Psychology and Metaphysics-2

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Psychology and Metaphysics

 

2. Praximatism and Learning

 

We shall now consider in some details the way of approach towards behavioral

analysis and hence the methodological aspects so that we are led to UNDERSTAND

the main theme -- the Meaning of Existence. Once this is clear , we can

immediately conclude that we shall not be doing experiments in the laboratories

as it is done in behavioral and cognitive psychologies where the person is made

a subject and forced to respond by pressing bars buttons and so forth by way of

reacting to the various kinds artificial situations created in the laboratory

with the whole situation very controlled so that statistical analysis becomes

possible. We have to

reject this methodological orientation as not essential ( though it may

contribute somewhat) for it does not enable us to understand the natural person

, the way a person acts and responds to the various situations that arise in

existence, in the flow of life.

 

We shall remain within the naive and natural understanding of man and seek to

UNDERSTAND this man as he lives the life he is predisposed to live.

 

Now does this mean we have to become a phenomenologist in the sense of Husserl?

 

No we cannot be for as we have already explained elsewhere ( in the series of

Hermeneutics and Metaphysics - the first essay) that the phenomenology of

Eidetic Reduction, where there is bracketing off the superficial layers of

consciousness and arrive at the bottom most layer does not allow the possibility

of inter subjective confirmation, the possibilities disagreeing and then

agreeing under certain conditions and which is the root structure of any

science.

 

So we shall indulge in Existential Analytics but not phenomenological reduction

with a view to

UNDERSTAND life as it is lived by the different individuals. In this we

immediately notice that a person is not simply an organism that responds as if

an automaton to external stimuli and gets conditioned, habituated and so forth

in this but rather one who ACTS and motivated to do so by various kinds of

INTERESTS. There is a WILL behind what a person does and we cannot reduce it and

call it as inexistent because of ideological prejudices of various kinds ( a

distaste for the soul gods and so forth) or dispatch it away from our concern as

a kind of KaRpitam, a vacuous mental construct in the vein of the Advaita

Vedanties. No, we

cannot do that and the naive view leads us to understand that there is human

Praxis of various kinds and therefore we gain the first or initial understanding

related to the methodological issues -- there is Praximatism that prevails among

the creatures and this comes along with various kinds of INTERESTS known or

unknown to the individual.

 

A person acts in various ways and in this we also notice that he is NOT always

conscious of

the sources of his own actions. It is the case that sometimes he is MADE TO ACT,

against his

own will as if pushed to do so by forces within him but of which he is not

aware.

 

Thus we are led to note the presence of IGNORANCE or AB-CONSCIOUSNESS in the

bosom of man and hence he himself being an entity that he does not understand.

He becomes a puzzle or an enigma unto himself. This recognition of

abconsciousness, a Darkness within himself that he so frequently encounters

whenever he pauses to understand himself also rules out phenomenology as the

viable methodology -- for it is NOT consciousness but ABSENCE of consciousness

that we note here and seek to understand. The question :

Why there is DARKNESS or ABSENCE of consciousness is something beyond the reach

of the eidetic reduction of phenomenology.

 

Praximatism is the initial grasp of appropriating the human situation as it is

in the world but in view now of this recognition of the presence of Darkness in

the bosom, we also see that this praximatism comes along with LEARNING , where

by the species of activities that we call learning, there is precisely REDUCTION

of this IGNORANCE, the DARKNESS in the soul so to speak. Man in his ordinary

life does not UNDERSTAND all especially about himself and it is through the

various kinds of PRAXIS that lhe earns and thereby reduces the ignorance.

 

Thus among the interest related praxis we note that the MEANINGFUL BEHAVIOR

becomes important for the psychological understanding of man as was the case

with the Agamic Psychology of Tirumular. We note that the same individual as he

develops and the different individuals belonging to either the same or different

cultural groups have different MEANINGS for existence both at the surface level

and deep level and that under normal circumstances they go about RATIONALIZING

the meanings they entertain

 

As psychologists we shall be different from such individuals -- avoid this kind

of rationalizing tendencies -- justifying the meanings that sustain one's life

by quoting the scriptures, the all knowing messiahs the revelations through the

rishies prophets , the ideological principles coming from unexamined beliefs

systems and so forth. We shall to a methodological investigation

seeking to UNDERSTAND it all by tearing ourselves away from such prejudices and

maintaining ourselves in true objectivity, an objectivity that will allow us to

see TRUTHS and nothing else but truths no matter how painful it is against the

pre-existent belief systems that sustains our present life.

 

Thus one thing is certain -- as psychologists we are NOT theologians, seeking to

JUSTIFY a certain of explanation in a scripture that fascinates one by various

kinds of intellectual fiats. We shall maintain ourselves in a state of

suspension with respect to such matters so that we are in a position to REJECT

such views should it be learned to be false, a mistake etc.

 

 

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Dear friends! You are most welcome to visit the following websites I maintain:

 

For World Saivism : http://ulagan.tripod.com/index.htm

For Dravidian Philosophy: http://loga.tripod.com/tindex.htm

For Agamic Psychology :

http://ulagank.tripod.com/agapsyindex.htm

For ArutkuRaL studies:

http://arutkuraL.tripod.com/index.html

For studies of Tamil Sacred scriptures in

English: http://arutkuraL.tripod.com/tmcampus/tmc-open.html

For SumeroTamil and related studies:

http://arutkuraL.tripod.com/sumstudies/sumcampus.html

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