursuing purposes.
Knowledge offers a solution to this confusion of opinions. Knowledge is the
true understanding of reality and implies behaviours which are most likely
to be successful.
◊ ◊
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
◊
The
Theory of Intelligence
The intellect,
as the compendium of understandings, contains an understanding of the self.
The "I" or spirit which is the nucleus of the intellect is to be
distinguished from this understanding of the self. The I is not an
understanding but an existent. One is aware in the present moment of the I
but can predicate little about it directly but selfbeing and awareness. The
I pre-exists its collection of understandings and constitutes the cognitive,
emotional, and judgmental entity which assents to and annexes each new
understanding. Its nature is, upon examination, intelligence and its
function is willing expressed through its power of choice.
Choice, including assent to the truth of
understanding, is made on the evidence presented by the set of relevant
understandings within the intellect. What is not understood cannot be
chosen. The intellect, as the systematic functioning of the I and its
annexed set of understandings, is not compelled to assent to any candidate
for inclusion as understanding. Nothing is self-evidently true.
To
read the complete chapter, the book can be purchased from
https://www.amazon.com
◊ ◊
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
◊
Top
Experience
and Knowledge of Reality
The Pursuit
of Knowledge
Chapter
Two
THE INTELLECT AS
AN OPERATING SYSTEM
The individual,
with sets of purposes, objectives, and problems, must face the daily world
of experience, and execute behaviours believed to be to his or her
advantage. Success and failure follow from the quality of the individual's
intellect.
The intellect may be compared to the
computer operating system which responds to outside stimuli and produces
appropriate outputs by invoking the appropriate routines. An understanding
functions like a computer program to be retrieved from the library of such
programs and executed, under the control of the intellect, when the trigger
conditions arise. A fundamental difference between the computer operating
system and the intellect is the individual's ability to make unprogrammed
decisions in situations where pre-programming does not exist or is
inadequate. The intellect is therefore the programmer with a previously
produced set of programs at its disposal. These understandings are produced
by the intellect, as the programmer, over the lifetime of the individual.
The individual's problem solving method is also the programming method.
The existence of the library of
preprogrammed mental and physical behaviour definitions relieves the
intellect of a vast amount of repetitive problem solving. The individual
behaves like a computer user who can apply the system to his purposes and
problems without having to consider the basics of system operation.
The understanding, and the model of reality
on which it is based, is a logical entity. When that understanding is
invoked to deal with experience, or problems generally, it is expressed and
its expression is behaviour. Behaviour is both mental and physical. Any
behavioural sequence is a mixture of the two forms and they cannot be
separated. Behaviour is always purposive, although purposes may be trivial
and irrational. Every experience and problem of action is viewed in relation
to one or more purposes and the objectives that flow from these.
The intellect with its set of understandings
is sufficient to account for that subset of human behaviours which is common
to all mature individuals within Western culture. These behaviours are
1.
The ability to maintain second by second control of the thinking processes
and physical behaviour.
2. The ability to deal with day by day experiences
of all types and to respond to those experiences in a more or less
appropriate manner.
3. The ability to impose the will, in the form of
purposes and objectives, on present problems in order to shape the future.
The following discussion considers how the system gives the individual
control of his life situation.
To
read the complete chapter, the book can be purchased from
https://www.amazon.com
◊ ◊
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
◊
Top
Experience
and Knowledge of Reality
The Pursuit
of Knowledge
Chapter Three
THE CULTURE AS
KNOWLEDGE
This chapter discusses
the relationship between the individual and group cultures from the point of
view of knowledge
The culture is the set of solutions to the
common problems of the group and it determines the nature of the group and
its institutions through the selection and definition of problems for
solution. The State, for example, is the solution to certain problems of the
culture.
The culture is formed, extended, and
improved by new solutions to common problems. Cultural solutions may rest on
opinions, which may be ideological, or irrational. When the culture insists
on true solutions to its problems it requires conformity to the standards of
knowledge and cultural decisionmaking and behaviour is then driven by
knowledge.
The form then is
CULTURE = KNOWLEDGE --->CULTURAL BEHAVIOURS
The culture, as the set of true solutions to the common problems of the
group, amounts to knowledge. Knowledge is the correct solution to the
problems of reality, and cultural knowledge is the set of correct solutions
to the problems of cultural reality. Knowledge enables the correct
behaviours for dealing with reality and the successful achievement of
cultural purposes follows from knowledge. Knowledge is therefore a form of
power. At the cultural level
CULTURE = KNOWLEDGE = POWER
◊ ◊
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
◊
The
Development of Intellects
The set of
solutions to the problems of an individual form the set of
understandings within his intellect. This set of understandings is the
individual culture. To a large extent the set of intellects is formed by
education and training based on group cultural solutions to the problems of
experience. Generally speaking, intellects are the products of the group
culture.
The form is
CULTURE ---> THE SET OF INTELLECTS
If the culture is based on knowledge then
education will be based on knowledge and the set of member intellects will
be founded on knowledge.
To
read the complete chapter, the book can be purchased from
https://www.amazon.com
The next section examines the problem of
truth.
|