These “notes” are a combination of thoughts from elsewhere and my own synthesis of them. I take credit solely for bringing them together...and for trying to align them with thoughts about Logic Systems.While clearly presented here as polar concepts...and as historically progressive...the most fruitful use of them is to see them as coexistent in our society and world today. These leads to insights about kinds of people, different situations where one mode is dominant, and about our ideology about ourselves and the possibility/probability of change.
NOT a level of full political/class/group consciousness
No coherent viewpoint or interpretive framework
-----no linkage or connection of “personal troubles” with “public issues”
No consistent language used to understand reality
No language of analysis or protest
Reliance on CUSTOM/TRADITION
Belief that “what will be will be” (que sera sera)
-----a stoic fatalism about present and future
No sense of human action as “agents in conditions”
Strong sense of PIETY (loyalty and obligation)
-----strong sense of the “sacred”
-----and who can disobey the sacred?
Belief/assumption that the “is” is what “ought to be”
-----precludes “change” as a possibility
No VISION of a different “now” or “future”...except by “chance”
Decisions not made from awareness that the future can be altered or controlled
POLITICAL THOUGHT
Varying degrees of level of consciousness of group interests Pre-Political Thought Trans/Semi-Political Thought Political Thought
Individual and group “self-consciousness”
-----awareness of “agency IN conditions”
-----is neither “free will” nor “determinism”
Awareness of linkages between “biography” and “history”
Some awareness of connections between “levels of reality” (micro/meso/macro)
Deliberate decisions
-----based on ability and effort to CHOOSE strategy
Analysis is reasoned and consistent...within frameworks of interpretation
Control of impact of CUSTOM/TRADITION and of Change
IMPIETY...(the “is” is “subject to change”)
As alluded to above, these concepts are historical in that pre-political thought preceded political thought. Yet, in our society today...and in other societies around the world, we find a mixture of them...varying with people as individuals and groups and with different subjects and situations. Pre-political thought and some Political thought might be associated with “conservative” or “traditional” ways of thinking...while Political thought might be more associated with “liberal” or “legal-rational” ways of thinking. While I think that Political is certainly preferable to Pre-Political thought, not all Political Thought is beneficial...its conservative and liberal versions both have their limitations. Full Political thought is therefore CRITICAL thought, RADICAL (going to the root) thought...and as I’ll maintain just below, DIALECTICAL thought. So, these two polar concepts are, again, most useful as devices to analyze the complexity of today’s reality.
RELATION OF PRE-POLITICAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHT TO LOGIC SYSTEMS
-----Formal Logic---Conservative type (FL-C)
-----Mixture of Pre-Political and Political (both FL-C and FL-L)
-----Mixture of Trans/Semi-Political and Political
-----Full Political is Dialectical Logic (DL)
David H. Kessel (8/01)
