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ANIL MITRA PHD, COPYRIGHT © 1989, REVISED June 2003
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status: June 1, 2003
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OUTLINES
Epistemology
and Metaphysics
| Evolutionary
Epistemology
| Sociology
of Knowledge
| Outlines
of Knowledge
| Human
Nature
| Social
Philosophy, Planning
| Education | Research
Management | Industrial Productivity
SOURCES
The purpose here is to indicate some of the main literary
sources of influence on my style and emphasis in thought. Sometimes it is more useful
to mention an individual rather than specific works. Accordingly, I have
included both works and individuals
A detailed list of sources is in the bibliographies
mentioned in the references for the Appendix “A Program for the Integration of
Human Understanding and Action”
Kant’s influence derives from his works and his influence on
other thought. Kant stood at one of the main focal points in the development of
modern imaginative and constructive thought. Despite the limitations in Kant’s
work, which resulted, in part, from his limited vantage point in the evolution
of modern ideas, the lines of development he initiated or focused are
significant. Particularly significant is the development of the “percept-concept”
system. This separation of the reflection into an innate part and a free part
is approximate. Yet it is significant because it provides an anchor in the
natural world through perception [perception having origins in and relating to
the natural world] and also provides a foundation for human freedom in thought.
Although other thinkers contributed to the development, we may think of Kant as
a symbolic and actual point of focus. Kant provided significant elaboration and
synthesis in the “understanding of human understanding”. The lines of
development, based in the percept-concept system continue today
Plato’s philosophy of knowledge, the Theory of Ideas, is, in
metaphorical form, the outstanding precursor to Kant in the development of
thought in Classical Greece
Whitehead’s concept of nature as an organic system has
relations to my development of a concept of nature which includes all orders of
existence [“matter”, “mind”, “knowledge/knowing”] as co-evolving. Beyond this
my philosophy finds the notion of co-evolution [and emergence] and interaction
of the orders of existence as a first step towards a conception of existence as
primarily unitary [at least: having explanatory basis in unitary systems of
understanding] and dual in its [apparent] manifestations. This leaves open the
possible lacks of distinction between appearance and reality – appearance being
the actual perception-conception and reality being, perhaps, the ideal
perception-conception. [Regarding the lack of distinction, an example: is
emergence in evolution real or a facet of perception-conception of modern
science and philosophy?]
Samuel Alexander, Space, Time and Deity, 2
volumes,
Konrad Lorenz,
Behind the Mirror: A Search for Natural History of Human Knowledge, 1973
Gerard Radnitsky and W.
W. Bartley III, eds., Evolutionary Epistemology, Theory of Rationality, and
Sociology of Knowledge, 1987
An anarchistic tendency, in the positive sense, is not
destructive; rather anarchism [in the field of epistemology rather than
politics] is a reasoned argument that the claims of order, synthesis, or
rationality in the setting of epistemic systems – or in the ability to set up
epistemic systems – are overstated [according to some standard philosophy or
system of philosophies]. In their origins, the sociologies of knowledge were
significantly anarchistic; in the more recent phases – for example, Micro-Sociology
of Knowledge which studies epistemology from the points of view available by an
analysis of the development of knowledge in small research groups – sociology
of knowledge has been more constructive
Although there is significant disagreement between the
rationalists [for example, Evolutionary Epistemology: objectivity, unity,
philosophical foundation in knowledge is meaningful and possible] and
anti-rationalists [for example, a number of schools of Sociology of Knowledge:
objectivity not meaningful, meaning possible only in the context of “speech
communities”, etc.], I believe that the outcome will be a constructive
synthesis. While the anarchistic arguments may show the limitations of given
philosophical frameworks and at given points in the history of knowledge, the
constructive-empirical arguments may show that the limitations can be overcome
– for example, by constructive, evolutionary process in knowledge
Here, it is not possible to do justice to the many schools
of the sociology of knowledge
The schools originating with the focal works of Karl Marx,
Karl Mannheim, and Ludwig Wittgenstein are significant I the development of the
Sociology of Knowledge
A modern anarchist work [which is also anti-rationalist]:
Richard Rorty, Philosophy
and the Mirror of Nature, 1979
The fifteenth edition of Encyclopedia Britannica,
1985 printing, has an interesting outline of modern knowledge. Despite
deficiencies of the Encyclopaedia Britannica system, I have used it as a
source of information and as one starting point for a systematic foundation for
classification
Among the classical authors, Aristotle stands out as an
organizer of the modern systems of knowledge [despite deficiencies due to his
limited vantage point, much of modern classification can be traced back to
Aristotle]. Given the fact that he synthesized much of what he wrote – he was
far more than a mere organizer and recorder. He probably represents the
The following work contains interesting suggestions toward a
dynamic synthesis of knowledge which incorporates all orders of being:
Ernest Becker, The Birth and Death of Meaning: An
Interdisciplinary Perspective on the Problems of Man, 2nd edition, 1971
Mortimer J. Adler, A
Guidebook to Learning, 1986,
Is a work on the history of attempts to organize-synthesize
Human Knowledge
Jung’s work is significant in showing, from a modern
perspective, the unity and depth of the human enterprise and of human nature.
His work ties in with the evolutionary frameworks
The work, cited above [item 4], written by Ernest Becker,
forms an interesting synthesis of modern depth psychology [incorporating the
works of Freud, Adler, Otto Rank, and others] and the content of the
mythic-religious systems
Two significant schools are “free enterprise” and socialism.
Modern philosophical foundations of free-enterprise have been provided by F.
A. von Hayek and Karl Popper. Modern foundations of socialism stem
from Karl Marx and Frederick Engels
The following work is a contribution to the philosophical
and sociological-empirical foundation of planning:
John Friedman, Planning in the Public Domain: From
Knowledge to Action, 1987
The next work describes a number of “Institutions” that have
[largely since World War II] linked political decision with academic thought.
The institutions described are both “conservative” and “liberal”
Joseph G. Peschek,
Policy-Planning Organizations: Elite Agendas and
The empirical foundation of my thinking in education is my
personal experience in a variety of higher educational settings over a period
of about twenty years with eight years on the faculties of a number of
universities in the
Thinking on education should be derived from [as far as
external influences are concerned] a combination of experience in education,
knowledge of social conditions and general and social philosophy. A specific
source of some aspects of a number of my examples [Section 3] is the
A Master Plan for Higher Education in
The art of research management involves, always, creating
and providing the appropriate support [financial and other] and the appropriate
atmosphere/environment through encouragement, facilities, conditions,
communication, and personal rewards; and, especially for applied research and
for research and development, in the provision of general direction through
evaluation and selection [and termination ] of areas and projects and
coordination of efforts. These aspects of research management are brought out
by:
Sir John Cockroft, The Organization of Research Establishments, 1966
Michael L. Dertouzos, Richard K. Lester, Robert M. Solow and
The MIT Commission on Industrial Productivity,
Made in
Industrial productivity is one area where technology and
engineering [among other factors] can contribute to social-economic strength
and human life. There are others such as agriculture, construction,
transportation, information and communications, urban community technologies,
earth and space exploration technologies, and, importantly, basic/appropriate
[vs. inaccessible-centralized] technologies. The text of the essay has
discussed some of these aspects and the various balances and associated values.
The reference, above, from The MIT Commission on Industrial Productivity, is a
detailed evaluation of industrial productivity in
The reference discusses both macroeconomic and
industry-specific factors at the base of performance of [American] industry.
The work identifies: six areas of weakness, five areas of strength of the best
United States firms, three long-term trends significant for future long-term
productive performance, and five imperatives “which should be at the core of
any national effort to achieve high productive growth”
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