The Stick

         Their Physicalist or Positivist doctrine displays a four-fold destitution -ontological, metaphysical, epistemological and formal.  First was my outrage at the way in which the bankruptcy of both Neo-Darwinism (as a sufficient theory of evolution)  and of the whole Artificial Intelligence movement was either simply being ignored or disposed of through exercises in 'creative accounting'. Second, and more fundamental was a sense of the deep inadequacy of the philosophical weltanschauung presently in place, and within which physics seeks to consolidate and enlarge its domain in reaching towards the Holy Grail of a "Theory of Everything".  Any such theory that did not allow the inclusion of categories other than those of physics -e.g. of consciousness and the realm of Meaning to which it points- would be something closer to a Theory of `Nothing.

        Positivism's uncompromising secularism flies in the face of Gödel's celebrated theorem.  It also raises serious questions about just where -in a non-Platonist world-view- the corpus of the lex naturalis is supposed to reside.  Further, a Reality limited to the realm of Existence runs into series logical questions concerning the relation of Being to Nonbeing and the attribute of self-necessity.  If its foundations are to be made truly secure, tribute must be paid to some such Principle as  Böhme's Ungrund.  

       Finally, it lacks a sufficiently robust procedure of enquiry.  The 'Scientific Method' in which the sole test of truth is empirical interrogation, leaves the wider domain of enquiry devoid of principles of guidance.  The enterprise must resign itself to a 'softer' logic;  its reasoning "...should not form a chain which is no stronger than its weakest link, but a cable whose fibres may be ever so slender, provided they are sufficiently numerous and intimately connected" (Melvin Rader).  There is nothing for it but to be '....half sure but whole hearted'. 

        The figure on left, further below (Click for enlargement) is offered by way of summary of the Positivist debacle.  The first frame presents the major modes and categories -and their rough interrelationships- that any authentic World View or vision of the Larger Reality must necessarily address, support and sustain -if it is to qualify for serious consideration.  Now let's see what we're being asked to live with today.  First, as the figure shows, the larger ontological context of Transcendence has simply been trashed -along with the Metaphysics of Agency, Subjectivity and the whole realm of intrinsic 'Meaning' that it supports. All that survives is shown in the frame immediately to the right;  Reality has imploded into the domain of basic Physics and its satellite  disciplines.  However, seemingly disturbed by the penury -not to say destitution- of what their positivism allows to remain, they have sought to make restitution -but strictly upon their own terms. In an elaborate masquerade, physics and its satellite disciples have been expanded, transmuted and massaged, to provide doppelganger shadows of what has been thrown away -see the final image on the right.  Any such enterprise was condemned to failure from the start for the very fundamental logical principle that no one basic category or modality can conjure the content of any sibling or parent domain into existence.  Nor can any surrogates stand muster for what is missing.

          This again has been, to a degree, subliminally perceived;  they have made a final attempt to conceal the bankruptcy of their paradigm through a formidable barrage of evasions, obfuscations and logical contradictions that that border, at times, upon intellectual dishonesty.  They have sought to conceal their insolvency –from themselves as much as from us- by a series of exercises in ‘creative bookkeeping’.  We are being assured that recent discoveries on many fronts can fill the void.  Here is a sample list of their offerings:  Memes, Networks, Cellular Automata, Chaos, Fractals, ‘Complexology’, Holograms, Heuristics, Prigogine’s ‘New Thermodynamics’, Complex Adaptive Systems, Fuzzy Logic –and above all, ‘Emergence’. Taken together, it is urged, they are surely sufficient to underwrite the requirements of a new paradigm without falling into the sin of vitalism.   They are heard being intoned on all sides by the faithful as part of the litany of the cult of science.   Their contribution is, in fact, marginal at most;  on the whole, they amount to little more than a flurry of panchrestons, catachreses –and just plain mantras