[MD] Purpose

[Ham Priday]

Greetings Steve, Ian --

Speaking of the supernatural, Ian certainly displays prognosticative skills.
Here it is, 11:15 PM on 1/23/07, and I receive a message from him saying ...

> On 1/24/07, Stephen Hannon <stevehannon at gmail.com> wrote:
> [Ian]
> Growth, progress, improve, learn, get better, etc ... all good, all
> about increasing value / quality and entirely consistent with MoQ as
> you say, and I would agree.
>
> I'm happy with a pragmatic view that says
> The purpose of Biological (life) is to add value to the Physical
> The purpose of Social (life) is to add value to the Biological
> The purpose of Intellectual (life) is to add value to the Social
> The purpose of the MoQ is to add value to the Intellectual, etc.
>
> It still leaves baggage under the word "purpose" though, no ?
> Whose purpose ? or simply naturally emergent purpose, and if the
> latter what does the word "purpose" really have to do with it ?

I'm also confused as to which of you initiated this topic.  (Maybe Steve
started it tomorrow!)  Anyway, it's a good one.  And Ian is off to a great
start.

[Ian]:
> I've no doubt we as (individual and collective) humans
> create purpose, reasons to make progress beyond our
> current social / intellectual states, etc, as you describe.
> But I see that kind of purpose as something that emerges
> once we have self-consciousness of our free-will. In that
> sense it is "our" purpose, we can set goals to aim for. ...
>
> Without that conscious will, that's where the baggage of
> the word "purpose" - teleological towards some goal - is
> more contentious. Without that conscious / reflective will,
> I have trouble seeing the use of the word purpose as
> being more than simply directed - tendencies to self-organise
> against entropy and chaos, but with no "goals" in mind,
> no "mind" really, tendency for masses, poles and
> charges to attract and repel, etc.

I would only add two thoughts to this comment, and they have to do with
Value and Freedom.  To me these are the existential conditions that not only
make human purpose possible but make man unique in the world.

Ian mentioned the cognizance of free-will.  Some of us were surprised to
learn that there are people in the world who don't realize their innate
freedom.  In Islam, for example, children are taught to obey the "will of
Allah" and never exercise individual freedom.  Even in the advanced nations,
individuals feel themselves subservient to canonic law or some external
authority, and look at freedom as a luxury of the powerful.  Rose Wilder
Lane wrote about this anomaly more than 50 years ago:

"Very few men have ever known that men are free.  Among this earth's
population now, few  know that fact.  For six thousand years at least, a
majority has generally believed in pagan gods.  A pagan god, whatever it is
called, is an Authority which (men believe) controls the energy, the acts,
and therefore the fate of all individuals.  The pagan view of the universe
is that it is static, motionless, limited, and controlled by an Authority
...that all individuals are, and by their nature should and must be,
controlled by some Authority outside themselves...."  --[R.W.Lane: "Roots of
Freedom", 1946]

Steve mentioned "adding value" to the four levels, but I see man as the
creature that makes "being aware" of value.  I believe Value drives mankind,
so that our choices and actions are inspired by how we perceive the world.
As Ian suggests, it is the nature of all life forms to survive and flourish,
"to self-organise against entropy and chaos, but with no 'goals' in mind" -- 
or, at least with no mind to sense goals.  Man, however, is an autonomous
creature in that his choices are not bound by genetics or natural laws; he
can even manipulate nature or invent new devices to enhance his world
environment.

Without this autonomy and the range of values to choose from, there could be
no freedom, no individual purpose to aim for.  We would all be living out
our lives as do the lesser creatures, programmed to serve the purposes of
nature.  I don't think it's coincidental that, among the world's species,
only one is blessed with freedom and a sense of value, and the intellect to
use them in setting goals and planning his future.  What I find pathetic is
that we so often act as if we lacked these abilities.

Happy tomorrow!
Ham