Philosophy, Human Nature and the Collapse of Civilization -- Articles and Reviews 2006-2017 by Michael Starks 2nd Ed. 667p (2017)

674 Pages·2016·8.14 MB·English

by  Michael Starks

Philosophy, Human Nature and the Collapse of Civilization

Articles and Reviews 2006-2017

Michael Starks

Logical Structure of Rationality

Disposition* Emotion Memory Perception Desire PI** IA*** Action/Word
Cause Originates World World World World Mind Mind Mind Mind
From****
Causes Changes None Mind Mind Mind None World World World
In*****
Causally Self No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Reflexive******
True or False Yes T only T only T only Yes Yes Yes Yes
(Testable)
Public Conditions of
Satisfaction Yes Yes/No Yes/No No Yes/No Yes No Yes
Describe a Mental No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes/No Yes
State
Evolutionary Priority 5 4 2,3 1 5 3 2 2
Voluntary Content Yes No No No No Yes Yes Yes
Voluntary Initiation Yes/No No Yes No Yes/No Yes Yes Yes
Cognitive System 2 1 2/1 1 2 / 1 2 1 2
*******
Change Intensity No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No
Precise Duration No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes
Time, Place (H+N,T+T) TT HN HN HN TT TT HN HN
********
Special Quality No Yes No Yes No No No No
Localized in Body No No No Yes No No No Yes
© Michael Starks (2017)

ISBN 978-1-5323-2114-6

nd
2 Edition Jan 2017

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface 1
WITTGENSTEIN, SEARLE AND THE TWO SYSTEMS OF THOUGHT
1. The Logical Structure of Consciousness (behavior, personality, rationality, higher order thought, intentionality) (2016) 7
2. The Logical Structure of Philosophy, Psychology, Mind and Language as Revealed in the Writings 12
of Ludwig Wittgenstein and John Searle (2016)
WITTGENSTEIN
3. The Foundation Stone of Psychology and Philosophy--a Critical Review of On Certainty' by Ludwig Wittgenstein (1969) (1951) 71
4. Review of Wittgenstein’s Metaphilosophy by Paul Horwich (2013) 96
5. Review of Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations by David Stern (2004) 117
6. Review of Readings of Wittgenstein's On Certainty by Daniele Moyal-Sharrock Ed. (2007) 138
7. Review of 'Meaning and the Growth of Understanding Wittgenstein's Significance for Developmental Psychology'—Chapman and Dixon
Eds.(1987) 150
8. Review of Wittgenstein Rethinking the Inner by Paul Johnston (1993) 162
9. Review of Wittgenstein’s Philosophy of Psychology by Malcolm Budd (1989) 177
10. Review of Wittgenstein-a critical reader -- Hans-Johann Glock Ed. (2001) 192
11. Review of The Blue and Brown Books by Ludwig Wittgenstein 2nd ed. (1960) 197
12. Review of Paradox and Platitude in Wittgenstein's Philosophy by David Pears (2006) 209
13. Review of Ludwig Wittgenstein by Edward Kanterian (2007) 215
14. Review of Wittgenstein and Psychology A Practical Guide by Harre and Tissaw (2005) 220
15. Review of Culture and Value by Ludwig Wittgenstein (1980) 231
16. Review of The New Wittgenstein-- Crary & Read Eds. 403p (2000) 234
17. Review of Understanding Wittgenstein's On Certainty by Daniele Moyal-Sharrock (2007) 240
18. Review of 'Tractatus Logico Philosophicus' by Ludwig Wittgenstein (1922) 247
19. Review of 'Wittgenstein and the End of Philosophy-by Daniel Hutto 2nd Ed. (2006) 260
JOHN SEARLE and the CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL REALITY
20. Can there be a Chinese philosophy?--a Review of Searle's Philosophy and Chinese Philosophy -- Bo Mou Ed. 440p (2008) 272
21. Seeing With the Two Systems of Thought—a Review of 'Seeing Things As They Are: a Theory of Perception' by John Searle (2015) 294
22. Review of Making the Social World by John Searle (2010) 317
23. Review of 'John R Searle-Thinking About the Real World' by Franken et al eds. (2010) 335
24. Review of Philosophy in a New Century by John Searle (2008) 352
PHILOSOPHY AND PSYCHOLOGY
25. A Master Wittgensteinian Surveys Human Nature--a Review of Peter Hacker 'Human Nature-the Categorial Framework' (2012) 366
26. Is there such a thing as pragmatics?--Review of Concise Encyclopedia of Pragmatics 2nd ed (2009) 382
27. Review of The Minds I by Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel Dennett (1981) 401
28. Review of Radicalizing Enactivism by Hutto and Myin (2012) 405
29. Review of The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker (2008) 417
30. Review of The New Science of the Mind by Marc Rowlands (2013) 428
31. Endless Incoherence—A Review of Shoemaker's Physical Realization (2009) 437
32. Review of Freedom Evolves by Daniel Dennett (2003) 447
33. A Review of I am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter (2007) 458
34. Another cartoon portrait of the mind from the reductionist metaphysicians—a Review of Peter Carruthers ‘The Opacity of Mind’ (2011)
471
RELIGION
35. Review of Religion Explained-The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought by Pascal Boyer (2002) 493

36. Review of A Brief History of Everything by Ken Wilber (1996) 504
37. Review of Sex, Ecology, Spirituality by Ken Wilber 2nd ed. 851p (2001) 510
38. Do our automated unconscious behaviors reveal our real selves and hidden truths about the universe? -- A review of David Hawkins ‘Power
vs Force--the hidden determinants of human behavior –author’s official authoritative edition’ 412p (2012)(original edition 1995). 521
39. Review of Drifted in the Deeper Land by Adi Da (Franklin Jones) (2014) 524
40. The most profound spiritual autobiography of all time?--a review of The Knee of Listening by Adi Da (Franklin Jones) (1995) 525
BIOLOGY
41. Altruism, Jesus and the End of the World—How the Templeton Foundation bought a Harvard Professorship and attacked Evolution,
Rationality and Civilization. A review of E.O. Wilson 'The Social Conquest of Earth' (2012) and Nowak and Highfield ‘SuperCooperators’ (2012)
528
42. Review of Human Nature Sandis and Cain eds. (2012) 534
43. The Transient Suppression of the Worst Devils of our Nature—a review of Steven Pinker’s ‘The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence
Has Declined’ (2012) 547
44. Review of Are We Hardwired by Clark and Grunstein (2000) 551
45. Review of Adapting Minds -Evolutionary Psychology and the Persistent Quest for Human Nature by David Buller (2006) 554
46. Another attack on Evolution, Rationality and Civilization. A review of Nowak and Highfield ‘SuperCooperators’ (2012) 556
47. Review of The Science of Marijuana by Leslie Iverson (2007) 562
48. Review of Ecstasy the Complete Guide by Judith Holland Ed (2001) 567
49. Review of Listening Into the Heart of Things-on MDMA and LSD by Samuel Widmer (1989) 573
50. Is Harry Potter more evil than JK Rowling or You? (2013) 576
51. A very brief review of the life and work of neuroscientist, physician, psychoanalyst, inventor, animal rights activist and pioneer in dolphins,
isolation tanks and psychedelics John C Lilly 1915-2001. 578
52. Will the world decrease births or increase deaths?—A review of ‘Reproductive Medicine’--E. Coutinho & P. Spinola Eds. 366p (1999)
582
PHYSICS, MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTERS
53. What Do Paraconsistent, Undecidable, Random, Computable and Incomplete mean? A Review of Godel's Way: Exploits into an undecidable
world by Chaitin, Doria and da Costa (2011) 586
54. Wolpert, Godel, Chaitin and Wittgenstein on impossibility, incompleteness, the liar paradox, theism, the limits of computation, a non-
quantum mechanical uncertainty principle and the universe as computer—the ultimate theorem in Turing Machine Theory (2015) 598
55. Incompleteness, Para-consistency and the Limits to Computation-a Review of 'The Outer Limits of Reason' by Noson Yanofsky (2013)
603
56. Review of The Inflationary Universe by Alan Guth (1997) 616
57. Review of The Art of the Infinite by R. Kaplan, E. Kaplan 324p(2003) 620
58. Review of Hyperspace by Michio Kaku (1994) 621
59. Review of The Emotion Machine by Marvin Minsky (2007) 628
60. Review of Doomsday--End of the World Scenarios by Richard Moran (2003) 629

POLITICS
61. Suicide by Democracy- an Obituary for America and the World (2016) 630
ECONOMICS
62. The Dead Hands of Group Selection and Phenomenology Destroy a Book and a Career -- A Review of Individuality and Entanglement by
Herbert Gintis 357p (2017) 658
PREFACE

This collection of articles was written over the last 10 years and the
most important and longest within the last year. Also I have edited
them to bring them up to date (2017). The copyright page has the
date of this first edition and new editions will be noted there as I edit
old articles or add new ones. All the articles are about human
behavior (as are all articles by anyone about anything), and so about
the limitations of having a recent monkey ancestry (8 million years or
much less depending on viewpoint) and manifest words and deeds
within the framework of our innate psychology as presented in the
table of intentionality. As famous evolutionist Richard Leakey says, it
is critical to keep in mind not that we evolved from apes, but that in
every important way, we are apes. If everyone was given a real
understanding of this (i.e., human ecology and psychology) in school,
maybe civilization would have a chance.
In my view these articles and reviews have many novel and highly
useful elements, in that they use my own version of the recently (ca.
1980’s) developed dual systems view of our brain and behavior to lay
out a logical system of rationality (personality, psychology, mind,
language, behavior, thought, reasoning, reality etc.) that is sorely
lacking in the behavioral sciences (psychology, philosophy, literature,
politics, anthropology, history, economics, sociology etc.).
The philosophy centers around the two writers I have found the most
important, Ludwig Wittgenstein and John Searle, whose ideas I
combine and extend within the dual system (two systems of thought)
framework that has proven so useful in recent thinking and reasoning
research. As I note, there is in my view essentially complete overlap
1
between philosophy, in the strict sense of the enduring questions that
concern the academic discipline, and the descriptive psychology of
higher order thought (behavior). Once one has grasped Wittgenstein’s
insight that there is only the issue of how the language game is to be
played, one determines the Conditions of Satisfaction (what makes a
statement true or satisfied etc.) and that is the end of the discussion.
Now that I think I understand how the games work I have mostly lost
interest in philosophy, which of course is how Wittgenstein said it
should be. But since they are the result of our innate psychology, or as
Wittgenstein put it, due to the lack of perspicuity of language, the
problems run throughout all human discourse, so there is endless
need for philosophical analysis, not only in the ‘human sciences’ of
philosophy, sociology, anthropology, political science, psychology,
history, literature, religion, etc., but in the ‘hard sciences’ of physics,
mathematics, and biology. It is universal to mix the language game
questions with the real scientific ones as to what the empirical facts
are. Scientism is ever present and the master has laid it before us long
ago, i.e., Wittgenstein (hereafter W) beginning principally with the
Blue and Brown Books in the early 1930’s.
"Philosophers constantly see the method of science before their
eyes and are irresistibly tempted to ask and answer questions in the
way science does. This tendency is the real source of metaphysics
and leads the philosopher into complete darkness." (BBB p18)

Nevertheless, a real understanding of Wittgenstein’s work, and
hence of how our psychology functions, is only beginning to spread
st
in the second decade of the 21 century, due especially to P.M.S.
Hacker (hereafter H) and Daniele Moyal-Sharrock (hereafter DMS),
2
but also to many others, some of the more prominent of whom I
mention in the articles.

When I read ‘On Certainty’ a few years ago I characterized it in an
Amazon review as the Foundation Stone of Philosophy and
Psychology and the most basic document for understanding
behavior, and about the same time DMS was writing articles noting
that it had solved the millennia old epistemological problem of how
we can know anything for certain. I realized that W was the first one
to grasp what is now characterized as the two systems or dual
systems of thought, and I generated a dual systems (S1 and S2)
terminology which I found to be very powerful in describing
behavior. I took the small table that John Searle (hereafter S) had
been using, expanded it greatly, and found later that it integrated
perfectly with the framework being used by various current workers
in thinking and reasoning research.

Since they were published individually, I have tried to make the
book reviews and articles stand by themselves, insofar as possible,
and this accounts for the repetition of various sections, notably the
table and its explanation. I start with a short article that presents
the table of intentionality and briefly describes its terminology and
background. Next, is by far the longest article, which attempts a
survey of the work of W and S as it relates to the table and so to an
understanding or description (not explanation as W insisted) of
behavior.

3
The key to everything about us is biology, and it is obliviousness to it
that leads millions of smart educated people like Obama, Chomsky,
Clinton and the Pope to espouse suicidal utopian ideals that
inexorably lead straight to Hell On Earth. As W noted, it is what is
always before our eyes that is the hardest to see. We live in the
world of conscious deliberative linguistic System 2, but it is
unconscious, automatic reflexive System 1 that rules. This is Searle’s
The Phenomenological Illusion (TPI), Pinker’s Blank Slate and Tooby
and Cosmides’ Standard Social Science Model. Democracy and
equality are wonderful ideals, but without strict controls, selfishness
and stupidity gain the upper hand and soon destroy any nation and
any world that adopts them. The monkey mind steeply discounts the
future, and so we sell our children’s heritage for temporary comforts.
Thus I end with an essay on the great tragedy playing out in America
and the world, which can be seen as a direct result of TPI.
The astute may wonder why we cannot see System 1 at work, but it is
clearly counterproductive for an animal to be thinking about or
second guessing every action, and in any case there is no time for the
slow, massively integrated System 2 to be involved in the constant
stream of split second ‘decisions’ we must make. As W noted, our
‘thoughts’ (T1 or the thoughts of System 1) must lead directly to
actions.
It is my contention that the table of intentionality (rationality, mind,
thought, language, personality etc.) that features prominently here
describes more or less accurately, or at least serves an heuristic for,
how we think and behave, and so it encompasses not merely
philosophy and psychology, but everything else (history, literature,
mathematics, politics etc.). Note especially that intentionality and
4