In earlier posts I've paid attention to the need for microfoundations and the legitimacy of meso-level causation. And I noted that there seems to be a prima facie tension between the two views in the philosophy of social science. I believe the two are compatible if we understand the microfoundations thesis as a claim about social ontology and not about explanation, and if we interpret it in a weak rather than a strong way. Others have also found this tension to be of interest. The September issue ofThe Philosophy of the Social Sciences" provides a very interesting set of articles on this set of issues.
Particularly interesting is a contribution by Tuukka Kaidesoja, "Overcoming the Biases of Microfoundations: Social Mechanisms and Collective Agents" (link). Here are the four claims advanced in the article:Understanding Society
Meso causes and microfoundations
Daniel Little | Chancellor, University of Michigan at Dearborn
4 comments:
Starting from the top and the West - everything precipitates from something universal we call 'energy'. The atom of modern science is the smallest identifiable portion of consolidated energy, designated as matter. Elements are substances made entirely from one type of atom. Atoms comprise proton, neutron and electron 'particles': changing the number of neutrons creates isotopes of the element; changing the number of protons creates a new element. Compounds are built up from chemical combinations of elements. Molecules are combinations of atoms, and most molecules are made up of atoms of two or more elements. Cells are made up (two-thirds) of water and the rest a mixture of molecules; mainly proteins, lipids and carbohydrates. Cells turn the raw materials in the food you eat into the molecules your body needs, using thousands of different chemical reactions. Cells combine in groups to form organs in the body, which take on systemic functions within the city of the body. According to Wikipedia, proportionally, there are ten times the number of bacteria in the human body (they are much smaller) than there are human cells.
Consciousness, announces science, arises from these fortuitous arrangements come together in the consolidated organ of the brain, and is entirely dependent on the brain’s physical organisation (no causal link contemplated between consciousness and 'energy as input'). Others believe consciousness has evolved to a point where it can begin to change the seat of its own presumed material origins. Collective consciousness is thought to arise from social organisation of human beings as 'cells' forming new social 'organs' performing specialised functions. Some wonder whether collective consciousness may too become self-conscious, evolving for itself the equivalent of a brain.
By the same logic the unit may be scaled to contemplate self-consciousness evolving in a universal 'brain'. The atoms may be solar systems, or even whole galaxies or universes. There are no boundaries or limits to Time Space.
Moving East, and in broad brush strokes, the esoteric traditions consider the 'elements' and constitution of man differently: at the physical level there is earth, water, air and fire, and three 'physical ethers' comprising a seven skinned plane of matter (7th plane) from which the physical body of man is built. The next seven-tiered plane towards the centre is the emotional or astral (6th plane) from which the emotional body or sheath is built. The 5th is the mental plane wherein on the lower four sub-planes is found lower mind (personality - mental body or sheath, where the 'I' first appears) and on the higher three sub-planes, the causal body (soul, abstract mind) to which a spiritual triad, above, is linked. It is a triad because like the humble atom with its proton, neutron and electron particles, the triad has a ‘particle’ each on the 3rd (atmic, nirvanic plane, nirvanic body or sheath), on the 4th (buddhic, intuitional plane, buddhic body or sheath), and on the first sub-plane of the 5th (manasic, mental) plane. On the 2nd monadic plane is the threefold human Monad (will, wisdom, active intelligence) a 'spark' sheathed and differentiated in only the finest matter of the 2nd plane, leapt from the energy of the 1st or Divine plane Adi, the plane of pure energy (looking from below up) we call Spirit. Consciousness and energy are therefore synonymous, and it is qualified energy that flows down, into, and through prepared matter, gathering to itself whatever it needs to create a form; a sheath or vehicle that will allow it to manifest in the lower worlds. Wherever this pure energy of Spirit strikes matter, Consciousness is the Light that results.
So, from the top down and in the East, we have the conception of a spark from the Divine Flame, individualised on the 2nd plane, descending, taking to itself matter from the 3rd, 4th, 5th planes and creating a body of manifestation for itself (causal body) on the planes of abstract mind. The individual soul, Consciousness as Jiva, is the result on the second sub-plane of the 5th. Then, bridging the gap between the formless higher worlds to the lower worlds of form and repeating the same process via a triad of ‘particles’ on the lower planes, the soul takes to itself matter from the 5th, 6th, 7th, creating a body of manifestation we call the human persona. The 'I' in the persona then, is all that can be seen of the sheathed Monad: - the Monad beautifully self conscious on its own plane; limited in consciousness as the Jiva within the causal body; limited much further in consciousness as the 'I' in the persona. There is no difference between the Monad in the atom of science and the Monad in the atom that is a human being other than evolution of the vehicles. Once the limitations of the causal body are overcome soul and Monad function as one; additionally, once the limitations of the persona are overcome ‘I’, soul and Monad function as one – they always are on the inside. So collective consciousness in this system is a matter of 'I's being in contact with each other, ‘souls’ being in contact with one another, Monads being in contact, all through an impulse of Energy; focused on a particular plane, Consciousness able or not to transit planes. As Kabir says: ‘There is a drop within the Ocean, everybody knows that. That there is an Ocean within a drop, not many people know’. Human beings, stewards of the physical planet in an evolutionary process. For the moment they dream, living in their mind-born imaginations enacted upon the stage of the earth, daily. As all human Monads arise from the same Fire, Consciousness tends towards Unity. The greatest transgression of Law for the ‘I’ is separation. The Jiva knows beyond all doubt, it is a Son of Shiva (Spirit) a part of Vishnu (Universal Soul) and clothed in Brahma (Holy Substance). Once awakened the Jiva sees Spirit shining above it in the same way that the ‘I’ sees the physical Sun. Once the ‘rainbow’ bridge between the ‘I’ and the Jiva is constructed to the world below, then the ‘I’ knows too.
In the animal self-consciousness is all but absent as the mental body is insufficiently evolved as a vehicle. In the human many are focused on the emotional sub-planes and rapidly responding to mental stimulation; others, focused in the lower mental sub-planes are hampered by greed and self-interest; the intelligentsia focused in intellectual pursuits are conditioned by the ‘I’. All hear the call of the soul interpreted by the ‘I’ as the call for beauty, harmony, peace – something higher – some formulate it into a belief system. In the atom of matter, consciousness is limited to the relations of atoms to each other externally, and particles internally.
The seven planes comprising the human constitution are by analogy, the three ethers, fire, air, water and earth of a cosmic Logos and therefore its lowest physical sheath. In the Eastern conception there is one LIFE and all beings, whether a cosmic, solar, planetary or human Logos (Monad) appear ultimately at one pole as Energy and the other as matter. Man is far from the brightest star. Consciousness is the result of Energy manifesting within matter, in a septenary ray - whether it constitute as form, the atom of science or atom that is man - or atom of a planet, solar system or universe. The salient point for the 'I' today is that this universal Energy can be felt, even within our current constitution. It can be recognised and enjoyed, long before it is understood. That one little fact is far more important than anything else going on I believe. It will eventually transform our world. The energy of Spirit as it percolates down here into the heart of every human being on the planet, is the only thing that I know of that actually fulfils a human being! All else turns to dust in our mouths and there is good reason for that. Human beings are like tiny little light bulbs, lit by an immense power station seemingly trillions of light years away: but distance does not matter to a power that is Infinite.
For science today, the discovery of even the three ethers (etheric body) of our physical world would revolutionise medicine, communications and transport; the discovery of the ability of human consciousness to function focused in any of the astral, mental, causal or even higher bodies with or without the lower sheaths redirect material thought. The changes that this ever enduring power of Spirit brings to this planet will always be beyond our wildest dreams: imagine a caveman predicting human consciousness in the C21st. Why should we not contemplate that there are Monads passed far beyond the human stage altogether, and the Consciousness they exhibit as far beyond the consciousness of the atom as the street lamps to the stars?
Just wanted to contrast the two (Western and Eastern) schools of thought! I think too often we believe our Western minds have some patent over reality. Or that what excites us in the newspapers is the only reality there is. The esoteric Eastern schools if truly accurate in their declaration of the constitution of man are philosophically inclusive of Western thought; but reorient the focus from the material world to the world of energy and thus consciousness. I think a true inquiry begins when we do not put tickets on ourselves or consider our current affairs too overwhelming, or separate ourselves from the context of evolution!! The mind, like a parachute, is pretty useless unless it opens. Or believe religiously our current humanly created miasma and fiasco has got anything even remotely to do with Truth! Our simple fundamentals are that we should treat each other kindly and with respect for the miracle that is Life. We should listen to the heart within us because it possesses far more wisdom. How transparent and fleeting for example, is politics and commerce? How quickly do our seventy laps (on average) around the Sun pass by?
After 200,000 years on the road, what is a human being?
Sorry - the three comments above were addressed 'For Tom Hickey and others like Daniel Little ...' but I think I lost it through enclosing the salutation in carets??
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