China and the Primal Episteme

The ancient possibility of knowledge that China possesses is well placed to resonate effectively with the Primal episteme. This is because it incorporates a knowledge of mankind alongside that of other things.

The ancient possibility of knowledge that China possesses is best appreciated in contrast to the dominant possibility of knowledge in the Modern Western world. One of the key defining features of the Modern Western world is the Modern episteme as defined by Michel Foucault. Within the Modern episteme the role of “epistemological man” is central and definitive (Foucault 1970; Birkin & Polesie 2011). Briefly the significance of “epistemological man” means that knowledge in the Modern Human sciences is a knowledge that has been created

of man, by man and for man.

This means that knowledge in the Modern Human Sciences is made possible by reflexive self-referencing; a kind of species-solipsism. This helps to explain how Modern progress has benefit man at the expense of the natural world. It has done so because knowledge in the Modern human sciences did not recognise a natural world as may be proven by a quick examination of any standard Modern text explaining how mankind is to be organised to increase its own wealth; i.e. economics, accounting and management where  nature per se does not exist. This is a key driver of unsustainable development.

So how does ancient China differ? It differs in many ways that for the moment we can represent simply by Tian Xia which may be translated as “All under Heaven”. The concept of Tian Xia is closely associated with civilization and order in classical Chinese philosophy, and it has formed the basis for the world view of the Chinese people and nations influenced by them since at least the first millennium BC. A first point to notice is the age of this concept - the first millennium BC - which is indicative of its intrinsic sustainability. (In contrast the Modern episteme in the West lasted a mere 200 years old before it undermined its own existence with unsustainable forms of development.)

We should be aware that Tian Xia in its application and development in China was not of course all good. It did for example underpin the idea that the Chinese emperor acted with a Mandate from Heaven and as such was effectively the centre of the world and all powerful.

However, the significance of Tian Xia for present purposes is that it was not based on a possibility of knowledge that referred its own origins back to itself as in the Modern episteme’s knowledge of man, by man and for man. Tian Xia embraced – as it says – “All under Heaven”.

Tian Xia or "All under Heaven"

Eric Fromm: Primal Psychologist

The emerging Primal episteme (Birkin & Polesie 2011) is based upon a new possibility of knowledge (Foucault 1970).  Science now provides a view of the origins of the world and of ourselves that simply was not available when the Modern episteme or age was established. The transition from Modern to Primal can be summarised as going from 

• abstract knowledge belief systems in Modern human sciences produced by and for mankind (which provides an epistemological or knowledge foundation); to
• trust in the findings of empirically-grounded science that so accurately and thoroughly describes and explains our world and ourselves (which provides an ontological or “being” foundation).

This kind of epistemic transition is not “forced” upon a recalcitrant mankind that has to obey its new sets of rules.  It is rather an opportunity for new ways of thinking about ourselves and the world that are created by pioneers who adopt the new episteme. They have adopted new epistemes in the past usually without using any kind of epistemic analysis knowledge or methods. They simply flourished and enthusiastically used the fresh insights that the "new episteme" provided in their own areas of knowledge to carve out a different kind of world, a whole new world.

Get Real! –John Gray on Capitalism’s Delusions

John Nicholas Gray (1948 -) is a former London School of Economics and Political Science Professor. He is a well-published author of books and he contributes regularly to the UK national press including the Guardian newspaper.

John Gray promotes realistic thinking: “The meltdown of financial markets has done more than wipe out wealth on an unprecedented scale. It has also destroyed the neo-liberal belief in progress through ever expanding production and consumption, and an anxious search is under way for a replacement creed. Religious fundamentalism is one result of this quest, Green utopianism another. Intelligent improvisation – using technical fixes to reduce the human impact on the Earth, for example – is more likely to yield results that the search for solutions. But realistic thinking goes against the grain. It is easier to inhabit an imaginary future than deal with the intractable present.” (Gray 2009, p. xxv).

The above quotation was written in 2009 in a new preface to his book “False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism” which was first published in 1998. Gray’s 1998 prophetic vision on the delusions of global capitalism was proved to be correct one decade after publication.

In “False Dawn” Gray had argued that the effect of unrestricted international free enterprise will be socially and culturally destructive. It is also unsustainable. But Gray cannot be classified as a Green, as anti-growth, or as a return-to-nature thinker. Indeed Gray argues that a Green agenda, an anti-growth recognition of physical limits and a natural utopia are not tenable. He also argues not for sustainable development but for a “sustainable retreat”. (ibid.).

If Gray is against free enterprise, greens and sustainable development, what is it precisely that he does want?

Professor John Gray

John Gray wants realism; a knowledge and action undistorted by utopian ideals and beliefs. In particular he wants to rid the world of the propaganda that free markets are a natural state of human affairs. This is also a core argument of Primal Reporter.

 In “Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals”, John Gray (2002) challenges what it means to be human. He thereby touches upon another key PR idea – that the world is changing, and a new world, or episteme (Foucault 1970), is emerging. The book “Intrinsic Sustainable Development: epistemes, science, business and sustainability” (Birkin and Polesie 2011) is about the emerging episteme.

By referring to a new world, we have not of course found a new geographical expanse to enter. However, it is arguable that PR’s new world is an even more momentous event than that. What makes our knowledge possible is changing; and this changes what we know of the world and of ourselves. In this way a whole new world is made available to explore and with that all the thrills and opportunities of pioneering and discovery. Professor John Gray is yet another a harbinger of this change.

References

Birkin, F.K., and Polesie, T.  Intrinsic Sustainable Development: Epistemes, Science, Business and Sustainability. Singapore, World Scientific Press.

Foucault, M. (1989[1970]). The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. London, Routledge.

Gray, J. (2002). Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals. London, Granta.

Gray, J. (2009[1998]). False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism. London, Granta.

We are not like animals – unfortunately!

Being Primal means that we acknowledge our shared ancestry with life on this planet – many thanks to Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. But being Primal means then that we acknowledge our shared characteristics with other life on this planet:

“Primates matter. I don’t need to give you justifications describing their economic value or role in ecosystem services (although let’s not underestimate their importance as seed dispersers in tropical forests). Primates share so many of our characteristics – we see ourselves reflected in their gestures their facial expressions, their social interactions and the way they nurture their young. Primates hold a mirror up to the human race and that alone should be enough to justify our working to avoid their extinction.”

                Dr Abigail Entwhistle in “Relative Importance”, Fauna&Flora, 15, June 2012, p.4.

Primates are our closest relatives – and we are killing them off. We are killing not just the occasional bad or unlucky individual but we are killing them all. Imagine an individual from one particular species - Homo sapiens – killing all his or her relatives. That would be front-page news indeed and cries of shame would echo around the world. But as we kill off our closest relatives in nature, there is little outrage, few headlines, very few voices calling for justice to be done, no powerful police teams tackling this odious crime…. Why not?

“Primates are facing a crisis. This has been the case for the last 50 years at least, and the threats have not abated.”

                Ibid,. p. 5.

It is of course mankind who is killing its own closest relatives, the primates.

Mankind’s sense of justice and injustice is at times so self-absorbed, so self-reflecting and so human-self-privileging that it is classifiable as a kind of mental illness. Teenagers can sometimes be self-absorbed like this. In their struggle to find themselves in an adult world, teenagers can be too aware of their own pressing insights, limitations and predicaments and the demands of their own immediate situations that they often cannot see or relate to the plights of others – notably their parents. Of course not all teenagers are like this and there are many examples of “mature” teenagers who respect and work with their relations to the world outside of their own small selves.

Parents, schools and colleges are very skilled in helping young people discover their relations with the wider world that has created and nurtured them and which holds the key to their sustainable future. In a very real, everyday-living-sense, these wider relations include those that embed us and enable us to flourish – or wither - in the wider natural world.

If we linger a while with the idea of teenagers finding their way out of personal limitations and self-absorption, we can build a better understanding of one cause of mankind’s impact upon nature. Imagine if on a higher, more complex level, mankind is like a teenager – locked in an understanding that is far too self-absorbed and self-reflecting. Indeed if we look at one of – if not THE – controlling influences on mankind’s development, neo-classical economics and free-market ideology, then this teenage self-referencing and self-absorption is all too apparent.

The whole sophisticated, magnificent, influential and exceedingly powerful edifice that has created global corporations, financial institutions and free-markets that handle billions of dollars daily – is built upon rational choice theory – it is a system conceived by man, for man, in the service of man!!

The grown-up, mature, responsible world occupied by too many business leaders, financiers and politicians world-wide is at heart something akin to the same kind of self-absorbed, self-reflecting and self-privileging that it is at best a teenager trait; at worst a kind of mental illness. How else do you explain the fact that multi-millionaires who have far more money than they could possibly spend in several lifetimes dedicate themselves to making even more money – and not enjoying life with all their relations, human and non-human?

Baby orang-outang at Sepilok Orang-outang Rehabilitation Centre, Borneo, Malaysia

In 1967, Desmond Morris’s book The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal (Hardback: ISBN 0-07-043174-4; Reprint: ISBN 0-385-33430-3) caused a sensation. It was sensational stuff to compare mankind with apes and to argue that we are so intimately related.

Unfortunately this sensational news still has still not had the impact it should in some very major business, economic, financial and political circles. Too many leaders, first movers, developers and their followers still behave like teenagers – locked within the boundaries of their far-too-small-worlds of their own making (more accurately locked within logical belief systems – see the ISD book).

This is why we are killing nature on an industrial scale – this is why we are not unfortunately like those animals who have learned over aeons to live alongside each other.