The Basis of the Philosophy – An Atomic Metaphor

This blog will discuss my views on the origins of democracy. It views democracy as the natural form of government that comes into existence when the level of needs satisfaction of its population reaches a certain point. It sees democracy as neither good nor bad. It does not see democracy as the “End of History”.[1] It certainly does not view democracy as the best form of government in all circumstances.

While not truly the end state, the prior paragraph is the product of a philosophy on collective human behavior. A philosophy that sees collective human behavior of a large enough group over a long enough period of time as predictable even though those involved are largely unconscious of what is happening. The easiest way to explain this philosophy is to use a metaphor –the metaphor I will use is the atomic model. In the atom there are the three components, the electron, proton and neutron, and the forces that act on these components, the strong and weak force, gravity, and others that go to produce everything we see. Likewise there are three components to collective human action and a number of forces that go to produce all possible collective human activities you see.

In this metaphor the three components of the collective human actions are the physical human beings that collectively form the culture, the biophysical world they exist in, and the collective knowledge of the culture.[2]

1) Humans. Humans beings have physical abilities, limitations, and requirements. These are the same for all humans anywhere around the world. Everything we create takes these abilities, limitations, and requirements into account.

2) The Environment. Then there is the biophysical world. From it we take what we need. But it is not the same everywhere. Weather, soil type, flora, fauna, rivers, mountains, and oceans varies from place to place. Each of these affect how the human population develop. Whether they will develop into farmers or herders or fishermen or traders.

3) Our Knowledge. Over time the culture learns to interact with its biophysical environment.They also learn how to interact with members of their own culture and members or other cultures. Generations of trial and error become our collective memory. Because it is the result of trial and error there have been consequences for failed practices. Practices that produce good results are seen as "right" and those that produce detrimental results are seen as "wrong". As such, our knowledge becomes peppered with moralistic thought. Hence there becomes a "right" way for marriages to be arranged, either through contract by the parents or consent of the two people to be married. Over time a "truth" about how things must be done emerges. I use the term truth because it is not a fact. I refer to these as cultural truths. Cultural truths help us solve problems but they also limit the potential universe of solutions we see as correct. Eventually, our knowledge controls us. These three components make up our “atom”.

The three components have a number of forces acting on them. That is for the next installment.



[1] Fukuyama, F. (1992). The End of History and The Last Man. New York
Toronto, Free Press : Maxwell Macmillan International; Maxwell Macmillan Canada.

[2]These three limitations are variations on a theme established by Gerhard Lenski in his Ecological-Evolutionary Theory. Lenski, G. E. (2005). Ecological-Evolutionary Theory: Principles and Applications. Boulder, Colo., Paradigm Publishers.