The purposes of the system are as the contribution of a general resource and an outline of knowledge with foundation based in the metaphysics of the way of being. The system is intended as a guide for civilization and individual transformation and realization of the ultimate in and from the immediate world as revealed and demonstrated in the way. It is further intended as foundation for a knowledge database and encyclopedia, for which there is further information in a supplement to the system. The supplement focuses on (i) further topics for research and action (ii) developing a knowledge database and encyclopedia.

Though the system is a human one, that implies possible but not necessary limits for there is an aspiration to universal knowledge. The title might therefore be A System of Human Knowledge, Reason, and Action.

The account begins with ‘ground’—where and what we are in the immediate—the humanities, tradition, and religion, because they motivate and—in principle—encompass all other disciplines. This beginning (i) regards humanities as a way in to the system but does not place humanities in relation to the system – above, to the side, or below (ii) has a broad view of what the humanities are and their place in the system (as it does of all disciplines, for it aims to put the whole above the parts).

The remaining divisions are the universe, (more precisely, representation of the universe – concrete and, as far as it is achieved, perfect) the sciences and method, (science is understood broadly to include abstract sciences, especially metaphysics, and method), and being the universe. (the possibility and actuality, thereof, as revealed by

The System

1 Ground

The world

The account begins with the humanities because they motivate and encompass all other disciplines and activities. The remaining sections are the real and given universe and artifact and the created universe. The distinctions between the humanities, the real, and artifact are artificial.

1.1 The humanities

Preliminary

There is overlap among humanities and the other divisions of knowledge; however, where illuminating, redundancy is appropriate.

Humanities and humanism

What should we know to live well, and relate and contribute to the human side of culture? Adequacy of this rough definition of humanism and the humanities. That it suggests but does not specify the disciplines. The methods are critical, or speculative, comparative, and have a significant historical element. There is no central discipline, but the humanities include ancient and modern languages, literature, philosophy, geography, history, cultural anthropology, religion, art, and musicology. Some details follow.

Philosophy

Process of bridging with the unknown; philosophy of meaning in the sense of the deepest aspects of our being, e.g. ‘the meaning of life’, the universe—our place in it, our destiny, what gives us a sense of having significance or meaning; disciplines—metaphysics as, particularly, the study of the real, and its extent, duration, and variety; logic (and epistemology), and value theory in its most general sense, particularly, ethics and aesthetics; attention to language, concepts as symbolic or sign-icon entities, and concept and linguistic meaning (via meaning, philosophy is about the world… via synthesis of meaning, it is about discovery)—meaning as concepts and their possible objects and knowledge as meaning realized or as concepts and their objects; the roles of holism and context in fixing meanings; special branches—critique, understanding, and development of disciplines and human endeavors.

Knowledge and its disciplines

Knowledge, the disciplines, and their history; it is essential that though method and content are distinct in extension, they have identity in intension.

Philosophy and metaphysics of questions

In its sense as knowing the world (not a popular sense in the west today), philosophy includes knowing about knowledge and language (popular), which leads to ‘metaphysics of questions’. (1) What is the significance of questions about the world? Indeed, what is a question? (2) What is the merit of the occasional claim that the questions are of equal or greater rank than answers? (3) What are the important questions (including as a special case Kant’s famous three questions)? (4) How can we know our set of questions is important and complete? (5) How can we generate and catalog (the) questions?

What is philosophy?

This is a critically important question, for understood appropriately, philosophy—the endeavor and the content—lies at the center of our being and seeking.

It is not the intent here to answer the question ‘What is philosophy?’ but to note some thoughts in relation to the perspective of the ‘system of knowledge’.

It is natural that there will be different thoughts on what philosophy is and how to address the question. Some of these thoughts will be based in the nature and aims of human action and knowledge, others will be based in the parochial activities and interests of various disciplines; and it will not be trivial to separate these bases.

While there are many disciplines and many ways to organize them, there is a place for the question—Is there a synthesis of human knowledge and action and their methods? This question is close to the heart of philosophy. It was method and synthesis, even if not fully conscious, that was at the beginning of philosophy. And perhaps it is at the beginning of any investigation into philosophy today.

Thus, we may suggest that philosophy is the discipline that investigates all knowledge with method, and that both recognizes and integrates the system of disciplines.

Must it be systematic? It will include system, but it will also allow the ad hoc within its boundary.

Will it be poetic? It will allow poetry.

Will it be reflexive—i.e., will it study itself? Some philosophers relegate such questions and more to ‘metaphilosophy’, which they see as distinct from philosophy. The approach here recognizes the value of the label and meaning of metaphilosophy but sees it as part of philosophy.

What of the sciences that were once part of philosophy but have broken off? Here, they are seen as remaining part of philosophy but, since they are studied intensely in different ‘academic departments’, are not the main focus of philosophy. Yet, those disciplines and philosophy overlap more than in principle (i) the analysis of the disciplines and their methodologies is philosophy, regardless od who does it (ii) the analysis of concepts of the disciplines, especially in times of change, is acutely philosophical (as recognized not only by ‘philosophers of science’ but also by revolutionary scientists, e.g., Einstein in founding and motivating his theories of relativity) (iii) knowledge is both structured and one (depending on perspective and time scale).

Does philosophy have methods of its own? It is preferrable to see method and reason as a one and the methods of the disciplines as specialized instances.

We conclude with the thought—Philosophy is all knowledge and method, systematic and unsystematic, that at any time has particular foci, and which may historically vary between specialism and integrative generalism.

Reason

May be considered as falling under or parallel to philosophical and other reflexive thought. “Reason arises in the present and its foundation is not remote; is reflexive (self and cross applying); involves value, feeling, and intuition; deploys tradition imaginatively and critically; includes and is continuous with action; is continuous with philosophy, especially as a way of life that emphasizes reason with feeling.” “Reason includes critique of proof.” See reason.

1.2 Tradition

Tradition is the valid content in knowledge, reason—and action—for all cultures; its modes: primal, religious, or trans-secular, secular, and integrated.

1.3 Religion

A problem of religion

Religion is contentious—there are believers and apologists and there are rational secular critics. The latter argue that the basis of religion is psychological but has no realist foundation. Here, the speculative and dogmatic elements of the religions are recognized.

Resolution

However, any claim that science and secularism have shown anything near complete and perfect knowledge of the universe is overreach, for science, especially physics, is essentially empirical and has no purchase beyond the empirical boundary. Therefore, any claim that it has such purchase is based on explicit or tacit assumption that science-so-far has purchase over the entire universe. Now, since science is limited thus, the question of the universe as a whole arises, but is not (yet) answered by science. And the fact that it is ‘not scientific’ does not invalidate speculative reflection provided that it does not claim more than that it is speculative and that it is not inconsistent with what we definitely know.

Value of religion

This, together with symbolic value, is motivation for ‘religion’. In saying this the distinction between the concept of religion and the religions must be recognized.

What religion shall be

Religion shall be knowledge and negotiation of the entire universe by the entire individual, groups, civilizations, and civilization in all their faculties and modes of being; reason applied to religion—its nature as asserting the trans-secular (consistently with experience, with an evaluation of the necessity of the assertion); omni-functionality; psychology of religion and religious experience; the religions.

2 The universe, real and given

A discovered world

2.1 General and abstract sciences and method

Introduction—abstract and concrete sciences

Let us first take up the idea of an abstract science. The perfect metaphysics of the way of being is a union of a perfect correspondence abstract side with a pragmatic side. When the pragmatic side is interpreted by pragmatism itself under the umbrella of the abstract, it too is perfect (it remains imperfect and useful in its traditional use whose value is changed but not eliminated in light of the perfect metaphysics). Thus, the pragmatic side is abstract because the correspondence precision is irrelevant under the abstract umbrella. The perfect metaphysics is, even while pragmatic, an abstract science.

What of the other abstract sciences listed below? It is sufficient to consider mathematics. Mathematics begins as empirical but becomes abstract with the axiomatic method. It is abstract as either (1) abstraction from the empirical or (2) study of symbolic structures in themselves and not as representation of the concrete. Is mathematics about this world? As abstraction, some fields of mathematics are. However, with the universal method, all mathematical systems have objects. Thus abstract vs. concrete can be seen as not about an ontological distinction but about degree of detail omitted. This characterization applies to the other abstract sciences.

All abstract sciences fall under metaphysics. They are studied in themselves because of their special interest, methods, and extensive development.

It was seen that the distinction between the concrete and the abstract is not one of kind but of degree of abstraction versus concretion. But the ‘concrete’ sciences also partake of abstraction—while the quantum theory of fields does talk at least approximately of reality, the fields are not known to be ground level reality itself (if there is one) and are almost certainly not a ground level. Therefore, a further difference between the concrete and the abstract sciences is means of study; yet the differences are at root pragmatic rather than essential; they all refer to the world (universe). And they all fall under metaphysics as the most general science. Thus, metaphysics is the most general science with all sciences under its umbrella.

Metaphysics

Study of being and the given, experience (and metaphysics of language—its metaphysical possibilities and limits, especially given that language is a fundamental tool for metaphysics itself, and indeed of most if not all disciplines), categories, knowledge, and principles of action; possibility of metaphysics; the abstract, the concrete, and the nature of perfect knowledge; the fundamental principle of metaphysics; all knowledge and action fall under the umbrella of metaphysics—including epistemology, reason, logic and ethics; the perfect or real metaphysics and recognized problems of metaphysics (being; substance, category, and cause; possible and necessary being; spacetime; identity; cause, determinism, freedom; mind and matter), cosmology, and agency.

For more on the problems of metaphysics, see applied science > abstract sciences, below.

The real and the artifactual

The real and its nature; whether the real and the artifactual are essentially different and the consequent question of whether the division of knowledge into ‘universe’ and ‘universe of created being’ is an essential distinction.

Method

As noted earlier, method and content have the same intension; method overlaps other entries in this document and must—for method and content are not essentially distinct, for method is an aspect of content when knowledge and values are the objects…

… Method is found in and as epistemology, argument, logic, establishment of fact, inductive and scientific method, comparative method, transcendental method in philosophy, artistic and engineering design, rhetoric, and persuasion—general and political.

… Possibilities of method are exhibited by and in the perfect metaphysics of the way of being: perfect knowledge by abstraction, necessity from abstraction, complete absence of universal applicability of empirical knowledge and generalization there-from.

Abstract sciences and symbolic systems

An abstract science is a systematic study of a system of abstract objects; the question of the nature of abstract and concrete objects and their reality is considered in Metaphysics.

Metaphysics of symbolic systems

Metaphysics of symbolic systems generally (meta-symbolic and metaphysical study of the expressive and demonstrative possibilities of symbolic systems); and in and for the following

Linguistics and study of language

Meta-linguistic study of limits and possibilities of language.

Sign and word, compound linguistic constructs, metaphysics of grammar (e.g., as depicting the real), concept, and object

Logic

Logic as theory of inference vs theory of the world; deduction and induction; argument; logics.

Mathematics

Computer science

Meta-disciplinary study

The study of disciplines and application to the disciplines.

2.2 Concrete sciences

Physical sciences

Classical theories of particles and fields, special and general theories of relativity, quantum theories of particles and fields and their interpretations, standard theory of elementary particles and its problems, quantum theories of gravity—quantum loop gravity and string theory; theoretical and experimental cosmology, cosmological context and origins of the empirical cosmos, condensed matter physics, atomic – molecular – and optical physics, nuclear physics, chemistry and chemical origins of life, and turbulence.

Biology

Nature, variety, structural levels from molecules to multi-cell organisms, origins, and evolution of life on earth; co-evolutionary processes and mathematical evolutionary biology; human anthropology; exobiology and speculative biology.

Psychology

Study of psyche; primal, eastern, and western approaches; psyche: nature, functions, memory, dynamics; and growth and integration, especially as personality; the unconscious; change and changeability of personality; an objective science of experience; biological psychology; behavioral and group or social psychology; psychoanalysis and existential-humanistic theories.

Society, social science, and sciences

Society and its nature. Change and origins. Groups and institutions. Culture. Cultural anthropology. Civilization. Economics and politics. Law.

Analysis of society

Some detail for analysis, e.g., of equilibria:

Change and origins—evolution, dynamics: factors, stable vs unstable and transient.

Groups—person, family, small groups—e.g., clubs and bands, communities, villages – towns – cities – countries – nations – multinational alliances.

Culture—general; social institutions; language for expression, representation, and communication. Institutions of knowledge and information—creation and transmission: schools, universities, academies, and research establishments; distribution vs networking—physical and electronic.

Civilization—human civilization-(challenge and opportunity, see journey in being—challenges and opportunities) and universal civilization.

Economics and politics—science and philosophy. Local vs global. Economic: wealth and its distribution, money, producers – consumers, goods and services and their distribution, means of production – operators, e.g., ‘producers’ vs managers, resource assessment, economic feasibility. Political: rulers – ruled (governors – governed), rule by the few (aristocracy – oligarchy) – rule by the many (polity – democracy), appointment by force vs consensus, enforcement of rule vs rule of law). Political economy—the integration and intersection of politics and economics.

Law—creation, adjudication, enforcement.

2.3 Applied science

Method, research and development, design and planning, issues—from local to global to universal. Applied sciences have derivation from the abstract and concrete sciences and application to technology (more generally, there is interaction among the pure and applied sciences and technology).

Physical sciences

Technological sciences and engineering: drafting, engineering and its fields, industrial engineering and production management, and materials science.

Biology and psychology

Especially medicine and psychiatry, principles, fields, therapies, and therapeutic approaches—diagnosis and person (holist) oriented, and professions; physical science for medicine and psychiatry.

Social sciences

Principles and practice, fields, professions.

Abstract sciences

Metaphysics and logic—conceptual discovery of the universe; traditional applications to deduction (logic) and the traditional and modern problems of metaphysics—see metaphysics, above, and the document topics and concepts for the way under ‘topics in metaphysics’, ‘problems of eastern metaphysics’, and ‘problems of western metaphysics’. Note the sense of logic as including metaphysics, mathematics, and science in the way of being. Mathematics can be seen as detailed discovery of the universe and in its traditional ‘application’.

Science for advanced civilization and being

Examples—(1) up to control of the empirical cosmos and above and (2) embodiment of mind. Philosophical supplement—philosophy of mind, organism, and being; and the Advaita Vedanta and related systems of Indian Philosophy.

2.4 History

History

The nature of history; “the study of the past as it is described in written documents” vs “ambiguously used to denote either events or records of the past (‘historiography’ is used for history as record) … also ambiguous in denoting natural as well as human events, or records of either”; here, the more inclusive meaning is intended; methods; its instrumental or practical and intrinsic or ideal uses.

History of the world

The universe; the earth, life, origin of homo sapiens; pre-history and anthropology.

History of ideas

General ideas; history of culture, human endeavor, and disciplines.

History and the linear future

(It is not implied that the history of the universe is linear)

The use of history, reason, and the remainder of the system of knowledge, to talk of the future; what can be said at different levels of generality and abstraction vs what is conjecture and possibility; the possible roles of the hierarchy of being in the universe as we know it in the future—especially the roles of the modern cultural system as described here and the issue of whether the future will or may build upon it vs building may require return to a relatively primal or organic level.

3 Artifact and the created world

Design

3.1 Art

Art

Its nature; relation to metaphysics and to being-in-the world.

The arts

Literature, drama, music, painting, drawing, sculpture, and architecture.

3.2 Technology

Technology, its history and use

What technology is; its development; and its transformational and utilitarian uses.

Elements of technology

Energy, conversion, and use; tools and machines; measurement, observation, and control; extraction and conversion of raw materials; technology of industrial production processes.

Fields of technology

Agriculture and food production; major industries—their technologies: manufacturing, transportation, chemical, extraction, mining; civil (buildings, highways, and other civil structures), mechanical, electrical, information processing (computation), communication and networking, knowledge, and information technology; military technology; urban community; earth and space exploration.

Technology for language, mind, and being

Speech, writing, and print; artificial intelligence, dual systems—mind computer interaction and interface, robotics, simulation, bio-machines, organism-machine transference of intelligence, (evolution of) civilization as human-machine-computer interaction.

Technology for advanced civilization and being

Select technologies from the foregoing items—and for the following.

4 Being and the universe

The ultimate

4.1 Transformation of being

Theory of transformation of being

The perfect metaphysics; with agency, intrinsic and instrumental (see templates for transformation). Evaluation of the present cultural system of knowledge, action, and exploration for the linear future (see history and the linear future).

Intrinsic modes of transformation

Ideas (analytic and synthetic)—the system of knowledge above, especially through art; earlier culture and tradition—yoga, mysticism, Beyul (immersion in nature as ground of self and perception), and other systems (e.g. primal and post-primal religion); existential approach (existentialism), modes of therapy, and transformation of body – psyche (consciousness studies, experience and nature, psychology, psyche as ground) – person (personality); other catalysts of transformation—alteration of environment, animal empathy, physical modes, e.g. rhythm and deprivation; immersive approaches to knowledge and becoming, politics and economics (complemented by metaphysics and science).

Instrumental modes of transformation

Culture and institutions of knowledge: research, communication, education; natural sciences, medicine, engineering, design, technology (see technology) and technological-ideational-shared civilization and population of earth and the universe; social sciences—economics and politics and effective local and global action on earth toward quality of life on earth and beyond.

Dual modes

The foregoing elements are not perfectly distinct and there is cross-over.

4.2 Being the universe

Peak being is that which is ultimate; for which the universe is deterministic; is a phase—all is known; in other phases it is diffuse and potential—a disposition.