The folly of philosophy

A beautiful and dangerous distraction

The moment I grasped the point of philosophy was the moment I also saw how lost it is. Philosophy was born adrift and we’re floundering because of it.

Philosophy is an extension of human cognition. Logic, reason, rationality, and thought itself are the tools of philosophy. But we’ve been using these tools before we had any coherent understanding of what thought is. The Western Tradition has been handed down to us from elder guys with immense intellects and teenage conceptions of what thought is. The result is a latent defect in the Received Wisdom and we are now collectively suffering the consequences of this accident.

Thought is an ecological dynamic wielded by ecological organisms in a universal ecosystem. This understanding becomes inescapable when we consider the continuum of forces that bring energy into matter, matter into life and life into consciousness. If we take ontological continuity seriously, and I do, thinking becomes an extension of material in ecological relationships. It’s only natural, literally.

But instead, Socrates wakes up after 3.8 billion years of natural intention and assumes the role of sole and central authority of thought. This is the audacious expression of adolescent ego that we have inherited. It’s time to grow up.

Our time calls for a reexamination of the Western philosophical tradition that places cognition within the context of natural history. Either by collapse or design, the current strand of civilization that is built upon the omission of nature is ending.

To be clear, I am not offering to do this overhaul of philosophy (that is a task for professional philosophers). I am only proposing a basis to start doing it. Specifically within the ontological threads, we need to revisit the Received Wisdom in light of what we now know about the ecological nature of nature and the origins of thought. Specifically Enactivist theory in the context of natural history (Big History) will refine philosophy in profound ways. This, I believe, will set the stage for a new ecological civilization and a long period of peace and flourishing.

See this theory in action on https://oika.com