What principles do you know?

[Donnadogsoth]

We start as embryos faced with the undifferentiated chaos of the world-flux.  As babies we descry discrete objects.  As children we develop the ability to perceive the Platonic forms as they incarnate into object-arrays.  Finally, as adults we discover principles governing the behaviour of the physical world, biota, and the human mind.  Without principle we are lost in an immature state of existence.

 

It would therefore seem felicitous to create a list of principles, for everyone's benefit, so that we can familiarise ourselves with principles others have discovered, and hopefully lead ourselves to discovering them for ourselves.  Principles really are the stars in the night sky, guiding the sailing ships of our souls.  I'll begin.

 

The principle of MIMESIS, the idea that virtually everything anyone learns, they learned it by imitating someone else.  Why did Bobby start smoking?  Because he saw someone else smoking and thought it looked cool.  Why did the Orangutan do the laundry?  Because it was imitating the laundry-woman.  How do you learn to speak, to walk, to be cool?  You imitate, imitate, imitate.  How do you learn to be violent?  You experience violence somehow and imitate it.

 

The principle of LEAST ACTION, the idea that everything in nature does only the minimum needed to accomplish its task, and nothing else.  This is not to be applied to thinking beings, which are capable of more playful and time-wasting activity, but would apply to ants, vegetation, and all inorganic physical phenomena.

 

The principle of PREESTABLISHED HARMONY, the idea that the Cartesian mind/body dualism problem-of-influence can only be solved by rejecting natural causation entirely and accepting that no two things cause each other, but rather act harmoniously together to create the effect of seemingly being in a causal relationship.

 

The principle of LEAST-TIME PROPAGATION OF LIGHT, the idea that light always chooses the route of least-time whenever it passes from one density of medium to another.

 

The principle of NATURAL SELECTION, the idea that in a generational population, each generation is segregated by natural conditions into fit and unfit populations, the former going on to produce the next generation, the latter not.

 

The principle of A=A, the idea that actual identity cannot be separated from essence.

[csekavec]

The principle of WOO, the reality that many people will believe self contradictory malarkey instead of energizing their grey faculties.

[Donnadogsoth]

The principle of SUFFICIENT REASON, the idea that everything has a reason for being the way it is and not another way.  For example, why does A=A?  Because God wished the Universe to be intelligible to reason.

 

The principle of SELF-OWNERSHIP, the idea that to not own one's body and be responsible for the effects of one's actions contradicts the responsibility and right one has to live and interact with the world.

 

The principle of UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION, which says that all bodies are governed by a force of mutual attraction.

 

The principle of POSITIVITY, the idea that looking "on the bright side" of any situation can reveal opportunities, dividends, or solaces otherwise invisible to the negative mind; we can, in a sense, "make our own luck."

 

The principle of PRINCIPLES, the idea that substance is efficient cause; efficient cause, substance.  Thus everything that exists as a noun is also a verb.  E.g., a cup must be cupping, at least potentially, to be a cup; a singer must be singing; a cat must be cat-ing.  Nothing is static, even though everything retains its identity.  The principle of, e.g., A=A, is a verb (all is A=A-ing) and a noun (a subject of experience).  Principles govern the sensory world.

 

The principle of PLATONIC FORMS, the idea that all nouns (subjects of experience) are characterised in the experience of other nouns, by adjectives.  E.g., the bottle is green, the leaf is green, the sea is green; all are nouns (bottle, leaf, sea) characterised in an observer's experience by the adjective "greenness".  Here, greenness is a species to which the bottle, etc., are members.  Another term for species is "Platonic form."

[Donnadogsoth]

What about false principles, by which we mean arbitrary patterns of decision-making by human beings?  Such as:

 

The FALSE OLIGARCHAL PRINCIPLE, the idea that we should be ruled by elites (not necessarily the best for the job) who have managed to subjugate the rest of the population into a condition of cattle-like subservience.  This false principle, embedded in governments throughout the world, and in the religion of Islam, should be familiar in essence to any regular listeners of Freedomain Radio.

 

The FALSE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE, the idea that, in Lindybeige's words, "we should always assume the worst and act accordingly, even if the feared danger is spectacularly preposterous," and the proposed cure worse than the imagined disease.

 

The FALSE WHITE GUILT PRINCIPLE, the idea that the descendants of traditionally European peoples, especially if they are male, heterosexual, or Christian, are responsible for the world's problems and therefore owe deference, submission, reparations, and self-erasure to the coloured, female, rainbow-sexual, and non-Christian peoples of the world, on pain of the fear of being shamed and cast out from polite society.

[Donnadogsoth]

The FALSE PRINCIPLE OF PROGRESS, that states barbarians must create civilisations for themselves, that human society itself is on an ineluctably upward trajectory of moral and technological development, outside considerations of the vast amounts of will and toil needed for such creation and development. 

[Donnadogsoth]

The principle of COURAGE, an admixture of self-esteem, fear of shame over cowardice and failure, and the recognition that fear of pain is usually worse than the pain itself.

 

The principle of REALISM, the idea that we should not be so optimistic we forget to look for dangers, nor so pessimistic we forget to look for solutions.

 

The principle of the GOLDEN RULE, which is essentially warning against hypocrisy.  "My life is worth more than your life, simply because it is mine, therefore I can do unto you as I wish."  We must have one standard of action toward others, in keeping with how we view our own worth.

 

The principle of the VALUE OF HUMAN LIFE, the idea that Man is the image of the Creator and therefore possesses his own reason to exist, expressed in his increasingly potent unfolding into and development of the Universe.  Under this, every human life is of incalculably great value, because every human by definition is capable of discovering principles which infinitely increase the power of Man.

[Donnadogsoth]

The FALSE PRINCIPLE OF MONSTERS, bane of children, the idea of substance and shadow merging to form the protean abyss from which irrational, horrible, invincible monsters come.  Related to justified fears of furtive, inimical animals, objects, and human predators, and also the principle of PLAY which precedes logic (A=A).

 

The principle of PLAY, the idea that creativity depends not on logically working out ramifications of what is known, but in happily playing with the known and the unknown together, seeking discovery of principle.  Precedes the principle of A=A which must be first discovered through play.  Play here is fundamentally metaphorical, as one thing can creatively become another as if by magic, revealing hypothesis.

[Donnadogsoth]

The principle of PANPSYCHISM, the idea that non-consciousness is impossible because it is absolutely inconceivable, even to God.  Thus, everything that exists in the sense of being a noun, contains some amount of consciousness, on a variable scale ascending from very little consciousness in the abiotic things, to significantly more in biota, to high amounts in humans.

 

The principle of PLACEBO, by which positive effects are generated in human health and well-being by virtue of belief alone, not due to any mechanical or pharmaceutical efficacy.

 

The FALSE PRINCIPLE OF THE SCAPEGOAT, which indicates that social cohesion can be regenerated by the ritual sacrifice of a human being upon whom, explicitly or implicitly, consciously or subconsciously, the transgressions of the community are attributed.

[Donnadogsoth]

The principle of COMMON SENSE, which discriminates between a true and a false principle by whether such aids in the discovery of principle and the technological and moral advancement of the human race, or no. 

 

The principle of NEGOTIATION, the idea that words and behaviour can cause involuntary neurological reactions in unprepared individuals, swaying them toward or against a particular desired outcome of speech or deed, regardless of any logical arguments one may put forth.

[Donnadogsoth]

The principle of DIGNITY, that all living beings, no matter how small, are worthy of respect and are not to be injured without good cause.  A human, being self-conscious, merits self-respect, which includes respecting his own respect for other living beings.  A human who disregards other beings' dignity wounds his own accordingly.

 

The principle of PARENTAL GOODNESS, referring to a standard subconsciously imbued into every human soul at conception by which we discriminate good things from evil.  When we are children, we usually end up committing evil before we consciously know it, and we may come to like doing evil, and when we learn it is evil we may even delight in that fact, and that is a bad road.  A good upbringing will help give a child a consciousness of the original standard of Good.  E.g.,

 

"No baby, it's a frog, frogs are good, we don't hurt the frog" so that parental love becomes imitated by the child (see principle of MIMESIS), and the general principle becomes activated, switching the child's mind from a selfish hunt for thrills, to a moral hunt for the Good.

 

And,

 

"What are we doing mommy?"

"We're baking a cake for daddy."

"Why?"

"Because we love daddy very much."

"Yes, we do."

 

The principle of WORLDLY THRILLS, is the idea that a standard for Thrillingness exists with in the mind from conception, and to which all future, lesser thrills are compared and referred.  Often conflated with the standard for the Good (cf., principle of PARENTAL GOODNESS).

 

The principle of JUSTICE, is the idea that thrills and goodness should go together.

[Donnadogsoth]

The principle of MERCY, the idea that judgement should be lovingly ameliorated or suspended when the guilty party has a reasonable and self-conscious chance of improving mankind.

[Donnadogsoth]

The principle of ORIGINAL SIN, which refers to mankind existing in an hereditary condition of disorder of the components of the soul, which opens the way for the gelid and monstrous will to ooze out of what should be its rational container to surmount and attempt to command the soul for itself, replacing the divine spark with a rotting corpse. All men will such, and, therefore, all men become monsters of iniquity, which only God's grace contains, like antimatter contained in a magnetic bottle, allowing for the potential for the soul to align itself with the exemplar of goodness (see the principle of HISTORICAL NECESSITY).

 

The principle of HISTORICAL NECESSITY, the idea that the exemplar of goodness is he whose life juxtaposes the highest potential for increasing the potential relative population density of mankind, with the meanest death. Human progress demands that such a person's life and mission be aligned with, individually and socially, in order to nourish the divine spark through proper belief, which leads to virtue, which leads to proper deed.

[Donnadogsoth]

The principle of ROMANTIC LOVE, the idea that if you truly like someone more than a friend and want to spend your life with them, you'll know it if you can say that if they became a hideously disfigured burn victim, you would still stay with them and be happy.

[Donnadogsoth]

The principle of HUMOUR, is the idea that laughter is a product of surprising despair, typically by the breaking of a logical system.  A punchline to a joke is a premise's conclusion that causes total despair in the mind of the listener, and thus the only possible response is stress-relieving laughter.  A punchline leaving you with hope, or that you can "see coming" is not so funny.

 

The principle of METAPHORICAL JUSTICE, aka SANITY, is the idea that the proper organisation of the soul is for the reason to command the irascible, which in turn has authority over the concupiscible.  Such an arrangement is necessary for humanity's survival.  Anyone so organised but otherwise conventionally determined to be "insane" is merely strange.

[Donnadogsoth]

The principle of KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE, is a Gnostic-political idea that there are “None so deaf as those that will not hear. None so blind as those that will not see."--Matthew Henry, aka "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."--Jesus Christ.  Sometimes broadcasting is necessary, but sometimes words are for certain groups or individuals alone. An audience may be hostile, undecided, or receptive, they may be speaking the wrong language or dialect or technical argot, they may be emotional or they may be calm. They may be an alien race, religion, or culture—or all three. You may be a hate criminal in their eyes from whose mouth nothing good can come, or you may be merely “controversial,” or beloved, or your message may be overly long and boring, or with your level of education you may be unable to talk down to them, or up to them successfully. The key skill is to gauge an audience's receptivity and push your message as far as it can go without breaking the spell.

[luxfelix]

The Principle of INCREASING COMPLEXITY, is an idea, roughly based on the second law of thermodynamics, that describes a cumulative effect over time for emergent systems and their relationships to one another. From a symposium description [link]:

 

"Attempts to reconcile the tension have led to interesting theoretical advances in the study of gravitational physics,

self-organizing systems, computational models of complexity, and mathematical models of biological evolution."    

 

It may be helpful, or at least put one's mind to ease, to remember that, though complexity may increase as we develop and discover, patterns can present themselves like the progression of a theme within a piece of music. 

[Donnadogsoth]

The principle of EMOTIONAL ORGASM, the idea that circumstances can provoke emotional squalls and storms which come over the mind and can "carry it away" into flights of irrational action.  Examples include bouts of grief, anger, hate, anxiety, depression, and infatuation.  The trick here is to realise that these things usually pass with time, like temporary heartburn, so if one can hold on to one's psychic core of stability and reason, one can ride out the storm and reach the other side unscathed.  Compare with the principle of NEGOTIATION.

 

The principle of GLORIFICATION, the idea that all existing things, whether abiotic, biotic, or cognitive, and whether in gestalt (a galaxy, an empire) or as a piece of a whole (an atom, a couch), all essentially mentally glorify God through their existence, thus giving them and their rational interactions sufficient reason to exist. Their specific mode of glorification lies in their value, however remote or presently inconceivable in terms of Man's utility, pleasure, and wonderment.

[Donnadogsoth]

The principle of the ENERGY CONSERVATION CONSTRAINT, a subconscious thwart on the expenditure of bodily or mental energy on endeavours that are outside one's personally experienced biological or emotional needs; e.g., exercise and sports, love, sex, revenge, status, intoxicating drugs, money, and property, as contrasted with useless hobbies such as flying kites, electrical and mechanical tinkering, building boats, building model rockets, amateur astronomy, building ham radios, exploring forests and hills, mountain climbing, tabletop role-playing, science fiction writing, collecting buttons, rocks and minerals, stamps, clothes, or tools, or solving crossword puzzles.  The urge to play in ways not directly associated with individual survival is rare to nonexistent in Nature.  Kittens "at play" are really learning how to be cats.  Seagulls whirling above the spindrift are probably just hungry. Bears do not appreciate sunsets. Humans have it, but it does not feature equally in all races; whites tend to be more released from the constraint; coloureds less so, even after two or three generations of living in white society.

[Donnadogsoth]

The principle of TRANSFORMATION OF RESOURCES, the idea that there are no principled limits to human economic growth, which is powered by valid discoveries of universal physical principles, which have the effect of transforming useless or fallow parts of the world into valuable resources.  Since any given set of principles yields a fixed resource base which marginally depletes over time, economic progress lies in discovering new principles yielding new resources.  This can be as simple as discovering the principle of the yoke allowing fields to be ploughed more efficiently thus producing more food per acre per harvest, or as advanced as discovering principles of nuclear theory which transform useless rocks into the powerful element uranium.

 

The principle of TRAINER=ALPHA, in training dogs or horses, the trainer must establish himself as alpha dog or alpha horse, the leader of the pack or herd.  Such leadership must combine discipline and clear expressions of expectations, with giving, so that the animal learns to respect the alpha, whilst at the same time understanding alpha is a source of good things (strokes, treats, exercise, access to friends).

 

The principle of DIVISION OF LABOUR, the idea of breaking up a task into multiple procedures which each in their simplicity can be done more quickly by their respective workers using dedicated workstations, allowing the overall task to be completed more quickly.

[Donnadogsoth]

The principle of SOCIAL LIGAMENTS, the idea that society needs to have a large quantity and quality of interpersonal relationships--fraternities, sororities, clubs, societies, leagues, families, reunions, associations, companionship, institutions, historical reenactments, plays, churches, volunteer groups, a culture of principle, and the like--in order to create psycho-social location and integration into the whole.  This integration requires more than a mere detente between social members, who are otherwise atomised and vulnerable to addictive and deleterious behaviours.

[shirgall]

The principle of WAITING YOUR TURN. When two people are at a doorway, the person going "in" waits for the person going "out" to leave before moving through. If "in" and "out" cannot be determined, the person on the side where the door swings open is considered "in".

 

I'm really not sure what the point of this thread is, but in practice none of the principles listed, including the one I just wrote, are obvious to all.

[Donnadogsoth]

The principle of MERITOCRACY, which tells us the most qualified person for the job should be hired, appointed, or elected.  Standards should not be lowered for the sake of including representatives of inferior-performing groups.

 

The principle of NATIONAL CHAUVINISM, of, for the sake of the pleasure of unity, stability, and peace, not compromising one's national customs. If the traditional policing uniform doesn't include a turban or a hijab, police recruits should not wear turbans or hijabs. If they don't like it, don't join. If Christianity is the majority religion, it should be the exclusively official one. If Hallowe'en is a treasured national holiday, it should be set in stone as being so. If Veterans' Day or Remembrance Day is the traditional way of honouring the sacrifices of our war veterans, it should be sacrosanct. Related to the SOCIAL LIGAMENTS principle.

 

I'm really not sure what the point of this thread is, but in practice none of the principles listed, including the one I just wrote, are obvious to all.

 

To give us a topography of what we adhere to, shirgall.  "Where we stand."  I spent my whole upbringing never consciously learning a single principle.  I'm making up for lost time.

[rosencrantz]

The principle that THREADS THAT GET BUMPED BY OP AGAIN AND AGAIN are boring and contribute little.

[shirgall]

The principle that THREADS THAT GET BUMPED BY OP AGAIN AND AGAIN are boring and contribute little.

 

I think we should be willing to do exploration and self-knowledge. If it's boring, why bother to comment? I was more curious about the intent.

[luxfelix]

Perhaps the next step, after listing many principles, would include simplifying down to a few fundamentals from which following principles flow as a natural consequence? 

[Donnadogsoth]

Perhaps the next step, after listing many principles, would include simplifying down to a few fundamentals from which following principles flow as a natural consequence? 

 

Good idea!

 

Augustine reduced it to two: "...the two fundamental principles which remained the poles of his philosophy--the idea of God as the source of being and intelligence, the Sun of the intelligible world; and the idea of the soul as a spiritual nature which finds its beatitude in the participation of the Uncreated Light."

--Dawson, The Making of Europe

 

I'll reduce it to one: the principle of CREATIVITY, that man's mind is made in the image of the Creator. It doesn't matter what your conception of the Creator is, you can be an Atheist if you want, but you can't deny that man is the creative species, capable of discovering principles of Nature by which he transforms his practice both socially and technologically. That potential is what the beasts lack.

 

Let's suppose there are two domains with which our practise is concerned. One is the political-economic domain encompassing all mankind, the other is the realm of individual, sovereign creativity. So here are the relevant principles for each category:

 

Political Economy

 

ORIGINAL SIN: acknowledging that man's creative rational nature must be nurtured like a delicate plant, not merely expected like the rising Sun.

DIGNITY: respecting the worth of all created beings.

VALUE OF HUMAN LIFE: venerating human beings as sacred beings.

JUSTICE: balancing the goal of goodness with the dividends of worldly thrills.

MERCY: remembering most people are not write-offs, even if they stumble and hurt others.

COMMON SENSE: what is good for man is good, what is bad for man is bad.

SELF-OWNERSHIP: without which horrible social practice impedes creativity.

HISTORICAL NECESSITY: creativity costs and it is better to organise society around the understanding and veneration of what it took to get us here.

TRANSFORMATION OF RESOURCES: there are no limits to growth.

ENERGY CONSERVATION CONSTRAINT: the mental opposition.

INCREASING COMPLEXITY: the nature of the evolving Universe and intent and promise of human civilisation.

 

Creativity

 

PARENTAL GOODNESS: we learn love from our parents, and without love there is no reason for mankind to live.

PLAY: needed to find creative hypotheses.

A=A: needed to solve creative hypotheses.

SUFFICIENT REASON: faith that the Universe makes sense and is not hopelessly chaotic.

PRINCIPLES: creativity taps into the intellective substance of the Universe, going beyond sense deception.

METAPHORICAL JUSTICE (SANITY): creativity needs the kingship of Reason.