what the modern age knew · 2013-06-26 · a history of knowledge what the modern age knew chapter...

A History Of Knowledge

What The Modern Age Knew

Chapter 18: 1932-5

Piero Scaruffi (2004) www.scaruffi.com

Edited and revised by Chris Hastings (2013)

“An eye for an eye

makes the whole world

blind”

- Mahatma Gandhi "The size of the lie is a

definite factor

in causing it to be

believed”

- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf

“We are not shooting

enough professors”

- Lenin’s telegram

"Pacifism is objectively

pro-Fascist.”

- George Orwell, 1942

“What good fortune for

governments that the

people do not think”

- Adolf Hitler

Part 1: The Age Of World Wars

2

What the Modern Age knew

Flow of time is mysteriously altered by measurements

Classical world emerges from quantum world thanks to measurement

John Von Neumann (1932)

3


Continuous process of probabilistic kind gives rise to discontinuous process of the deterministic kind


4


Measurement of system consists of chain of interactions between instrument and system, whereby states instrument become dependent on states of system


5


Eventually, states of observer’s consciousness are made dependent on states of system and observer “knows” what value of observable is


6


Somewhere between system and observer’s consciousness: “Collapse” occurs


7


Game theory

Zero-sum games (one player’s win is other player’s loss) and Non-zero sum games (both stand to gain or lose)


8


Game theory cont’d

Prisoner’s dilemma (non-zero sum)

Any n-person non-zero-sum game can be reduced to n + 1 zero-sum game


9


Game theory cont’d

Such n + 1 person games can be generalized from special case of two-person zero-sum game


10


Intuitive absolute idealism

“The successive emergence of the material, the animal, the organic, the animal, the human and the spiritual” (as told by Evolution theories) highlight “cosmic evolution to reveal the Spirit”

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1932)

11


Evolution does not end with emergence of human consciousness

Evolution continues with emergence of super-consciousness capable of realizing union with reality that science cannot grasp

Sarvepalli Radharkrishnan Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1932)

12


Empirical world exists (not illusion/maya) and it is “the Absolute in action… as creator” (Isvara, of whom Visna, Siva, etc. are different aspects)


13


3 forms of pramana (knowledge)

Perception

Logic

Intuition


14


Intuition is fundamental form of cognition, when mind works as whole to grasp essence of reality (knowledge by being)


15


Humans are imperfect egos

God is the absolute ego

God is supreme ideal for all other egos (see: Nietzsche’s Übermensch)

Muhammad Iqbal (1932)

16


Process that leads to perfection is process not of passive acceptance of God’s will but of active social life

Muhammad Iqbal (1932)

17


Existence (Dasein) is existence in world (“situated” existence)

Existence is orientation in world

It is impossible to transcend human experience

Karl Jaspers (1932)

18


Freedom of individual: To choose another existence and risks that come with it

Real freedom of choice is impossible because we are what we are (historically, socially, etc.)

Karl Jaspers (1932)

19


Freedom is only acceptance of one’s destiny

Communication is way existence realizes itself, but even communication is mirage: An existence cannot truly join with other existences

Karl Jaspers (1932)

20


Existence is contradiction in terms

Each existence can only glimpse essence of its own existence (it cannot change it)

Karl Jaspers (1932)

21


Axial age of 600-300 BC: Confucius, Lao-Tze, Buddha, Zoroaster, Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, etc.

Karl Jaspers (1932)

22


Nazism was last avatar of German nationalism that, starting with Reformation, assumed increasingly aggressive forms as reaction to difficulty in achieving political unity

Karl Jaspers (1932)

23


Homeostasis: Living organisms are capable of self-maintenance

Walter Cannon (1932)

24


Animals: Hunters and gatherers are bound to territory (i.e., "space-binders”)

Humans: Agriculture is bound to memory of past and prediction of future (i.e., "time-binders”)

Alford Korzybski (1933)

25


Time-binding is enabled by nervous system that is capable of constructing and manipulating symbols

Time-binding allows for transmission of knowledge to succeeding generations


26


Rate of growth of human knowledge is exponential

Language allows time-binders to categorize and generalize experiences and communicate them to others


27


Human knowledge is limited by

Structure of nervous systems

Structure of language


28


Human beings cannot experience world directly, but only through "abstractions" that are due to nervous system and language

What humans “know” is not necessarily what truly happens


29


General Semantics to remedy limits of language

We have fewer words and concepts than experiences: We "confuse" similar situations


30


General Semantics to remedy limits of language cont’d

We must evaluate situation less by intension (its category) and more by extension (its unique features)


31


General Semantics to remedy limits of language cont’d

We must avoid categorization and generalization, and spot unique characteristics of situation


32


Language provides semiotic mediation of knowledge, guides a child's cognitive growth

Cognitive faculties are internalized versions of social processes

Lev Vygotsky (1934)

33


An individual is result of dialectical cooperation between nature and history, between biological sphere and social sphere

Individual is product of culture as well as product of nature

Lev Vygotsky (1934)

34


Children develop under influence of both biology and society

"Zone of proximal development:” Difference between unguided (independent) problem solving skills and guided (coached) problem solving skills

Lev Vygotsky (1934)

35


Language is way to organize world internally

Lev Vygotsky (1934)

36


Language is also way to transmit a mind to less mentally-able individuals and across generations

The byproducts of this “coaching” process are arts and sciences

Lev Vygotsky (1934)

37


Acquisition of language itself is process of transmitting mind: Teaching children to speak is way of coaching their minds

Humans solve problems by speaking as well as by using their body and tools

Lev Vygotsky (1934)

38


Process of "learning" from coach is mostly unconscious (just like child is not conscious that s/he is learning to speak)

We become conscious of function only after we have mastered it by practicing it unconsciously

Lev Vygotsky (1934)

39


Civilization is due to “response to a challenge”

Civilizations occur not in environments where human life is easy (e.g., Nyasaland) but in environments where human life is difficult

Arnold Toynbee (1934)

40


Humans are doomed to

unhappiness

Philosophers ignore suffering of

body (most obvious of realities)

Emil Cioran (1934)

41


Mystical revelation gives answers

to questions that philosophers

can't even ask

History is procession of false

absolutes

Emil Cioran (1934)

42


Science is discontinuous process (e.g., Relativity and Quantum Mechanics)

Objective stance for Science

Subjective stance for Art

Gaston Bachelard (1934)

43


Scientists communicate via abstract mathematics

Artists communicate through Jung's collective unconscious

Gaston Bachelard (1934)

44


Science is not inductive

Science is hypothetico-deductive

Truth is relative to a theory

Karl Popper (1934)

45


Scientific theory provides means to falsify claims of truth

No definition of absolute truth is possible

Karl Popper (1934)

46


Democracy is form of government that embodies scientific trial-and-error method

Democracy is form of government that allows for change in form of government

Karl Popper (1934)

47


Consciousness is not separate substance, but the world in its relationship with the organism

Consciousness is in world, outside the organism

George Herbert Mead (1934)

48


Objects of environment are colored, beautiful, etc.: That "is" consciousness

Objects do not exist per se, they are just way organisms perceive environment


49


It is our acting in environments that determines what we perceive as objects

Different organisms may perceive different objects


50


Environment results from actions of organism

We are actors as well as observers (of consequences of our actions)


51


Any change in organism results in change of environment

Those objects have qualities and values that constitute what we call "consciousness”


52


Consciousness is not brain process: The switch that turns consciousness on or off is brain process

Consciousness is pervasive but only social species can report on their conscious experiences


53


A self always belongs to society of selves

Consciousness is product of socialization among biological organisms


54


Mind is socially constructed: Society constitutes individuals as much as individuals constitute society


55


Network of “electric telescopes” that would allow people to search and browse through millions of interlinked documents, and to send messages to each other

Paperless future

Paul Otlet (1934)

56

Truth is defined in meta-language

Replace universal and intuitive notion of "truth" with infinite series of rules which define truth in language relative to truth in another language

Alfred Tarski (1935)

57

Correspondence theory of truth: Definition of truth is in world

Truth as correspondence with facts


58

“Model-theoretic” semantics: Models of world yield interpretations of sentences in that world

Meaning of proposition is set of situations in which it is true


This is a chapter in Piero Scaruffi’s “A

History Of Knowledge:”

http://www.scaruffi.com/know

http://www.scaruffi.com/know

what the modern age knew · 2013-06-26 · a history of knowledge what the modern age knew chapter...

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