A Primer on Implicit and Explicit Abstraction

By Razie Mah

Primers 1-10 form a coherent set. Each develops concepts expressed in the foundatinal text: How to Define the Word “Religion”.
Primer 11 differs. It addresses a key question about institutions Institutions compose the content-level of the society tier. The question concerns abstraction. It involves the first singularity. The first singularity is originally proposed in An Archaeology of the Fall.
Here is the story: Humans evolved practicing implicit abstraction. Implicit abstraction fits hand and hand-speech talk. Explicit abstraction became available once humans adopted speech-alone talk. In our current Lebenswelt, humans speak through explicit abstraction and emotionally respond through implicit abstraction.
No wonder we are so messed up.
This primer joins comments on Novotny’s text. These constitute a home-schooling course at the high school and college levels. Comments on a book by John Deely completes this course. The title of the course is “Implicit and Explicit Abstraction”.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Razie Mah
• Release date: Jun 26, 2016
• ISBN: 9781942824145

Razie Mah

See website for bio.

Book preview

A Primer on Implicit and Explicit Abstraction

By Razie Mah

Published for Smashwords.com

2016

Quick Note

This 10,800 word primer builds on Comments on Daniel Novotny’s Book (2013) Ens rationis from Suarez to Caramuel: A Study in the Scholasticism of the Baroque Era.

Words are grouped together with single quotes and italics.

These comments belong to an independent home school or college course of study concerning implicit and explicit abstraction. Student instructions are colored in burgundy.

Table of Contents

Introduction 0001

What is Abstraction? 0011

The Turns of Implicit Abstraction 0022

Start with Judgment 0036

The Trajectory of Implicit Abstraction 0056

Explicit Abstraction 0077

The First Example of Explicit Abstraction 0094

A Second Example: Hurtado’s Dilemma 0128

Summary and Further Development 0142

The Leviathan 0181

Introduction

0001 Why Primer 11? How is it the same? How is it different?

Primers 1 through 10 enlarge upon the meaning and presence underlying the word religion. They further develop category-based models for these potentials. The last three primers, on intrasovereign religions (8 and 10) and classical political philosophy (9), bring the society tier into view. This presents difficulties.

First, the society tier raises the question of representation.

This question keys into the hypothesis of the first singularity. A change from hand-speech talk to speech-alone talk potentiated unconstrained complexity. Why? The transition altered the way that humans represent themselves and their world. Our current Lebenswelt is not the Lebenswelt that we evolved in.

0002 Second, primers 8-10 highlight the dangers of inquiry in the current Lebenswelt.

The First Primer on an Infrasovereign Religion (#8) argues that infrasovereign religions become dangerous as they grasp sovereign power. True believers insist on their correctness. They may be deeply illogical. Their obsessive pursuit of their objectsorganization produces unintended consequences. These consequences cannot be explained within their specialized languages. So, they blame others.

The Primer on Classical Philosophy (#9) shows how ancient Greek political philosophers discerned a realm that contextualizes sovereign power. They envisioned this realm as the repository of virtue. The best political system is the one that produces the most virtuous citizens.

The Second Primer on an Infrasovereign Religion (#10) addresses the danger of mimetic contagion. The infrasovereign religion in Primer #8 will provoke a reaction, a mimetic contagion, which will contest its will to power. The classical philosophers in Primer #9 were rudely awakened to the prospect of mimetic contagion. Socrates died from it.

Socrates inquired about the best political system. He also poked fun at the current regime. Then, he became a scapegoat. He was forced to drink hemlock.

0003 Rene Girard’s long career explored the dynamics of mimetic contagion. He found its traces in literature, mythology and the arts. He found a truth hidden within many of these fictions. The truth is scapegoating.

Scapegoating shows how dangerous infrasovereign religions can be. When these religionsinfrasovereign grasp sovereign power, society becomes unstable. A mimetic crisis unfolds. Stability is temporarily achieved by branding someone a scapegoat. The scapegoat is tagged as both the source and the redeemer of the crisis. The scapegoat is killed.

0004 For example, the Greek myth of King Oedipus contains clues indicating a scapegoating event. In Primer #10, a hapless philosopher plays the role. Unlike Oedipus, whose tale remains forever locked in ambiguity, the scapegoated philosopher contributes to a realization that the society’s perspective is