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The way of being The essential
content—this document For notation, see the big picture styles.html. Anil Mitra, Copyright © 2002 – April 12, 2021 The main divisions and concepts Red text is temporary planning
The way of being 1 Prologueinformal, essential contentment and seeking pleasure and pain (enjoyment) direction and indirection conflict and cooperation a variety of aims and endeavors, human and other multidimensional value continuum from negative to positive commitment continuum from nil to intense quest continuum seeking to conservative coherence continuum from negative to positive a true worldview would give best coherence without suppressing multidimensionality “limitlessness of the universe” why a worldview to have direction takes a worldview; the usual views are a mix of truth and error, of the explicit and the tacit; developing an explicit worldview may address the issues while retaining the good gives coherence to human endeavor informs us on what is real, what possible the view of the narrative—the ‘real metaphysics’ the fundamental principle of metaphysics the universe and the individual are limitless—the greatest possible (the ‘fundamental principle’) ‘intension’ or meaning: this possibility must be ‘logical’ possibility (for which our logics are examples corresponding to some modes of expression) is this arrogant or ‘blasphemous’ it is true it is not a promotion of any limited form what it says is depth is closed breadth is infinitely open as long as we are limited it is the end of philosophy (or science) as foundational of our being and the beginning of action the real metaphysics this principle joins to what is valid in (human) knowledge to constitute the real metaphysics on meanings in going beyond limited notions of experience, we must go beyond and adjust received meanings and system meaning for the way and the worldview history aims quest received culture experience the individual of the worldview goes limitlessly beyond standard secular and transsecular views in meaning, significance, extension of the universe and the individual proof; consistency with what is valid in all paradigms, knowledge, and interpretatons of experience; doubt; alternate attitudes how is the view consistent with experience (including science)—experience shows (a) what is there (b) but what is not there only if we assume essentially everything has been experienced… however it is consistent with our experience so far that, e.g., there is a sublayer for our cosmos which interacts weekly or rarely but is infinite in variety and extent and may interact strongly in our future… of the way shared and reasoned discovery and realization of the ultimate in and from the immediate this will be found also to be the aim of being enjoyment appreciation of a world that has contentment and dissatisfaction, conflict and cooperation, self and other, success and striving, pleasure and pain, reason and chaos includes received means reason critical—of the world, received knowledge (and ways) show a part, perhaps an infinitesimal part in extent and kind creative—how can we go beyond the received without going beyond experience… it must be by critiquing our notions of what is experienced and then by critical imagination the a priori—an extended meaning no a priori abstraction knowledge value agency essential ideas the idea of ‘being’ as that which is, is critical to understanding as ground or foundation that does not seek depth and so avoids assumption such as substance or infinite regress being provides objectivity where it is possible, without relinquishing meaning; it does so by closure in depth but (ever) openness in breadth—i.e., via ‘philosophical algebra’ in experiencing the world, there is the ‘experience of’ or concept and ‘the experienced’ or object; the ‘experience of’ is experience—the first concept of experience is that of conscious awareness reason for omitting awareness without consciousness is given below ‘pure consciousness’ is the case that the actual object is nil but there are always potential objects even logical contradiction may be corrected to begin, experience will be our term for conscious awareness in all its forms the significance of experience includes (i) it is the place though not source of all significance and meaning (ii) there is a good sense in which we do not transcend experience for the measure of experience is further experience (iii) therefore the world is effectively the experienced world the dual use of experience and being (world) provides a language that speaks at once to our sense of meaning and of the real being is essentially experiential (demonstration comes later); here is a heuristic—(i) our world is effectively relational: ‘experience of’ and ‘the experienced’ (ii) matter, such as it is, cannot exclude the primitive of experience from its primitive level (iii) while the primitive level is not as our experience is, it must be primitively experiential and relational (iv) being is essentially experiential (and this informal heuristic is suggestive but deficient as demonstration; clear meanings and demonstration are given later) the world is primitively experiential; while this seems to contradict whatever may be true in world as form and matter and objective, it is not—and it will turn out that ‘world as matter’ fits nicely into ‘world as experiential’, while the latter provides a framework for a greater world 2 The worldcould begin with experience, especially as it is the place of significance and of ‘our being’, but it is convenient to begin with being, weave experience into the discussion, and then elaborate on being… this will be followed by establishment and development of the ‘real metaphysics’ as worldview the concept—characteristic of that that which may be validly known to be (directly, clearly, or otherwise), without qualification on ‘to be’ why not simply ‘that which is’—(i) it is without meaning (defined later), (ii) ‘that which may be validly known to be’ is essentially the meaningful rendering of ‘that which is’ this depends on extending the intension of ‘to know’ that the criterion is not specified further than ‘may be validly known’ implies (i) no further criteria are to be or received (ii) the question of ‘what has being’ is open, except to elucidate the criterion the sometime historical ascription of higher modes of existence to ‘being’ will here be subsumed under kinds of being why being? being—vs substance (foundationalism, coherentism—see infinite regress arguments) vs infinitism (regress) while being may be founded via abstraction, experience (below) is implicit—therefore it might be better to begin with experience; however there is no loss in beginning with the abstract and then grounding being in experience—see ‘experience’ and ‘beings’ below foundation neutral regress pragmatism transience cartesian skepticism negative anti-foundationalism pyrrhonian skepticism positive substance what (positive) ‘depth’ pro, con alternatives ontology why not metaphysics? existence ‘that which is’ the sometime historical distinction from being is empty the sometime historical thought that existence is trivial or meaningless is the result of aborted reason the sometime historical problematicity of ‘negative existentials’ is trivially resolved by analysis of the meaning of concept meaning a being that which has being plural: beings continued below being is not a being abstraction could go above the abstract and the concrete abstract-concrete continuum (difference and similarity between abstraction and abstract objects) perfection pragmatic perfect join of the abstract and the concrete with sufficient abstraction, being is a being (the being) power also see reasons, below a (full, deterministic) cause is that which is of a being, and if it holds or obtains, entails a change or state in some being—perhaps the same being; an effect is the received or entailed change a partial cause is that which is contributory to a cause a probabilistic cause is one that makes the change more likely; in true probabilistic cause, there is no further component that makes the change certain power is the capacity of a being to give and receive cause or effect from itself or another being (or the capacity to be involved in causation) the being that has no power does not exist power is a measure of being form being must have form (which entails extension—immanent spatiality) exception—absence of manifest being just being—spatiality—does not entail duration becoming, e.g. origins and change, ‘entails’ duration—immanent temporality use of ‘awareness’ vs ‘experience’ first concept—animal awareness in all its forms difference between conscious and apparently non-conscious awareness is (can be seen as) difference in degree, not in kind in a substance world, awareness goes down to the very elements of form; in a possibilist universe it goes down potentially and in any class of identical situations the potential is realized in some of the situations this may or perhaps ought to be placed under ‘interpretation’ we consider substance not for foundation or to do justice to the received, but to question it—by doing a thought experiment the aim is to show the nature of cosmoses that are approximately substance and what that entails… but that in general the universe has and can have no substance foundation now one purpose of universal substance is as foundation—for which it must be ultimately simple of one kind, and no structure in extension and duration, for otherwise, the substance would clearly need its own foundation (even with supreme simplicity the question of foundation remains unless perhaps we regard the void, i.e., nothingness, as substance and that is where we will head and find that the simplicity of the void is not given but a matter of perspective but given no structure, substances cannot interact and therefore a substance universe would be monistic and if our world is a substance world the substance would have to have mental and material aspects which is rather easy to see how because both mind and matter—experience of and the experienced—must have extension and change then, from possibilism (developed later) phases of the universe can be substance but the universe as a whole cannot unless the void (in fact any being) is taken as substance intrinsic, instrumental experience incorporates reason form experience has form (with extension and relation) and formation (with change) form and formation are in more than one place given experience, there must be form and formation; but are form and formation will later be found necessary without further premise experiential modality where to place this? dimensions dimensions? here? inner-outer, form-quality, bound-free, iconic-symbolic, imperative-neutral ® recall > memory Research this based on other documents Develop the logic and the implications ‘mind and matter’ are ‘experience of’ (‘mind’) and ‘the experienced (‘matter’) i.e., the material is being as such; the mental is relationship; a further ‘kind’ would be relationship of relationship which is relationship—i.e., there is no further kind; mind and matter are the only elements of what Spinoza thought to be an infinite series (but there may be limitlessly many Spinozan attributes significance experience is the place but not source of all significance not transcended the place of intrinsic and instrumental change relational the being without (with no trace in) experience, self or other, is effectively non-existent later ‘effectively’ will be removed; this will require expansion of the meaning of ‘experience’ to the root (to make elimination of ‘effectively’ meaningful and FP to make it true) interpretation an interpretation is a view, picture, or prescription of the real (i.e. the existing) for a part of the real (e.g., a realm or cosmos) or the entire real (the world) as if real interpretations (mutually consistent and inconsistent) interpretations substance and substance-free worlds; possibilist worlds world this is where the meaningfulness of extension of ‘experience to the root’ is shown get right: the relation between ‘world’, above, and ‘experience of’, just below experiential relation experience of concept attitude action ‘pure’ experience is relational icon iconic concept sign symbolic-iconic concept language symbolic-iconic syntax is iconic languages a metaphysical language the experienced world includes experience—i.e., experience is experienced object experiencer self (also experienced) relational nature of experience meaning knowledge reason effective—optimal—way of achieving good—valuable, optimal—outcomes (ends, right ways, virtue) includes determining value includes attention to received reason note the distinction—reason vs reasons understanding, inference, and feeling—and their products (knowledge, rational action); received reason includes learning having clarified ‘being’, this section catalogs beings and kinds—but it is not a mere catalog: it is a rational catalog that derives from the fundamental nature of being, supplemented by pragmatic considerations the rational (‘logic’) of the development begins, fairly enough with the intension vs extension of being, but the rational of the remainder is rough and needs to be improved and implemented the rough logic to the extension is to list ‘kinds’ and beings (i) essences—aspects (ii) parthood (iii) abstraction (iv) experiential being (v) reasons—but note that perhaps reasons ought to go under abstraction > form intension ‘permissive; it requires only that the conceptually hypothesized being be validly knowable (and not required or needed to be real in any foundationalist-substance or coherentist sense… that is there is no requirement of reference to another being) and knowability requires only consistency—it allows but does not require the object of the concept to be more than the concept… and so does not disallow an object but leaves it open to investigation extension—'beings’ and ‘kinds’ being as such vs essence knowability aspect an aspect of a being is a being characteristic aspects entity-hood process relation form includes extensional form (which extends and has ‘shape’ in space) and durational form or formation (extends in time, has change) forms and formations are beings material aspect property quality quantity state of being or affairs parthood all the being itself the universe part for a being—component, element for all being—a cosmos, a transient, an individual or person null the void—the being that contains no being abstract abstraction vs abstract being an abstraction—removal from the concept of aspects of the being—is a being if what is removed is what may be distorted in experience, the abstract being is perfectly knowable if what is left gives full knowledge, the abstract is an essence essence minimum information to specify a being; desirably necessary and illuminating if the essence is not the entire being, it is a pattern pattern information to specify a being is less than the raw information law ‘theory’ reading of a pattern, especially for a cosmos or realm such as nature or the material; ‘law’ and ‘pattern’ may be conflated limits limitless (ness) hypothesis proposed theory or law sentient being or experiential being ‘ideational’, ‘ideal’, ‘of mind’ idea concept sign elements of language phonemes, words, parts of speech (see Part of speech - Wikipedia), tropes identity sense of sameness of self or object form and space—sameness without change formation and time—change with sameness identities … or beings with identity why are you who you are and not another person are you in fact You intelligent beings phrase ‘intelligent beings’—perhaps begin with sentient and show ‘intelligence’ as part of the hierarchy intelligence is capacity for meaning (significance), and reason hierarchy of intelligent beings animal beings plants? viruses? societies self-aware beings agents free willed beings free will—what it is or may be; conditions for possibility of; human free will, issue of persons human beings are on a low rung of knowledge of self and world beyond the immediate, capable of knowing that they may realize greater and ultimate being—which requires some at least tentative knowledge of how (and which we here see instantiated as real knowledge of how) later, we show the universe to be limitless; this implies all beings are limitless—for if not the universe would not be limitless; but humans can know this; we are perhaps the lowest rung that can; it may seem contradictory for two humans to be both limitless; but limitlessness is realized in merging as Brahman (below); in that form we will not merely infer limitlessness we will see it; in that form we will see all being and beings … gods there are remote gods; but we are not other than gods; we are on the way to becoming god(s)—we are ‘eruptions’ of creation, manifesting agenthood, on the way to ultimate agenthood Brahman thus far in the narrative, gods and Brahman are hypothetical societies reasons also see power above reasons and reason are distinct a reason for a (state of) being is that, which if it is true or exists or obtains, then the being obtains with some degree of certainty necessary reasons if the being obtains with certainty, the reason is necessary thus arguments as beings can be necessary (e.g. deductive, with certain premises) there are certain and contingent facts, e.g. the existence of the manifest universe there is a conceptual possibility of zero-premise arguments (proving the ‘fundamental principle’ will be an example); equivalently there are necessary facts possible reasons otherwise, the reason is likely or possible or less than necessary with regard to either inference (e.g. inductive) or establishment of premise, and may be strong or weak (or wrong) effective reasons material cause-effect—a (full deterministic) cause entails the effect; a partial cause makes the effect more likely; a probabilistic cause makes the effect more likely (the difference from partial cause is that there is no further cause that makes a probable cause a (full deterministic) cause the earlier listing of ‘universe’ and related concepts were classification; now begin to analyse, clarify, and specify creator impossibility of ontological proof vs ‘the ontological proof of God’s existence’ identity cosmos (cosmoses) law defined above existence of no laws in the void first form of the fundamental principle of the universe, its identity, and the individual second form of the fundamental principle a cosmology of limitlessness description (cosmological)— identity of universe and individual, Brahman, extension, duration, variety, peak, cosmoses, transaction issues newness consistency i.e., consistency with experience internal (logic) external (concrete and abstract sciences) possibility as a property of concepts and their potential objects rather than a property of an object paradigm intrinsic i.e., logical third form of the fundamental principle kinds kinds and modes of expression or concept extrinsic i.e., real kinds kinds and modes of being metaphysical general identical to intrinsic special real in having some features of the real but not necessarily of any particular being (cosmos) purpose—to analyze the real or aspects of it without encumbrance of particulars real form i.e., form and formation > extension, change theoretical limited by theory, hypothesis or law scientific limited by theory, hypothesis or law e.g., physical, cosmological, chemical, geological, biological, psychological, social, economic, and political mathematical sentient intelligent self-aware able to inquire into the nature and meaning of (its own) being logic knowledge may be classified by how it is right or wrong—if it conflicts with itself it is logical (and good if it does not conflict); if it may disagree with the world it is empirical or scientific (and good science if it agrees); and mathematics is the case of science for abstract or possible worlds science (and mathematics) presume logic; logic may be seen as (proto) science (it is from here that the sense in which logic is empirical is derived) there is a sense in which science says nothing of the world—the world is there being the world, doing what it does—science is merely saying what it does (but is of course informative to limited minds); similarly, logic, too says nothing; logic (as including science as including mathematics) are aids to limited minds so that the minds can say something and aids to potentially erroneous minds so that they avoid saying less than nothing mathematics science the concept has begun therefore, its possibility the real metaphysics description perfection residual significance of ‘limited world’ philosophy—metaphysics, epistemology, value realization newness doubt, alternative attitudes proofs and heuristics optimal action distribution of effort – allocation of resources modified Pascal’s Wager meaning and implications of the real metaphysics and the fundamental principle intensional or explicit—limitlessness, the only inconsistent concepts have no objects fact and nature of the demonstration analysis of possibility extensional or implicit—the variety of being metaphysics of experience deriving kinds of world or cosmos from experience limitlessness of form, formation, and identity the aim of being human endeavor and realization givenness of the ultimate——human beings partake of the identity and limitlessness of the universe enjoyment appreciation of the quality of living—of pleasure and pain—a value and a natural imperative intelligence engaging intelligently in pathways and development of pathways is effective in enjoyment is there a better world for ‘intelligence’ knowledge for the text—see the way > resources > text design problems of metaphysics a logical or coherent account the problems dimensions of being here or in ‘metaphysics’ … and experience value ethics, aesthetics, intelligence, and their relations see enjoyment above imperative also considered below; here the aim is to derive and show the essentials, to share 3 The wayreceived means and ways, reason everyday universal world opportunities and problems world problems and opportunities.html dedication affirmation database of concepts (use Access) plan text design continuous text the way continuity with all relevant history and text design includes development of the text versions, sharing, publishing, and translation into action the text has been written without limit, is yet as if a new and nascent flowering—and yet timeless life death envisioning life, death, and their resolution 4 Epiloguereturn to the world being in the world one world the immediate and the ultimate are one sharing reason discovery and action feeling and cognition value and object critical and creative no a priori |