The theory of human identity known as "active identity" is the theory that the true identity of a human individual is realized through his or her free acts, the intentions formed to generate those acts, and the effect that those acts have on others- how those acts are considered by others.
A person who wakes up every day and chooses the act of writing is a writer, the person who runs often is a runner...etc etc. It is not only an objective description of identity, but also can be a method of operation for the human individual.
Clearly then, the operational aspects of "active identity" have implications and impact in the sphere of moral action, and can be an operational method of moral choice. Following the explanation of active identity above, if a person wishes to act in a manner considered "good" or benevolent, then what are required are: 1) the intention to produce a positive feedback result for others; 2) the care in the act's execution of objective requirements in the world necessary to produce the positive result; 3) the achievement of a positive result confirmed in the feedback of the other person; and 4) the absence of effects from the action that harm others. With these elements achieved, it can be said in the framework of this theory that the action did indeed produced a "good" result- that it was, in review, a good action.
In this way, with this as an operational method, with repeated "good" results, and extremely limited or absent negative results the person who consistently operates in this manner is attributed a positive moral designation.
Research indicates that this method has tremendous ethical and mental health benefits for sorting through emotional influences and exterior influences of events not produced through the action of the individual, but are experienced as "happening" around them or "to them"- in the choice of action. As active identity toward the "good" becomes habitually operational, it becomes a type of clearing mechanism for discarding choices that would not produce a good result, a type of clearing of emotional and exterior negativity in the narrowing of choice.
What gets produced from adotion of this method over time is a type of thinking that clears itself of negative influences. It is not the rah-rah associated with what is perceived in such self-help methods as "the power of positive thinking", but becomes a method of choice generated with a view towards the regard of others that produces in habit consistent positive - or at least benign- thinking, action, and results. Recent research also shows that this type of clear and positive thinking is confirmed through objective memory testing of the recollection of the events.
It is my contention, that this is similar, only from the viewpoint of the individually generated act, to the moral system of Utilitarianism described by John Stuart Mill. It won't be worked out in detail now, but think of it as Mill contained within the system of Kant. It begins with the respect of the other indicated in the goal to produce a positive result, yet it does accumulate in the piecemeal fashion described in Mill- each instance, over time, in the results, feedback and memory of the events of others. It can be seen as how the individual contributes to the overall social good.
As positive experiences and memories accumulate from one' own action and verifiable positive feedback from others, in relation to very little negative, what gets produced in review is what can be described undeniably as a clear experience/positive experience quotient or "happiness quotient". Call it the benefit of the clearing mechanism- with the result confirmed demonstrated in research results through what others have called a relatively "spotless mind".
(*Recent medical research, on some news shows, has indicated that memory imaging that normal individuals utilize when recalling memories, occur because it is actually a visual image in the brain that is produced through what we know now as Liquid Crystal Display(LCD) technology. Liquid Crystal Display(LCD) technology television screens, according to these shows, were developed through exterior replication of the biological miracle that reproduces these images.
Therefore in the future with the use of nano technology, scientists believe it is only a matter of time before the actual visual and audio memory of the inner thought processes of individuals will be able to be retrieved, transmitted and viewed just as audio and video images are viewed through digital electronic transmission today. Some anecdotal evidence indicates it may already be happening.)
In this way then, the effect that a person has had on others, the quality of life through a type of happiness quotient discussed above, could be quantified through the generation of their own memories of experience with others, and the memories of the others experiences with them- verifiable in a way beyond debate, whether experience with a person was positive, neutral or negative.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
The Root of Contest/Martial Logic- Reason & The Death Instinct..Part I
Prelimary thoughts on the Root of Either/or Thinking
Some thinkers have suggested that the logic of Contest/Martial either/or thinking- "us vs Them"- historically regarded as a fallacy in everyday thinking, is the primary logic form of human experience. This is false, though the form of the dynamic is functional within the larger adopted frame of contest, war, and physical sustainment and survival.
The root of this thinking, which has been treated in seminars in the past, lies in the combination of the use of reason as an architectonic categorization of information and the knowledge of ability, with what is known as the death instinct- in situations where the use of reason is necessary in the decision making that avoids immanent serious injury or death.
Following the form of Aristotelian and Kantian categorization/organization of knowledge, the pressure from immanent physical threat, implied in the formulation of the basis of natural right as the fear of death, elaborated in Leo Strauss Natural Right and History, and developed further on this blog, literally provides the structure of a point at which failure to decide and act correctly renders the result of death. We all know this in the more benign social forms of deadlines, bill due dates, qualifying educational tests, etc..
When normally at leisure, or under very little time pressure, the individual has a tremendous array of information and choices by which to select in order to further material and physical sustainment of needs. In physical threat situations where the element of threat is observed but moving closer in distance and time, the information that is useful and the options of successful avoidance or thwarting of the threat, become lesser and lesser, and the individual quickly sorts through the options to find the most effective means of survival- "best thing" to do.
This type of heuristic mechanism then reduces to the deadline and a decision must be made- and historically and anthropologically this meant "fight or flight".
There will be more added later.
Some thinkers have suggested that the logic of Contest/Martial either/or thinking- "us vs Them"- historically regarded as a fallacy in everyday thinking, is the primary logic form of human experience. This is false, though the form of the dynamic is functional within the larger adopted frame of contest, war, and physical sustainment and survival.
The root of this thinking, which has been treated in seminars in the past, lies in the combination of the use of reason as an architectonic categorization of information and the knowledge of ability, with what is known as the death instinct- in situations where the use of reason is necessary in the decision making that avoids immanent serious injury or death.
Following the form of Aristotelian and Kantian categorization/organization of knowledge, the pressure from immanent physical threat, implied in the formulation of the basis of natural right as the fear of death, elaborated in Leo Strauss Natural Right and History, and developed further on this blog, literally provides the structure of a point at which failure to decide and act correctly renders the result of death. We all know this in the more benign social forms of deadlines, bill due dates, qualifying educational tests, etc..
When normally at leisure, or under very little time pressure, the individual has a tremendous array of information and choices by which to select in order to further material and physical sustainment of needs. In physical threat situations where the element of threat is observed but moving closer in distance and time, the information that is useful and the options of successful avoidance or thwarting of the threat, become lesser and lesser, and the individual quickly sorts through the options to find the most effective means of survival- "best thing" to do.
This type of heuristic mechanism then reduces to the deadline and a decision must be made- and historically and anthropologically this meant "fight or flight".
There will be more added later.
'Witness to the Positive Goodness of Human Nature'- Response Against Martial ideology's False Depiction of the Individual as Absolutely Evil
This is a response against Martial ideology's false depiction of the nature of the individual as absolutely evil. It is a witness account of waitering and the direct interaction of questions and conversations with 96000 customers over 11 years.
It complements a more objective view of individual human nature that is found in the acts of individuals- which are found statistically. On this blog this response then complements the low rate of crime depicted in statistics in James Patterson's 'America in the 20th Century'. (or 'The United States in the 20th Century'- I must check before finalizing this reference)
While waitering mostly in famous Chicago Steakhouses- I had the pleasure of serving, and thus interacting with 35 customers per day, 5 days, 50 weeks, 11 years. (already adjusted for "repeats and regulars"). This comes to approximately 96,000 customers.
I found customers to be normal people, concerned mostly with the people they were with, and the reasons they were there. As the restaurants were expensive downtown Chicago steakhouses, the clientele profile generally was educated and with economic resources. I found if I put effort into serving them well, that they would be receptive to questions I had that were about them- where they were from, what they did for a living, what their jobs entailed, what they liked about their jobs and what they liked about where they were from.
I found that if my attitude towards this interaction was positive, and it was engaged with confidence, imagination and personality, that more often the clientele would initiate and interject their own personalities and spirit into the interaction, display a sense of comfortableness with the surroundings, enjoy their time more at the restaurant and come back again.
For me it was a tremendous benefit of the job to meet them, serve them, talk with them, learn about them, and make their time at the restaurant more enjoyable.
As the restaurant was expensive, they had high but for the most part reasonable expectations, and if there were satisfaction problems, that with sincere and reasonable efforts to accommodate these issues, for the great majority these efforts would resolve the issue at hand.
In the 11 years, of the days when I worked and which included ALL restaurant and bar customers, there were 4 behavior incidents of customers which required immediate summoning of the police- all which can be attributed to intoxication, three of which were bar customers.
To my recollection, there were only two "dine and dash" incidents in those 11 years.
It complements a more objective view of individual human nature that is found in the acts of individuals- which are found statistically. On this blog this response then complements the low rate of crime depicted in statistics in James Patterson's 'America in the 20th Century'. (or 'The United States in the 20th Century'- I must check before finalizing this reference)
While waitering mostly in famous Chicago Steakhouses- I had the pleasure of serving, and thus interacting with 35 customers per day, 5 days, 50 weeks, 11 years. (already adjusted for "repeats and regulars"). This comes to approximately 96,000 customers.
I found customers to be normal people, concerned mostly with the people they were with, and the reasons they were there. As the restaurants were expensive downtown Chicago steakhouses, the clientele profile generally was educated and with economic resources. I found if I put effort into serving them well, that they would be receptive to questions I had that were about them- where they were from, what they did for a living, what their jobs entailed, what they liked about their jobs and what they liked about where they were from.
I found that if my attitude towards this interaction was positive, and it was engaged with confidence, imagination and personality, that more often the clientele would initiate and interject their own personalities and spirit into the interaction, display a sense of comfortableness with the surroundings, enjoy their time more at the restaurant and come back again.
For me it was a tremendous benefit of the job to meet them, serve them, talk with them, learn about them, and make their time at the restaurant more enjoyable.
As the restaurant was expensive, they had high but for the most part reasonable expectations, and if there were satisfaction problems, that with sincere and reasonable efforts to accommodate these issues, for the great majority these efforts would resolve the issue at hand.
In the 11 years, of the days when I worked and which included ALL restaurant and bar customers, there were 4 behavior incidents of customers which required immediate summoning of the police- all which can be attributed to intoxication, three of which were bar customers.
To my recollection, there were only two "dine and dash" incidents in those 11 years.
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