Technology and Justice: The Philosophy of Authenticity and Democratic Theory

Part IV: Conclusion: From Sketches of a Principle of Authenticity to Systematic Realization

What is authenticity? It appears a strange question to ask at the end of a piece whose very title seems to promise a detailed exposition. How it is appropriate or sympathetic to the reader to ask at this point what is presumed and suggested in a principle when we have already passed through many tedious pages on our way to an answer and have finally almost reached the end?

The unfortunate reality is that ethical authenticity can never be fully explained abstractly, divorced from everyday life. Certain principles, such as a positive code of law, can be understood as mountains are climbed. Once one has achieved the proper intellectual understanding through perseverance and disciplined study, one can be said to know the law, its functions, and its methodology. Law as law is never merely positive law; but as positive law it can be understood and applied consistently and with comparative ease.

To know a principle of authenticity, in contrast, is like saying one knows another person. We hope for regularity and stability in our relations normally, but can never count on it— indeed, at times, we hope for evolution and change in even fundamental and essential patterns of a person's behaviour. The object of our concerns is mercurial and ever distant—what must remain constant can only be the devotion and passion with which we seek to know one another as fully as possible, together. We can only hope that in unity we can break the barriers which stand between us, and in so doing, provide a living and evolving blueprint for our mutual future. In that respect, like all forms of honesty—intellectual and other— a principle of authenticity stems above all from a powerful sense of universal respect and love.

I have attempted to illustrate the importance of such a theory by critically placing it within the context of a social theory indebted to the works of Foucault, Kuhn, Hegel and many others. Modern spirit, understood in its dissonance and its unity, is not an evil to be destroyed, but is simply founded on an incomplete understanding. This has been true of every period of history, and while it is each person's duty to be critical of their life world, we should not unfavourably judge our own time by contrasting it with some other, supposedly superior one.

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This is one of my motivations for suggesting that the archive of our knowledge, and its development within temporality, can only be properly understood by adjusting our conception of time from the traditionalist linear model to a more dynamic and ecstatic one. Time should not be seen as broken into fractured parts which move together as though part of a giant machine, with each of us occupying a part of it before falling away into nothingness or perhaps record. This is especially true when we are attempting to understand the development of our knowledge, which is still all too frequently seen too narrowly as progressive and forward oriented. Only when time is conceived more broadly and creatively will the effects its notion has on our conceptions be made comparatively clear. In this, as in most things, it is useful to remember Kant's theory on the nature of experience and the transcendental conditions on which it is premised. Time, as all things, is shaped and transformed by consciousness just as consciousness is shaped by its physical possibility. And consciousness, even in this liberal age, remains tightly bound to its prejudices.

Language, understood in its relationship to knowledge/power within time is among the most important reifying elements within spirit; but also a clue into their nature. Positive statements can never be made separated from the contexts which conditioned them. Context is not merely immediate either, but rather stretches immeasurably in every direction of temporality, collapsing into a singly recognizable instance. As Heidegger intuited, hermeneutic philology allows us to better understand the nature of our own thinking by clarifying what is meant by what we say, and this immense context which allows even a single statement to emerge. This critical engagement with language is an important pre-condition to engaging in authentic bi-lateral communication with others, and is a natural continuation of the project presented in this sketch.

One might be right to ask why we have characterized this work as a sketch instead of more grandly as a, or the, Principle of Authenticity? Part of the rationale was simply practical. There is insufficient space here to develop even the ideas presented in full, and hardly enough to give a detailed and practical exposition which might provide examples which improve upon the work's accessibility. I have attempted to provide some prominent or noteworthy cases with this in mind, but am well aware of falling far short of what is both possible and ultimately necessary. In this, I can only ask for patience and unwarranted sympathy, as I am well aware and prepared for the necessity of the harder task of realizing an ethical project practically. I have mentioned before that my only ambition towards anyone who read this is to stir them to think about the possibilities I have presented herein. Hopefully, if they find them worthwhile, they will think about realise them appropriately. If they find me in error I feel that is all the better, since the epistemic and moral priority I accord to constructive criticism has been well established within these very pages.

But there is another, broader reason why this piece has been characterized as a sketch. This is namely its unsystematic character. The principle of authenticity sketched here remains abstract primarily because it has been de-contextualized from a it`s broader, systemic realization within a formal philosophical and practical theory. Until this has been presented, the ideas articulated here remain rather like an impressionist painting, meant to stir one only to think about the movement of the notion and its evolution , rather than having it settle into a concrete recognizable form. Indeed, we have yet to fully overcome Wittgenstein's objection stated at the beginning of this paper that value must lie outside of the world, and can never be articulated within it.

A full principle of authenticity must move beyond these objections by indicating the unity of thinking with matter; but only through the development of a bicameral system in which the priority of neither is over-emphasized. In this, it is imperative not only to look at philosophy and the history of thinking, but also the work of creative physicists and scientists such as Einstein, Bohm, Hawking and others who concurrently saw the necessity of individuation and a precursor to a more creative and broad understanding of ourselves and our universe. We must also take into account the limitations of mathematicians such as Gödel, whose brilliant incompleteness theorems did more to undermine the presumptive philosophy of analytic mathematics and logical positivism than any other. Gödel's powerful mathematical and philosophical objections can only be overcome by unifying mind with matter in a fashion which is not chimerical or artificially synthetic. For this project, traditional Hegelian or any other dialectics will be far from sufficient. In this way the question of Being which serves as the basis for communicative rationality can be transformed into a complete and understood relationship. If this sounds like a suggested return to a more ambitious philosophy, this is not entirely incidental. Philosophy has spent far too many decades apologizing for its own history, when there is little to suggest it compares unfavourably with the sciences and even mathematics. Indeed, if the historiography drawn here is correct, it seems to suggest all disciplines are lacking in a fundamental self- reflectiveness which ensures their meta-validity. Philosophy can and should occupy a place of honour in the search for the truth, but will only do so if people wish it too.

One might object of course that such systemic ambitions, and presumptions, appear reminiscent of Hegel whom has been consistently criticized throughout this piece. And this would not be incorrect—though I maintain that the Hegelian system has many merits which I have not had space to endorse. The task before us is, however, not to devise a better system than Hegel, but to design a different one premised on authenticity. This means that the individual, while placed within their context, must not be so radically trivialized or seen as an ultimately passive participant in the broader movements of the world Spirit. Dialectics is a hugely creative addition to human understanding, but it has not reached the level of thinking required to think Being, and therefore, to think a complete cognitive/physical model of existence.

But these remain distant ambitions and thought experiments which, for all the moral and philosophical excitement they might stir, should not trivialize the suggestions emphasized here. I have attempted to show, not how human rights and ethics may be understood and acted upon, but only the context by which we can begin to discuss their possibilities, and discuss them in an honest and open fashion. That doing so involves more than simply good intentions and determination can be seen in the unacceptable bloodstains of millions around the world to this day.

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Endnotes

1.) See Heidegger, Martin. On Time and Being. Translated by Stambaugh, Joan, HarperCollins, Chicago, 1972

2.) Hawking, Stephen W. God Created the Integers. Running Press, Philadelphia 2007 at 1258

3.) Plato. The Republic and Other Works. Anchor Books, New York, 1989 at 136

4.) See Hume, David. An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals.Hackett Publishing Company Inc, United States, 1983

5.) Aristophanes and Plato. Four Texts on Socrates. Cornell University Press, United States, 1998 at 81

6.) Plato. The Republic and Other Works. Anchor Books, New York, 1989 at 226

7.) Aristotle. The Basic Works of Aristotle. The Modern Library, New York, 2001 at 957

8.) Kierkegaard, Soren. The Last Years: Journals 1853-1855. Fontana Books, Great Britain, 1967

9.) Augustine, Saint. Confessions. Duncan Baird Publishers, London, 2006 at 160

10.) Augustine, Saint. On Free Choice of the Will. Hackett Publishing Company, Indianapolis, 1993

11.) Habermas, Jurgen. The Theory of Communicative Action Volume One: Reason and the Rationalization of Society. Beacon Press, Boston, 1984 at 225

12.) This is a thesis of interpretation that demands explanation. I shall treat the unusual nature of this more systematically in Section II.

13.) Hobbes, Thomas. The Leviathan. Penguin Books, England, 1985 CH 8

14.) Hobbes, Thomas. The Leviathan. Penguin Books, England, 1985 CH 15

15.) I have recently begun to take some of the ideas outlined here concerning time and its relationship to language and the question of Being in more exciting and abstract directions. While I still believe in the theoretic treatment given here, I have come to realize that it remains somewhat tied to traditionalist notions, which limits the scope of the ramifications I have drawn. I hope to treat this subject more expansively in some future work, and would welcome feedback to ensure it is of the highest quality.

16.) Habermas in particular remains somewhat historicist in his sociological treatment of the subject.

17.) Einstein, Albert. "Relativity: The Special and General Theory." Three Rivers Press, New York, 1961 at 62

18.) Aristotle. The Basic Works of Aristotle. The Modern Library, New York, 2001 at 292

19.) Augustine, Saint. Confessions. Duncan Baird Publishers, London, 2006 at 298

20.) Heidegger, Martin. On Time and Being. Translated by Stambaugh, Joan, HarperCollins, Chicago, 1972 at 14

21.) Hegel, Georg Willhelm. The Science of Logic. Humanities Press International, New Jersey, 1969 at 824

22.) Heidegger, Martin. What is Called Thinking? Translated by Gray, J. Glenn, Harper Torchbooks, United States, 2004 at 105

23.) Nietzsche, Frederich. Thus Spoke Zarathurstra. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005 at283-284

24.) One still under-rated thinker who did break from these conventions is Henry Bergson, in Introduction to Metaphysics, Creative Evolution and other books.

25.) Phillip, Wheelwright. The Presocratics. The Odyssey Press, Indianapolis, 1960 at 97

26.) Bohm, David. On Creativity. Routledge Classics, London, 2006 at 129

27.) Bohm, David Quantum Theory. Library of Congress, New York, 1979 at 155

28.) Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Pure Reason. Dover, United States, 2003 at 28

29.) Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Pure Reason. Dover, United States, 2003 at 32

30.) Wittgenstein, Ludwig. On Certainty. Harper Torchbooks, United States, 1969 at 52

31.) Wittgenstein, Ludwig. On Certainty. Harper Torchbooks, United States at 62

32.) Heidegger, Martin. What is Called Thinking? Translated by Gray, J. Glenn, Harper Torchbooks, United States at 224

33.) Foucault, Michel. The Archaeology of Knowledge. Routeledge, London and New York, 2007 at 146

34.) Foucault, Michel. The Archaeology of Knowledge. Routeledge, London and New York, 2007 at 111

35.) Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1996 at 37

36.) Zukav, Gary. The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics. Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 2001 at 344

37.) Foucault, Michel. The Archaeology of Knowledge. Routeledge, London and New York, 2007 at 191

38.) See the Introduction to Heidegger, Martin. Basic Writings. Harper San Francisco, United States, 1993

39.) Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time. Translated by Macquarrie, Jogn and Robinson, Edward, Harper Collins, San Franciso, 1962 at 26

40.) Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time. Translated by Macquarrie, Jogn and Robinson, Edward, Harper Collins, San Franciso, 1962 at 232-238

41.) As I have mentioned in my section on Time, my views on this have expanded somewhat, to consider the possibility of language as a medium of intersection between time as traditionally understood and eternity. In this I was inspired in no small part by David Bohm's concept of a dynamic language.

42.) Bacon, Francis. Essays. J.M Dent and Sons Limited, London, 1992

43.) Hobbes, Thomas. The Leviathan. Penguin Books, England, 1985 at 110

44.) Kierkegaard, Soren. Concluding Unscientific Postscript to the Philosophical Fragments. Princeton Press, United States, 1992

45.) Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Tractatus Logico Philosophicus, Routelege, London and New York, 2002, at 11

46.) Augustine, Saint. Confessions of a Sinner. Duncan Baird Publishers, London, 2006 at 15

47.) Wittgeinstein, Ludwig. The Philosophical Investigations. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2001 at 20-21

48.) Zizek, Slavoj. The Sublime Object of Ideology. Verso, London, 2008 at 59

49.) Bohm, David. On Creativity. Routledge Classics, London, 2006 at 15

50.) Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1996 at 122

51.) Kierkegaard, Soren. Concluding Unscientific Postscript to the Philosophical Fragments. Princeton Press, United States, 1992 at 390-391

52.) Kafka, Franz. The Trial. Penguin Books, England, 1994 at 164

53.) I would like to note here that I am reasoning according to the Kierkegaardian (we might say traditional) interpretation of Hegel as something of an absolutist. Throughout the course of preparing this work I have become aware of the pioneering work of Slavoj Zizek, who in the Sublime Object of Ideology and other books has been undertaking a fascinating a invaluable re-interpretation of Hegel as the philosopher who above all had respect for difference. While I disagree with Zizek crucially on this matter, there is no doubt much fruitful ground for debate here, and I look forward to addressing these important issues in a future work.

54.) Hegel, Georg Willhelm. Logic: Part I of the Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences., Oxford Press, Oxford, 1975 at 128

55.) Hegel, Georg Willhelm Fredrich. The Phenomenology of Spirit. Oxford University Press, United States, 1977 at 12

56.) Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Pure Reason. Dover, United States, 2003 at 303

57.) Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Practical Reason. Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1985 at 114

58.) Hegel, Georg Willhelm. The Philosophy of Right. Prometheus Books, New York, 1996 at 270

59.) Hegel, Georg Willhelm. The Philosophy of Right. Prometheus Books, New York, 1996 at 154

60.) Hegel, Georg Willhelm. Logic: Part I of the Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences., Oxford Press, Oxford, 1975 at 119

61.) Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Frederich The Phenomenology of Spirit (Oxford University Press, United States, 1977) at 311

62.) Habermas, Jurgen. The Theory of Communicative Action Volume One: Reason and the Rationalization of Society. Beacon Press, Boston, 1984 at 256

63.) Popper, Karl. The Logic of Scientific Discovery. Routeledge, London and New York, 2002 at 94

64.) Quine, W.V Qunitessence (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2004) at 50

65.) See Foucault, Michel. "The Foucault Reader" Pantheon, United States, 1984

66.) Heidegger, Martin. The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays. Harper and Row, United States, 1997 at 109

67.) Hegel, Georg Willhelm. The Philosophy of Right. Prometheus Books, New York, 1996 at 240

68.) Habermas, Jurgen. The Theory of Communicative Action Volume Two : Lifeworld and System; A Critique of Functionalist Reason Beacon Press, Boston, 1984 at 340

69.) Habermas, Jurgen. The Theory of Communicative Action Volume Two : Lifeworld and System; A Critique of Functionalist Reason Beacon Press, Boston, 1984 at 355

70.) Habermas, Jurgen. The Theory of Communicative Action Volume Two : Lifeworld and System; A Critique of Functionalist Reason Beacon Press, Boston, 1984 at 397

71.) David Bohm's theory of implicate order is one promising source, dealing as it does with language, science and the connection between mind and world in a radically creative fashion. Another promising source is in the work of Alain Badiou, who is pioneering a return to philosophy as philosophy in works such as Being and Event, Conceptions, and others.

72.) Kierkegaard, Soren. Concluding Unscientific Postscript to the Philosophical Fragments. Princeton Press, United States, 1992 at 339

73.) Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time. Translated by Macquarrie, Jogn and Robinson, Edward, Harper Collins, San Franciso, 1962 at 1

74.) Kierkegaard, Soren. Philosophical Fragments: Or a Fragment of Philosophy. Princeton Press, New Jersey, 1962 at 45

75.) Kierkegaard, Soren. Concluding Unscientific Postscript to the Philosophical Fragments. Princeton Press, United States, 1992 at 190

76.) Kierkegaard, Soren. Concluding Unscientific Postscript to the Philosophical Fragments. Princeton Press, United States, 1992 at 224

77.) Hegel, Georg Willhelm. The Phenomenology of Spirit. Oxford University Press, United States, 1977 at 277

78.) Kierkegaard, Soren. Concluding Unscientific Postscript to the Philosophical Fragments. Princeton Press, United States, 1992 at 253

79.) Kierkegaard, Soren. The Sickness Unto Death. Penguin Books, London, 2008 at 40

80.) Kierkegaard, Soren. Concluding Unscientific Postscript to the Philosophical Fragments. Princeton Press, United States, 1992 at 328

81.) Kierkegaard, Soren. The Last Years: Journals 1853-1855. Fontana Books, Great Britain, 1967 at 152

82.) Heidegger, Martin. Discourse on Thinking. Harper and Row, San Francisco, 1966 at 46

83.) Heidegger, Martin. What is Called Thinking? Translated by Gray, J. Glenn, Harper Torchbooks, United States, 2004 at 244

84.) Habermas, Jurgen. The Theory of Communicative Action Volume Two : Lifeworld and System; A Critique of Functionalist Reason Beacon Press, Boston, 1984 at 98

85.) Habermas, Jurgen. The Theory of Communicative Action Volume Two : Lifeworld and System; A Critique of Functionalist Reason Beacon Press, Boston, 1984 at 75

86.) Habermas, Jurgen. The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity. MIT Press, Massachusetts, 1987 at 137

87.) Habermas, Jurgen. The Theory of Communicative Action Volume One: Reason and the Rationalization of Society. Beacon Press, Boston, 1984 at 287

88.) Habermas, Jurgen. The Theory of Communicative Action Volume Two : Lifeworld and System; A Critique of Functionalist Reason Beacon Press, Boston, 1984 at 75

89.) Habermas, Jurgen. The Theory of Communicative Action Volume One: Reason and the Rationalization of Society. Beacon Press, Boston, 1984 at 389-391

90.) [90] Habermas, Jurgen. Between Facts and Norms. MIT Press, Massachusetts, 1998 at 121

91.) Carroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Puffin, England 1997 at 237.

92.) It might appear more sensible, given the critique of calculative and instrumental reason which pervades much of this work to have focused more on Mills' theory, given its strong utilitarian justification and general employment of these methods. However, Rawls' book offers more fruitful discourse since much of it is taken over to justifying many of the same principles through a different, largely deontological, methodology. It must therefore be shown how even this powerful variant of liberalism is tied to the conjectures of modernity I have traced prior, or new one's of its own making, if we are to move past them.

93.) Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, 2001 at 519-520

94.) Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, 2001 at 302

95.) Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, 2001 at 102

96.) Rawls, John. "A Theory of Justice." Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, 2001 at 565

97.) Kant, Immanuel. The Metaphysics of Morals. Cambridge, New York, 1996 at 30

98.) Rawls, John. "A Theory of Justice." Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, 2001 at 17

99.) The book has been cited as rejuvenating the Anglo-American tradition of political philosophy, and has been called the most influential theory since those of Sidgwick and Mills.

100.) Rawls, John. Justice as Fairness: A Restatement. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2001 at 89

101.) Rawls, John. Justice as Fairness: A Restatement. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2001 at 202

102.) Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, 2001 at 388

103.) Dyzenhaus, David. Liberalism After the Fall. Philosophy & Social Criticism, Vol. 22, No. 3, 9-37, 1996 at 2

104.) Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, 2001 at 352

105.) Dyzenhaus, David. Liberalism After the Fall. Philosophy & Social Criticism, Vol. 22, No. 3, 9-37, 1996 at 16

106.) Dyzenhaus, David. Liberalism After the Fall. Philosophy & Social Criticism, Vol. 22, No. 3, 9-37, 1996 at 17

107.) Schmitt, Carl. The Concept of the Political: Expanded Edition. The University of Chicago Press,Chicago and London, 2007 at 93

108.) Habermas somewhat esoterically traces the democratic tradition as far back as Aristotle, echoing Arendt's sympathetic treatment of the polis. I feel the treatment of democracy is that thinker is more contentious than they grant, especially given the strong perfectionist orientation in the Nichomachean Ethics and other works, and so choose to trace the genealogy from Rousseau instead, whose theory of will formation powerfully blends the modern and ancient values.

109.) Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Harrvard University Press, Massachusetts, 2001 at 565

110.) See Rawls, John. The Idea of Public Reason Revisited

111.) An excellent example might be the Harper Government's recent decision to prorogue Parliament in spite of majority opposition protests.

112.) Habermas, Jurgen. Between Facts and Norms. MIT Press, Massachusetts, 1998 at 409

113.) This should not be confused with the Prelude to the Metaphysic of Morals, which is Kant's more famous piece outlining the foundations of what is now known as deontology. What I am referring to is Kant's belief that rights are meant to ensure a harmony of freedom and autonomy between citizens existing within the state, as articulated in Part I of the book, the Doctrine of Right.

114.) Habermas, Jurgen. Between Facts and Norms. MIT Press, Massachusetts, 1998 at 180

115.) I hesitate to characterize the debate more traditionally as between natural law theorists and positivism, since I do not believe the powerful contemporary theory of legal hermeneutics, best articulated as Dworkin's theory of law as integrity, is reducible to traditional natural law theorizing.

116.) He draws perhaps overmuch on continental sociologies, without acknowledging Rawls' worth wile arguments to the same affect in Part III of Theory.

117.) Schmitt, Carl. The Concept of the Political: Expanded Edition. The University of Chicago Press,Chicago and London, 2007

118.) Habermas, Jurgen. Between Facts and Norms. MIT Press, Massachusetts, 1998 at 182

119.) Zizek, Slavoj. The Fragile Absolute. Verso, London, 2007. I have also read his book the Sublime Object of Ideology, which has opened up the whole field of pycho-analysis for me. There are many congruencies between the critical approaches we take, and I hope to conduct a more thorough investigation in the future.

120.) Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Belknap Press, Massachusetts, 2005 at 118

121.) See Habermas, Jurgen. Between Facts and Norms. MIT Press, Massachusetts, 1998 Chapter 3.3

122.) Habermas, Jurgen. Between Facts and Norms. MIT Press, Massachusetts, 1998 at 263

123.) See Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Belknap Press, Massachusetts, 2005, Sen, Amartya Development as Freedom. Anchor, U.S.A, 2000. Henry Shue's doctrine of double edged rights is also promising.

124.) Habermas, Jurgen. Between Facts and Norms. MIT Press, Massachusetts, 1998 at 23.