The moral Aesthetic & Praxeological Imperatives for “Symviability” Education

by Gary Boyd, Education dept. <boyd@education.concordia.ca>

& Vladimir Zeman, Philosophy dept.<Zemvlad@alcor.concordia.ca>

For WOSC 2008 Wroclaw Poland 1

Why “SYMVIABILITY” ?

Because the Earth is too small a planet and people are too numerous, for anything less than a shared super-ordinate science-based conservationist ideology.

“Symviability” is defined as long-term human viability through ecological-cultural and co-cultural World-wide harmonious symboses .

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Symviability - at first glance -

BUT,Universal Values conflict with themselves and each other

John Gray(1995) Who argues “the enlightenment is dead” and others, have pointed out that when attempts to implement are made, universal values conflict with themselves & each-other:

“Jam today” conflicts with “jam tomorrow”Individual “autonomy” conflicts with

“transvidual” mutual collaboration.Symbiosis easily becomes parasitism

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Reformulation of the Enlightenment towards trans-cultural universality ?

Kant who challenged the naif rationalism of the founders of the enlightenment expressed the essence of the challenge that must be kept aptly as:- “having the courage to think for ourselves”

What is new, is our deeper realization of how selves are embedded in each other, how we socially co-construct our human being, involving subviduals and transviduals as well as more-or-less autonomous individuals.

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Is Non-dominative Discursive Legitimation of transcendent survivalist values Actually possible?

Jurgen Habermas argues for legitimation of major actions through truly non-dominative communicartion among the main stakeholder groups (guardians of traditions, scientific experts, political& business traders, artists).

If this is possible at all, it is possible only through computer-communications where pseudonymity can be maintained, and where dominative inputs can be screened out - possibly via the intelligent Web agents.

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Arguing using Praxeological Imperatives

Kotarbinski’s systemic philosophy, “praxeology” is concerned to enable: efficient effective and appropriate human action.

It is based on a critical realist distinction between stubbornly real things and people, on the one hand and mere words which reify qualities and hypothetical concepts that can be changed more easily.

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Ethics & Praxeology as Technology

A “Technology” is defined by Mario Bunge as a field which uses scientific knowledge as a means to design artefacts and/or plans of action. Engineering fields are technology fields.

Since Technology serves other masters, unlike true science, it must be concerned with ethics and morality & so has a Philosophical dimension. [Bunge,1999]

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Aesthetics and Technology

Since technology must appeal to those who commission it, and it must enhance their legitimacy in the eyes of wider publics, therefore it must be aesthetically appealing & satisfying.

We conclude then that the philosophical dimensions of technology include both aesthetics and ethics.

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Ecological lesson

UN-learned !

Possible ways to Educate for World-Wide appreciation and use of Symviability values?

Global radio and TV broadcasting Webcasting and e-Learning etc. Ecological simulations dramatic role-playLanguage & illustrata translationAnd overlapping pluralist affiliations.

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Mass-media ecological–cultural symbiosis education examples

Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth actually offers, both the climate change challenge and an inspiring vision which is mobilizing millions of people today to try to do something effective about it.

Eckhart Tolle’s book A New Earth is a successful joint project started by Oprah Winfrey through her vastly popular TV shows.

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e-Learning (Web or packaged)

Sim Earth™ is a carefully scientifically-based computer recreation game once sold on CDs which failed commercially, but continues to be available from the WWWeb for and remains in widespread educational use. It now has a successor:

SPORE ™ with creatures, not just Earth, building = of ? educative scope.

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Pacem in Terris - someday?

Today

CONCLUDING WITH THESE OUR QUESTIONS

?Is World-wide symviability grounded eco-scientifically and on universal values of cultural survival, a merely wishful theoretical meta-ideological endeavour?

Can educative technology reach across linguistic, religious and political barriers to educate enough potent groups to make long-term symviability plausible?

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REFERENCES

Boyd G. & Zeman V. (2007) “Cybernetic Educational Design Approaches for Symviability” Kybernetes. V.36.9/10. pp1255-1265.

Kotarbinski,T. (1965) Praxeology: an introduction to the Sciences of Efficient Action. Oxford, Pergamon Press.

Gray,J.(1995) Enlightenment’s Wake. London, Routledge.

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