A Multidimensional Understanding of Human Nature and Consciousness
(Presented at The Science of Consciousness Conference in Toarmina, Sicily, 2023)
In the distant future I see open fields for far more important researches. Psychology will be based on the foundation...of the necessary acquirement of each mental power and capacities by gradation. -- Charles Darwin in The Origin of Species
Epistemology goes on, though in a setting and clarified status. Epistemology, or something like it, simply falls into place as a chapter of psychology and hence of natural science. -- W. V. Quine in Epistemology Naturalized
A Naturalized Epistemology
Epistemology refers to ways of knowing. This paper describes a naturalized epistemology for an integrated but multidimensional understanding of human nature, our mental capacities, and consciousness. This is based first on the evolutionary development of our mental capacities and then a similar pattern seen in the development of those capacities through experience in childhood.
Our Mental Capacities are Multidimensional
This naturalized multidimensional understanding of human nature is first based on the evolutionary development of our mental capacities as described by Paul MacLean and Sir John Eccles. It is then also based on the very similar pattern of development of our mental capacities from experience in childhood as described by Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg. Our evolutionary multidimensional mental capacities are genetic and those mental capacities are then developed by experience in childhood. We are a product of both nature and nurture.
Paul MacLean
Paul MacLean in The Triune Brain (1990) described the evolutionary development of the forebrain as beginning with a “reptilian complex” (concerned with such basic instincts as individual survival, sex, aggression, and social hierarchy), progressing to a developed limbic system in mammals which involves emotions and a social capacity other than hierarchy, and then also adding a surrounding neocortex which gives the capacity for reason and language.
Sir John Eccles
A further distinction, however, can be made within the neocortex between the increased intellectual capacities and memory seen in the brains of primates such as the chimpanzee and the unique characteristics in humans associated with the left or dominant prefrontal cortex. Sir John Eccles described this as the neo-neocortex, or the executive center of the brain, which includes a language center with a capacity for narrative, meaning, and purpose as well as a capacity for both more integrated and abstract thought (1989).
Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg
This pattern of the evolutionary development of our mental capacities is also similar to the development of our mental capacities in childhood through experience as described by Jean Piaget. This development through experience begins with self-interested thought, and then progresses to social, logical, and finally abstract thought (Inhelder and Piaget 1958). The left prefrontal cortex and our integrated and abstract thought are sometimes not fully developed until the age of 25. Lawrence Kohlberg described our moral development through experience as following the same general pattern as the development of our mental capacities (1981).
Cultural Evolution and Metaphysics
This naturalized framework of analysis recognizes the “strange loop” that includes cultural evolution and our mental capacity of language, narrative, abstract thought, and thus metaphysics. Metaphysics includes our capacity and need to understand or create a coherent self and world in which we live. This can be humanistic at several levels and secular, sacred and religious, or both. The importance of including a metaphysical capacity is illustrated by our current global ideological and religious issues.
A Useful Four-part Framework of Analysis
Most of modern philosophy has been like the blind men describing an elephant. Each perspective describes a particular part, but none gives a coherent and integrated view of the “elephant.”
A multidimensional understanding of human nature based on this naturalized epistemology provides a useful four-part framework of analysis for moral and political philosophy or any philosophy or philosopher. This considers the ways that we interact with our environment related to the individual, society, the natural world, and metaphysics, that is, about meaning and purpose and our place in the world. The four-part framework of analysis considers the assumptions and related inferences being made related to each of these perspectives.
We Are Not Indifferent to Our Fate
As a result of sexual reproduction, we are composed of both genetic and somatic cells. The genetic cells relate to generational survival and reproduction. What about us somatic cells? They relate to our well-being.
As a result of a process of adaptation and natural selection we are not indifferent to our fate, that is, to our survival and well being. The brain is a survival mechanism. We have intentionality. If we are not indifferent to our survival and well being, then moral and political values are important to achieving those ends.
Natural Law and Culture
Natural Law is not the law of nature and it is not based on just reason, but right reason. We don’t accept things as they are, but try to improve them. We have transcendent values. On the other hand, nature places some constraints on our individual and social will. In moral theory, both nature and culture are important because they place limits on each other.
Free Will
This multidimensional understanding of our mental capacities gives a perception of choice or free will within what has been described as a parliament of the mind.
Coherence
The described four-part framework of analysis brings some understanding to the multiple dimensions of consciousness and coherence to some of the fragmented fields within philosophy.
Because this multidimensional understanding of human nature is based on a naturalized epistemology, it can be seen across a wide variety of applications and disciplines.
Folk Psychology
The pattern of this four-part framework of analysis can be understood also just by introspection. Folk psychology, for example, considers there to be physical, social, rational, and spiritual aspects of human nature. The developed framework of analysis meets the criteria of relating to the way we live.
Aristotle
A multidimensional understanding of human nature is a premodern idea. Aristotle considered man to be an animal, a social animal meant to live in a polis or community, a rational animal, and a contemplative animal that seeks eudaimonia, interpreted as happiness, well-being, or meaning and purpose.
Leslie Stevenson
Also, Leslie Stevenson, in Seven Theories of Human Nature, suggested that the best way to understand any philosophy or philosopher is to understand the assumptions being made concerning the nature of man, the nature of society, and the nature of the universe. Ever since the Copernican revolution, however, the last question has been divided into the scientific nature of the universe, which asks the question “How?” and the metaphysical nature of the universe which concerns our place in the universe and asks the question “Why?”
Consider the Ship Analogy
To have a successful voyage each ship needs to be in good repair and seaworthy. The ships need to sail together without colliding with each other or getting lost. There must be the knowledge to navigate to the destination. And finally, there needs to be a purpose for making the journey.
Biology Relates to Information
Unlike physics and chemistry, which relate to matter and energy, biology also relates to information, which is both genetic and cultural in human biology. In both evolutionary biology and in culture the transmission of information is also historical. Life involves the presence of intrinsic values. Biology is based on information about how to compose, maintain, reproduce and transmit life processes. There are emergent properties, synergies, and values that exist and are lost in a reduction to chemical elements or physics.
Biology Will Become the New Paradigm
For the reasons described, biology rather than physics will likely become the new paradigm of this century. It also makes human nature and the study of consciousness relevant to our times.
The Nuclear Trap
Ecology is defined as the interaction between an organism and its environment, both physical and social. Ecology, however, changes. We now live in a pluralistic global community with weapons of mass destruction and other serious global issues. Since WWII there has been a concern that our technical progress has far exceeded our biological adaptive mechanisms and our cultural moral structures. In evolutionary theory this is called the “nuclear trap.”
Individual Personal Dignity and our Common Humanity
We tend to be tribal at several levels based on the advantages of cooperation, trust, loyalty, and social order, and also a sense of belonging related to kinship, ethnicity, culture, history, language and/or religion. In order to survive and flourish as an individual or social group, however, we now also need to affirm our individual personal dignity and our common humanity and learn to survive and flourish as a species in what has become a pluralistic global community. This also is part of who we are.
Examples of the Framework of Analysis
In my work, I expand upon this multidimensional understanding of human nature and give examples of its usefulness. These include medical ethics in moral philosophy, United States constitutional democracy in political philosophy, and in contrast to these legal positivism in legal philosophy.
Medical Ethics
The profession which is based on human biology is medicine. The primary moral principle of the medical profession is a respect for human life. The Declaration of Geneva of the World Medical Association includes this principle of a respect for human life. A respect for human life is a moral assertion and at its foundation it is a self-affirmation of personal dignity and an affirmation of our common humanity.. Medical ethics are an applied example of the four-part framework of analysis that can bring some understanding and coherence to the fragmented field of moral philosophy.
Modern medicine considers human nature to be multidimensional. The four general principles of medical ethics are as follows:
• Beneficence – (similar to the metaphysical or religious Golden Rule to do unto others as you would have them do unto you or a concept of reciprocity)
• Nonmaleficence – (similar to the Silver Rule of don’t do unto others what you don’t want them to do unto you. This is based on the concepts of reason and reversibility and the adage of “do no harm”.)
• Justice – (a social concept)
• Autonomy – (individual rights)
These four principles recognize the individual, social, rational, and metaphysical dimensions of human nature. In this framework one looks at the individual as well as the social perspectives which are sometimes in tension. One also looks at the rational consequences of an action, but also at one’s duties and what are perceived to be the right principles for one’s actions, and these are also sometimes in tension. Indeed, most of the difficult or quandary questions in moral philosophy are not about good versus evil, but about choosing between two different perspectives of the good or between the lesser of two evils. This is the stuff of literature. This multidimensional understanding of human nature is just a very useful framework of analysis. Often the very difficult issues are settled by some agreed upon process that is felt to be at least fair and does justice to the ends, such as a vote by the people or a vote by a jury or a Supreme Court.
The four-part framework of analysis seen in medical ethics is not meant to determine or advocate a particular conclusion. It will help, however, to understand the spectrum of moral and political considerations involved in a complex issue such as abortion.
One of the original reasons for laws against abortion in Texas, the jurisdiction of Roe vs. Wade, was the very high mortality and morbidity of the procedure in a time before antibiotics and blood transfusions. The current state of medical science also forms the criteria for the present laws which are, in part, related to the possible viability of the fetus. In addition, the technological aspects of genetic counseling, the treatment of infertility, and methods of birth control all affect the issue. These changing facts in medical science are one of the considerations in the decisions concerning abortion. There are also social issues for the physician. The physician is licensed by the state, for example, and has an obligation to abide by the laws of the society in which he or she practices. If the law permits abortions, then there is also a metaphysical or religious issue for patients, doctors, and hospitals as to whether they want to choose or perform abortion as an elective procedure. Finally, there are the central issues of the individual rights and well-being of both the mother and the fetus or unborn child. If one understands government to be a monopoly of coercive power, there are also the issues of privacy as opposed to what are the concerns of the state.
Medical ethics are an applied example of a multidimensional understanding of human nature that can bring some coherence to the different moral perspectives and enable dialogue. Medical ethics also have a lot to offer political philosophy because they are based on a respect for personal dignity and our common humanity. They can accommodate diversity and a wide variety of attributes. They have at least the capacity to accommodate pluralism in a global community without coercion or alienation.
Summary and Conclusion
Human nature and our consciousness are integrated but also multidimensional based on the development of our mental capacities in evolution and then their development in a similar pattern through experience in childhood, that is, a naturalized epistemology.
The multidimensional aspects of human nature give a perception of choice or free will within what has been described as a parliament of the mind.
A multidimensional understanding of human nature brings some understanding and coherence to some of the fragmented fields within philosophy and enables dialogue.
This also provides a useful four-part framework of analysis for any philosophy or philosopher. This framework considers the assumptions about and perspectives of the individual, society, the natural world, and metaphysics, which relate to meaning and purpose and our place in the world.
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