CONCEPTUAL
PHILOSOPHY
By a net, I mean a network of concepts and conceptual distinctions and conceptual relationships. A concept is crucial for a person P if the net that P routinely uses would lack coherence without it. A conceptual philosophy for P is an organized net that centers on those concepts that P finds crucial along with those concepts that these crucial concepts most directly support. A conceptual philosophy has no theories. With few exceptions, it involves only conceptual claims. For instance, it does involve the non-conceptual claim of having some conceptual competence, because doing conceptual philosophy involves presenting-clarifying-refining concepts and relations between concepts. Academic philosophy does not focus directly on conceptual philosophy, and this is one of the main reasons that I have little remaining interest in academic philosophy. For more thoughts on this see The Vagueness of Academic Philosophy.
The main work I have done in conceptual philosophy was initially organized as three separate booklets. This work is now organized in a book entitled A Personal Approach to Conceptual Philosophy. This book began as a personal tool helping me to understand my attitudes and my own crucial concepts and to shape them into a conceptual philosophy. While pleased with what I achieved in this regard, I also hope it might be useful to others who would like to examine their own crucial concepts. However, I propose going beyond this to formulate what seems to be at most implicit in our tradition, namely a public net for conceptual philosophy. This book focuses on the core of the conceptual philosophy that I am tentatively proposing for part of this public net. It is still being revised. It can be examined read here or downloaded doc file. This book is being augmented by a second book entitled Collected Paper for Conceptual Philosophy. Preliminary versions of some of the papers to be included are listed later on this page.
A Personal Approach to Conceptual Philosophy.htm and A Personal Approach to Conceptual Philosophy.doc
The older versions
of the three separate booklets that are now include in the main book above are
also available by request.
The two papers below are also directly related to my net for conceptual philosophy.
My Net for Understanding Mathematics My Net for Understanding Education
Conceptual Papers for Conceptual Philosophy: Below is a list of paper with links.
Descriptions are given immediately after the list.
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Altho most of the words used for the concepts being studied are taken from ordinary language, the concepts and conceptual distinctions that I use are specialized in ways that go beyond those in common usage. To stress this I sometimes use the capitalized word ‘IS’ as an abbreviation for ‘is conceptualized for the purposes of this paper in such a way that’.
My Third Collapse of Will My third collapse of will began in Mach of 1989 and lasted 4 years. This paper is primarily an account of this period and the effect it had on my attitudes towards conceptual philosophy. The only concepts developed are those of a wellbeing pyramid,. These are developed separately in a shorter file of that title.
Chicken and Egg This paper was developed as an illustration of a conceptual distinction I use in thinking about questions, and which is developed the paper Propositions & Queries. This distinction is fundamental to My Net for Understanding. A question IS an individualized instance of an interrogative sentence. The primary purpose of a question IS to request information. In most cases asking a question indicates some uncertainty about information, so the most we would expect of the person who initiates a question is an awareness the type of information that would suffice. Questions that could be answered by the type of information the individual asking the question intended are called queries. This is a specialized use of the word query. This paper associates various queries with the question about which came first the chicken or the egg.
Competence & Know-with This paper was motivated by some comments by Paul Zeiger about the relationship between the concepts of competence and know-with. He saw them as more closely related than I did. He is using concepts from DP (Descriptive Psychology), and since I am unclear about how the concept of competence is used in DP, I may be using the term ‘competence’ more broadly. Altho I use the same three main parameters as those used in DP, I conceptualize the power parameter differently. Instead of using informational knowledge as one of the power types, I use a broader power type called understanding. This type includes relational comprehensions and knowledge. Knowledge includes know-with and know-how, as well as informational knowledge. Furthermore, I am not clear about the DP concept know-how or its role as a characteristic. I am using a competence concept in a way that allows a competence to include both cognitive and non-cognitive components. The purpose of this paper is to bring these concepts into clearer focus and to relate them to other concepts within my master net.
Comprehensive Paradigms Thomas Kuhn coined the term ‘paradigm’ in relation to the endeavors a scientific community makes in regards to some realm of interest. His concept could be extended in an obvious manner to other types of communities having any other limited realm of interest. I want to focus on extensions that go beyond any limited realms. To stress this I call them comprehensive paradigms. The main purpose of this paper is to develop the concept of a comprehensive paradigm. It also briefly speculates on the future of such paradigms.
Conceptual Study & Pre-Empirical Science The first part of the paper conceptualizes various types of study, primarily by indicating conditions on parameters for describing the activity involved in these types of study. Scientific study (or more briefly science) is characterized by conditions on the want and performance parameters. Different conditions on these parameters are used to characterize conceptual study. Conceptual study is classified as pre-empirical or as purely conceptual, depending on conditions placed on the significance parameter. Some related concepts are also presented. The second part of the paper relates concepts from the first part to Descriptive Psychology. This is followed by a discussion of what I call conceptual philosophy, and which I now regard as a potential branch of Descriptive Psychology. Finally some of the barriers to a wider recognition of conceptual study and Descriptive Psychology are considered, along with the potential impact for the future of our culture if these barriers can be removed.
Cosmic Images A cosmic version IS a unified way of looking at the nature and origin of the universe and the way that persons fit into the general scheme of things. I am puzzled by the fact that the people I know and the authors I have read seem to have so little trouble in finding a plausible cosmic version which they do not consider vague. For many years I have had no cosmic version. All I have are some functional cosmic attitudes. I call these cosmic images in order to stress the fact that they are vague, and that any attempt on my part to bring them into a sharper focus runs into the limitations of my ability to obtain a satisfactory intuitive grasp of anything of cosmic scope.
Eggs & Rights & Ordinary Nets To illustrate CS (conceptual study) for an ordinary net, I focus on a fictional account of my acquisition of various egg concepts. I also briefly discuss some other ordinary nets. Some of my conceptual papers give further examples of the use of CS with ordinary nets. Examples include Fearfulness Concepts, Self-esteem & Worth Concepts, Faith Concepts, Work & Employment Concepts. One reason for focusing on egg concepts is to illustrate the potential for complexity and confusion in a simple ordinary net, even when the concepts are not emotionally laden. It is also intended to illustrate why I find my net for understanding useful for thinking about such nets.
Faith Concepts Faith is conceptualized as a trust relation involves a person P and an object O during a time period T. I focus on four parameters. The stability parameter relates to the extent to which the faith is resistant to or susceptible to change. Faith can vary from firm to shaky. The scope parameter relates to the variety and number of behaviors that might be influence by the faith. The effect parameter relates to the extent to which it influences P’s actions in relevant situations, being operational to the extent that it has such effects. The evidential parameter relates to the extent to which the faith is or is not supported by some reliable type of evidence, being called ordinary to the extent that it is and extraordinary to the extent that it is not. Faith is often mentioned in relation to matters considered to be of major significance, such as religious faith, and while the concepts of faith I present apply to such faith, this paper focuses more on ordinary faith.
Free-Work & Eco-Work This paper uses the concepts of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to formulate two contrasting motivational concepts of work. Work whose motivation is primarily intrinsic IS Free-Work. Work having a strong extrinsic motivational component of an economic nature IS Eco-Work. Other motivational type of work are mentioned, but only to clarify the two types on which the paper focuses. Altho conceptual study give no paraceptual information about the role work has in what a person does, it does give me tools for thinking about such matters. In particular it helps me think about the role of work in my own life and how that relates to my ideals.
Fearfulness Concepts Just prior to dawn on March 11, 1889 I experienced a sense of spiritual isolation so deep that I felt it would persist thruout eternity. For 4 years my feeling of isolation manifested itself as extreme pathological anxiety. It was not until I was able to convert a major part of my anxiety into a fear, that I was able to lift myself from this pathology and regain some stable power of will. Once this fear was recognized, I was able to see that each time my will reemerged and my helplessness begin to fade. Fearfulness IS of 2 main types, fear and anxiety. Both are related to feeling endangered but they differ in terms of how the threat is identified. Fear IS an emotional state in which P feels like some specific state is a threat and P could describe the threat if asked to do so. Anxiety IS an emotional state in which P feels threatened but is unable to bring the harm implicit in the threat into sharp focus, either because the threat is not immediately present or because when it is no harm stands out.
Historical Novels Historical
fiction is set in the author’s version of some past for which the author could
consult some well established historical information and where at least part of
this comes from materials written during or shortly after this period. This
paper develops five parameters for thinking about the role historical fiction
can play, namely {authenticity,
richness, integration, unfolding, relevance}.
Jaynes & Comprehensive Paradigm Shifts This paper is an expanded version of the comprehensive paradigm paper. It relates the concept developed there to other concepts from my net for philosophy. It also formulates some of my speculations about past comprehensive paradigm shifts, relating these speculations to Jaynes' theory about the origins of consciousness.
Looking For A Black Cat A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn’t there. The person who provided me with this characterization was using humor to suggest the utter lack of utility in philosophy. I prefer a more of comic heroic perspective. I picture a philosopher with limited resources facing almost overwhelming odds. Is this useless, or is it the ultimate in utility? Perhaps it is such tasks that encourage us to create our most powerful nets. This paper gives a glimpse of one way I use in understanding my concept of philosophy.
My Wellbeing Pyramid One result of my third collapse of will was a new way to visualize the spiritual power that would enhance my origin quest. I picture my spiritual power as the apex A of a pyramid with a triangular base. This point A lies within the will that is me. The base vertices of this pyramid are part of my persona and his relationship to my beyond. There is a biological vertex B, a cultural vertex C, a direct relationship vertex D. If apex A had enough power it could energize all these other vertices regardless of external factors. This is not the case currently. My will needs to build power in concert with power being developed in the other vertices.
Natural and Paranatural and Supernatural Action This is a brief paper that formulates a conceptual distinction between several type of common and ordinary activity. The concepts of natural and paranatural are part of my net for philosophy. The concept of supernatural was added in this paper.
Plausibility Concepts This paper conceptualizes a plausibility attitude as a relation between a person and a proposition rather that as an attribute of a proposition. It formulates a heuristic device called plausibility intervals in terms of betting choices which allows for various plausibility attitudes. It indicates ways in which thinking in terms of plausibility might serve purposes that would be obscured by thinking in terms of either truth or probability.
Plausibility Attitudes Towards Jaynes' Theory This paper focuses only on my personal reactions to Jaynes’ theory about the origins of consciousness.
Propositions & Queries This paper focuses on the concept of a statement that clearly proposes information and the concept of a question that clearly asks for information. These are called propositions and queries respectively. Related concepts are also formulated and discussed A multitude of example are given as illustrations.
Appeal of Determinism This paper consists of reflections on the main barrier I once encountered in learning to think about originship. It contains mostly information that helps me understand my net for philosophy. It does not develop any concepts, and thus is not a conceptual paper in the usual sense. However it focuses on my attitudes and on my understanding of some parts of the kind of conceptual nets I was conditioned to use, and I find this useful in understanding my current net. It may also be of use to anyone else who has encountered similar barriers.
Purpose of Human Existence What is the purpose of human existence? Why was I once concerned about this question? Why am I now no longer concerned with it? A query IS a type of question which makes a request for information that is clear enough in the context in which the question was formulated. This question about the purpose of human existence once seemed like a query, but now seems too vague to be one. I suggest some queries that could be associated with this question. However none of these queries have the apparent significance of the original question, and I suspect that there may be no such query. It is these reflections that have eliminated my concern about that question. I do not expect this will be helpful to anyone who still feels the need for a firm external grounding for their most basic purposes.
Self-esteem &Worth Concepts I have long been puzzled by the idea of self-esteem, and until recently it had never occurred to me that self-esteem was more a way of acting than a kind of belief. It seemed that lack of self-esteem was some vague belief that a person had about being inferior. This paper conceptualizes self-esteem as an attitude rather than as a belief. It also introduces and uses various concepts of personal worth, relating them to self-esteem.
Vagueness of Academic Philosophy I could restrict this paper to explaining why I find traditional philosophical questions vague, and why before revising my net for philosophy my own philosophical thinking was seriously flawed by a deeply rooted vagueness which I was unable to acknowledge. However I venture beyond this. I will conjecture that all traditional philosophy is flawed in a similar manner, and that contemporary academic philosophy takes these flaws to new levels of sophistication. Stated so broadly, this conjecture is too vague to be a proposition. I merely offer it as a vague indication of a background attitude, and it would be dishonest to ignore this attitude. As I expose the vagueness of my own philosophical questioning, I feel that this is more than just a personal weakness, that it is a symptom of a general weakness that pervades philosophical reasoning. This is why I no longer have a serious interest in academic philosophy.
Developing Conceptual Philosophy has been a lonely endeavor. I would welcome any indications of interest