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Ideas
“Thinking … is no more or less an organ of perception than the eye or ear. Just as the eye perceives colours and the ear sounds, so thinking perceives ideas.” ― Rudolf Steiner
We live in a world of ideas. They form our worldviews and belief systems, and eventually form the systems we live in. Different people in different cultures have different ideas about life, how to relate to each other and the whole web of life, and the stories and narratives to live by. We can change those stories if we don’t take our own worldview as the only one valid, if we are open enough to look around and see what other cultures see.
Which ideas underlie our current worldview, and which ideas are pushing forward to replace them? This is mainly asking those deep questions of “Where did we come from, where are we going? Who am I?”
Our Western story of conquest, domination, competition, and superiority has led to a worldwide devastation and extinction never known since the fall of that meteor on Yucatan 65 million years ago. “The disenchantment of the world” [a phrase coined by Max Weber in 1917] during the enlightenment led to a world whose only value lies in calculation and control. If we cannot measure it, it does not exist. If we cannot put a monetary value on it, it is not worth having. It helps rationalising atrocities like genocide, ecocide, war, discrimination, and the unsustainable system we currently live in. It leads to a lonely individualism with depression and addictions on the rise.
The following gives a short summary, but if you want to learn more you can click the globes beneath, or google any of the topics.
Old ideas still informing our lives in the 21st century
Cartesianism
Named after René Descartes (early 17th century), Cartesianism introduces dualism of mind and body. His famous quote “Cogito ergo sum” (I think therefore I am) leads to the age of reason, where deductive reasoning leads to scientific knowledge. It is thus opposite to empiricism, which relies on sensory input for attaining knowledge, as taught as far back as Aristotle. As for the body in Descartes’ dualism, he thought of it as a machine or clockwork. In this way the dualism makes sense. How could an automaton have mental experiences?
Enlightenment
The Enlightenment or Age of Reason lasted from the 17th to the early 19th century. It gave shape to modernism through its emphasis on reason, empiricism, individualism, new political and philosophical thoughts like liberty and equality, and through advancements in technology and industry. The list of the main figures of the Enlightenment reads like the who is who of the times of scientists, mathematicians, composers, writers, philosophers, politicians, to name but a few: Francis, Bacon, Isaac Newton, Baruch Spinoza, David Hume, John Locke, Adam Smith, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, Luigi Galvani, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, J. W. von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Carl von Linné, Friedrich Haendel, Immanuel Kant, Denis Diderot, Voltaire …
Newtonianism
Newtonianism is mainly based on Sir Isaac Newton’s theories on the motions of the heavenly bodies, the underlying laws of physics and properties, as explained in his Principia (1687), which is a phenomenal work. Newton is thought to be the father of modern science. In his Principia he deduces from a few basic principles and phenomena the laws or rules, and then applies them to other phenomena. He lays the base to scientific empiricism. Like Descartes’, Newton’s universe is mechanistic, the underlying laws making it run reliably like a clockwork.
Reductionism
In Reductionism the premises is that anything can be broken down to its parts and the parts can stand in for the whole. If you know how a part works, you know the whole. In science processes are broken down into physical, biological, and chemical events and then analysed, everything is measured and classified, symptoms are cured rather than the system. This is probably what Arne Naess called “shallow ecology” as in a reductionist ecological mindset. While reductionism can be useful in some instances in science, the linear thinking involved is at odds with the emergent properties in complex systems. There are various forms of Reductionism, for example in science, linguistics, philosophy, psychology (namely Skinner’s behavioral science approach on stimulus and response, or the attempt to explain psychological phenomena via brain chemistry or genetical predisposition).
New ideas pushing for a paradigm shift
Holism
Holism comes from Greek holos (meaning whole), and was first described by Jan Smuts as “the principle which makes for the origin and progress of wholes in the universe.” Usually juxtaposed to Reductionism, Holism rejects the view that mind and body are separate, and assumes that the whole is more than the sum of its parts, and that properties of the whole cannot be explained by properties of the parts. This leads further to the theory of emergence in complex systems. Holism also advocates the integration of science and spirituality into a new whole view of the world.
Gaia Theory
First developed by Dr. James Lovelock and published in his book Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth, Gaia Theory describes Earth as a self-regulating living system in which all anorganic and organic components co-evolve. The theory was picked up and developed further by Dr. Lynn Margulis, arguing that Gaia was not a living organism but a series of interacting ecosystems composing a huge ecosystem on the Earth’s surface. The theory has its critics, namely Dr. Richard Dawkins (author of e.g. The Selfish Gene).
Deep Ecology
Deep Ecology was first mentioned in 1973 by Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess. While “shallow ecology” looks for short term technological fixes for environmental problems like recycling, energy efficient cars, carbon offsets etc., thus rather trying to cure the symptoms, Deep Ecology goes deeper and asks for the root causes, which means questioning the systems in place and finding new ways of preserving the environment and diversity. Deep Ecology recognises that all life has an intrinsic value apart from our utilitarian and consumerist lifestyle, and promotes a change in our values, methods, and ultimately systems. Deep Ecology also plays part in Joanna Macy’s Work that reconnects.
Regenerative Cultures
If you search the web for regenerative cultures, you inevitably get to Dr. Daniel Christian Wahl and his book Designing Regenerative Cultures. This is about whole systems change, and design for human and planetary health. It is about individual and collective change, and how to bring about conditions that are conducive to life. It is about collaboration with each other and with nature. Regenerative Cultures go beyond sustainability as we understand it, and is influenced by Deep Ecology, Gaia Theory, Complexity, and Systems Theory. In this it brings together the fields of economy, ecology, society and worldview, and promotes relationship instead of dominion. Regenerative Cultures is also related to Biomimicry as a design principle for new innovation.