Spiral Dynamics
One can find philosophy and related interesting bits from the oddest sources.
Case in point, it was the webmaster at DudesNude.com who pointed me to this very interesting site on Spiral Dynamics.
Postmodernism and poststructuralism are umbrella philosophies that make me very uneasy because much of it comes perilously close to being very high-minded, abstract excuses for not taking personal responsibility for the choices one makes. Any time I sense that, my existentialist mind kicks in and points out something to the effect of: What is the solution? We DO make choices. Yes, I understand that many choices are made reactively and not willfully and that, perhaps the human condition is not, realistically, capable of the level of responsibility that many people have come to expect. But what then do we do? In material reality, where one person's reactive choice can affect another's property, feelings, safety and even his very life, we surely cannot just shrug off the perpetrator's responsibility to the consequences of his choices and, indeed, if we do, are we not contributing to the a retrograded condition, instead of advancing it? That's what I dislike, ultimately about postmodernism: too much time deconstructing things and not enough time addressing solutions to the problems discovered FROM the deconstruction. Once you take the watch apart to learn how it works, you need to put back together in order for it TO work. Admittedly, I've only read overviews of postmodernism and haven't really focused on any particular thinker like Foucault or Hume so perhaps they have addressed that and I just didn't know it. But in general chatter and conversation about postmodernism, I hear more about "what they discovered" and not enough about how to apply it back to the material world of cause-and-effect, of choice-and-consequence so that humanity advances.
I also have another objection: people get way too careless in talking about "human nature". All too often, the actual understanding of the word "nature" is forgotten. "Nature" refers to those elements that are entirely consistent within the phenomenon. Not somewhat consistent. Not an occasional quirk. But entirely consistent. If we are going to talk about "human nature", we need to stay focused on those elements that do indeed, run consistently throughout every human being, without exception. And that doesn't mean quirks and patterns are not valuable or important. It just means we need to not blur the lines, if we wish to make accurate discoveries and deductions. I'm not entirely certain that Graves' Spiral Dynamics theory adheres to that.
Nevertheless, I have looked at this site from time to time and find it fascinating.
Case in point, it was the webmaster at DudesNude.com who pointed me to this very interesting site on Spiral Dynamics.
Postmodernism and poststructuralism are umbrella philosophies that make me very uneasy because much of it comes perilously close to being very high-minded, abstract excuses for not taking personal responsibility for the choices one makes. Any time I sense that, my existentialist mind kicks in and points out something to the effect of: What is the solution? We DO make choices. Yes, I understand that many choices are made reactively and not willfully and that, perhaps the human condition is not, realistically, capable of the level of responsibility that many people have come to expect. But what then do we do? In material reality, where one person's reactive choice can affect another's property, feelings, safety and even his very life, we surely cannot just shrug off the perpetrator's responsibility to the consequences of his choices and, indeed, if we do, are we not contributing to the a retrograded condition, instead of advancing it? That's what I dislike, ultimately about postmodernism: too much time deconstructing things and not enough time addressing solutions to the problems discovered FROM the deconstruction. Once you take the watch apart to learn how it works, you need to put back together in order for it TO work. Admittedly, I've only read overviews of postmodernism and haven't really focused on any particular thinker like Foucault or Hume so perhaps they have addressed that and I just didn't know it. But in general chatter and conversation about postmodernism, I hear more about "what they discovered" and not enough about how to apply it back to the material world of cause-and-effect, of choice-and-consequence so that humanity advances.
I also have another objection: people get way too careless in talking about "human nature". All too often, the actual understanding of the word "nature" is forgotten. "Nature" refers to those elements that are entirely consistent within the phenomenon. Not somewhat consistent. Not an occasional quirk. But entirely consistent. If we are going to talk about "human nature", we need to stay focused on those elements that do indeed, run consistently throughout every human being, without exception. And that doesn't mean quirks and patterns are not valuable or important. It just means we need to not blur the lines, if we wish to make accurate discoveries and deductions. I'm not entirely certain that Graves' Spiral Dynamics theory adheres to that.
Nevertheless, I have looked at this site from time to time and find it fascinating.