Do we need Hierarchy?
Is hierarchy a fundamental evil?
In other words, from the individual human perspective, is he better off with or without hierarchy? Or is it necessary?
The answer must rest on another question: what is human?
From this then we can have a platform to launch a discussion. However this is no easy question.
A human is by appearance an animal, with a body. Further he is a monkey, a primate; walking upright with a rather large head. This human like other mammals exhibits emotions; like affection and sadness. Yet he has minimal amounts of fur and seems very vulnerable to the elements. But this is not so, man has come to dominate the entire Earth, organizing in ways that maximize his food security and reproductive abilities. These are all easily observable things and should be agreed upon when defining the human. Also we must note that an individual human cannot be so easily separated from the multiplicity of humans. When studying an individual when can observe certain things, when studying human groups we observe even more things, including new behaviors, languages, and other emergent group qualities.
That was the easy part. The difficult thing is coming up with an agreement on the unseen dimensions of man. In other words the inner life of man. It seems obvious to us that there is indeed a spiritual dimension; an unseen but experienced aspect to the life of the human. Of course this is debated, there is an entire spectrum of opinions on what this hidden world is; if indeed it exists at all. From our perspective we know this dimension exists because we have experienced first hand as individuals and on a small group level. This is proof for us of reality of this “dimension” the experience itself. Of course someone could object that this was merely hallucination, a result of an individual psychological phenomenon with no basis in reality. To this we must respond in two ways. The first is that this becomes a metaphysical question with a much larger scope than the current work. The second is that if indeed than this inner phenomenon is exclusively the domain of the individual “psyche” and thus merely an illusion with no external veracity; then it is possible that there is in fact no Reality at all. In other words everything we think we experience is simply a fantastic projection of our inner life, there is no objective answer to this question. In point of fact there is no objective way to define the spiritual life of man because it is inherently a subjective phenomenon.
The only objective phenomenon we can agree on exist within a limited sensible domain. The external physical world that is measurable and physically observable can be said to be “objective” provided we understand this to be applicable in a limited domain. There exist other perspectives on objectivity; those that utilize the etymological roots of the term. Examining an object itself rests upon a series of assumption and habits related to our culturally shaped way of viewing and thus interpreting the world.
Finally, in light of these comments, we can say that any definition of what is human must include some acknowledgment of our participation in a subjective dimension which overlaps into our collective space. Subjectivity by definition includes an element of participation, that is we are the subject and we have added our “individuality” our personality into the collective dimension. This is unfortunately a stunted discussion of what is a tremendously expansive topic. It deals with our participation in Reality as creative individuals. However we must limit ourselves to acknowledging the subjective dimension and human experience.
The human has both external and internal components. The human has external needs from the environment which are really irrefutable: food, shelter, heat. Additionally there are other aspects of the human which are subjective, but probably no less crucial as it pertains to what makes him human. These are companionship, ecstatic experience (transcendent dimension), emotional engagement.
Back to hierarchy. How does hierarchy shape the internal and external dimensions of man? Is there such thing as organic hierarchy?
In other words, from the individual human perspective, is he better off with or without hierarchy? Or is it necessary?
The answer must rest on another question: what is human?
From this then we can have a platform to launch a discussion. However this is no easy question.
A human is by appearance an animal, with a body. Further he is a monkey, a primate; walking upright with a rather large head. This human like other mammals exhibits emotions; like affection and sadness. Yet he has minimal amounts of fur and seems very vulnerable to the elements. But this is not so, man has come to dominate the entire Earth, organizing in ways that maximize his food security and reproductive abilities. These are all easily observable things and should be agreed upon when defining the human. Also we must note that an individual human cannot be so easily separated from the multiplicity of humans. When studying an individual when can observe certain things, when studying human groups we observe even more things, including new behaviors, languages, and other emergent group qualities.
That was the easy part. The difficult thing is coming up with an agreement on the unseen dimensions of man. In other words the inner life of man. It seems obvious to us that there is indeed a spiritual dimension; an unseen but experienced aspect to the life of the human. Of course this is debated, there is an entire spectrum of opinions on what this hidden world is; if indeed it exists at all. From our perspective we know this dimension exists because we have experienced first hand as individuals and on a small group level. This is proof for us of reality of this “dimension” the experience itself. Of course someone could object that this was merely hallucination, a result of an individual psychological phenomenon with no basis in reality. To this we must respond in two ways. The first is that this becomes a metaphysical question with a much larger scope than the current work. The second is that if indeed than this inner phenomenon is exclusively the domain of the individual “psyche” and thus merely an illusion with no external veracity; then it is possible that there is in fact no Reality at all. In other words everything we think we experience is simply a fantastic projection of our inner life, there is no objective answer to this question. In point of fact there is no objective way to define the spiritual life of man because it is inherently a subjective phenomenon.
The only objective phenomenon we can agree on exist within a limited sensible domain. The external physical world that is measurable and physically observable can be said to be “objective” provided we understand this to be applicable in a limited domain. There exist other perspectives on objectivity; those that utilize the etymological roots of the term. Examining an object itself rests upon a series of assumption and habits related to our culturally shaped way of viewing and thus interpreting the world.
Finally, in light of these comments, we can say that any definition of what is human must include some acknowledgment of our participation in a subjective dimension which overlaps into our collective space. Subjectivity by definition includes an element of participation, that is we are the subject and we have added our “individuality” our personality into the collective dimension. This is unfortunately a stunted discussion of what is a tremendously expansive topic. It deals with our participation in Reality as creative individuals. However we must limit ourselves to acknowledging the subjective dimension and human experience.
The human has both external and internal components. The human has external needs from the environment which are really irrefutable: food, shelter, heat. Additionally there are other aspects of the human which are subjective, but probably no less crucial as it pertains to what makes him human. These are companionship, ecstatic experience (transcendent dimension), emotional engagement.
Back to hierarchy. How does hierarchy shape the internal and external dimensions of man? Is there such thing as organic hierarchy?
posted by pjack | 3:08 PM
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