07/22/24

Looking at Steve Fuller’s Book (2020) “A Player’s Guide to the Post-Truth Condition” (Part 9 of 26)

0078 Let me dwell on two points (A and B).

0079 First (A), the post-truth condition, as we currently experience it, involves a frustrating inability of the expert to situate the scrappy player.  The situation level finds it difficult to virtually situate the content level.

One of the reasons comes from the structure of the questionable box of capitalism.  Two elements are not included, because these two elements assume the box without question (and that assumption is, of course, questionable).  The perspective-level actuality of success2c turns out to be the sign-vehicle (SVi) and the content-level actuality of what people say2a turns out to be the sign-object (SOi) of an interventional sign-relation, which the most upside-down sign-relation that one can imagine.

0080 Interventional and specifying sign-relations are discussed in Razie Mah’s blogs at the end of 2023 and the start of 2024, starting in earnest with Looking at John Deely’s Book (2010) “Semiotic Animal” (October 2023) and Looking atDaniel Dennett’s Book (2017) “From Bacteria, To Bach and Back” (December 2023).  Two commentaries that may be of interest are Comments on Sasha Newell’s Article (2018) “The Affectiveness of Symbols” and Comments on Michael Tomasello’s Arc of Inquiry (1999-2019) by Razie Mah, available at smashwords and other e-book venues.

0081 If the post-truth condition is working appropriately, then capitalist experts3b on the situation-level can say how price1b (SIsreflects various opinions2a (SVs) in the normal context of a market3b (SIs).  The assertion (SOs) is perceived as value2b.  The easily recognized specifying sign-relation says, “Opinions2a (SVs) stand for value2b (SOs) in regards to the specification of price1b within an open (unregulated) market3b (SIs).”

But, experts3b are not looking at all opinions2a.  They observe and measure only a small selection of opinions2a.  In particular, they register only those opinions2a that are relevant to building a model of value2b.  They call the relevant opinions, “phenomena2a“.

0082 An exemplar sign-relation follows the specifying sign-relation. Expertise-acknowledged value2b (SVe) is placed into perspective by the capitalist one3c operating on the possibilities inherent in opportunity1c (SIe), resulting in capital formation or destruction2c (SOe).  Value2b (SVe) stands for success or failure2c (SOe) in regards to a capitalist3coperating on the basis of opportunity1c (SIe).

Success or failure2c entails a judgment about whether the organization has capital or not, and what to do about it.

0083 Here is a picture of the capitalist box of the post-truth condition operating at face value.  Expertsb virtually emerge from (and situate) what people think2a and explicitly model value2b.  Then, expert valuations2b are contextualized as opportunities1c by those3c with capital2c.

A specifying sign-relation feeds into an exemplar sign-relation.

0084 Second (B), even though the interscope for socialism and capitalism look very similar, the expert level is significantly different.  Order3b (the potential underlying the state) is and is not like a market3b.  Righteousness1b (the potential underlying an institution within the state) is and is not like price1b.  Finally, value2b does not arise from the potential of price1b.  Instead, value2b arises from the potential of righteousness1b.

0085 Now I wonder, does success2c for the socialist one3c remain the same as capital2c

I suppose that depends on how one defines the word, “capital”.

Reframing of the word, “capital”, occurs in all ongoing post-truth global projects, as seen in Comments on Daniel Estulin’s Book (2021) “2045 Global Projects At War”.  A promo for this commentary appears in Razie Mah’s blog for the latter half of January 2023.

07/20/24

Looking at Steve Fuller’s Book (2020) “A Player’s Guide to the Post-Truth Condition” (Part 10 of 26)

0086 I continue to examine chapter four.

What about science?

What is valuable in science?

Surely, mathematical and mechanical models are valuable to science.

Mathematical and mechanical models figure prominently in the empirio-schematic judgment.

Models are what ought to be.

0087 The empirio-schematic judgment is initially diagrammed in Comments on Jacques Maritain’s Book (1935) Natural Philosophy, as an element of the more encompassing Positivist’s judgment.

Here is a picture.

0088 A judgment is a triadic relation with three elements: relation, what ought to be and what is.

When each element is assigned a unique Peircean category, then the judgment becomes actionable.

Actionable judgments “unfold” into category-based nested forms.

So the above diagram translates into, “Disciplinary language (relation, thirdness) brings mechanical and mathematical models (what ought to be, secondness) into relation with observations and measurements of phenomena (what is,firstness).”

0089 Can I disperse the three… er four?… maybe five… elements in the preceding diagram into the interscope for the post-truth condition?

Here is my guess.

0090 On, the content level, the term, “phenomena2a“, is placed, like a mask, over diverse opinions about what is going on.  How is this accomplished?  Well, phenomena2a are the observable and measurable facets of a noumenon, a thing itself, which is supposed to be what all those unscientific opinions fixate on.

On the situation level, observations and measurements1b constitute the potential1b that characterizes phenomena2a.

Tautologies can be handy.

Phenomena2a are those features of all the opinions expressed by all sorts of people2a which have the potential of being observed and measured1b as phenomena2a.

0091 On the situation level, disciplinary language3b may occupy the same position as the expert3b.  Does one displace the other?  Or does an imaginative comparison of disciplinary language3b and experts3b suggest that the unfolded empirio-schematic nested form (on the situation level) is a variation of the nested form for certified expertise (also on the situation level)?

Here is the comparison.

0092 On the perspective level, one may wonder, “How can the empirio-schematic judgment as a judgment virtually contextualize the empirio-schematic judgment as a category-based nested form?  Isn’t there some sort of conflict of interest?  Or is this another one of those tautologies that are ready at hand?”

0093 Well, there is a trick.

The empirio-schematic judgment is actionable because each element is assigned to a unique Peircean category and, therefore, it can unfold into a category-based nested form.

Plus, the empirio-schematic judgment occupies the slot for what ought to be in the Positivist’s judgment.

0094 So, the empirio-schematic judgment as what ought to be in the Positivist’s judgment (on the perspective level) can virtually contextualize the empirio-schematic judgment as a category-based nested form (on the situation level).

Here is a picture of the Positivist’s judgment.

0095 The positivist intellect has a rule, “Metaphysics is not allowed.”  This mandate governs the situation level and assists in differentiating phenomena2a from the thing itself2a.  Phenomena2a cannot be regarded as metaphysical, while the noumenon2a (things that ordinary people are talking about) is commonly regarded in terms of outlawed metaphysical formal and final causalities.  In other words, a lot of things that people say2a are ignored by the observations and measurements1b of various experts3b.  If an opinion2a smacks of metaphysical connotations, or does not pertain to what contributes to the construction of a model, then it cannot be regarded as phenomena2a.

0096 Now, at the risk of overcrowding a diagram, I can place this nuanced explanation for why an actuality that looks like the empirio-schematic judgment2c can contextualize the situation-level unfolded empirio-schematic judgment in the interscope for the post-truth condition.

Here is a picture.

07/19/24

Looking at Steve Fuller’s Book (2020) “A Player’s Guide to the Post-Truth Condition” (Part 11 of 26)

0097 Well, let me go back to the original interscope.

The perspective-level actuality2c looks a little awkward.  Do I put the term, “empirio-schematic judgment2c” or “what ought to be of the Positivist’s judgment2c“?

How about “a triadic relation that ought to be empirio-schematic2c“?

Well, my solution is presented below in the cross of the positivist intellect.

0098 I ask, “Does this look anything like the questionable box of capitalism?”

The questionable box is presented below.

0099 Clearly, the answer is “no”.

Well, then, I ask, “Is there anything striking about a comparison?”

Clearly, the answer is “yes”.

The positivist cross is strong in regards to the perspective and content level actualities, precisely where highlights of the capitalist box are weak.  The capitalist box is strong with respect to the perspective and content level normal contexts and potentials, where the positivist cross is weak.

Does that mean that the positivist’s cross and the capitalist box complement one another?

Yes, indeed, the complementarity suggests an alliance between situation-level category-based nested forms.

0100 Here is a picture.

0101 In this alliance, market3b and disciplinary language3b align.  Discourse about the market3b takes on the character of a scientific disciplinary language3b.

0102 This alliance manufactures models3b that define valuations2b as if price1b is an apparatus for observing and measuring1b phenomena2a, consisting of opinions and facts2a that… um… somehow determine or influence prices1b.  If an opinion or a fact does not (somehow) convert into a price1b, then that opinion is disregarded by the capitalist expert3b.

An opinion or a fact2a can be converted into a price1b, that can be modeled2baccording to the disciplinary languages3bof some sales department, thereby creating opportunity1c in offering added value2b to a process1b that maximizes success2c for the capitalist one3c.  Success2c moves the inquirer from phenomena2a to commitment2c (that is, a market purchase).

In short, science and capitalism mesh in a psychometric inquiry into how to induce people to make a market purchase.

0103 Yes, forget religion!  Where is the money in that?

On second thought, how can one convert belief2a into a price1b?  Pay for pray?  Exactly what are we supposed to reckon as phenomena2a?  Shall I ask the experts on marketing, sales, finance, accounting and so on?  What fits the empirio-schematics?

Success2c for the capitalist one3c consists of something that seems to correspond to what ought to be (secondness) in the Positivist’s judgment.

At, the same time, success2c has the character of the positivist intellect.  Why?  Metaphysics is not allowed.

So, maybe I can oversimplify by saying, “Capital2c is a way of doing things that works… or… I should say… makes money.”

0104 Does this exercise of the scientific capitalist correspond to one portion of the title of chapter five of Fuller’s book?

That must be the “marketization of everything” portion.

0105 What about the “public relations as post-truth politics” portion?

Ah, there is another alliance.  This time the alliance is between the situation-level for the socialist one and the empirio-schematic judgment unfolded onto the situation level.

Does this alignment between science and socialism constitute the psychometric science of inducing people to buy into a political agenda?

0106 If so, then what does the public relations expert3b regard as phenomena2a?

An opinion or a fact2a can be converted into a righteousness1b, that can be modeled2b, according to the disciplinary language3b of a department of political “whatever”, who finds opportunity1c in demonstrating value2b with a process that maximizes success2c in moving someone from phenomena2a to commitment2c (that is, a political buy-in).

0107 So, what about a Christian who longs to save his soul from damnation?

Well, the expert at propaganda may regard this particular opinion2a as phenomena2a for a model2b that transforms longing for personal salvation2a into political action2b by promoting3b the notion1b that funding a particular government program devoted to poverty2b is an expression of Christian charity1b, rather than a government policy2c devoted to maintaining a political order3b that deprives poor souls2a of economic opportunities1c and convinces them3a that they are so worthless that this state-funded program is their only hope1a.

Does that one sentence cover all the bases?

07/18/24

Looking at Steve Fuller’s Book (2020) “A Player’s Guide to the Post-Truth Condition” (Part 12 of 26)

0108 Of course, these two alliances do not do justice to chapter five, whose full title is “Public Relations as Post-truth Politics, Or the Marketisation of Everything”.

Yet, they do add a disturbing twist.

Capital expertise goes with marketization.  Marketization constellates the capitalist one3c.  Success2c is a judgment leading to a purchase.  Experts are certified in sales, marketing, advertising and so on.

Social expertise goes with politicization.  Politicization constellates the socialist one3c. Success2c is a judgment leading to a political commitment.  Experts are certified in political science, social work and a myriad of other specialties.

Both constitute questionable boxes whose contents can hybridize with the positivist cross of scientism

109 When that happens, the actionable judgment2c takes the essence (as well as the esse_ce) of an empirio-schematic judgment.

But, it2c is not empirio-schematic.  It2c is empirio-normative.

It2c confounds what ought to be for the Positivist’s judgment with the structure of the empirio-schematic judgment.

Plus, it2c acts in the service of a relativist one3c.

0110 So, how is the fusion of capitalist and socialist expertise3b with scientific disciplinary language3b disturbing?

Remember the three battles among the enlightenment gods?

Their nominal dates are first, 1914 to 1918, second, 1938-1945 and third 1945-1989 AD.

The very last one was a cold, proxy-annihilating, contest between two materialist ideologies which could be labeled “capitalism” and “socialism”.

0111 These labels apply to the perspective-level normal contexts of interscopes containing two very different situation-level category-based nested forms.

Now (I am just wondering), if a hybridization of both the capitalist and the socialist questionable boxes and the positivist cross characterizes the post-truth condition that Fuller identifies, then doesn’t that imply that another battle among enlightenment gods is upon us?

Thank God, my bladder is empty!

Say nothing of my rectum.

0112 Okay, let me calm down and think about a scientific capitalist hybridization.

Here is a guess at what the perspective-level actionable judgment2c might be for a person3a,1a caught in the scientific capitalist one’s interscope.

A way of talking about a product that makes the client feel more valuable (which sounds like “marketing”; relation,thirdness,) brings observations of a client’s opinions (as well as others, including the general public; what is, firstness) into relation with a campaign leading a client to make a purchase (based on a psychometric model; what ought to be,secondness).

0113 Okay, that does not seem as potentially horrifying as the stories that the USSR told about the USA during the Cold War.

0114 Chapter six of Fuller’s book offers an example for a scientific socialist hybridization.

Perhaps, this one is more unsettling.

The example is an article by Byran Van Norden, appearing in a New York Times philosophy column in 2018. This article is acclaimed by the American Philosophy Association in 2019.  (Then, COVID-19 comes to America in 2020.)

Fuller chooses this thought-piece because it displays the post-truth condition as (1) a contest over what is true and false concerning knowledge and (2) a dispute over the ways that matters are to be decided.

0115 Does that indicate that Fuller uses Norden’s opinion piece as a phenomenon that can be observed and included in a model of the post-truth condition?

Uh-oh.

0116 May I summarize Norden’s argument, as reported by Fuller?

Norden presents a complaint by expertise3b to the court of the relativist one3c.

There is a problem.  And perhaps, one of the problems with my account of the problem is… um… me.  I am not an expert, or worse, I may be one of those scrappy players that reads disciplinary literature and asks embarrassingly pointed questions.  Or…

Well, let me not doddle. My bus arrives.  Let me get on board.

0117 As far back as anyone can remember, stalwarts of modern philosophy, such as Rene Descartes (1596-1650 AD) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), promote a naive universality to rationality that empowers charlatans (read: scrappy players), such as the memorable mouthpiece Kellyanne Conway (who stands for someone who lacks expertise), to lay claim to “alternate facts”.

Of course, these “alternate facts” do not sit well with the well-informed readers of the New York Times… er… I mean to say “the public”.  There is no need to explicitly formulate criteria whereby expert representatives of a right-minded “public”may set aside Conway’s claims as mere verbalizations that are both not legitimate and without merit.  Instead, this advocate sets forth the following proposition.

Free speech does not entail the right to an audience.

Oh, I suppose that explains the title of the philosophical opus in the Stone, “The Ignorant Do Not Have The Right To An Audience”.

0118 But, wait!  Stop the bus.

The inquirer will have to read the entire chapter in Fuller’s own excellent prose, because I have arrived at my destination.

Here is a picture of the resulting empirio-normative judgment.

0119 Norton offers an opportunity1c.

Norton offers a way of talking about how to order the political world in the face of the these scrappy players, such as Kellyanne Conway (relation, thirdness) that brings observations that the scrappy player’s opinions are not righteousness(what is, firstness) into relation with a model for how to proceed (what ought to be, secondness).

How should the scientismist one3c proceed?

Deny the scrappy player an audience.

This is Norton’s empirio-normative judgment2c.

0120 Empirio-normative?

Yes, success1c for the hybridization of the socialist one and the scientific one can be defined as a judgment that parodies the empirio-schematic judgment2c.

For this reason, when a Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, a Queen of Empirio-Normativism, proclaims, “Trust the science.”, she is really saying, “Trust my judgment.”

07/17/24

Looking at Steve Fuller’s Book (2020) “A Player’s Guide to the Post-Truth Condition” (Part 13 of 26)

0121 Chapter seven is titled, “Science As The Offer That Cannot Be Refused in the Post-Truth Condition”.

0122 How can this be?

Have you ever refused a gift?

I mean, like the gift of a famous politician’s trust in science?

Yeah, here is the gift2c that is fashioned into legislation that defines “success”2c in the post-truth condition.  Success2c is more than merely achieving an actionable judgment2c. Success2c leads to actions that set the stage for normal people asking, “What is happening?3a” in regards to the possibility that ‘something’ is happening1a.  Success2c opens a cognitive space2a that is observed and measured1b by experts3b in the psychometric sciences of marketing and advocacy.

0123 As an aside, I ask, “Does the one of scientism3c care whether its judgment2c leads to human flourishing or immolation?”

I don’t think so.

If “trust the science” means “trusting the judgment of the Queen Bee”, then I definitely don’t think so.

0124 Okay, instead of that distraction about a gift, let me blunder forward with another aside, this time asking, “How does an empirio-normative judgment2c serve as an interventional sign-vehicle (SVi) whose sign-object is what people think is happening2a (SOi).

The question, “What is happening?”, appeals to the intellect3a.  The intellect3a associates to the interventional sign-interpretant (SIi).

The issue of ‘something’ happening addresses the will1a.  The will1a also associates to the interventional sign-interpretant (SIi).

125 So, while Fuller frames the offer3c in terms of advertising and other ways that an expert can provide value by informing the scrappy player of options that are outside the cognitive space that the player is already familiar with, I frame the offer2c in terms of a general structure for the empirio-normative judgment.

For example, the disciplinary language of journalism (relation, thirdness) brings a normative narrative (what ought to be,secondness) into relation with observations of what people say (what is, firstness).  

Not everything that people say is regarded as phenomena.  Only opinions that are (1) not metaphysical and (2) pertinent to the topic at hand are so regarded.

0126 Just like a scientific discovery2c, the empirio-normative judgment2c is an offer2c, a gift2c, that cannot be refused.   Especially, an empirio-normative judgment2c cannot be refused once it is constellated as the purchase of a product or a legislative edict or decree.

0127 Of course, I3a,1a face a choice.

On one hand, I2a better get on the current paradigm bus if I want to be a certified expert2b and receive the blessings of opportunity1c.

On the other hand, I2a should seek to understand the gift2c that wants to transform my voice2a into phenomena2a that it can observe and measure1b.

0128 On one hand, I may accommodate the domination of the empirio-normative judgment and adjust what I say to what experts desire to observe and measure.

On the other hand, I may… what?.. say what I think regardless of what is happening3a and the potential of ‘something’ happening1a, only to have my voice2a simply disregarded as not phenomena2a?

0129 Fuller offers the example of the potlatch tradition among tribes of the Pacific Northwest.  British colonizerssuppress the native tradition because it makes no sense at all.  Why spend your time hoarding all sorts of things, such as barrels of seal fat and thousands of smoked salmon filets, in order to destroy and eat them all in one gigantic and crazy fun party?  It’s like those damn French in New Orleans with their Mardi Gras.  The bean-counting experts of the British Empire will not have it.

I suppose that the downside of the potlatch tradition is that everyone gets trapped in a weird competition in regards to “honor”, requiring that each person assist one or another big-man in showing that my big-man can throw a more magnificent party than your big-man.

0130 So, in regards to an empirio-normative judgment2c, here is the judgment of the Euro-centric administrators.

The disciplinary languages of the British colonizers (relation, thirdness) brings a normative narrative that the potlach tradition is an entrapment system (what ought to be, secondness) into relation with observations of claptrap about which big-man throws the best party (what is, firstness).

0131 Now, this actionable judgment makes sense in the post-truth fashion where two interrelated elements are contested.

‘What is’ and relation concern a contest between true and false, where “true” consists of British administrators’ observations and measurements of phenomena and “false” consists in all those opinions and facts than cannot be formalized through expert observations and measurements. Why?  Everything the natives say is rubbish about parties.

‘What ought to be’ and relation concern a contest over how the matter is to be decided.  The experts not only expect to have their way1c, but them having their way2c signals their virtue2b, which is more “objective” than the “subjective” opinions and facts2a that the experts might consider if they could accept them as ‘sensible enough to take into consideration’1b.  Fuller indicates how the matter is to be decided in the title of chapter seven.  Science is the offer that cannot be refused in the post-truth condition.

Trust our empirio-normative judgments.

07/17/24

Looking at Steve Fuller’s Book (2020) “A Player’s Guide to the Post-Truth Condition” (Part 14 of 26)

0132 In chapter eight, Fuller asks, “Will expertise survive?”

It depends on whether the current enlightenment god wins.

0133 To me, it is for Fuller to tell of the historical rise of expertise, as the appearance of an expert-level following the adoption of mechanical philosophies by northern Europe in the 1600s.  The sloganization of the Positivist’s judgmentfollows Immanuel Kant (1704-1804 AD) and occurs in the 1800s.

Here is a diagram of the Positivist’s judgment.

0134 The positivist intellect (relation, thirdness) brings the empirio-schematic judgment (what ought to be, secondness) into relation with phenomena, observable and measurable facets of their noumenon (what is, firstness).

In the empirio-schematic judgment, disciplinary language (relation, thirdness) brings mathematical and mechanical models (what ought to be, secondness) into relation with observations and measurements of phenomena (what is,firstness).

0135 The professionalization of expertise tracks right alongside the ascent of the Positivist’s judgment, especially in regards to the structure of the university in the West.  The normal context of an educational institution3b brings the actuality of professional credentials2b into relation with the possibility of ‘formalizing knowledge’1b.

Positivist educational institutions3b are not put into perspective by transcendentals, such as truth3c, justice3c, beauty3c and other features of righteousness3c.  Rather, they3b are put into perspective by a relativist one3c.

0136 Here is a picture.

I hope this looks familiar.

0137 Recall, at the start of Fuller’s effort, the reader is told that relativism makes sense for someone outside of all relativized jurisdictions.  One3c must be outside of all jurisdictions in order to… um… judge them as a system of differences3b.  In this regard, there is a divine sort of absolutism3c that accompanies relativism3b.  Does that make the relativist one3c divine?  Does that make the one that occupies the perspective-level normal context into an enlightenment god?

0138 Say what?

For example, consider the two divine singularities that confront one another during the Third Battle among the Enlightenment Gods: The Cold War Among Materialist Ideologies (1945 to 1989 AD).

0139 The first is the capitalist one.  The capitalist one3c is explicitly abstracted over the course of the 1700s and the 1800s as the one who makes the assessment as to whether an organization is viable or not.  Capital is like blood.  It is neither living nor dead.  Rather, it is undead.  It flows through the conduits that keep an organization alive.  And, that sounds both weird and morbid.

0140 Indeed, nineteenth century capitalist experts fixate on gold as the blood of finance.  Mercantilist institutions seek to accrue gold.  Gold is money.  Mercantilists strive to preserve the flow of gold, as well as flows of low-priced commodities into and high-priced manufactured items out of the country.  Mercantilists conduct transactions that keep their institutions alive.  They are in the business of markets, values and prices.  Each nation thinks that it can win in the capitalist system3c.

The mercantilist world ends through its hubris and internal contradictions, in the First Battle of the Enlightenment Gods: The Tragic Battle among Naive Mercantilist Ideologies (1914-1918).

0141 The second is the socialist one.  The socialist one is explicitly abstracted over the course of the 1800s and 1900s as the one who puts the organization tier into perspective in terms of order and righteousness.  Order is the potential underlying sovereign power.  Righteousness is the potential underlying institutions.

Institutions are not the same as organizations.  Institutions put organizations into perspective.  See A Primer on How Institutions Think, by Razie Mah, available at smashwords and other e-book venues.

0142 The Second Battle of the Enlightenment Gods (1938-1945) starts as a fight between two socialist fraternal ideologies: fascism and communism.

0143 Fascism incubates from the fraternization of capitalist corporate dealers and state authorities.  State politicians are eager to perform market interventions for their corporate buddies.  Corporate expertise and political machinations go hand in glove.  Fascist politicians formulate socialist ideologies that justify such fraternal relations in terms of the brotherhood of the titans of state and business, or the brotherhood of the experts, or the brotherhood of the people united in their ethnic identity…

….anything but the brotherhood of communists.

0144 In contrast, communism is formulated by Karl Marx (1818-1883) as a Hegelian synthesis to the thesis of feudalismand the antithesis of capitalism.  Communism is adopted by reasonable people who want to be brothers in something,again.

In Christendom, people were brothers in Christ, which alienated Jews, even though Jesus the Christ is a Jew.  The history, to say the least, is complicated.

Plus, after the start of the so-called “Western Enlightenment”, some people no longer want to belong to any Christian faction.  The problem?  “Not religious” Christians want to congregate.  Alienated Jews no longer want to be alienated.  So, an easy solution is to unite former Christians and secular Jews as brothers in communism.  Communism provides order3b, value2b and righteousness1b.  Plus, communism loves expertise.  The Western Enlightenment loves experts.  Communism thrives on socialist expertise.

0145 So, the Second Battle of the Enlightenment gods starts as fascism versus communism.  Then, American capitalists are drawn into the fray, not as friends of fascism, but as enemies of fascism.  Why?  Americans do not comprehend the cronyism and the kookiness of fascist socialist ideologies and they don’t have the expertise to understand communist socialist ideologies.  Plus, some Americans realize that they can make a lot of… you know… the undead blood of capitalism.  And, other Americans start to believe that capital2c puts markets3b, value2b and prices1b into perspective.

So, the Second World War divides into fascism versus capitalism and fascism versus communism.

After four years of conflict, leaving millions dead, the winners turn out to be the brothers in capitalist USA and the brothers in communist USSR.

0146 Thus, the stage is set for the Third Battle of the Enlightenment Gods (1945-1989) as a war between capitalist (USA) and socialist (USSR) expertise.

0147 At the end of this battle, both ideologies are severely wounded, yet remain alive, ghostlike, within expertise itself.

The post-truth condition takes center stage in 1989, with the inauguration of the Fourth Battle of Enlightenment Gods.

07/16/24

Looking at Steve Fuller’s Book (2020) “A Player’s Guide to the Post-Truth Condition” (Part 15 of 26)

0148 In chapter eight, Fuller asks, “Will expertise survive?”

It depends on whether their enlightenment god wins.

0149 Originally, the capitalist one and the socialist one have two independent traditions of expertise.

With the glorification of the empirio-normative judgment, defining success2c since 1989, these two traditions of expertisecelebrate what they have in common.  The contents of the questionable boxes of the capitalist one and the socialist onehybridize with the positivist cross.  The situation levels of the capitalist one and the socialist one enter into alliance with the empirio-schematic judgment unfolded into a category-based nested form.

0150 Now, the situationb-level of two distinct relative ones3b share a common epistemological structure2b.  These deadly enemies now view the world in the same… um… fashion.

This is a radical proposition.

Both capitalist and socialist ideologies adopt the same empirio-schematic denkstyle.

0151 So, a question arises, “How does this examiner draw clues in Fuller’s text together into a simple relation?

Here is one option.

The situation-level nested forms for both the capitalist one and the socialist one hybridize into a single intersection2b.  So, the two former combatants3b become two branches in service to the same deity3c.

The disciplinary language of science3b brings the intersection of capitalist and socialist approaches2b into relation with the potential1b of observations and measurements of the phenomena of what people say2a.

0152 In America, the so-called “boomer generation” is trained to love either the capitalist one or the socialist one and to hate the other.  The boomer generation is born between say, 1945 and 1964, corresponding to the first half of the Cold War (1945-1989).  They endorse the broadcasts2c of either the capitalist one3c or the socialist one3c.

So, the possibility that these two ideologies may join into two branches of a single deification is incredible.  It cannot be believed.  Pity the boomers, trapped in the cognitive bubble of the so-called “Cold War”.

0153 Yet, some boomers see it coming.  From 1964 on, one tactic of the capitalist one3c has been to undermine the socialist one3c (in communist jurisdictions) by offering a mimic of the socialist one (in capitalist jurisdictions).  The deal is initially called, “guns and butter”. “Guns” to fight the commies.  “Butter” to purchase votes for those inclined to fall in love with righteousness and order.

Success2c, for the scientismist one2c, entails the generation of actionable judgments2c, by a centralizing state in favor of both “guns” (for capitalist experts) and “butter” (for socialist experts).   Opportunity1c lies with a government that secures larger and larger implementations of expert-demanding activities, particularly in regards to engaging in international conflicts and resolving questions of housing, welfare and education.  In 2024, in the USA, one can earn a university degree2b in “supply chains” as well as in “social work”.

0154 What does this imply?

Well, every purchase of Fuller’s book, A Player’s Guide to the Post-Truth Condition, indicates that people have difficulties with the one of scientism3c.

But, postmodern experts are way ahead of the flock that they are shearing.

They have already patented the word, “woke”, as a parole for a university langue.

In this regard, see Looking at Gad Saad’s Book (2020) “The Parasitic Mind”, appearing in Razie Mah’s blog from April 11 to 29, 2023.

0155 As to whether postmodern expertise will survive in a scientismist world3c, where both capitalist and socialist experts3b convert the opinions, facts and experiences of everyday people2a into phenomena1b for value-extracting analysis2b, the answer is obvious.

The one of scientism3c is our current enlightenment god.

As long as this deity3c rules, experts3b need not fret.

Both capitalism and socialism operate under the imprimatur of the cross of scientism.

07/15/24

Looking at Steve Fuller’s Book (2020) “A Player’s Guide to the Post-Truth Condition” (Part 16 of 26)

0156 In chapter nine, Fuller asks, “Will universities survive the post-truth condition?”

In the 1700s, philosophers and theologians run universities.

In the 1800s, scientists demand departments in universities.

By the end of the 1900s, the scientismist one dominates the universities so much that traditional fields such as philosophy, belles lettres, art, geometry, rhetoric, history, language, and theology are in decline.  Who needs these when no one reads, history is encapsulated in on-line “encyclopedias”, language translators are routine, and the route to opportunity1c for someone in “the humanities” leads directly to so-called “public education” run by administrators that are experts in the psychometric sciences?

0157 The psychometric sciences?

Think business and journalism.

Think education and public relations.

Think expertise in capitalism and expertise in socialism.

0158 Although I rarely directly quote a work under examination, Fuller proves too eloquent not to reproduce a snippet.  Epistemologically, science is bought wholesale, for purposes of retail, not necessarily of consumption. Fuller continues, “Experts function to domesticate the more impressionable and diverse features of democracy…. Their modus operandisows the seeds of self doubt, so that people stop trusting their own judgment and instead defer to ‘those who know better’.  In effect, experts manage to convert knowledge (opinions, the stuff of what people say2a) from a vehicle of personal empowerment to the great self-inhibitor (which, for the psychometric sciences, is value2b).”

Okay, I could not help but to add my comments in parentheses.

0159 What are reasonable3a,1a people supposed to do when experts3b regard common opinions and experiences2a as phenomena2a to be surveilled1b then modeled2b according to the disciplinary languages3b of manipulation and propaganda… er… I mean to say… the psychometric sciences3b?

0160 The reader may wonder, “Where does that term ‘psychometric science’ come from?”

Consider Looking at Joseph Farrell’s Book (2020) “The Tower of Babel Moment”, appearing in Razie Mah’s blog from December 26 through Dec 30, 2023.  The term is coined by Dr. Farrell.  The science of mind-manipulation is as old as our current Lebenswelt.

For our own modern Age of Ideas, I visualize three sciences, blossoming one after the other within the dynamics of the Positivist’s judgment, each fashioning its own variation of phenomena, that is, the fuel for the empirio-schematic judgment.

0161 So, what models2b are used by the psychometric sciences3b in order to arrive at an empirio-normative judgment2c?

Oh yeah, the expert-levels of the former adversaries in the Third Battle of the Enlightenment Gods constitute a situation-level actuality2b.

Here is a picture of the virtual nested form in the realm of actuality.

0162 A virtual nested form runs down a column in a three-level interscope.

For the virtual nested form in the category of secondness, the normal context of the empirio-normative judgment2cvirtually brings an actuality composed of both capitalist and socialist paradigms2b into relation with what the psychometric sciences regard as phenomena1b(2a) (that is, the observable and measurable aspects1b of what people are saying2a).

An utterance such as, “Jesus is the King of kings.” is irrelevant as phenomena2a.  Why?  How can that statement be modeled as value2b in terms of a financial exchange or an organizational objective that a centralizing state can capitalize… or should I say, “socialize”… on?

An utterance such as, “Don’t let a crisis go to waste.” is relevant as phenomena2a, since it can be modeled as value2b in terms of both price and righteousness.

0163 What does this imply?

The great state-funded empirio-normative universities, whether they survive or not, face a research ethics problem.

07/13/24

Looking at Steve Fuller’s Book (2020) “A Player’s Guide to the Post-Truth Condition” (Part 17 of 26)

0164 According to Fuller, “research ethics” is a figment of the regulatory imagination.

It is a fig leaf for the empirio-normative university.

Why?

Imagine a school, selectively taking some of the opinions and traditions of parents2a as phenomena2a, then training their children on models of price and righteousness2b that empower the one of scientism3c.

0165 In chapter ten, titled “‘Research Ethics’ as a Post-Truth Playground”, Fuller demonstrates that empirio-normative social construction does not conform to familiar codes of conduct.

Surely, many nominally Christian parents merely want their children to seal the deal of the post-truth interscope and obtain certification2b that guarantees opportunities1c for success2c in the normal context of a scientismist godhead3c.  A Biblical parallel might be the ancient Hebrew family who sends their kids to the Canaanite College of Baal Business and Asherah Service Management.

0166 The problem is that there does not seem to be a clear way forward for reasonable3a,1a people, who want to learn how to get ahead and think for themselves.

Going back to the first rendition of the interscope of the relativist one, the intellects3a and the wills1a of individuals in community support diverse opinions2a that are then sifted, as phenomena2a, by an academy3b that formalizes knowledge1b.

0167 In general, the resulting formalized knowledge1b, which might include skills such as reading, writing and arithmetic, produces a person trained well-enough to find opportunity1c in the system of the relativist one3c of the day.

Here is a picture.

0168 The problem is subtle.

In this figure, “success” is an ambiguous term.  On the scrappy-player level, “success2a” is “getting ahead”.  On the relativist-one level, “success2c” is an actionable judgment.  The godhead does not care whether the resulting actions promote or destroy human flourishing.

Yes, gods can be capricious in this way, especially gods that don’t deal with truth.

0169 So, when the scrappy player, whose will1a operates in the normal context of the intellect3a, virtually situates his will1a with the possibility of formal knowledge1b, he makes a choice to subjugate his own facts and claims2a to the facts and claims1b required to obtain a credential2b through some educational forum3b.  He wants to get ahead and find opportunity1c for “success2a” from the scrappy-player point of view.

The scrappy player does not realize that he has also achieves success2c in the normal context of the relativist one3c, who sees “success2c” only as the manifestation of an actionable judgment2c, irrespective of whether that manifestation coincides with what the scrappy player regards as “success2a.

0170 But, that does not mean that the two renderings of “success” are completely independent.

I suppose that, before the Christians establish universities throughout Europe, an astrologer may have been a success2a in regards to the relativist one3c of the time as well as a well-renumerated2a practitioner in reading celestial indicators2c. Indeed, the fact that the astrologer is well-paid2a indicates the power2c of his expertise2b within the Zeigeist3c.

As Christian universities promote the demystification of the celestial bodies2c, to the extent that Aristotle allows, the astrologer finds less opportunities1c and soon enough, no one wants to be an apprentice to the local astrologer, because that is a lousy way to get ahead2a.  The relativist god of the alchemical sciences has to wait a few centuries for another post-truth civilizational moment to manifest.

0171 Oddly, this brings me back to Fuller’s tenth chapter, where he claims that ethics is usually grounded in two codes of conduct: one transactional and one transcendental.

To me, given this examination, which runs a complementary course to Fuller’s text, the transactional code may apply to institutional3b conduct in regards to the scrappy player3a and the transcendental code may apply to the divine3c in terms of the capriciousness inherent in defining success2c in terms of actionable judgments.

The transactional code says that credentials2b must be rewarded to a scrappy player2a who objectively masters the relevant formalized knowledge1b.

The transcendental code says that simply arriving at actionable judgments2c is not enough.  The actions of perspective-level judgments3c ought to promote human flourishing rather than destruction.

However, as this examination continues, the adjectives “transactional” and “transcendental” are repurposed as qualifiers for capitalist and socialist values, respectively.

07/12/24

Looking at Steve Fuller’s Book (2020) “A Player’s Guide to the Post-Truth Condition” (Part 18 of 26)

0172 One more point about chapter ten.

The author discloses an amazing coincidence.

In 1996, Fuller publishes an article in the same issue of the journal, Social Text, as Alan Sokal’s infamous fraud, marking the start of the so-called Sokal Hoax.  The admission is delightful, occurring as it does in a discussion that intimates that the relativist one’s interscope founding potential is the will1a, not the truth1a.

0173 Here is a picture of the interscope for the relativist one in the Fourth Battle Involving Enlightenment Gods: Empirio-Normative Domination within the Post-Truth Condition (1989 to present).

Yes, reason3a,1a is the normal context of the intellect3a operating on the potential of the will1a.  In our current Lebenswelt,we (humans) reason3a,1a and come up with diverse facts and claims2a.  These opinions are selectively observed and measured in order to produce the psychometric models2b that will be validated by the post-modern university3b through certification2b.  Certification2b is put into perspective by opportunities1c to success2c.  But, success2c for the scientismist one3c is not the same as what the person on the scrappy player level3a,1a thinks it2a is

0174 The title of chapter eleven is “Why Ignorance – Not Knowledge – Is The Key To Justice in the Post-Truth Condition”.

Fuller associates the ignorance position with John Rawls (1921-2002 AD).  Rawls is regarded as the greatest philosopher of the social democratic welfare state.

Fuller associates the knowledge position with Robert Nozick (1938-2002).  Nozick is regarded as the most philosophically sophisticated defender of modern libertarianism.

He then plays one off of the other, arriving at the conclusion in the chapter’s title.

0175 For this examiner, Fuller inadvertently re-capitulates an empirio-normative judgment in the following fashion.

0176 Yes, Fuller takes the opportunity1c to express his expertise3b.

In terms of psychometric models, justice is value2.  Rawls associates with the socialist nested form.  Nozick associates with the capitalist nested form.  For Rawls, in the normal context of order3, fairness1 provides the best righteousness for justice2.  For Nozick, in the normal context of what the market can deliver3, imposing a price… er… cost1 is the best avenue to repair justice2.  Rawls wants to impose a veil of ignorance2, thus assuring fairness1.  Nozick wants to repair2,thus assuring reconciliation1.

0177 Of course, my own associations cast Fuller as an expert3b within the very system that he is (theoretically) calling out.

Yet, that is not his intent.

Such is the revelation embedded within his work.The very stones cry out.