0050 Okay, the ostrich, the parasite and the syndrome of the postmodern academy_1c wants to illuminate the darkness of the system_1b.

But, doesn’t it take one to know one?

Oops, that is a saying straight out of the now-suppessed handbook of orthodox views_1a.

That brings me back to what the ostrich does not want to see.

Or, should I say, “What does the ostrich not want everyone else not to see.”?

Professor Saad strives to describe what the ostrich does not want everyone else to see. 

0051 What does the ostrich not want everyone else to see?

I suspect that this evolutionary scientist sees the following virtual nested form in the category of secondess.

0052 While the items in the realm of potential are topics for discussion in the new academy, the elements in the realm of actuality can be observed and measured on postmodern college campuses throughout Western civilization.  The normal context of a privileged status for those who are oppressed_2c virtually brings the dyadic actuality that some identify as oppressed and some are identified as oppressor_2b into relation with the potential of persons engaging in a personal choices_2a.

0053 Does this mesh with Saad’s label, “ostrich parasitic syndrome”?

0054 In terms of gender, one’s personal choice_2a reveals the relevance of one’s human will_1a in the normal context of social construction_3a.  Personal choice_2a is a syndrome that transcends (even as it bans) the most obvious symptoms of biological sexual dimorphism in humans_1a (that is, men and women_2a).

Syndromes are clusters of symptoms.  Orthodox views_3a label syndromes_1a as products, not of human will_1a, but ofcertain underlying material or instrumental causes_1a.  In the frame of science, these causes are biological.  In the frame of philosophy, these causes are discussed in terms of natural laws.  Natural laws correlate syndromes with underlying causalities.

So, fixation on personal choice_2a is a syndrome, from the orthodox points of view of science and philosophy, which are not to be regarded in the College of Social Construction.

0055 In terms of gender, males are identified as oppressors_2b and females are identified as oppressed_2b.  A critical theory_3b assists identification_2b on the basis of the potential of a system_1b.  For gender, the system_1b is labeled, “the patriarchy”_1b.

0056 What is a parasite?

A parasite feeds off its host.

If I look at oppressor and oppressed, I can ask the question, “Who is the parasite and who is the host.”

Obviously, the oppressor feeds off the oppressed.

0057 But, the actual relation is the opposite.

I ask, “If the parasite can choose to be a parasite and the host cannot choose its fate, then how does choice_2a align with the actualities_2b of critical theory_3b?”

Well, the female may voluntarily associate to the label of “oppressed”_2b and the male has no choice but to accept the label of “oppressor”_2b.  Voluntary association with the oppressed_2b virtually situates the content-level actuality of personal choice_2a.  Rejection of the label of “oppressor”_2b directly situates the resisting involuntary with complicity with the system_1b theorized by critique_3b.

This implies that the so-called “oppressor”_2b is the host and the self-identifying “oppressed”_2b is the parasite.

0058 Let me say that again.

Contrary to the obvious conclusion, the self-identifying “oppressed”_2b are parasitic upon their involuntarily identified “oppressors”_2b.

The question now becomes, “What substance does the parasite draw from its host?”

0059 One answer is apparent in the normal context_2c for the virtual nested form in the realm of actuality.

The oppressed_2b draws priveleged status_2c from the oppressor_2b. 

Of course, this answer cannot be admitted.

Hence, the metaphor of “ostrich” applies.

0060 I now enter disciplinary territory that Professor Saad cannot go, because it currently stands outside his academic turf of evolutionary psychology.

Why is the turf of evolutionary psychology so limited?

Remember evolutionary psychology arises as a biological discipline, attempting to account for models proposed by cognitive psychology in terms of natural selection, adaptation and niche.

0061 However, what if the ultimate (not proximate) human niche is the potential of traidic relations, as proposed in Razie Mah’s masterwork, The Human Niche (available at smashwords and other e-book venues)?  

Then, the discipline of evolutionary psychology expands, because triadic relations participate in so many human adaptations.  Models proposed by cognitive psychology describe only a small fraction of human behaviors in our current Lebenswelt.  Imagine the wealth of material, since the start of writing, waiting to be diagrammed in terms of triadic relations.  These diagrams would be subject matter for an expanded discipline of evolutionary psychology.  And, that is just the start.

For example, in Comments on Robert Berwick and Noam Chomsky’s Book (2016) Why Only Us?, Razie Mah proposes that the three-level interscope may serve as a way to describe langue (that is, what goes on in our minds when we talk).

Consequently, a completed three-level interscope is intellectually satisfying.  Once a three level interscope is complete, no element stands empty.

0062 But, there is more than one meaning to the term, “empty”.

Saad’s designation of the nouvelle academy as “ostrich parasitic syndrome” implies three types of emptiness.  Each word associates to a type of emptiness.

0063 The first emptiness comes from the actuality_2a that a personal choice must be made.  A human will_1a is not relevant unless it is decisive.  Is that the case?  According to orthodox views_3a, human will has to work with what nature and God provides_1a.  Males are men_2a.  Females are women_2a.  The will of God_1a stands in the emptiness of the actuality_2a of social construction_3a.

0064 The second emptiness comes from the fact that the oppressor_2b is the host and the oppressed_2b is the parasite, in the virtual normal context of a privileged status for the oppressed_2c.  This emptiness is filled by the obvious meaning of the terms, “oppressor” and “oppressed”.  The parasite expresses an inversion of meaning.

0065 The third emptiness comes from the perspective level, where the normal context social justice_3c brings the actuality of privileged status for the oppressed_2c into relation with the potential of protection (that is, a safe space)_1c.  Saad uses the metaphor of the ostrich, a large-bodied but small-brained bird that refuses to see what it does not want to see.

The College of Social Construction is in denial.

What is it denying?

Look past what it is asserting.

0066 The new academy denies that there is a world outside the three-level interscope that empowers them.

0067 Consider the virtual nested form in the realm of normal contexts.

0068 The normal context of social justice_2c virtually brings the actuality of critical theory_3b into relation with the potential of social construction_3a.

To me, this virtual nested form describes the institution_3aC of the College of Social Construction.

Likewise, the virtual nested form in the realm of actuality portrays the organizational objectives_2aC of the new academy.

Finally, the virtual nested form in the realm of possibility depicts the righteousness_1aC of the nouvelle academy.

0069 The College of Social Construction is an institution.

What are institutions?

Here is a picture of the content_a-level of the society_C tier, appearing in the chapter on presence in Razie Mah’s masterwork, How To Define The Word “Religion” (available at smashwords and other e-book venues).

0070 Saad does not know this figure.  His expertise does not include “institutions”. So, he cannot articulate the social nature of the new academy.

0071 At first, the inquirer may think that each of the virtual nested forms already discussed might overlap with the three elements of the figure.  In a sense, each does.  The virtual nested form in the category of thirdness may be placed over institution_3aC.  The virtual nested form in the category of secondness may cover the organizational objectives_2aC.  The virtual nested form in the category of firstness may be set on top of the potential of ‘righteousness’_1aC.

0072 On second thought, the entire three-level interscope of the new academy could enter the slot for the organizational objective_2aC.

Recall, Saad’s term, “parasite”, corresponds to the situation-level actuality_2b of the interscope.  Here, the parasitic self-identifying “oppressed”_2b draws substance from its host, involuntarily labeled as “oppressor”_2b.  I now can imagine what that substance is.  It is righteousness_1aC.

0073 So, here is my guess as to the resulting nested form.

In the normal context of the new academy_3aC, the actuality of the entire three-level interscope of social justice, critical theory and social contruction_2aC emerges from (and situates) the potential of a righteousness that simultaneously draws upon and rejects orthodox views, like the righteousness of an ostrich not facing what it does not want to see, like the righteousness of parasite feeding off of its host_1aC, and the righteousness of just being better than orthodox scientists and philosophers_1aC.

Here is the institution of the College of Social Construction.

0074 Uh oh.  If the potential is a righteousness that is drawn from orthodox views, like a parasite feeding off of its host_1aC, then why do I write the potential of ‘signaling the virtues the human will… er… of the self-identifying oppressed… er… I mean to say, the virtues of the new world order’_1aC?

0075 I left off the previous blog with a question.

How does one describe the righteousness_1aC underlying the postmodern university_3aC? 

Here are some candidates.

0076 One key to Saad’s nomenclature of “parasite” is that one person can self-identify as “oppressed”_2b, while the other person is labeled, without self-acknowledgement, as “oppressor”_2b.  The former is the parasite.  The latter is the host.  Parasites survive by getting around the defenses of the host.

The academics expressing the “ostrich parasitic syndrome” survive by repackaging (or “mimicking”) select orthodox views_3a while rejecting other orthodox views_3a.  Thus, the postmodern know-it-all celebrates the critically evaluated_3bdistinction between “oppressed”_2b and “oppressor”_2b, while decrying the divinely-appointed (as well as naturally selected) biological distinction₁ between men and women₂.

0077 Now, take a look at the above figure.

0078 Does the reader see an inconsistency?

How can the righteousness_1aC underlying the multiversity_3aC simultaneously signal the virtues of the human will_1aC and the new world order_1aC?

Well, righteousness_1aC belongs to category of firstness.  The logic of firstness is inclusive and allows contradictions.  So, a contradiction does not really exist, because, in the normal context of the new academy_3aC, the virtues of the human will_1aC and the virtues of the new world order_1aC belong to the same sea of possibilities_1aC.

0079 Here is one way to appreciate the two apparently conflicting sets of virtues bound in the same sea of possibility_1aC, which I call, the potential of ‘signaling virtue’_1aC.

The righteousness that signals the virtue of the human will_1aC sustains the actuality on the content level_2aC.

The righteousness that signals the virtue of the new world order_1aC virtually empowers the potential on the situation level_1bC.

0080 Here is a picture.

0081 In short, the righteousness_1aC that underlies the three-level interscope_2aC, in the normal context of the new academy_3aC, potentiates two sets of virtues: the first set celebrates the human will_1aC and the second set calls for an order_1bC that accomplishes all the other aspects of righteousness_1aC.  The other aspects are listed above.

0082 The next question?

Who can deliver the powers to reconstitute orthodox virtues into attributes of the “oppressed”, to reconstitute orthodox shames into attributes of the “oppressor” and to enforce the privileges obtained by self-identification as “oppessed”?

0083 The last blog ends with a question.

The answer is sovereign power_3b.

Here is a picture of the two-level interscope for the society_C tier.

0084 The postmodern academy_3aC calls for sovereign acts and decrees_2bC to enforce its organizational objectives_2aC.  In particular, the state_2bC must mandate the privileges_(2c)2aC of those who self-identify as “oppessed”_(2b)2aC.  Plus, the state_2bC must force the unwanted identification of “oppressors”_(2b)2aC, upon people who do not self-identify with the label.

Also, the state_2bC must support the postmodern academy_3aC in its promotion and promulgation of the normal contexts of social constructionism_(3a)2aC, critical theory_(3b)2aC and social justice_(3c)2aC. 

0085 This is the demand.  Sovereign power_2bC must favor the new academy_3aC against people who stupidly and ignorantly attempt to situate orthodox views_{contra3a(2aC)}.

0086 A divided world is subject to war.

In chapter one, Gad Saad describes scary episodes typical for a divided world.  The first set of episodes occurs in the Lebenese civil war.  The second set of episodes belongs to the war between postmodernism and modernism taking place on college campuses in the North America and Europe.

0087 Saad defines himself in a particular fashion.

Definition?

According to How To Define The Word “Religion”, the normal context of definition₃ brings the actuality of a spoken term(in this case, Professor Gad Saad)₂ into relation with the potential of meaning, presence and message₁.

Here is a picture.

0088 Dr. Gad Saad is an actuality₂ that emerges from the potentials of meaning, presence and message₁ in the normal context of definition₃.  The message₁ is freedom₁.  The presence₁ is truth₁.  The meaning₁ is located in chapter seven, concerning the nomological methods of cumulative evidence.

Evidence₂ is the basis for theory₁, in the normal context of scientific inquiry₃.  Professionally, Dr. Saad applies concepts in evolutionary psychology to observations and measurements of cognitive psychology.  The evidence comes from cognitive psychology.  The nomological methods come from biology.

0089 According to Saad’s testimony in chapter one, he encounters the content-level normal context of social construction_3a(2aC) in the 1990s, when he moves to Cornell for graduate studies.  He specializes in the application of evolutionary psychology to consumer behavior.

Even at this time, publications in consumer research journals are not scientific or philosophical.  They are postmodern.  They promote the idea that social construction_3a(2aC) arises from the human will_1a(2aC) and defines who the person chooses to be_2a(2aC).  Consumers socially construct their realities.

0090 Can I say that again?

Saad comes to awareness of an organization objective_2aC, that contains social construction_3a and celebrates radical individualism_1a.

Consumer research journals in the 1990s are already postmodern.  Their authors are already located in universities and research centers that are supported by grants from the federal government.  The journals promote the concept of social construction_3a(2aC) as the legitimate normal context for consumer research.  All other approaches are irrelevant.

0091 Professor Saad’s dedicates his academic career to showing that evolutionary psychology offers another relevant approach.  For this, he witnesses other professors display outrage.  Saad shows them what they are not supposed to see.

In chapter seven, Saad expresses confidence that the methodology inherent in nomological evidence₁ will demonstrate that social constructivism_3a(2aC) is bunk.

In doing so, raises a question about consumer behavior.

What is consumer behavior?

0092 Saad’s answer is that consumer behavior works according to (once) content-level orthodox views.

But, now, “right doctrine_3a” applies to questions such as, “What is the best way to purchase an automobile?”

0092 Here is a picture of Saad’s vision of consumer research, which stands opposed to the ideology of social constructionism_3a(2aC).

0093 In chapter eight, Saad issues a call to action.

Students should turn away from the following postmodern paradigm in consumer research.

0094 Okay, Saad’s call to action is far broader than that.

Why?

I already know that the ideology of social constuctionism_3b wants to take over the content level, the subject of inquiry, and replace it_3a with… itself_3b.

Saad is on target.

From the start, social constructivism_3b is not a legitimate science, because it produces its situation-level actuality_2b on the basis of an ideological commitment_1b.

Then, once it takes over the content level, social constructivism_3a expresses a philosophical commitment to radical individualism_1a.  Radical individualism is not a rational philosophy.  It extols human will.  It neglects human reason.

0095 These comments on Saad’s book raise additional reasons.

Social constructivism_3a(2aC) becomes an organizational objective_2aC that calls individuals in community_A to join organizations_B that fulfill a need in our current Lebenswelt_1aC.  But, that “need” may not be in the adaptive interests of the individual in community_A.  Rather, the “need” may serve the righteousness_1aC of a postmodern corporation_3aC.

Social construction_3a(2aC) is the content-level of a larger organizational objective_2aC, which encompasses a three-level interscope.  This larger organizational objective_2aC calls for sovereign power in order to sustain its institutions_3aC and to promote and enforce its righteousness_1aC.  In short, the College of Social Construction may be defined as a sovereign religion.

0096 In the last blog, the reader may have noticed a subtle shift in the representation of the potential of the content-level in the quest for a right doctrine_3a for inquiry into consumer behaviors_2a. 

Recall, evolutionary psychology is the situation level for Dr. Saad.  Social construction is the situation level for postmodern academics conducting research on consumer behaviors (but really, it serves as the content level of postmodern inquiry into the human will to consume_1a.)

0097 Here is a comparison of the content levels for the two situations.

Ah, the potentials are obviously different.

0098 Evolutionary psychology_3b strives to account for observations of modern consumer behaviors_2a in terms of scientific models_2b, presuming that human behaviors are influenced by adaptations to the Lebenswelt that we evolved in_1a.

0099 Social construction_3b strives to account for… well… not account for… but to establish that needs in our current Lebenswelt_1a, underlying consumer behaviors_2a, are fulfilled by the exercise of human will_1b.  All other accounts are irrelevant.  Each purchase is a personal choice_2b.

0100 Hmmm.  Say again.  What is the difference?

Evolutionary psychology_3b interprets evidence in cognitive psychology_1b in terms of adaptations in the Lebenswelt that we evolved in_1a.

Social construction_3a interprets all human behaviors, in our current Lebenswelt_2a, as exercises of human will_1b.

0101 What does this imply?

Our current Lebenswelt is not the Lebenswelt that we evolved in.

0102 This is one insight that may prove of value to scientists and modern philosophers.

The Lebenswelt that we evolved in cannot be declared irrelevant, even while admitting the primacy of human will in our current Lebenswelt, the key potential of social constructionism, with its commitment to radical individualism.

0103 How so?

0104 Consider Comments on Clive Gamble, John Gowlett and Robin Dunbar’s Book (2014) Thinking Big, an e-book by Razie Mah, available at smashwords and other e-book venues.

For the Lebenswelt that we evolved in, Dunbar’s headline claim is that the neocortex size is roughly proportional to group size.  The neocortex size for anatomically modern humans corresponds to a group size of 150.  Yet, the book by Gamble, Gowlett and Dunbar say more than the headline.  Hominins live in social circles within that community size of 150.  Indeed, an evolutionary psychologist would expect that cultural adaptations within each social circle would increase the reproductive success of participating individuals.  Since social circles are like nested Russian dolls, evolutionary psychologists further anticipate adaptations that increase the harmony among social circles.

0105 For our current Lebenswelt, civilization may be initially described as historic differentiations leading to the following category-based nested form: The normal context of society_C brings the actuality of organizations_B into relation with the potential of individuals in community_A.

0106 Here is a picture of the Lebenswelt that we evolved in compared to our current Lebenswelt.

0107 For evolutionary psychology, orthodox views_3a are going to be influenced by hominin adaptations into social circles of the Lebenswelt that we evolved in, even though, in our current Lebenswelt, a differentiated dynamic is in play.  Indeed, social construction_(3a)2aC, along with critical theory_(3b)2aC and social justice_(3c)2ab, constitute an organizational objective_2aC in the society_C tier that interpellates individuals in community_A to enter organizations_B, either willingly (by voluntarily identifying onself as “oppressed”_(2b)2aC) or unwillingly (by involuntarily being assigned the label of “oppressor”_(2b)2aC).

0108 Professor Saad does not touch on the above, because this discussion extends beyond his expertise in evolutionary psychology pertinent to consumer behaviors.

These comments add value to Dr. Saad’s argument by explicitly posing how social construction_(3a)2aC (which applies to our current Lebenswelt) cannot fully exclude evolutionary psychology_3b (which applies lessons about the Lebenswelt that we evolved in to our current Lebenswelt).

0109 What if human will in our current Lebenswelt is influenced by innate tendencies that are adaptations to the Lebenswelt that we evolved in?

Then, social constructivism_3a should not ignore that reality (rather than displace that reality beneath its own occupation of the content level of inquiry).

Then, critical theory_3b cannot situate the actuality of identity as personal choice_2a according to the potential of a system_1bunderlying a manichaean division between “oppressed”_2b and “oppressor”_2b.

Also, social justice_(3c)2aC cannot properly contextualize the division between “oppressed”_(2b)2aC and “oppressor”_(2b)2aC with the potential of protection_(1c)2aC, because the demand for protection_(1c)2aC  may itself be an innate adaptive response to the existence of a system_(1b)2aC that pretends to be an evolved social circle.