Axioms of metaphysics
Homework, discussion, and thought-provocation. I won’t tell you how long it took me to achieve a diagramatic level of clarity on this.
Numbers in the diagram explicated below.
1 & 2. Existence is identity. That which exists has identity; that which has identity, exists. This one fact can be viewed from two perspectives:
1. Existence. "It is." This concept differentiates a thing from nothing. This is the primary identification of consciousness.
2. Identity. "It is." This concept differentiates one thing from another. A second step in cognition.
The context and purpose of the two concepts differ, but they name the same fact.
3 & 4: To talk of things (which exist), requires awareness of them.
3. This is the fact of concsiousness. Consciousness exists.
4. Consciousness is awareness of something which exists. Consciousness is awareness of existence. As a part of existence (#3), and dependent on it (#7), consciousness is and can only be conscious of that which exists. Consciousness exists (#3), and it is an awareness of something that exists (#4).
5. Because consciousness exists, and because existence is identity, consciousness has identity. Its identity is: awareness of existence.
6. Because consciousness has an identity, it exists.
7. Consciousness implies existence, but existence as a fact does not imply consciousness. Thus, existence is prior to and independent of consciousness. Conversely, consciousness is existentially (and functionally) dependent on existence. See #1.
You can also visualize #7 by collapsing all the double-sided arrows, which function as equals-signs, leaving the one up-ward vector going from existence to consciousness.
Alternatively, I could have drawn a circle-diagram, with a little bubble labelled "consciousness" nested with a big bubble labelled "existence," showing that the existence of consciousness is a sub-set of all that exists, and it participating in the fundamental properties of existence - namely identity. If existence = identity, then we can swap labels, from "Existence of all that exists" to "Identity of all that exists". And from "Existence of consciousness" to "Identity of consciousness." Both the existence and identity of consciousness are seen to flow from, and be dependent on, existence as such.
No surprises here, though I am tired of typing the word ‘existence.’
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Well done!
Comment by FIDO — September 25, 2006 @ 8:16 am
absolutely - great diagram.
Comment by Samee — September 25, 2006 @ 11:28 am
Very much interesting.
You may like this link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praxis_intervention
Regards
Madhu
Comment by Madhu — April 5, 2007 @ 3:52 pm
I must say I find that wikipedia article thoroughly revolting, in addition to being pompously arcane and opaque, which given the sources it cites, is far from surprising.
For the name of this blog, I use the noun praxis in a general (and dictionary-derived) sense: translating an idea into action. For me, it captures the essence of what it means to be fully human and, incidentally, much of the metaphysics diagrammed above: the choice (an act by a conscious mind) to know reality and act on that knowledge, to translate knowledge into matter, conceptual values into material values, to go from existence to consciousness and from mind, through body, back into physical reality. To live an integrated life; to have integrity throughout.
Comment by praxical — April 6, 2007 @ 2:01 am