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Presentation at the Fifth Interdisciplinary
Cosmology Symposium on Humanity and the Cosmos
Brock University, Ontario, Canada, on 22 January 2000.COSMIC PURPOSE AND THE HUMAN QUEST:
A SYSTEMS APPROACH
by Bruce Buchanan
Abstract:
It is not a new idea that life is a process. In man's search for meaning and survival, idolatry has always presented hazards. And interpretations of science which project abstract ideas as purely concrete objects are false to human experience.
Habits of perception which lead to constructions of an external world, and capacities for language which too rigidly fix conventional understandings, are grounded in processes of individual develop- ment. In their later stages our concepts build more solidly on the assumptions and conventional meanings of culture, history and the sciences. Yet every civilisation faces the challenge to break through its currently limiting abstractions.
Science is the product of its methods. And the assumption that science provides a view of reality that is not a function of the observer dies slowly. Among such errors are assumptions of the sociobiolo- gists that the basic starting point for an understanding of life is a "material world". Such a concept is a result - a construction based upon more fundamental processes - not a cause of those processes.
More true to experience is the metaphysical realisation that we can only see the world in terms which make sense to us, and that the Cosmos, as an encompassing beyond our grasp, is a direction of search and inquiry, towards which experience can only point, not an object, model it how we will.
Human survival depends upon our choices. Wise choices are illuminated by relevant concepts and guided by values and perceived consequences. The most important choices are directed to values which sustain life and the worlds on which life depends. Such choices deal with the conditions of salvation.
It is the thesis of this paper that the world and its possibilities depend in decisive ways on human values and the choices to which these lead. The fate of civilisation is a human responsibility. This leads to the question of how to articulate this situation effectively, and to mobilise appropriate programs of action. In this task the integrative values and purposeful methods of the systems sciences will be invaluable.
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Introduction:
It has often been said that there is a need to bridge the gulf between the arts and sciences. A more fundamental view, such as that of Jacob Bronowski (in The Origins of Knowledge and Imagination), is that the separation is artificial, and the more appropriate task is that of recognising the inherent unity. Every civilisation faces the challenge to break through its currently limiting abstractions.
This paper is an attempt to elucidate "the pattern that connects", to use Bateson's terms, referring to the relationships that connect elements of experience common to the arts, sciences and actual existence. To make such connections is a mental activity familiar to all of us - to grasp immediate experience, to relate this to the past through memory, to ascertain meanings, and to respond appropriately. The artist seeks out elements of human thought and feeling to illuminate the human situation. The scientist defines his or her territory in other and more limited ways, focussing on elements and relationships which can be clearly conceptualised and validated. But interpretations of science which project abstract ideas as purely concrete objects are false to human experience. We live in relation to a cosmos which is infinite in comparison to our puny powers, to which we must respond with humility and flexibility.
Science is the product of its methods. And the assumption that science provides a view of reality that is not a function of the observer dies slowly. Among such errors are assumptions of the sociobiologists that the basic starting point for an under-standing of life is a "material world". Such a concept is a result - a construction based upon more fundamental processes - not a cause of those processes.
More true to experience is the metaphysical realisation that we can only see the world in terms which make sense to us, and that the Cosmos, as an encompassing beyond our grasp, is a direction of search and inquiry, towards which experience can only point, not an object, model it how we will.
As reference points we look for universals, for permanence, for stability amidst flux. We here begin begin with the assumption that there are no absolutes knowable to humankind, noting that the observer has an influence on any observations. Any patterns that we can find in the external world have their counterparts in our receiving equipment.
So what might these patterns be?
The thesis of this paper is that the basic pattern is the evaluation and feedback loop involving space and time, described by cybernetics, which brings order and stability out of chance and contingent events. We are all familiar with the household thermostat and the on-off connections which continuously correct for random disturbances to maintain a constant room temperature. And most of us are aware that human health depends upon similar homeostatic mechanisms which maintain the constancy of vital values - blood pressure, oxygen, and innumerable chemicals and hormones, etc.
Let us consider certain key features of these arrangements. They involve elements and relationships which we conceptualise as systems. A system is defined by its outcome or result, and is composed of elements and components which can be influenced as they contribute to results.Systems may be conceptualised as hierarchical and otherwise interdependent. But each system is a kind of complete package in its own space and time, stabilised by the feedback of information from the evaluation of actual outcomes - compared to the needed or desired or intended - which makes possible the correction of errors. Gnostic thinkers used a metaphor from archery and spoke of "hitting the mark", the mark itself being a value established by a more comprehensive or higher system of values. Similarly, a motorist, or a sailor, is continually correcting course to compensate for random perturbations, guided by a plan and an objective which makes sense to him.
We have here many clues that help to define what are ordinarily understood as values. Value concepts are not, like those of science, abstract representations of a purely ideal type, but are decision criteria - whether physical or biological or conceptual - which compare ongoing events with what is needed or intended, within an organising hierarchical perspective involving more ultimate points of reference. The connection of values with goals and plans and action makes possible adaptive behaviour in response to changes without and within.
Conceived in this way, systems may be seen as useful for describing clearly the multilevel relations between abstract ideas and the demands of existence for adaptive performance.
It may be observed in passing that this account assumes a kind of relativism and eschews absolutes, avoids implications of mind-matter dualism, and takes account of language in helping us to define the realities with which we must deal.
Moreover we are taking a constructivist approach to human experience of the cosmos. In this we discern ways in which it is possible for life to oppose and neutralise some of the effects of random contingency and chance, to run counter to entropy, to organise stabilising relationships guided by higher values. Among such values is the freedom to search for meanings which may help to unify human efforts within the encompassing perspective of an uncertain existence.
Ethics without religion:
In a search for objective criteria for values it is sometimes observed that human knowledge may be relative, with the key consideration being: Relative to What? Human values are relative to human nature and the universals of the human condition. Now, to the degree that particular religions remain bound by time and culture, they may lack grounding in such universals, even though religions are often and for many people vital, even if local, windows on higher truth. (From a systems perspective such a window may be assessed as less than fully open to the whole which it purports to seek.)
Rushworth Kidder, In Shared Values for a Troubled World, identifies on empirical grounds a number of values which reflect universals of human experience. These values are described as love, truthfulness, fairness, freedom, unity, tolerance, responsibility, and respect for life, as well as courage and wisdom.
Let us consider how these might be interpreted in systems terms, in an attempt to bring these empirical data within a unified conceptual framework. We may also apologise for the brevity of the account being offered.. We need not claim any higher validity for this than its possible usefulness, which we may then briefly explore.
An Interpretation of Values in Terms of Systems:
Within the context of an encompassing cosmos, infinite in relation to human knowledge and powers, we live our lives on earth in a supportive environment and in mutual associations of many kinds.
With Love we seek and hope for reciprocal cooperation in all aspects of life - emotional, physical, social, the rearing of children etc. A false "Love" which is self-seeking or exploitative does not value these systemic goals of mutual benefits..
Truthfulness involves that honest representation of experience intended to reflect reality as well as known. Like other values it is not absolute or independent of other considerations, for example the need for love in dealing with painful truths.Fairness or justice is a value with clear criteria for evaluation of individuals and groups with equality before systems of law and with respect to opportunities assessed by love and truth.
Freedom has many aspects. Freedoms are possible because of systems which provide for stability and security at many levels. The conventions of social life and language make possible freedoms of action and expression which could not otherwise exist. Such types and degrees of freedom are properties of the systems which enable them.
Unity as a value depends upon systems of shared higher values and objectives. A false unity imposed by physical or coercive forces lacks the stability of an integrated system.
Tolerance as a system value would be informed by love and truth. A false tolerance based on ignorance or denial of unreconciled differences contains systemic seeds of destructiveness.
Responsibility and accountability point to behaviour which evaluates results in accordance with what is needed and intended and adapts accordingly, attending to consistency between what is said or promised and what is done.
Respect for life is a realistic acknowledgement of the biological systems or biosphere required for all existence. It is obvious that such values have implications for active responsibility and environmental protection.
Courage involves the mobilisation of that vital energy required to maintain and give effect to the patterns of behaviour needed to realise the guiding values. It involves responsibility but also requires conditions of health and fortune or grace beyond the immediate control of the moment.
Wisdom may be understood in many ways, but will surely reflect a systems perspective which balances relevant factors within the whole. The greater the importance and the larger the number of factors taken into account, and the greater or more cosmic the totality in view, the greater the wisdom at work.
In general it may be said that values such as those described depend upon the fortune of favourable given condi- tions as well as the freedom and creative responsibility to seek out unifying and comprehensive values and goals.
Implications for further study and research:
It is a characteristic of a useful hypothesis that it may provide insights worthy of further exploration and possible test.
First it may be noted that a useful theoretical framework may facilitate systematic studies of values, their relation- ships and validity. Particular values may thereby be clarified in relation to the whole which alone can fully justify them.
Where analysis indicates that imposed values (e.g. competitive aspirations, monetary criteria, etc.) serve only partial interests, the study of values may help to liberate individuals.
By the same token, liberated individuals can help contribute to and shape a more liberated society, one which places primary value on human life, which is to be served not superseded by institutions and those who dominate them.
In particular, the evaluation of social and political systems may be placed on a more objective basis with the aid of open systems, reliable performance measures, and the feedback of evaluative information to all concerned. Indeed, a systems approach to human values may facilitate the raising of social consciousness. The role of power and values implicit in decision-making , as well as the agents and conditions which oppose such inquiries, become objects of systematic study.
At another end of the cultural spectrum we might consider the realms of entertainments and literary creation. Values have much to do with why we laugh and cry, on the experiences involved in both comedy and tragedy in art and life. In these areas mythic themes loom large when given given tangible meaning and impact by values reflecting individual experience and familiar social dilemmas. Great literature is about little else than the conflict of values.
The hypothesis is offered that humour and laughter reflect the existential impact of putting values into question. The derogation of either individual or social values may be involved, and aims may sometimes be educational and social, sometimes less worthy, but analysis in terms of values may enhance our understanding of the processes at work.
On the other side, that of tragedy, values are not merely being put into question but are seen as gravely damaged and destroyed. Values associated with people, with ideas, and remembered joys are not only lost but felt bodily to be so and require physiological and mental adjustment and grieving processes. Values govern all.
So values, or ethics, without specific religious rationale are still as universal as human life and existence. In this sense it can be said that the bringing of life to higher and ever more comprehensive valuation processes will always be the most reliable resource in the face of infinite possibilities. As Northrop Frye has observed, the ultimate value question will always be: What must we do to be saved?
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*Bruce H. Buchanan, M.D., D Psych., is a retired Canadian physician who has had a career in medical practice, public health, psychiatry, and university teaching (administrative sciences), with two decades in governmental policy and administrative work. He has published in the fields of cybernetics and systems science, cognitive science, social science (sociocybernetics) and philosophy (knowledge; values). He is currently a member of the Canadian Association of the Club of Rome.