Roger
Speaking of theories, what jumped out at me was in your post was your
observation that Popper's theory of science shows that "we have established a
culture of evolution.." Pirsig discussed the MoQ's vis a vis evolution (Lila
140-148) concluding that "There is no quarrel whatsoever between the
Metaphysics of Quality and the Darwinian Theory of Evolution"
Charles Jencks in his introduction to " The Architecture of the Jumping
Universe" says:
"For more that fifty years, the complaint has been that society has lost its
orientation...Against this background of dissent and decline is an unnoticed
growth. For the first time in the West since the twelfth century we are
beginning to construct an all-encompassing story that could unite people of
the globe, a metanarrative of the universe..Our recent understanding is quite
unique. We are the first generation to know the approximate age of the
universe,its likely origin, the main lines of its history, and its fundamental
principle of increasing complexity.."
It seems to me that this emerging metanarrative is rooted in this "culture of
evolution" and if we were to "name it" as we are want to do, the genre would
be called "evolutionary philosophy"
Which leads me to ask; Is the MoQ of this genre? And if it is what does it add
to the mix, and what will the mix add to it ?
The three other published accounts of this phenomena, with their "levels", I
am currently aware of are listed below for comparison.
The MoQ
1 Inorganic
2 Biological
3 Social
4 Intellectural
Principia Cybernetica website states that it is an "evolutionary philosopy"
whose levels are:
1.Prebiotic: the developments taking place before the origin of the life, i.e.
the emergence of physico-chemical complexity: the Big Bang, space and time,
energy and particles, atoms and the different elements, molecules up to
organic polymers,simple dissipative structures.
2.Biological: the origin of life and the further development of the
specifically biological aspects of it: DNA, reproduction, autopoiesis,
prokaryotes vs.eukaryotes, multicellularity, sexual reproduction, the species.
3.Cognitive: the origin of mind, i.e. the basic cybernetic, cognitive
organization,going from simple reflexes to complex nervous systems, learning,
and thought.
4.Social: the development of social systems and culture: communication,
cooperation, moral systems, memes
Charles Jencks' jumping universe model in which "each of the four worlds
emerged unpredictably (jumped) from a small part of its predecessor" lists
these four major steps further subdivided into 26 smaller jumps.
1 Era of Energy-quarks protons first second
2 Era of Matter-atoms,stars,galaxies
3 Era of Life-cells,sexuality,feeling
4 Era of Consciousness-language,mind,art.
Barbara Marx Hubbards notes on her evolutionary spiral the major levels of
development are:
1 Universe
2 Earth
3 Life
4 Animal Life
5 Human Life
and then theorizes we are on the brink of the next big step
6 Conscious Evolution.
What say ye?
DLT
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