A List of 21 Important Concepts in DGB Philosophy (To Be Defined and Described Later)

Most of the 'pieces' of what you will learn in DGB Philosophy can be found in different formats and renditions elsewhere: Anaxamander, Heraclitus, Daoism, The Han Philosophers, Spinoza, Bacon, Locke, Hume, Diderot, Adam Smith, Tom Paine, Jefferson, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Marx, Kirkegaard, Nietzsche, Freud, Adler, Jung, Fairbairn, Fromm, Korzybski, Hayakawa, Fritz Perls, Sartre, Betrand Russell, Foucault, Derrida...all have something to important to say that I have found different ways of 're-stating' and/or 'newly integrating' their respective philosophical and/or psychological messages into what I am calling DGB Philosophy.

Ideally speaking, I would like 'Hegel's Hotel: DGB Philosophy' to be the ultimate integative philosophy treatise of the 21st century. Now obviously, time will tell whether I ever come anywhere close to this lofty ambition or not. But I have confidence in my integrating abilities and continually evolving knowledge here. Every week I manage to add about two or three more essays to the evolving structure and process of Hegel's Hotel.

Most of the foundation of Hegel's Hotel has already been laid, and realistically speaking, I think I probably need about another 3 to 5 years to finish the entire structure of Hegel's Hotel. I expect that Hegel's Hotel will be my one and only philosophical accomplishment in my lifetime if for no other reason than the fact that Hegel's Hotel is big enough to contain my life's philosophical work.

A case could be made that Hegel's 'The Phenomenology of Spirit' is the most important influencing force on 'Hegel's Hotel: DGB Philosophy'. Indeed, I will make that case myself even though I have not come close yet to seriously reading it. If you have ever tried to pick up 'The Phenomenology' and read it, you will begin to understand why. Regardless, the two key messages in 'The Phenomenology' have be re-stated and re-interpreted in literally thousands and thousands of different books. Indeed, I would list Hegel's 'The Phenomenology' as the number 1 most important philosophical work in both Western and Eastern history. Perhaps Kant's 'The Critique of Pure Reason' deserves some consideration here -- but I would say secondary consideration for the sole reason that without Kant's influence on Hegel (and perhaps Fichte's) there might have been no 'Phenomenology of Spirit'. Anyways, I will leave this debate for those of you who may be so inclined as to pick it up.

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A/ The two key ideas in 'The Phenomenology of Spirit' that directly or indirectly turned the world upside down...


1. The 'Hegelian' evolutionary cycle of: 1. thesis; 2. anti-thesis; and 3. synthesis although as any knowledgeable Hegelian scholar will tell you, Hegel never used these exact words. Still, with or without the words attached to this theory of 'dialectic evolution', this is still the most important idea, the most important theory, in the history of Western Philosophy. At least from my DGB philosophy perspective. Indeed, it is more important than Darwin's theory of evolution for two reasons: 1. it pre-dates Darwin's theory of evolution by over 50 years (1807 vs. 1859); and 2. it encompasses Darwin's theory of evolution (1. testosterone and male sperm -- 'thesis'; 2. estrogen and female egg -- 'anti-thesis' -- or visa versa, I'm not sexist; 3. united testosterone and estrogen, sperm and egg, resulting in a genetically integrated or synthesized 'child' or 'offspring' -- 'synthesis).

2. The 'master/slave' relationship: Marx jumped all over this idea; and so did the 'existentialists'. Marx's philosophy revolutionized the Eastern world -- not necessarily for the better, as three of the most sociopathic leaders in the history of the East -- Lenin, Stalin, and Mao tse Tung -- unfortunately, liked what they read in Marx. In this regard, Hegelian dialectical philosophy 'bi-polarized the world' leading to both 'extreme political left' and 'extreme political right' interpretations and reactions. In the latter regard, Hegel was influenced by Fichte, and Fichte's personality and philosophy were both pathological, influencing the rise of German Nationalism, anti-semitism, and Nazism, whereas Hegel, to my knowledge, definitely didn't have any 'anti-semitic' qualitities in him, nor does his philosophy. The worst that you might say about Hegel was that he was 'pro-Napoleon', or 'a pre-German Nationalist', or that he was a 'fair weather political philosopher' who tried not to stir up any trouble with the government who he was close to, and at least partly supported by. Hegel's description of the 'master/slave' relationship also brought into discussion the concept of 'alienation' which opened up the door to what, through Kiekegaard, Nietzsche, Camus, Sartre, and others would become the philosophical 'school' or 'related but detached network of schools' known today as 'existentialism' and/or 'humanistic-existentialism'.

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B/ The 20 Most Influenctial Philosophers (or Sets Of Philosohers) Relative to DGB Philosophy...

1. Hegel
2. Nietzsche
3. Perls
4. Freud
5. Fromm
6. Korzybski and Hayakawa (General Semantics)
7. Spinoza
8. Adler
9. Jung
10. Derrida
11. Foucault
12. Nathaniel Branden, Adam Smith, Ayn Rand (The Spirit of Humanistic Capitalism)
13. Marx (The Spirit of Humanistic Socialism)
14. Bacon (The Spirit of Science and Rational-Empiricism)
15. Locke and Hume (Empiricism and Empirical-Extremism/Skepticism respectively)
16. Alexander and Heraclitus (The Earliest Western Dialectic philosophers)
17. Daoism, neo-Confucionism, and The Han Philosophers ('yin' and 'yang')
18. Plato and Aristotle (The Ultimate Idealist and The Ultimate Realist-Empiricist. Together, they make up much of the foundation of Western philosophy.)
19. The Post-Freudians: Klein, Fairbairn, Kohut, Berne...
20. Jeffrey Masson: The Ultimate anti-Classical Freudian.

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C/ The 12 Most Important Philosophical Works (or sets of Works) Relative to DGB Philosophy

1. Hegel, 'The Phenomenology of Spirit', 1807
2. Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy, 1872
3. Perls, Ego, Hunger and Aggression, 1947
4. Strachey's 24 volume collection of Freud's complete works, 1964
5. 'The Philosophy for Beginners' Series
6. Erich Fromm, 1947, Man For Himself, 1947
7. Hayakawa, 1949, 'Language in Thought and Action', 1949
8. W.B.Cannon, 1932, 'The Wisdom of The Body', 1932
9. Korzybski, 1933, 'Science and Sanity', 1933
10. Erich Fromm, 1955, 'The Sane Society', 1955
11. Nathaniel Branden, 'The Psychology of Self-Esteem', 1969
12. Maxwell Maltz, 'Pscyho-Cybernetics', 1960

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D/ 21 Important Concepts In DGB Philosophy-Psychology-Politics...

1. Bi-Polarity (Multi-Bi-Polarity, Bi-Partisan Agreement, Opposite Polarities, Paradoxes...)

2. The Dialectic (The dialectic process, dialectic-democracy, dialectic negotiating, dialectic dancing, dialectic agreement, dialectic balance, dialectic-democratic balance)

3. Gods, Idols, and Archetypes

4. Anti-gods, villains, and demons

5. Ego-States

6. Gaps, Voids, Abysses, Chasms

7. Superior and Inferior Power Functions (Processes, Organs, Ego-states, Power Dialectics...)

8. Homeostatic Balance (Dialectic Balance, Dialectic-Democratic Balance, Homeostatic Balance Dialectics, Win-Win Dialectics...)

9. Projection

10 Introjection and Identification

11. Distinction (differentation) and Association

12. 'Loose' and 'tight' associations

13. 'Positive' and 'negative' stereotyping

14. Transference ('Positive' and 'negative' transferences, Transference Complexes, Transference Memories, Transference Scenes...)

15. Compensation (Compensatory attitudes, beliefs, values, behaviors, lifestyles, philosophies, transferences...)

16. Narcissism and Altruism

17. Truth and Sophism

18. Empiricism and Rationalism

19. Concreteness and Abrstraction ('Being grounded' and 'flying high with words and abstractions')

20. Classifying, labelling, 'negative labelling', confusing a 'negative label' with the 'reality of the situation and/or the person'.

21. Reductionism and wholism

-- dgb, Sept. 30th, 2008, updated October 1st, 2008.

About Me...and My Network of Philosophical-Psychological...Blogsites: Hegel's Hotel: DGB Philosophy (The Dialectics of Mind, Body, and Spirit)

Good day! My name is David Bain. I write about philosophy, psychology, politics, and more...I have an Honours B.A. in psychology. I live in Newmarket, Ontario, about 30 miles and minutes north of Toronto. I have a classy girlfriend of 9 years - Sharida - who works and lives in Toronto. I have two children from a previous relationship: Michael, 23, living in Newmarket, and Jennifer, 18, living in Nova Scotia.

My life mission is to finish a growing number of linked blogsites on philosophy, psychology, politics and other cultural topics. My perspective is mainly 'integrative, centralist, and multi-dialectical (Post-Hegelian, Humanistic-Existential)' drawing from a whole range of philosophical and psychological influences such as: Hegel, Nietzsche, Spinoza, Anaxamander, Heraclitus, The Han Philosophers, Locke, Hume, Adam Smith, Marx, Tom Paine, Diderot, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Sartre, Korzybski, Foucault, Derrida, Freud, Adler, Jung, Berne, Perls, and many more...The issues and subject matters are extensive as well - pretty well anything and everything is game for discussion.

My network of blogsites is called: 'Hegel's Hotel: DGB Philosophy-Psychology' and can be found by simply googling...DGB Philosophy...

- dgb, July 18th, 2008.
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Here are some commendations on Hegel's Hotel...and I thank the readers cited here, most appreciatively, for their most encouraging feedback. It is feeback like this that keeps me motivated, and re-vitalized, helping me to continue writing at a good pace in order to one day finally finish building the metaphorical 'skyscraper' I am calling 'Hegel's Hotel'...

- dgb, Sept. 21st, 2008.

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Hi David Gordon Bain,

That's a great great blog post. I especially like the quotes at the end. I especially like the unfortunately true one by Thomas Paine: "The greatest tyrannies are always perpetrated in the name of the noblest causes."

I also like your point about the benefit of balancing being strong-willed with being a good listener. I am especially interested with the mix of philosophy with social and political activism.

Also, I want to invite you to join my Philosophy Forum.

Thanks, Scott

May 8, 2008 4:04 AM

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What a wonderful view and expansion of Hegel you offer!

Please continue to unfold it for us.
Do your offer an E Mail notice lists of new posts? I signed up for the TSS feed,

Thanks
Forrest at// fateanalysis@wordpress.com
radical gene psychology@blogspot.com
December 22, 2007 8:50 AM
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Evan said...

Wow. What a fabulous post and project. Wishing you every possible success witht the building of Hegel's hotel.

I love gestalt, especially the theory. I think Perls, Hefferline and Goodman remains unsurpassed.

I've never trained in a formal course - I think I'm too independant and gestalt seems to have very much compromised with the powers that be and sold its birthright for a mess of recognition (and high salaries, let us not forget).

I think the big issue for gestalt to confront is professionalism. I'll be fascinated to see if this turns up in Hegel's hotel.

I also think you are doing what gestalt should be doing, assimilating, integrating and building. Gestalt is so stuck!

So once again heart-felt thanks and wishes for your success.

June 12, 2007 2:57 AM

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Dave, you do an excellent job of helping the layperson understand your
philosophies and the historical philosophies that you support or disagree with. - Noreen

Finding Truth.

Wow..You trigger thought and reflection on past and present, personal views.
I guess that is a large part of your intention or maybe your responsibility as a true philosopher.

It's interesting, at some point in the journey, regardless of your upbringing , life forces you to choose your beliefs. The universal question:
Does God and heaven really exist? What is the truth?

Thank you for suggesting that I plough my way through it.

- Noreen

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David Gordon Bain is a modern day philosopher with his finger on the integrative, dialectic pulse of life, both past and present! - Noreen

(Noreen, incidently, has become a good friend of mine, and in the relatively short time that I have known her - the last year or so - she has made many,many important contributions to my writing, and to the ongoing 'dialectical evolution' of Hegel's Hotel. - dgb, Aug. 22nd, 2008.)

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Here is an example of one of my latest essays...written on September 11th, updated Sept. 21st, 2008.

DGB 'Sun-Planet Theory', Homeostatic Balance, and Sixteen 'Mythological Idol Fixations' of Extremist Living

1. Introduction

This is brand new DGB Philosophy-Psychology although the ideas have been perculating in my head for a while now...

Think of the sun with the planets revolving around it; in order for people to survive on earth, the earth needs to be situated - and revolving around the sun just rightly - not too far from the sun (or we freeze to death) and not too close to the sun (or we burn to death) - which comes back to the main principle of the creation and/or evolution of life in the universe and on earth: the principle of 'homeostatic balance'.

Once you get this image in your mind - of the sun and planets model and the principle of homestatic balance - you are starting to get a picture of my latest perculating model of the human psyche - a model that borrows from philosophy, psychology, biology, chemistry, and physics, and mythology. There is some Freud in it (projecting and introjecting), some Jung in it (archetypes and Greek Gods), lots of philosophy in it (such as the different 'eras' or 'periods' of philosophy), and running right through the middle of this model are the priniciples of: 1. 'multi-dialectic exchange, interchange, negotiation, power and control maneuvers'; and 2. 'homeostatic (or multi-dialectic) balance.

I remember reading a book a long time ago - perhaps when I was in university (1974-1979) called, 'Man The Manipulator'. I will research the book and come back to you with the author shortly. I believe the author(s) had some training in both Gestalt Therapy and Jungian Psychology.

Anyways, my present model here reminds me somewhat of what the author(s)in that book were also trying to get at which was basically that (and I will paraphrase in my own words here and now): any 'particualar style of interconnected thought, feeling, impulse, restraint and/or behavior' or what Jung would call a 'complex' or Alfred Adler would call a person's 'lifestyle' has a combination of both positive and negative attributes attached to it (strengths and weaknesses). It's like perhaps the most important statement that Hegel ever made (and again I am both paraphrasing and extending his thought): Every thought, impulse, characteristic, restraint, theory, perspective, lifestyle...carries with it the seeds of its own self-destruction...Or worded otherwise, anything taken too far, will eventually explode, implode, self-destruct, poison, and/or take you off the deep end with it...Any form of extremism will eventually lead to your self-destruction...

Which brings us back to the principle of 'homeostatic - and/or dialectical - balance'. Here is my post-Hegelian-extension of Hegel's famous formula: The life cycle follows the pattern of: 1. thesis; 2. anti-thesis; and 3 synthesis (which - my DGB extension - pulls man and all of evolutionary life back to the 'central position of homeostatic-dialectic-democratic balance'. 'Not too strong (eg. The Republicans), not too weak (eg. The Democrats) but just right...'The Republican-Democrats or the Democratic-Republicans'. This is the post-Hegelian, bi-polarity synthesizing goal of DGB Philosophy.

Here is my extension of the famous Hegelian formula:

Thesis plus anti-thesis or counter-thesis creatively negotiated together equals homeostatic and/or dialectical balance which in turn provides a compensatory form of psycho- and/or philosophical and/or bio-chemical therapy for all different forms of philosophical and psychological and bio-chemical extremism.

I don't have the technical capability within this blogsite to create the type of model I wish to create with a 'sun' or 'planet' in the centre with all of its revolving planets or moons. So you will have to imagine this.

I have already written a number of different papers that can be found below this essay on 'Gods, Myths, Archetypes, and Self-Energy Centres...' This essay only becomes the essay that starts to pull them all together into one model of the personality.

At centre stage is the 'main energy centre in the personality' - The Central Mediating Ego' (psychological model) which can also be called the 'Hegelian Ego' (philosophical model: thesis plus counter-thesis equal synthesis and homeostatic-dialectic-democratic balance) or Zeus (mythological model) or 'The Sun' (planetary model).

Here are some of the 'revolving planets in similar and/or different human lifestyles, complexes, and/or personalities'...

2. Sixteen 'Mythological Idol Fixations' of Extremist Living'

1. Idols of The Tribe or The Crowd: (Crowd Pleasers, victims of peer pressure...)Don't get caught up and lost in the ideas and behaviors of the crowd or the 'herd' as Nietcsche would put it - like lemmings you can be taken over a cliff. Think and feel and act independently as well as co-dependently;

2. Idols of The Cave (Hermits, Loners, Thinkers, Philosophers, Introverts, Shy People, Self-Infatuated People...): Don't get caught up and lost within yourself. You will suffocate there. If or when you do, come back out of yourself, and reach out to a person and/or people. This is your therapy;

3. Idols of The Sky (The Greek God, Uranus) (Idealists, Visionaries, Entepreneurs, Architects, pilots, astronauts, skydivers...): Come back to earth young man or woman, come back to earth and re-ground yourself. Your therapy consists of 'touching earth again and feeling the soil beneath your feet, the ground and trees all around you);

4. Idols of The Earth (in Greek mythology, the godesses Gaea): (Empiricists, people who are afraid to take a risk, people who need security above all else in their lives). Take a risk young man or woman, take a risk! This is your therapy. Fly high into the sky and see how high you can soar;

5. Idols of The Theatre (The Magician, The Sophist, The Actor, The Fraud...: Don't be fooled by others using sophistry, illusion, smoke and mirrors; and similarily, don't fool others using sophistry, illusion, smoke and mirrors. Be congruent, be honest, be yourself. Your therapy consists of re-finding your self and who you really are;

6. Idols of Zeus (Authority, Power, Title): Don't be fooled by, or fool others, using a mantle of exploitive authority, power, and/or title. The best leaders can both talk with wisdom and charisma while listening to the wisdom of others. The worst leaders have a self-inflated opinion of themselves and can talk, even act with power and/or violence but they can't listen, and they don't care about others. They are strictly for themselves. Your therapy here consists of 100 hours of community work to try to help cure your self-inflated narcissism. Helping others - altruism - is what you are trying to learn here, and truly caring about others;

7. Idols of The Word: Don't be fooled or fool others using a web of words that don't mean what they claim to mean, or you claim them to mean. If your words don't fit your meaning, then perhaps its time to go back to Grade 1, go back to 'the pointing game', or 'the fitting game', show that your words reflect your actions, and your actions reflect your words. To the extent that they don't - your words are fraudulent and the more you use them this way, the more of a fraud your whole person is. Your therapy consists of going back to square one and making your actions fit your words and visa versa;

8. Idols of Apollo: Don't spend your whole life following the God of Righteousness - i.e., Apollo - because it will create for you a one-sided life. You need to show tolerance and non-jugment at times also. This is your therapy - to practise being 'non-righteous';

9. Idols of Dionysus: Don't get lost in the pursuit of hedonism, narcissism, pleasure, sex, alcohol, drugs, gambling, partying, the fast life (Your therapy - maybe practise Budhism or abstinence for a while, see what it is like to live without your addiction, what you are scared of, and how you can overcome this;

10. Idols of Aphrodite: Don't get lost in - or consumed by - love. It will throw everything else in your life out of balance and leave you weak and vulnerable to loss, betrayal, abandonment, rejection - if you fall in love too easily with the person who is going to create a self-fulling prophecy and your worst nightmare for you. You need to stay grounded, develop your own strengths and not 'project Gods' onto everyone you meet. Your therapy is to imagine that you yourself are the God for a while...;

11. Idols of War (The Greek God, Aries): Don't get caught up in - and consumed by war. It will eat you up and destroy you. You think that you can destroy your enemies but for every new person who you kill, you are probably creating at least a handful of new enemies. Your therapy lies in developing 'creative ways of negotiating towards win-win solutions', not seeing everyone as your potential enemy - and treating him or her like it, making your world a more dangerous place than it needs to be;

12. Idols of Hades (God of The Underworld): Don't get caught up and lost in illicit and/or illegal activities. It will bring on your self-destruction perhaps faster than anything else, particularly if you are nurturing hate, power, revenge, and violence. What goes around will eventually come around. You will get yours in the end...What was that Martin Luther King quote that Obama liked so much - something like...'The cosmic arc is long but bends towards justice'.;

13. Idols of Speed (The Greek God, Hermes): Don't get caught up in, and consumed by speed. Live in the fast lane, die in the fast lane.

14. Idols of Athena (Goddess of Patriotism): Patriotism can be a dangerous thing if you get too caught up, and consumed by it. It breeds righteosness and intolerance - 'It's my way or the highway'. You will eventually distance yourself, alienate, and/or be subsumed by more powerful groups than you that don't buy your 'patriotic lines';

15. Idols of Hera (Goddess and Protector of Marriage): Marriage can be a beautiful thing but it can also be a strifeful thing. Don't completely lose yourself - and your identity - in marriage. Be the person you always were. Develop your own talents and potential even as the two of you seek to evolve together in the relationship. Flexibility and tolerance is important - and not 'couping each other up in tight boxes that you both suffocate in' (or one person suffocates in by submitting to the other's domination). Win-win negotiatins in marriage are essential;

16. Idols of Narcissus (God of Self-Idolation): Don't become so absorbed in yourself that you can't see the people around you and their own trials and tribulations. In the myth of Narcissus, Narcissus looked into a pool of water, saw his reflection, and fell in love with himself. Be sensitive to the needs, want, feelings, thoughts, and problems of others. This is your therapy.

These are 'The DGB 16 Mythological Idols of Lifestyle and Personaliy Extremism' (we can find many others), and DGB Philosophy-Psychology seeks to pull every one of these 'idol fixations' away from their 'orbit of extremism' and back into 'the homeostatic balance of the personality-as-a-whole'.

'Health' is generally half-way between bi-polar forms of psycho, physio, and/or philosophical pathology on each opposite exteme side. Generally, the more extreme, the more pathological.

- dgb, Sept. 11th, 2008, modified Sept. 21st, 2008.

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Hegel's Hotel: DGB Philosophy (The Phenomenology of Mind, Body, and Spirit)

...Table of Contents

Floor(Blog)1: Table of Contents, Commendations, Links

Floor(Blog)2: Introductory Essays

Floor(Blog)3: More On The Dynamics of The Dialectic Perspective

Floor(Blog)4: Most Recent Essays

FLoor(Blog)5: Anaxamander vs. Heraclitus (Power vs. Balance)

Floor(Blog)6: Early Eastern Philosophy ('Yin/Yang')

Floor(Blog)7: Heraclitus vs. Parmenides (Change vs. Permanence)

Floor(Blog)8: The Sophists vs. Socrates (Narcissistic Rhetorical Sophism vs. Rhetorical Integrity)

Floor(Blog)9: Plato vs. Aristotle (Idealism vs. Realism)

Floor(Blog)10: Roman Narcissistic Hedonism and The Fall of Rome

Floor(Blog)11: Early Religious (Scholastic) Philosophy (Anti-Narcissism)

Floor(Blog)12: Early Scientific (Rational-Empirical) Philosophy (Bacon)

Floor(Blog)14: Rationalism, Pantheism, Wholism (Spinoza)

And many more floor (blogs) still to be built, about 50 'floors' in total when it is finished...with about 25 floors dedicated to the history and evolution of dialectical philosophy, and another 25 floors dedicated to current DGB Philosophy...I am aiming for about 500 essays plus in total by the time I can say 'Hegel's Hotel' is more or less finished...

Of course, 'quantity' is only as good as the intrinsic value of the 'quality' contained within the 'quantity'...otherwise, 'quantity' is 'birdfeed'...and I like my birds too much in my backyard to feed them 'crap'; similarily, I value your readership and my integrity too much to sit here and waste thousands of hours of my life writing 'crap' that is a waste of both my time and yours...'

Thus, I want each and every one of my essays to say something meaningful before I leave it as finished...otherwise, it will eventually be rejected and go the way of the dinosaur...Evolution extinguishes that which is meaningless and non-functional...Everything that exists in nature has a meaningful function and is an important part of the 'rational-pantheistic-whole(God, man, and Nature linked together ideally, in cosmic, spiritual, differential harmony. (Spinoza taught me that.)

- david gordon bain, updated Sept. 21st, 2008.


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Classification Systems, Mythological Entities, Post-Hegelian Ideas - and 'The Multi-Dialectic Force of God'

Sometimes it can be rather amusing to look at the supposed 'differences' between philosophy and psychology. Philosophy - at least 'Deconstructive, Post-Modern' Philosophy' - often seeks to 'deconstruct' what psychology has 'constructed'. I am thinking mainly of the type of Deconstructive Philosophy that David Hume 'created for himself' and other radical philosophical skeptics to follow in his footsteps - where, for example, he denied the 'existence' of what is usually taken for granted in the realm of psychology - 'The Self'. What's with this?

Well, Hume's 'deconstructive logic' - as much as you (I) may feel like strangling him at times - does carry some epistemological weight although if you follow it where Hume took it, then you will be left with very little 'epistemological knowledge' left to carry in your mind. Indeed, in Humean philosophy, not even the 'mind' would likely exist. In effect, all generalizations are to be distrusted and disbanded because 'if you can't see them, then they don't exist'. Essentially, Humean Philosophy - as well as being the logical extension and application of 'empiricism taken to the limit and beyond...('radical empiricism) - was basically also the philosophical bridge between Heraclites' brand of pre-Socratic ancient Greek Philosophy ('You can't step into the same river twice') and the radical empirical philosophy-psychology of 'Behaviorism' that was to follow Hume into the 20th century as developed mainly by B.F. Skinner.

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From the internet...(Google: Greek Philosophy, Heraclitus...)

Heraclitus, along with Parmenides, is probably the most significant philosopher of ancient Greece until Socrates and Plato; in fact, Heraclitus's philosophy is perhaps even more fundamental in the formation of the European mind than any other thinker in European history, including Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Why? Heraclitus, like Parmenides, postulated a model of nature and the universe which created the foundation for all other speculation on physics and metaphysics. The ideas that the universe is in constant change and that there is an underlying order or reason to this changethe Logosform the essential foundation of the European world view. Everytime you walk into a science, economics, or political science course, to some extent everything you do in that class originates with Heraclitus's speculations on change and the Logos.

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From Wikipedia (Google: B.F.Skinner)

Burrhus Frederic Skinner (March 20, 1904 August 18, 1990) was an influential American psychologist, author, inventor, advocate for social reform [1][2]and poet.[3] He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University from 1958 until his retirement in 1974.[4] He invented the operant conditioning chamber, innovated his own philosophy of science called Radical Behaviorism,[5] and founded his own school of experimental research psychology the experimental analysis of behavior. His analysis of human behavior culminated in his work Verbal Behavior, which has recently seen enormous increase in interest experimentally and in applied settings.[6] He discovered and advanced the rate of response as a dependent variable in psychological research. He invented the cumulative recorder to measure rate of responding as part of his highly influential work on schedules of reinforcement.[7] [8] In a recent survey, Skinner was listed as the most influential psychologist of the 20th century.[9] He was a prolific author, publishing 21 books and 180 articles.[10] [11]

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Following 'Humean-Skinnerian logic' - You may be able to see your 'phyisical, empirical self' if you look at a mirror but if you look at the same mirror you are not going to see your 'Psychological Self' - therefore - empirically speaking at least - it does not exist.

The same goes for such Freudian concepts as 'Ego' and 'Id' and 'Superego'. If you can't see them, then they don't exist. (Of course back in Hume's day, they couldn't see 'bacteria' and 'viruses' but that was not to say that they didn't exist. Things and living entities that you don't see can still kill you - indeed, they are probably more dangerous such as 'the car you don't see'.)

In philosophy, you learn about 'epistemology' (the study of knowledge) whereas in Freudian - or Post-Freudian - Psychology, you learn about 'Central Ego Function' -and then you would probably proceed to start studying 'epistemology' as one of the main 'ego functions or processes' within the confines of 'The Central Ego'.

In other words, in psychology, it is almost like we 'need' to 'invent internal structural systems' - kind of like 'organs in the mind' - except that there is no, physical empirical basis on which to believe that these 'ego structures' actually exist except as 'mythological entities' much like 'Gods' - with the same intended purpose: to explain things which are otherwise difficult if not downright impossible to explain.

It would be easy to argue - and I will take up this argument again on behalf of David Hume - that this is one of man's central 'mental features or characteristics': making up 'things' or 'structures' that don't exist - or worded another way - 'turning physical or psychological processes (Would Hume even accept the existence of 'psychological and/or epistemological processes? - you can't see them!) into non-existent, and totally man-made 'conceptual structures or constructions' - and calling them 'real'!

In fact, this is one of the main problems with 'classification systems' in general: they 'conceptually funnel' knowledge into particular categories that may or may not exist - 'phenomenomologically', 'biologically', 'physically', 'chemically', and so on...

'Black and white man-made categories or classification systems' don't allow for the existence of 'hybrids' - or anything that exists outside of the mind of the classifyer and the classifyer's 'classification system' until someone pipes up and says: 'I don't like this particular classification system; I'm going to make a new one up that is much better...(We can read on the internet this morning about the first man to 'have a baby'! Life doesn't believe in always following nice, neat, clean, man-made classification systems or categories...)

Thus, for anyone who has set about the task of learning a particular branch of knowledge, it is important to know that you are basically at the mercy - and the power - of the particular person or organization 'who has structured and classified in the knowledge in a particular way' so that you only get to learn about the type of knowledge that is 'inside the classification box'; not outside. This is why you often here the cry - 'Think outside the box'. That is, 'think outside the 'Classification Box' - or you might miss some important types of knowledge that otherwise will not be taught to you.

Thus, there is value in constantly changing up any 'Classificaiton Box' - or 'flexibly being able to smoothly move from one Classification Box to another - such as Psychoanalysis, Jungian Psychology, Adlerian Psychology, Behavorial Psychology, Gestalt Therapy, Transactional Analysis, and so on - just as there is value in being able to speak and understand different languages - each language making up another different type of 'Classification Box'.

This is why 'DGB Philosophy' uses a lot of 'hyphenated words' - like 'DGB Philosophy-Psychology'. 'DGB' not only narcissistically stands for my name - David Gordon Bain - it also, stands for what I philosophically do - which is 'dialectically bridge gaps (dgb)' between different phiilosophical systems, different psychological systems, bringing philosophical and psychological systems together...and every other type of system dialectically together in an effort to create a different type of 'hybrid-classification system' that has its own unique form of 'funtionality and value' like dialectically integrating a 'normal gas car with a propane or natural gas or hydrogen or electrical car' so that you improve energy efficiency, reduce your dependency on normal gas but still have normal gas if you can't find a propane or natural gas station or can't run your car on hydrogen or electricity until you take it home and 're-charge' it for a night...

In the case of cars, we can say that our classification system is 'physically or empirically grounded' because you can see the 'gas tank' or the 'propane tank' or the 'natural gas tank' or the 'electical outlet' where you might have to plug your car into another electrical outlet on the wall of your house when you get your car home at night...

However, we can't say the same things about 'The Central Mediating Ego' or 'The Righteous-Ethical Topdog' or 'The Narcissistic Topdog (or Underdog)' or 'The Nurturing-Supportive Topdog' - or 'The Soul' - or 'God'...

These last types of 'classification systems' are 'metaphysical systems' and may even deserve to be called 'Mythological Systems' - meaning not that they may or may not have functional value - but rather, that their 'physical-empirical' basis cannot be proven or verified without a doubt; and on this basis, is subject to 'legitmate epistemological dispute and controversy' - if not downright 'skepticism'. Remember: 'Metaphysics' means basically - 'above and beyond physics' as first categorized by Aristotle.

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From the internet...(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Aristotle's Metaphysics

First published Sun Oct 8, 2000; substantive revision Mon Jun 9, 2008
The first major work in the history of philosophy to bear the title "Metaphysics" was the treatise by Aristotle that we have come to know by that name. But Aristotle himself did not use that title or even describe his field of study as metaphysics'; the name was evidently coined by the first century C.E. editor who assembled the treatise we know as Aristotle's Metaphysics out of various smaller selections of Aristotle's works. The title metaphysics' literally, after the Physics' very likely indicated the place the topics discussed therein were intended to occupy in the philosophical curriculum. They were to be studied after the treatises dealing with nature (ta phusika). In this entry, we discuss the ideas that are developed in Aristotle's treatise.

1. The Subject Matter of Aristotle's Metaphysics
2. The Categories
3. The Role of Substance in the Study of Being Qua Being
4. The Fundamental Principles: Axioms
5. What is Substance?
6. Substance, Matter, and Subject
7. Substance and Essence
8. Substances as Hylomorphic Compounds
9. Substance and Definition
10. Substances and Universals
11. Substance as Cause of Being
12. Actuality and Potentiality
13. Unity Reconsidered
14. Glossary of Aristotelian Terminology

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It must be made absolutely clear that unlike Hume and Skinner, I am not saything that metaphysical and mythological systems have no value - because oftentimes I believe they do - rather, what I am saying is that there value may not be in their 'epistemological reality' but rather in their 'Projected-Self-Idealism' and their 'Projected Philosophical Idealism'. As long as we are willing to call a spade a spade - and not say that it is something else, as long as we are willing to admit and own up to the fact that our 'Metaphysical/Mythological Structure or Construction' is exactly that and not necessarily an 'epistmeological reality', that it is our own form of 'projected self-idealism' - then we cannot be accused of being 'epistemologically fraudulent', of trying to propogate some sort of Mythologcial Entity onto the world in the name of 'Epistemological Truth'.

Thus, when I use the term 'God' - I do so 'mythologically' as a 'projected form of self-idealism and philosopohical idealism; nothing more, nothing less. I do not use the term 'God' as an 'epistemological reality' - although admittedly, often it is tempting to go here. Mainly, I use the term 'God', philosophically,metaphysically, mythologically, and spiritually, as a 'projected form of self and philosophical idealism' - although, epistemolgicallly, I will jump one step further...

'Nature' is a physical reality; so too, are 'natural processes' which can be either 'physically (empirically) watched and/or 'reasonably/logically inferred' by 'scientific, and/or rationally-empirical minds'...

It does not take too much 'rational-empirical logic/reason' to jump to the theory of 'intelligent design' - that nature is 'intelligently designed'. Furthermore, it does not take too much more 'rational-empirical logic/reason' to jump to the assumption that if 'nature is intelligently designed', then that possibly/probably? means that somewhere out there, there is - or at least was at one time -an 'intelligent designer'. Dare we call this inferred 'intelligent designer' - 'God' - and if so, does the name 'God' stand on the basis of 'reasonable empirical (natural, physical) evidence - even if there are at least one or more 'metaphysical jumps in logic' that take us from 'Nature' to 'God'?

Well, here's the problem here. Actually, there is more one of them. Firstly, what if 'Nature' - from 'The Earth' to 'Life on Earth' to possibly even 'Life in the rest of the Universe' was simply created by a 'Very Superior Being' who is now dead - like all other forms of life eventually die over time - or a 'Superior Race of Beings' that are/were vastly more intelligent than man, and much further along the 'evolution route'...Are we going to believe in perhaps a different way than Nietzsche meant it, that 'God is dead!', and/or that 'God is/was a Superior Race of Beings'? Secondly, the idea of 'God' is so emotionally laden for most people who believe in 'God' that it is rather obvious that there is much more psychologicallly and philosophically at stake than believing that 'God' is/was simply a 'More Intelligent Being than Man' and/or a 'More Intelligent Race of Beings than God' and/or that if 'God' ever existed at one point in time, it is also quite possible/probable that God is now dead - having died like all of the rest of us will one day...No...this is not why 'God' - and religion - exists for most people who believe in God. Epistemologically, most people believe in God firstly, out of 'purely assumptive Faith' - this is the rather shaky assumptive foundation for their belief in 'God'. But more than this, 'God' exists for most people because they cannot see their own 'projected Idol(s), their own projected 'Self-Energy', and their own 'projected form of Self and Philosophical Idealism' hidden, even buried, beneath their religious beliefs...

To properly understand God and Religion, man has to have the courage to look at his own 'Self-Projected Energy and Philosophical Idealism as a 'compensatory measure' usually taken to alleviate 'underlying psychological-philosophical anxiety' such as 'the fear of death and/or the fear of freedom and/or the fear of being essentially alone in a warm or cold universe of his or her own personal, phenomenonological-existential making...

In essence, the belief in God as an 'epistemological reality' - for the most part (and I can hear millions of angry people wanting to get a piece of me here...) is a 'smoke and mirrors, dog and pony show' for underlying 'existential anxiety'. Still, metaphysically and mythologically, the belief in God can still serve a valuable, functional purpose (like helping us to feel less alone in the world, and helping us to help others in need of help...).

Personally, as a philosophical, metaphysical, mythological, and spiritual entity, I view 'God as 'The Master Dialectical Integrating, Unifying - and Separating -Force' behind all of Nature, Evolution, and Creation...Life for me, is primarily the accidental and/or purposeful 'collision' of similar and/or opposing forces to 'create new chemical and psychological bonds - and to destroy (deconstruct) old ones that are no longer functional...

This is starting to sound like 'Star Wars' here (let the 'Force' be with you! - and we are definitely not talking about Schopenhauer's (or 'Hobbes') philosophical type of 'narcissistic, nasty, brutish killing Life and Death Force here' - although both the world and man can encompass all of this; nor are we talking about Nietzsche's 'Will to Power' or the more humanistic (feminist?) Nietzschean rendition of the 'The Will to Self-Empowerment' although man can show both of these features as well - both in their positive and negative aspects; nor are we totally talking about the types of forces entailed in Freud's metaphysical concepts of 'Life and Death Instinct' playing off against each other although I like parts of this classification system as well but again, this is not completely what I am talking about.

Rather, the metaphysical-mythological-spiritual classification system that I use is more of a combination of: Anaxamander, Heraclitus, the Han Philosophers, Spinoza, Hegel, and Perls...with backup support from Schopenhauer - The world can be, and often is. 'brutish and nasty'!, Nietzsche (The Birth of Tragedy, Apollo and Dionysus), Freud (Ego, Superego, and Id, life and death instinct, traumacy, seduction, assault, and narcissism), Jung (the Persona, The Shadow, and the Archetypes, and Berne (Nurturing Parent, Righteous Parent, Adult, Adaptive Child, Rebellious Child, Natural Child...), and Perls (Topdog and Underdog), hotseat and empty chair work...)

What I am talking about in terms of the number one 'philosophical and spiritual force' in DGB Philosophy-Psychology supersedes everything that we have talked about in the last paragraph. I am talking about a force that unites Western and Eastern Philosophy - at its best; a force that integrates and unites many of the similar but different philosophical systems that make up the history of Western philosophy - from Thales, Anixamander, Heraclitus, and the Han Philosophers to present day philosophical processes and/or systems such as DGB Philosophy-Psychology.

I am talking about what I consider to be the 'master key stroke of God' - and here I am talking about my own projective ideal system - but also moving beyond this because I am integrating much of Western philosophical and psychological history - not to mention Chinese 'yin' and 'yang' theory. Perhaps I am moving into 'Intelligent Design' Theory - into the realm of theology, the realm of metaphysics and mythology, and who knows - maybe even into the realm of epistemology and 'epistemological truth' on a 'natural basis' at least - because the 'force' I am talking about is so prevalent, so dominating, so all-encompassing, so potentially tied into evolution and creation theory, that it is hard not to believe that there wasn't at least at some point in time an 'Incredibly Intelligent and Sophisticated Designer or Creator' - to which I give the name 'God' behind this Creation. The force that I call the 'master key stroke of God' - is 'The Force of The Dialectic'... This Force is neither good nor bad - it is 'Beyond Good and Evil' (but not in the Nietzschean sense), indeed, often it brings good and evil into the same physical and psychological space...It is 'beyond life and death' and indeed, often encompasses elements of life and death in the same physical and psychological space.

The Force of the Dialectic is largely unpredictable - at work in the 'hot seat and empty chair technique' in Gestalt Therapy; at work in a different way between the Analyst and the client on the 'Psychoanalytic couch situation', at work in any human encounter, any encounter where two or more objects, two or more processes, two or more living entitities, come together, collide together, make love together, make hate together, randomly or on purpose, chaoticallly or with intended purpose, integratively or with no resulting integration...Postives and negatives coming together, positives and positives coming together, negatives and negatives coming together - and either 'finding a chemical fit' - or not. I'm talking about the coming together and breaking apart of 'chemical molecules' on every microscopic and macroscopic level of existence...a dog and a cat coming together and...well...fighting like cats and dogs...or a cat and a dog coming together...and somebody snaps a picture of them 'cuddling together on the same couch'...

This is 'The Dialectical Force' that I am trying to describe here in DGB Philosophy-Psychology-Politics-Medicine...Others have been here before me...many, many others...but I am just trying to put it altogether in one 'muliti-dialectical-integrative package'. Hegel, was the ultimate 'dialectical mastermind' but he basically only touched on 'epistemology' - he spoke of 'The Absolute' in terms of 'Absolute Knowledge'. Others - Nietzsche, Freud, Jung, Perls, Sartre, Foucault, Derrida, have extrapolated in some 'post-Hegelian' way on what Hegel wrote - improving on some of his largest weaknesses.

When I speak of 'The Dialectical Force', I speak not only of the evolution of knowledge but also of the evolution of existence and life - of being and becoming, of life and death. This to me, is the full extent of The Mystical, Metaphysical, partly Mythological Dialectical Force.

For me, The Dialectical Force is the key Creative and Working Force of God.

And that is where I will leave things today on this fine Sunday morning...

- dgb, June 8th, 2008, modified and updated, July 5th, 2008.