Monthly Archives: August 2021

What is Rationalism?

Rationalism functions on three key principles that work to find the truth:

Empiricism, on the other hand, works with key principles to use skepticism in its school of thought that rejects the principles of rationalism.

Induction is a significant difference between rationalism and empiricism. Induction promotes the belief that the only thing we can be sure of is the experiences that we have. This is called solipsism. Everything that we experience is a projection of the mind, meaning that we can only truly know that we exist and everything else is just the projection of the mind. Interestingly, a rationalist belief that is similar to solipsism is Rene Descartes' statement 'I think; therefore, I am.'

Keep in mind, where rationalism holds that experience isn't necessary to acquire truth - that it can be discovered through reason - empiricists believe that the nature of reality, or truth, can only become knowledge if it is experienced. This knowledge is attained through the primary or secondary qualities of an object.

Primary Qualities - these are qualities that belong to an object and refer to its physical properties, such as shape or size or color. A banana has a curved shape specific to a banana and is yellow.

Secondary Qualities - these qualities refer to the degree that is perceived by the individual, such as its taste or degree of color. The secondary qualities of a banana are defined by the individual, such as its taste. Some people don't think that bananas are delicious. The degree of yellow for the banana can be perceived on different levels as well, depending on the individual.

Rationalism and empiricism share some similarities, specifically the use of skepticism, which is a doubt that the other ideas are true, to invoke a pattern of thought that will lead to knowledge or the truth of the nature of reality. This skepticism, however, is what makes rationalism and empiricism fundamentally opposite.

Rationalism has three key principles: Deduction , which is the application of concrete principles to draw a conclusion; innate ideas , which is the concept that we're born with fundamental truths or experiences left over from another life that we're born with; and reason, which uses logic to determine a conclusion.

Empiricism has its own principles, which include a rejection of innate ideas, the use of sense experience, which involves ideas that are either simple or complex and make use of the five senses, and induction, which is the belief that very little can be proven conclusively, especially without experience. From this, empiricists promote the notion of solipsism, which is the belief that everything we experience is a projection of the mind and can only be true to the individual. In other words, only the self can be known to be real. Remember Descartes' quote about this?

Empiricists believe that experience and thus knowledge can only be obtained through absorbing an object's primary qualities, which are qualities that belong to an object and refer to its physical properties, and secondary qualities, which involve the degree that is perceived by the individual, such as its taste or degree of color.

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Rationalism vs. Empiricism: Similarities & Differences ...

The Dada Movement, which arose during the First World War, represented a complete break with conventional conceptions of aesthetics. A key member and link to chess was Marcel Duchamp . Dada was officially launched in 1916 at theCafe Voltairein Zurich by poets and artists,such as TristanTzaraand Hans Arp,and was a direct reaction to the mass slaughter, contradictory propaganda and inexplicable insanityof World War One. Independent but sympathetic groups emerged soon afterwards in New York, Berlin and Paris. These various groupswere thematically connected by their rejection ofidealism, aesthetic conventions, which had outlived their relevance to contemporary conditions,and contemporary societys continuing embrace of rationalism and progress in spite of the patent irrationality of the on-going world conflict. They condemned the nationalist and capitalist values that led to the cataclysm of the war and employed unorthodox techniques, performances and provocations to jolt the rest of society into self-awareness. The absurdity of Dada activities created a mirror exposing the absurdity in the world around them. (Oxford Art Online)

Marcel Duchamp, for example, outraged the art world with his ready-mades, such as Fountain (which is simply an inverted urinal). He further participated in thatpaean to illogic, the film Entracte (1924), where Duchamps game of chess against Man Ray, played on the roofs of Paris, is one of the fewclips whicheven remotely approaches any kind of rational sense. Also complicit in the anti-rational fabric of Entracte were the composer Erik Satie, the director Ren Clair and the artist FrancisPicabia.

After the close of hostilities, many of the Dada artists migrated to Surrealism, which in its turn was officially inaugurated (also in 1924), when the writer Andr Breton published his Manifesto of Surrealism . Like itsDadaist precursor, Surrealism was characterised by a profound disillusionment with and condemnation of the Western emphasis on logic and reason. However, Breton wanted tocreate something more specificout ofDadasnonsensical and seemingly disparate and unfocused activities. Consequently,Surrealist works veered towardspredication on the psychoanalytical theoriesand Traumdeutung of Sigmund Freud, relating to the irrational and instinct-based drives of the unconscious or dreaming mind.

Those artists who subscribed to Surrealismincluded Ren Magritte, Man Ray, JoanMir,MeretOppenheim, Dorothea Tanning and SalvadorDal. Man Ray, as we have seen, was a chess sparring partner of Duchamp, while several of the abovebecame obsessed with chess and,like Alexander Calder, joined Ernst, Man RayandPicabiain creating their own chess sets . The intention of both Dada and Surrealism wasto undermine established values, while their contrarianstance served as an important precursor to many late 20th-century artistic developments.

Marcel Duchamp: The Chess Game (Alamy)

I have often maintained that chess mirrors developments in life, in particular intellectual, artistic and military developments. A case in point is the elaboration of the theory of the chess blockade byAronNimzowitsch, inspired, perhaps, by trench warfare on the western front from 19141918. A further striking example is therise of Hypermodernism in chess, at around the same time as Dada and Surrealism began to emerge and in some ways dominatedthe intellectual post-Bellum landscape. To Grandmasters reared on the classical precepts of chess, as espoused by DrSiegbert Tarrasch,Hypermodernismmust have seemed irrational. However, the goal of chess isnot just to challenge and shock, but primarily to win, therefore a core of reason and purpose must most certainly have lain behind the Hypermodern modes of thinking.

The Hypermodern school is the name given to a number of ingenious writers and players in the 1920s (JuliusBreyer, ErnstGrnfeld,Aron Nimzowitsch, RichardRtiand Xavier Tartakower) who reacted strongly against the influence of Tarrasch and his classical school, which they regarded as over-dogmatic and tending to produce routine play. If Nimzowitsch represents the Marcel Duchamp of the group,and Duchamp eagerly usedNimzowitschsopenings in his own games,then the ideologueRichardRetiwas the Andr Breton, with perhaps Julius (akaGyula)Breyeras Dadas founder, TristanTzara.By the use of paradox and colourfulimagery they made a convincingcase that appealed very much to the young . Breyers famouslycontroversial and provocative remark: After 1.e4Whites game is in the last throes,reveals the chief domain for their activities: the chess openings.In particularRtiand Nimzowitsch, brought a new concept to the theory of the centre, preferring in many ways to observe it, rather than occupy it.

In this arena, they favoured the half open and closed defences to the Kings pawn (such asAlekhinesDefence, 1.e4 Nf6; the French Defence, 1.e4 e6; the Sicilian Defence,1.e4c5;and the Caro-Kann1.e4 c6). As Black against 1.d4 they chose,and developed to a great degree, the fianchetto defences,such as the Kings Indian and Queens Indian, whileGrnfeld invented an entirely new defence, named after him. The Grnfeld positively invited White to construct a mighty pawn centre, which Black would undermine from the wings (1.d4Nf62.c4g63.Nc3 d5).

One name is, paradoxically, absent from the Hypermodern roster, the great Alexander Alekhine. Inventor of the most controversial and quintessentially Hypermodern defence, 1.e4 met by the ultimate provocation 1.Nf6, Alekhine distanced himself from any association with schools or movements. A lone Titan he considered himself, and a lone Titan he was, in spite of his creation of the most extreme Hypermodern defence one which, to an even greater extent than theGrnfeldDefence, tempts White into constructing a gigantic pawncentre. In art terms,Alekhinesdefence, along withNimzowitschsparallel provocation1.e4Nc6,might be seen as the chessboard parallel to Duchamps Fontaine .

One of the major advantages of playing Hypermodern systems asWhiteis that they rely far more on general strategic understanding than rote memorisation. However, this does not mean that both sides are not set onerous problems to solve. In the modern eraHypermodernsystems as Whitehave mainly been championed by VladimirKramnikand LevAronian. Both these players have frequently set very difficult problems for their elite opponents with these complex systems.

RichardRtihimself (pictured below) is one of the most fascinating and colourful characters in the history of chess.Rti developed theories that were regarded as little less than revolutionary in his era. Heassertedthat, contrary to classical principles, the centre need not be occupiedby pawns. This must have seemed like heresy to theclassically-mindedgrandmasters of his day. As we have seen, this new approach was dubbed Hypermodern and led to the development of theRtiOpening (1.Nf3).

Rti(18891929) was the grandmaster and writer who principally conveyed the teachings of thehypermodernsto the chess public.Rtiwasborn inPezzinok, at that time in Hungary and later (after the First World War) Czechoslovakia. It was for the latter country that he was to play in the international team tournaments between the wars.He, like Tartakower, went to Vienna to study mathematics at the University and, like most of the great players of central Europe of that time, was a product of the Viennese School of chess. His early appearances in international chess were far from impressive and in fact he came bottom in a tournament at Vienna in 1908.Then, under the influence of his friend JuliusBreyer, there came a great change for the better in his play. He became well knownfor the brilliance of his ideas before 1914.For the next four years there was no international chess. However, once the nations were able once again, as Handel almost put it in his Messiah,to rage so peacefully together overthe chessboard,it became apparent thatRti,doubtless benefiting from his profound thinking during his enforced absence from play during the war, had matured intoa great master. He now ranked alongside theworldsbest.Retisresults in quick succession were: first prize atKaschauin 1918, ahead of such notables as Professor MilanVidmar, the leading Yugoslav Grandmaster, andBreyerhimself, followed by equalfirst at Budapest,then firstagain at Rotterdam in 1919.

Rti had intended to complete his doctorate in mathematics at the University of Vienna and he carried his doctoral thesis around with him in a small booklet which, however,helost and never recovered.Hisabsent mindedness was to become legendary: wherever his yellow briefcase was to be found,Rtiwas sure to be somewhere else. The loss of his mathematical notes apparently drove him near to suicide, as he later confided to his older brother Rudolph.Then destiny intervened, andRtireceived an invitation to the Netherlands, as Chess Master in Residence. He accepted, resolving to pursue a chess career instead of becoming an academic.

This was achoice whichhas faced many young devotees of the game, including the maths genius Dr John Nunn, who renounced histenure atOriel College, Oxford, in order to pursue a professional chess career, which was to include victories against the world champions Tal, Petrosian, Karpov and Anand. As for myself,I had to decide between pursuing a doctorate in German literature at Trinity College, Cambridge,ortrying to become a chess Grandmaster. Ultimately the siren summons of Nimzowitsch andRtiovercame my devotion to Goethe and Schiller. RegardingRtisdilemma, Brother Rudolph said, It haunted him throughout his life, and he never found a definite answer to it . Others, such as AdrianHollis, ProfessorNathan Divinsky and JonathanMestel, juggled chess and university life, but ultimately preferred a professional career in the groves of Academe. In the case of Hollis, a kind of inner emigration took place, when he replaced the hurly burly of over the board combat, with the complexities of chess by correspondence, in which craft he rose to become a correspondence Grandmaster.

WithRti, mathematicss loss was chesss gain, as more successes followed during 1920:first at Amsterdam ahead of leading GrandmastersGeza Maroczyand Xavier Tartakower, not to mention future World Champion Max Euwe. Firstat Vienna ahead ofBreyer,Grnfeldand Tartakower, and most impressive of all,first prize at thegreat tournament of Gothenburg, Sweden, an event that includedmost of Europes most prominentplayers.

As I have explained in previous columns, a 1 in the table indicates a win, a draw and 0 a loss. This was, indeed, a result worthy of a potential world champion.

Then came a pause in Rtischess playing career. He had become involved in the occupation of writing about chess. Starting off as a newspaper columnist,he was, in the wordsof HarryGolombek, to become a great and vital writer on the game . It was the writings of a certain German incompetent, FranzGutmayer,that provokedhim to react, refute and write his masterpiece DieNeuen IdeenimSchachspiel , Vienna 1922, which appeared under the title Modern Ideas in Chess , London/New York 1923. For the first time in the history of books on chess a writer capable of a genuine historical surveyof the evolution of chess ideas, and also of a colourful and poetic picture ofthe state of contemporary chess, had made his appearance.

Returning to the active playing of the game, he now participated in practically all the great tournaments of the 1920s. In the great New York event of 1924 he won the brilliancy prize for a celebrated win overBogoljubovand inflicted upon Capablanca his only defeat of the tournament astonishingly, the world champions only loss in eight years.

During a prolonged visit to South America,Rti exhibited a remarkable side to his skills, establishing a new world blindfold simultaneous record at So Paulo in Brazil, where he played 29 games with a score of 20 wins, seven drawsand just two losses, without being able to see any of the boards or pieces. Chess had come a long way since Diderot, over a century beforehand, had warned the Immortal Philidor against taking on three opponents at once, without sight of the games, lest the stress cause his brain to explode .

By 1927 Rtiwas coming back into true grandmaster form.Then, returning to Prague, he prepared for publicationhis second great book: Masters of the Chessboard , but tragically, he never managed to complete it. He was taken ill with scarlet fever and died at theage of 40 in a Prague hospitalin 1929. This premature death was a disaster for the chess-world, but, once again, in the hallowed opinion of Harry Golombek, it should be stated that, had he written only Modern Ideas in Chess , he would still have belonged to the chess Immortals.

Dada, Surrealism and Hypermodernism in chess: these movements might have seemed the epitome of illogic to the classically minded denizens of the bastionsof traditionalism, but all three tendencies indicated evidence in their own fields of what Sigmund Freud had,somewhat belatedly, describedas DasUnbehagenin derKultur ( Civilisation and its discontents ) . Inchesswe now, once again, see similar signs, of tremors on the chessboard,indicative of wider disturbingimplications. For example, the ostensibly ridiculous BongcloudOpening (1.e4e5 2.Ke2) and similarly weird offshoots are being given credence at the highest echelons, having been employed by such exalted figures asthe present World Champion,MagnusCarlsen,and his rivalHikaruNakamura, and claiming such illustrious victims asthe current world number six, Wesley So .

Meanwhile, the exploits of that erratic British genius, MichaelBasman, who has defeated not only John Nunn, with theeccentric 1.g4 but also World Title Candidate, JonSpeelman, with the even more eccentric 1.e4 g5, have been categorised and lauded by Gerard Welling in a new book U Cannot be Serious! Avant-Garde Strategy in Chess .

Does the intellectual weathervane, represented by chess, once again reflect a general retreat from reason and rationality in world affairs? Among such I might mentionan hystericaldrive to combat climate change, when wildfires (widely identified as the symptom) could alternatively be attributed to arson;abandonment of Lithium-rich Afghanistan, when Lithium is essential to power thoseselfsame green batteries, which are so necessary in the fight to quell the terrors of climate change; assaults on western culture and its traditions, by the very citizenswhich that culture is designed to protect. Additionally, in the canon of illogic one observes eccentric decisions concerning gender in the world of competitive sport, not to mention support from the most unlikely of quarters for political regimes who, to put it mildly, do not tolerate same sex relationships. Let us also not forget the raging of Greta Thunberg, and herextinctionrebellioncohorts, against the UK, for our climate change failings, contrasted with the activists collective, and almost complete, absence of public vitriol against demonstrably worse offenders.

In an impassioned perorationin abroadcast by Neil Oliver on GB News (21 August 2021),the Sage of Stirling pointed out that we in the UK live in a privileged time and place, a liberal democracy, rare both in human history and current human geography. He emphasised that preoccupation with tearing down statues, gender identity and pronouns could be a fatal distraction, about as relevant as the concern of the Roman Emperor for his chickens, while Rome was falling on24th Augustto Alaric King of the Goths in 410 AD. Oliver added that gender identity and pronouns are probably not high on the list of priorities of The Taliban, and other similarly unpleasant regimes, whose general policies are entirely inimical to our interests.

Chess, in its own modest way, may be indicative of thegreater dangers: small symptoms, with farwider implications. Thomas Manns Death in Venice (1912, sometimes described as the most important novel of the twentieth century) brilliantly exposes in microcosm, those very ante-Bellum discontents which engaged the Dadaists and which Sigmund Freud eventually caught up with and delineated in his Unbehagen (1929).In my opinion, the English parallel to Manns masterpiece is Sir Arthur Conan Doyles ThePoison Belt , 1913, the original cover of which depicts the hero, Professor George Challenger, as the spitting image of World Chess Champion Wilhelm Steinitz, whom I am convinced that Sir Arthur encountered during dinners at Simpsons-in-the-Strand.

Toquote Miltons Paradise Lost , Book II, tocompare great things with small ,Sir Arthur adducesa blurring of the( sic) FrauenhoferLines in the spectrum, as a portent of something far more hazardous. The fictitious Professor Challenger writes: I have read with amusement, not wholly unmixed with some less complimentary emotion, the complacent and wholly fatuous letter ofProfessor XXXwhich has lately appeared in the columnsof The Times ,upon the subjectof the blurring ofFrauenhoferslines in the spectra ,both of the planets and of the fixed stars.He dismisses the matter as of no significance. To a wider intelligence it may well seem of very great possible importance- so great as to involve the ultimate welfare of every man, woman and child upon this planet.

And as for ProfessorChallengerslitmus test of theFrauenhoferLines, in my Lexicon, read: chess openings!Perhaps the solution, in a bewildering ocean of global contradiction and apparent irrationality, is to cultivate ones own garden and derive solace from thePanglossianlyself assured words of that arch classicist, Alexander Pope:

All nature is but art, unknown to thee;

All chance, directionwhichthou canst not see;

All discord, harmony not understood;

All partial evil, universal good.

And spite of pride, in erring reasons spite,

One truth is clear, whateveris,is right.

Pope, Essay on Man 1733

This weeks chess games involve classics from RichardRti.

Thefirst is whenRtiwon thebrilliancy prize game from the great tournament at New York 1924 againstEfimBogoljubov.

The second :RichardRtivsFrederick Dewhurst Yates 1924, is an amazingRetisystem win deploying extreme flank pressure against Blacks centre pawns.

Thethird , also in 1924, was thesensational win which brokeJosCapablancasrun of eight years without loss.

And, finally, the fourth isan early gamein 1923against a great classicist,AkibaRubinstein,usingRtisnew methods.

And the best book on Rti , distinguished not just by Rtissuperlatively creative games, but also by Grandmaster Emeritus HarryGolombeks elegantprose annotations.

Ray Keenes latest book is Chess for Absolute Beginners , written in conjunction with artist Barry Martin who masterminded the revolutionary teaching diagrams.

We are the only publication thats committed to covering every angle. We have an important contribution to make, one thats needed now more than ever, and we need your help to continue publishing throughout the pandemic. So please, make a donation.

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Dada, Surrealism and the Bongcloud Attack - TheArticle

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) Rasheed Griffith, a fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, says Taiwans last remaining allies will swap allegiance to Beijing within the next 10 years.

Griffith, originally from Barbados, testified before the U.S. Congress on Chinese geopolitical influence in the Caribbean, in May. He shared his concerns about the future of Taiwan in his home region for an episode of the Policy People podcast released on Friday (Aug. 27).

Griffith, who analyzes China in the Caribbean as the host of his own show, said Chinese investment in the region is quite a recent phenomenon. The opportunity cost of keeping Taiwan as an ally relative to the potential gain of PRC (China) has been fairly small in the Caribbean over the last few decades since China is only a new player."

However, in the past decade Chinas investment has ramped up rapidly, which is why we have seen Taiwans allies start to drop, he said. That means the cumulative cost of sticking by Taiwan is growing each year.

Momentum builds

Griffith said the momentum toward China is felt not only from Beijing itself, but within the region too. As more Caribbean countries align with China, the pro-Beijing bloc will pressure Taiwans remaining allies to make the swap, he said.

This is because countries in the region typically vote as a bloc in international fora, such as the U.N., and like to be on the same page on all major issues. He added regional unity extends to global trade, pointing out how the Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries, a grouping of 15 states, signed a trade deal with the EU together.

Griffith says the internal mechanisms of regional politics will pull the region towards resolving this one China policy in favor of Beijing.

Change of the guard

Griffith said Taiwan has managed to hold on to its few friends in the Caribbean. This is not based on economic interests, as is commonly claimed, as much as the personal preferences of the countrys leaders for Taiwan over China.

He gave the example of St. Vincents and the Grenadines, where the Taiwan-friendly President Ralph Everard Gonsalves has been in power for over 20 years. Here the relationship relies on personal ties between himself and Taipei, rather than the economic interests of the country.

Yet upcoming changes in leadership will also increase the likelihood of a swap to Beijing, Griffith said. He will not be in power forever of course.

It seems St. Kitts and Nevis will probably be the last ally to fall, but not because they are particularly attached to Taiwan per se, according to Griffith. One of their biggest industries is passport sales and their biggest clients are Chinese.

However, dual citizenship is not allowed in the PRC, I think Beijing would force the issue and say, Hey, you have to report passport sales of our citizens which they wouldnt want, he said.

No fault of Taiwan

Griffith, who has a background in finance, said his analysis may sound bleak for Taiwan, but it is the simplest explanation and is based on economic rationalism rather than on political ideology, or other factors.

Through no fault of Taiwan will this all happen, he said. Griffith added that Taiwan has had an overwhelmingly positive influence on the region, citing generous scholarships, agricultural training programs and language exchange programs as some of the most successful programs it has undertaken.

Except for when Taiwan held back on renegotiating debt with Granada in the wake of Hurricane Ivan in 2004, which delayed the countrys reconstruction, Griffith said Taiwan has done great things for the region.

On Taiwans Ministry of Foreign Affairs Twitter page or Facebook page, they are always talking about their Caribbean allies, he said. This means Taiwan constantly tries to increase the visibility of the smaller, often-overlooked countries in the area.

Taiwan certainly does much better than any other ally in terms of soft diplomacy, he said. Unfortunately, soft diplomacy will always pale in comparison to hard, cold, economic facts.

Read the rest here:

'Taiwan will likely have no Caribbean allies within 10 years' - Taiwan News

The Campfire v. the Podium: the Persuasive Power of Storytelling

by Daniel Riggs

The Lesson of Peter Venkman: An Introduction to Stories and Narratives

When discussing narratives and stories, an iconic film gives us an insight into their persuasive power: Ghostbusters. Towards the end of the film, the Ghostbusters (the protagonists) are in the NYC Mayors office pushing their solution to the paranormal bedlam and looming problem of Gozer, destroyer of worlds. Walter Peck of the EPA (one of the antagonists) is also present. He intends to scapegoat the Ghostbusters for his actions, namely releasing the contained ghosts that terrorize the city. Both are battling for the mayors approval. Peck is first up and provides an argument and accusation:

Walter Peck: I'm prepared to make a full report. These men are consummate snowball artists! They use sensitive nerve gases to induce hallucinations. People think they're seeing ghosts! And they call these bozos, who conveniently show up to deal with the problem with a fake electronic light show!

The Ghostbusters instead paint a powerful narrative that better illustrates the Gozer problem and the paranormal crisis in contrast to a blame game:

Peter: Well, you could believe Mr. PeckerOr you could accept the fact that this

City is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.

Ray: What he means is Old Testament biblical, Mr. Mayor. Real wrath-of-God-type stuff.

Fire and brimstone coming from the sky! Rivers and seas boiling!

Egon: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes! Volcanoes!

Winston: The dead rising from the grave!

Peter: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!

Mayor: Enough! I get the point! What if you're wrong?

Peter brilliantly drives home their persuasive pitch:

Peter: If I'm wrong, nothing happens! We go to jail. Peacefully, quietly. We'll

enjoy it! But if I'm right, and we can stop this thing; Lenny, you will have saved

the lives of millions of registered voters.

Peter shrewdly paints a persuading and illuminating story, not a rational argument. This story casts the mayor (not the Ghostbusters) as the hero of New York. Peter has given the mayor the chance to live out a protagonist archetype in an existential threat, not rationally weigh costs and benefits. In contrast, Walter Peck believes rationality, bureaucracy, and processes have the power for meaningful behavior change. But the mayor, like any human, does not want rationality. He wants a persuasive narrative and story that satisfies his human desires and dreams, a universal impulse.

Currently, US Army Psychological Operations (PSYOP) doctrine wants its Psychological Operations personnel (PSYOPers) to be like Walter Peck and use rational arguments as the central means to facilitate behavior change. It states, the main argument is the reason that the Target Audience (TA) should engage in the desired behavior and the general format for this main argument is engaging in X (desired behavior) will result in Y (desirable outcomes for the TA) (Department of the Army [DA], 2007, 2-90). Unfortunately, this tactic is reductive and coarsely transactional.

Operationally, this philosophy of behavior change, along with other factors (Mayazadeh and Riggs, 2021), has failed the Department of Defense (DOD) in the Information Environment (IE) over the past few decades. The following will argue (ironically enough) narratives and stories are more persuasive in altering behavior than logical arguments. After an initial definition of critical terms, the following will detail the evolutionary, biological, and epistemological reasons why narratives and stories are persuasively superior and why arguments fail at the individual level and in the marketplace of ideas.

Key Terminology

Behavior

The first term requiring definition is behavior. Generally understood, behavior is a form of conduct towards others and responses to any external stimulation, the mechanistic function of a thing, a kind of alignment with societal norms and mores, or the actions of someone or something in a particular situation as a response to exogenous stimuli (Meriam Webster, Cambridge, Dictionary.com). For this essay, the PSYOP field definition fits: overt actions exhibited by individuals (DA, 2007, 2-9). This definitions strength refers to a shift in the overt and observable actions of individuals and not whether it is a contextual and temporal violation of societal norms/mores. Therefore, it provides an understanding of behavior that is more objective than subjective norms.

Narrative and Stories

Central to this discussion are narrative and story. Narratives often appear as a buzzword in contemporary discourse with a subsequent requirement to frame it or seize it. The Assessing Revolutionary and Insurgent Strategies (ARIS) Project does an excellent job in providing substance to the definition of narrative: stories/accounts of events, experiences, whether true or fictitious (Agan, et al., 2016, 8). The online service Master Class provides an equally illuminating definition, with notable storytelling luminaries such as Neil Gaiman, David Sedaris, Margaret Atwood, and David Baldachi providing this definition: a way of presenting connected events in order to tell a good story (MasterClass, 2021). One can discern from these two definitions (from two credible sources) that narratives are the framing devices and techniques that yield different interpretations of stories.

This current emphasis on narratives started with Post-modern philosophers Jacques Derrida and Michael Foucault. They were some of the first to view narratives not just as hermetically sealed, objective items. They are culturally dependent, constructed, and critical in understanding social dynamics, beliefs, and phenomena (Agan et al., 2016, 5). Post-modern insights inspired literary historians and theorists to view and study narratives as a dynamic and analytical tool to understand people, their beliefs, their environment, and their behavior in it (Zweibelson, 2011).

Military intellectual spheres have since acknowledged the power and importance of narrative and have started inserting this language into doctrine. Doctrinal Guidance instructs staff planners to coordinate and synchronize narratives (Department of Defense [DOD], EXEC SUMM-18) and provide a coherent narrative to bridge the present to the future (DOD, I-3), which will provide a more precise focus for the commander (DOD, III-46). Unfortunately, narratives are not as easy to divine as a tangible adversary capability. Narratives are transitory, adjusted, or steered beyond the direct control of an organization or society and shaped by heterarchical and hierarchical entities in a participatory/iterative fashion (Zweibelson, 2011). They subsequently establish particular and often enduring messages (Zweibelson, 2011) that shape the world. They are not empty stories.

But understanding and utilizing narratives requires PSYOPers to understand stories, which are the frame for narratives. Just as a great painter must have expert dexterity, spatial awareness, and a sense of geometry in addition to fluid dexterity, fashioning narratives requires knowledge of storytelling. To some, this might appear to be a chic trend, but the importance of stories cannot be understated. Like narratives, stories shape an internal sense of self, the cultures and societies humans belong to, and the knowledge that allows humans to act within the world (Agan, et al., 2016, 1). Stories are how people want to receive information. Before Athenians were listening to the rigorous logic of Socrates in the Agora, humans were consuming stories as the basis for belief (and subsequent behavior) and coding this preference into the species DNA.

Evolution and Stories

A species continuation is contingent on adjusting to the changing order of its given environment. Humans will undergo physical changes and develop heuristics to create advantages to increase survivability. A species outward changes (e.g., a hedgehog beginning to develop quills 24 million years ago and emerging as a porcupine) are easy to spot. Still, the evolved mental heuristics due to environmental requirements are just as important. Stories and storytelling are one of these valuable evolutionary heuristics because they increase survivability. As it is evolutionarily beneficial, it thus has no geographic boundary.

Storytelling is universal. It occurs in every culture and from every age (National Geographic-Storytelling and Cultural Tradition). Cave drawings from 30,000 years ago depicting animals, humans, and other objects represented visual stories (National Geographic-Storytelling). These drawings were not just an aesthetic impulse for early man but a conceptual means to understand an environment undoubtedly considered chaotic and dangerous. Stories (including cave drawings) were a means to allow one to feel in control and make sense of the events in the random world (National Geographic-Storytelling) and even find recurrent formulas and patterns to traverse the chaos. When humans receive new knowledge (or a revelation), the static data can become dynamic intelligence that increases survivability or potential to thrive. Stories pieced together represent efficacious and crucial data that assists in formulating a better picture that might enhance survival. A story can result in a far more satisfactory sense of certainty than the previously unknown (Guzman, et al., 2013, 1186). Repeated over time, this has created a natural preference for humans.

The Agta Tribe of the Philippines, a hunter-gatherer community structured similarly to early pre-modern man, has helped corroborate this hypothesis. A 2017 study shows how a pre-modern hunter-gather community, in this case, the Agta, benefits from storytelling (Smith, D., Schlaepfer, P., Major, K. et al., 2017). The researchers conclude that storytelling may have played an essential role in the evolution of human cooperation by broadcasting social and cooperative norms to coordinate group behavior (Smith, D., Schlaepfer, P., Major, K. et al., 2017). Stories would silence egos and perform the adaptive function of organizing cooperation in hunter-gatherers (Smith, D., Schlaepfer, P., Major, K. et al., 2017). In contrast to philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes speculated pre-modern society as solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short and a constant war of every man against every man. However, finding a means to cooperate was the norm not the exception. Stories helped facilitate survival.

Sexual opportunities are also numerous for an expert storyteller and their ability to engender cooperation. Due to their value, skilled storytellers were (and are) picked more as mates and are more likely to reproduce (Smith, D., Schlaepfer, P., Major, K. et al., 2017). Without too much explanation, it should be obvious why this would be an incentive.

Biological Rewards of Storytelling

The evolutionary advantages of storytelling had a natural and logical impact on human biology. To continue to value stories as a means of survival, humans evolved to receive certain stimuli from storytelling. Captivating stories provide not just a pleasurable means of escape but chemical rewards for receptive audience members.

The neurotransmitter dopamine plays a crucial role in how we feel pleasure and assists ones ability to think, plan, strive, and receive inspiration (Dopamine). It also aids in memory and processing information to help humans to break down complexities, explore big themes and questions through a narrow lens that stories provide (Padre, 2018). One key finding concludes compelling storytelling releases dopamine for listeners (Padre, 2018). Memorable and captivating stories activate multiple parts of the brain leading to increased information (e.g., facts, figures, and events) retention, which correlates to an increased capacity for behavior change (Padre, 2018). A story is not just fun but a chemically attractive way to receive information, unlike arguments.

The brain also releases oxytocin in the presence of an impactful story (Padre, 2018). Oxytocin, the hormone typically associated with pregnant and nursing mothers (DeAngelis, 2008), plays a substantial role in social affiliation and bonding overall. Studies from Nature (Kosfeld, M., Heinrichs, M., Zak, P. et al., 2005, 675) and PLoS ONE (Zak PJ, Stanton AA, and S. Ahmadi, 2007) had shown the introduction of oxytocin increased generosity in social experiments.

The release of oxytocin during storytelling means participants are far more likely to be receptive to the lines of persuasion in the story. Instead of having a defense up, the release of oxytocin via stories helps to modulate anxiety (Guzman, et al., 2013, 1186), which is one of the primary evolutionary reasons why stories developed the importance that they did.

The Dynamic of the Story

Stories, by their nature, are also far more accessible due to their reduced threat to the listener. Storytelling is a collaborative, non-hierarchical process involving the learners as active agents in the learning process rather than passive recipients (Padre, 2018). In contrast, when presented with an argument, the immediate response is defense. An argument is a formal and direct challenge to someones beliefs, which many regards as the means for daily survival. By their nature, arguments attempts to overturn beliefs. A natural (read evolutionary) defense arises to counter an argument (Immersed, 2018). Depending on ones commitment to a given belief, an argument becomes an existential threat or an obstinacy to daily living.

Stories circumvent these evolutionary instincts and stealthily challenge entrenched views without listeners knowing it via narrative transportation (Mitra, 2017). According to Dr. Melanie Green, narrative transportation is the experience people have when they become so engaged in a story that the real world just falls away and results in a suspension of disbelief or reduction of counter arguing (Immersed, 2018). A new (but analogous) setting serves as an accessible and safe proving ground for new ideas. Relatable characters and analogous situations can further enhance this suspension of disbelief as the listener/viewer has something to empathize with (Immersed, 2018). These practical elements of stories reflect the phenomenon of isopraxism. Isopraxism is an animal neurobehavioral (humans included) that involves mirroring speech patterns, vocabulary, tone, tempo, etc., that helps build rapport (Voss, 2017, 35). It is fair to assume that mirroring comparable experiences via story elicits this reaction and allows defenses to drop. After all, humans fear what is different and chose what is similar for survival (Voss, 2017, 36).

The original Star Wars trilogy, for instance, has this power. When the viewers first see Luke, they see someone longing for something more and looking to the stars for adventure and self-actualization. Lukes situation mimics a very human feeling of feeling trapped by our environments, localities, and family commitments and wanting more. The subsequent heros journey, which goes back millennia, is also familiar. Even though viewers see far off Tattonie, they feel they are there because it grabs at universal impulses and reflects standard and successful aesthetic scaffolding. Star Wars generates narrative transportation, focuses the audiences attention, elicits strong and emotional reactions and generates vivid mental images (Immersed, 2018). The viewer is not just passively viewing images. The transported participant maintains story-consistent beliefs even after exiting the experience (Immersed, 2018). They are inspired and ready to act. Maybe that action is a behavior change not considered before the story.

For US Army PSYOP, the so-what is that narrative transportation through story is more likely to show attitude and belief change (Immersed, 2018) leading to behavior change. Arguments do not get to behavior change, but stories will. There might be something uncomfortable with the thought that humans are irrational and require stories. However, modern behavioral science backs up this pre-modern pedagogy and forces us to come to terms with human fallibility.

The Faulty Apollonian: Bias of the Argument

Since Socrates, there seems to be the belief in the West that man is a rational animal. Concurrent with physical maturation, a humans developing brain increases its capacity for rational thought to figure out problems in the world as they grow into adults. In the 20th century, psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg helped buttress this belief through his theory of moral development. Kohlbergs research contends that ethical behavior is contingent on moral reasoning (Kohlberg & Hersch, 1977, 54). Kohlbergs process follows a linear and six-stage path as children reason their way to notions of justice (Kohlberg & Hersch, 1977, 56). Kohlbergs work posits that even at the earliest stage, rationality is humanitys epistemological default.

Jonathan Haidts 2012 The Righteous Mind challenged this hypothesis. Haidt theorizes beliefs (which pre-figure behavior) come through intuition and that reason is merely post hoc justification for the driving emotions (Haidt, 2012, CH 3-3:37). Logic and formal rationalism to establishing truth are not universal, and Haidt sees three models of choice, not just one (Haidt, 2012, CH 3-3:35):

Echoing David Hume, Haidt argues that the rationalist model are decidedly exaggerated or non-existent for most people (Haidt, 2012, CH 5-34:27). Most of us are irrational. Kohlberg and other rationalists fail to understand that their epistemology and ethics is Western and in the minority. They are WEIRD: Western Educated Industrialized Rich Democratic.

Someone like Kohlberg and many other rationalists hail from countries that are consistent psychological outliers compared to 85% of the worlds population (Talhelm, 2015). They explain behavior and categorize objects analytically (Talhelm, 2015). In contrast, most majority of people think more intuitivelywhat psychologists call holistic thought (Talhelm, 2015). Argumentation and reason are not going to cut it. Even critical words in the language are deeply established and entrenched to have a specific meaning (Haidt, 2012, CH-3 14:24). When it comes to understanding behavior, rationalists are, in a sense playing tennis against a backboard on a hard court while everyone else is playing tennis with an actual opponent on clay (i.e., thinking holistically).

The doctrine for Military Planners and PSYOPers reflects the rationalist and analytical model for behavior and action. It is no wonder that WEIRD-inspired philosophy cannot to work in much of the world because it lacks self-reflection and fails to illuminate. The rationalist approach reflects the biases of planners and fails to empathize with target audiences.

The subsequent failure of this approach can be explained away via a type of updated false consciousness echoing Thomas Franks Whats the Matter with Kansas. Franks argues that the 2004 defeat of John Kerry was due to the population failing to understand the benefits of the Democratic Party. Similar thinking allows planners to fall back to faulty processes and merely blame the audiences. With humanitys propensity for following intuition and irrational impulses, it is evident that logic and reason will always be second best.

The Unsecure Marketplace of Ideas

The micro failure to understand most individuals decision-making processes (i.e., through emotions, intuition, and stories) extends to the macro level in PSYOP doctrine. One of the faulty propositions in PSYOP doctrine is that the most persuasive arguments emerge due to their logical strength and ability to appeal to rational needs and wants (DOD, 2007, 2-90 to 2-93). A target audience will receive a series of arguments and rationally select the best one with some vulnerabilities targeted. Subsequently, the desired behavior reflects a rational choice by the target audience.

The marketplace of ideas metaphor informs this doctrinal rationale, which states that rational consumers will carefully weigh the relative quality of products/ideas, like in a market economy (Gordon, J., 235, 1997). In the analogous marketplace of ideas, the most rational and just products (i.e., ideas) stick around, and mediocre ones fall to the wayside. The marketplace of ideas is self-regulating and minimizes subversion. However, if Haidts work is the most robust explanation for how people come to their beliefs, the marketplace of ideas (based on a classical behaviorist model) cannot remain sacrosanct.

Public Intellectual Curtis Yarvin details how this occurs. In the marketplace of ideas, no one is theoretically in charge. In theory, it is self-regulating and secure like blockchain (Quiones, P, 2020, 27:30). However, various means can manipulate it. These include (1) deliberate coercion (i.e., a specific message will be heard or silenced), (2) positive measures (i.e., the state or other power subsidize favorable influence entities), and (3) the state leakage of information (Quiones, P., 2020, 31:15). Truth and rational arguments have currency, but the marketplace favors stories. An argument typically does not have the evolutionary staying power of narratives that provide dopamine and oxytocin.

What succeeds in the marketplace of ideas are narratives and stories that satisfy physical desires to receive the natural chemical enhancement. Compelling stories and narratives in the marketplace of ideas do not necessarily say how X solves Y. For instance, how does it logically follow that (X) I support the Democratic Party because (Y) Black Lives Matter (Quiones, P., 2020, 42:45)? Dominant narratives and stories are often non-sequiturs, not arguments, which satiate human desires and inflate the egos of target audiences. Those forming winning narratives and stories do not expect the target audience to be informed King Solomons.

However, the audience of these successful narratives does feel kingly. There is a beneficial power exchange between the successful narratives and stories in the marketplace of ideas and the audience (Quiones, P, 2020, 41:30). Successful narratives and stories in the marketplace of ideas reward its followers with a feeling of power which people invariably enjoy and subsequently want to receive more of (Quiones, P., 2020, 38:30). Returning to the evolutionary point, humanitys cave ancestors wanted to feel as they were in control of a chaotic world. With COVID and many other displacing phenomena, it can feel just as irritating and messy. If someone can receive a sense of power (and do so while passive), they will elect to do this every time. If an idea is going to flourish in the marketplace of ideas, it requires (1) the target audience to feel important and (2) serve the power structure (Quiones, P. 2020, 43:35). It does not require rationality.

Let us take an American example, the 2017 Parkland Tragedy. Someone reads about the 17 innocent people who died that day. If it is from the New York Times or CNN, it provides a left-of-center interpretation. If it is Fox News or the Wall Street Journal, it provides a right-of-center interpretation. These outlets offer narratives and stories to excite the readers emotions and make them feel like they matter (Quiones, P., 2020, 43:55). When one reads the left side, a reader feels energized to post on social media calling for strict gun control and providing a romantic story of the civilized European Countries. On the right, one reads accounts of past totalitarians who seized private firearms and prophesized a future big brother. A rational look at first principles to include personal security or security production is far from the list of priorities in modern discourse.

The powerful stories online are not just passive consumption of information but enable the reader to feel as if they are digitally marching on Selma. Again, how exactly does (X) gun rights or gun control solve the (Y) issue of school violence? It does not require a rational response because storytellers have accomplished the narrative's intent. The audience feels powerful. Reason would say these responses are non-sequiturs, but it does not matter. In the summer of 2020, plenty felt pedaling their Peloton contributed to Black Lives Matter (Quiones, P. 2020, 45:25) because the story of fighting for civil rights could be satisfied with oxytocin and dopamine received along with every burned calorie on a bike seat.

Moving Forward with Stories

If PSYOPers are to be successful, they need to reexamine the first principles in doctrine. If it is true that the US Military is inherently WEIRD, it ought to recognize it and adjust accordingly. Future publications should look to the lessons of Joseph Campbell, not just Clausewitz, to understanding how to understand what motivates people. The insights from a Campbell type might reveal cultural considerations, tensions, vulnerabilities, and opportunities to accomplish strategic goals. This essay is not a call for increased budgets and the newest tech but challenges PSYOPers to travel to the past and access the right side of the brain cognition to develop holistic doctrine.

References

Agan S.D, Haufler, A.W, Lauber, S. and G. Pinczuk. (2018) Assessing Revolutionary and

Insurgent Strategies Series: Narratives and Competing Messages (2nd ed.,). The United States Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

https://www.soc.mil/ARIS/books/pdf/ARIS_Narratives_v2.pdf

Cambridge Dictionary. (n.d.) Behavior. In Dictionary.Cambridge.com. Retrieved June 16, 2021,

from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/behavior

DeAngelis, T. (2008). The Two Faces of Oxytocin. American Psychological

Association, 39 (2). https://www.apa.org/monitor/feb08/oxytocin

Dopamine. (n.d.) Psychology Today.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/dopamine

Gordon, J. (1997). John Stuart Mill and the Marketplace of Ideas. Social Theory and Practice.

23 (2), 235-249.

Guzmn, Y. F., Tronson, N. C., Jovasevic, V., Sato, K., Guedea, A. L., Mizukami, H.,

Nishimori, K., & Radulovic, J. (2013). Fear-enhancing effects of septal oxytocin receptors. Nature Neuroscience, 16(9), 11851187.

https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3465

Haidt, J. (2012). The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion.

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The Campfire v. the Podium: the Persuasive Power of Storytelling - smallwarsjournal

Holding the Tension of Two Views

Spiritual naturalists live with the tension of two views, we inhabit something of a space in between.

By this, I mean that most of those who ascribe to the notion of spiritual naturalism find value in a naturalist worldview based on reason, science, and evidential thinking, yet we also find value in spirituality and religion rightly understood.

We spiritual naturalists tend not to wander into extreme positions regarding naturalism and spirituality avoiding fundamentalisms, be they religious or scientific, and their limiting, narrow, and reductionist tendencies.

Many of us have found meaning and a sense of home in spiritual naturalism because we understand the flaws and intellectual militancy of supernatural religion as well as the extremes of what some call scientism, the view that science and its methods are the only valid form of human reasoning. Let me explain further.

NaturalismNaturalismholds that thescientific method(hypothesize, predict, test, repeat) is the most effective way to investigate reality and that suchmethodsare required to ascertainthe truth about the world. Science has benefited humans in stunning and truly amazing ways medical advances, technological progress, and significantly enhanced understanding of our world and ourselves. Humans are truly and radically better off because of science.

Naturalism and reliance on scientific methodology is fundamentally an epistemological commitment, but one that often leads to an ontological conclusion that what is real is only what science can investigate. The science most naturalists take to be foundational is physics. Therefore, the ontological worldview of naturalism is often a form of materialism or physicalism.

Many naturalists therefore argue that scientific methods are the only valid way to conduct all human inquiry, including ethical analysis, normative decision making, aesthetic experience, valuation, and even interpersonal relationships. This position has been popularized and promoted within philosophy by American thinker, W.V.O. Quine.

Some naturalists, including many spiritual naturalists, however, are recognizing that the above scientism and reductionism isnt completely accurate and doesnt serve human learning or science itself. The assumption that strict scientific naturalism is the totality of naturalist theory seems mistaken.

These thinkers, Hilary Putnam, Loyal Rue, Mario De Caro, David Macarthur, Wilfrid Sellars, or Lynne Rudder Baker, and others, have been developing more nuanced forms of naturalism, including liberal naturalism, poetic naturalism, and near-naturalism which are varied philosophical interpretations and explanations of naturalism that do not require a materialist or reductionist worldview. While there are important differences in these varieties of naturalism, for the sake of brevity, I will speak about these under the rubric ofliberalnaturalism.

Liberal Naturalism incorporates a range of views, a central tenet being that there is more to what is natural, and more to how we can investigate it, than scientific naturalism allows. It argues that one should respect the explanations and results of the successful sciences without supposing thatthe sciencesare our only resource for understanding humanity and our dealings with the world and each other.

According to liberal naturalism, persons, existential concerns, the beauty of artworks, institutions, rational norms and moral values, to mention just some things, benefit from scientific inquiry, but are not fully explicable by science alone. Therefore, liberal naturalism calls for integrating scientific inquiry and philosophy in order to expand our efforts into personal purpose-seeking and meaning-making.

Liberal naturalism is thus more expansive both ontologically and methodologically than stricter forms of naturalist philosophy. It acknowledges the existence of non-scientific modes of understanding that are central to our talk of reasons, epistemic justification, valuing, and intention which cannot necessarily be mapped onto talk of causes and effects in the sense that physical science speaks of them.

Truth is unitive, the conclusions and assumptions of all forms of human inquiry must still ultimately align with what the sciences demonstrate. Liberal naturalism does not permit grand conjecture, magical thinking, or wish projection as valid forms of reasoning. Rather, it is a naturalism that acknowledges the descriptive and explanatory power of science without allowing it to become reductionist.

But What about Spirituality and Religion?Where does all this discussion then leave spirituality and religion in general?

Liberal naturalism is the secular, naturalist, and scientific response to the post-secular rapprochement. It operates from a holistic understanding of human persons and attempts to avoid reductionism that is akin to the various forms of religious fundamentalism.

In short, naturalistic approaches to religion tend to pursue the following strategy: reject the transcendent claims, psychologically and neurobiologically explain aspects of religious experience, and focus primarily on the potential social and cultural aspects and benefits.

This approach toward religion is fairly easy to grasp. Naturalism largely defines itself by its rejection of supernatural realities or transcendent ontologies. Such realities cannot be demonstrated or verified by naturalist inquiry and scientific methodology, and therefore are set aside or outright rejected.

Liberal naturalism does not assert the non-existence of God or the transcendent as such, but simply the irrelevance of such entities for scientific investigation. It reaches this conclusion largely based on an argument of absence, that if the supernaturaldoesexist it is seemingly silent and its effects are non-observable when relying on scientific methods.

The cogent naturalist concedes that naturalism cannot strictly demonstrate that nothing transcends nature. Correspondingly, the cogent theologian must also recognize that while it may be true that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, it is also true that absence of evidence is absence of any respectable or sufficient reason to believe in something.

Yes, there are meaningful and fascinating philosophical arguments about nature and reality being contingent and therefore the need for some grounding beyond nature. But such arguments are complex, abstract metaphysics and do not strictly logically or practically lead to proofs for personal deities, spirits, and so on.

Yet naturalism has its limits. Engaging in liberal naturalist methodology doesnt render religion useless, without value, or superfluous. Rather, naturalism as Im speaking of it here, offers religion an opportunity to refine and improve itself. This claim harkens back to Habermass conclusion that secularism (largely rooted in naturalism) and religion can coexist and fruitfully dialog with one another.

Naturalism, and secularism being motivated by such, in general, asks religion to justify and defend its claims. The process of such is a healthy exercise for religion, forcing it to go beyond juvenile assertions of magical thinking, wish projection, and mere assertion of revealed theological truths.

All religions must carefully scrutinize their claims, aligning them with science whenever possible. They must be humble, reserved, and careful of any supernatural claims they make, knowing that justification and evidence for such is difficult, at best, and that such arguments and claims are met with stiff resistance in our secular culture.

This means that revisioned views of religion must be less about supernatural metaphysics and become much more a way of life, a complex and multivalent interweaving of reason, ritual symbolism, personalism, and culture-building.Revisioned religion can therefore serve as a much needed forum for addressing issues of personality, purpose, meaning, morality, ideals and values that positive science is ill equipped to analyze.

The strong and somewhat eccentric emphasis onbeliefandfaithin Christianity and other religions today is an accident of history that has distorted our understanding of religious truth. Many tend to treat religion as an intellectual acceptance of a set of doctrines which cannot be proven rationally since they lie beyond the reach of empirical data. Unfortunately, instead of focusing on the meaning of such doctrines, they literalize them, and require assent to such literal interpretations.

Yet some religious traditions place a primary emphasis on practice and action over belief and faith. Yes, obviously thought and action are entwined and influence one another. But there is definite benefit for all religions to consider a renewed emphasis onorthopraxyinstead of narroworthodoxy.

Religion is primarily about meaning and valuing, not about science, and therefore it is (or should be) more concerned with forms of practical knowledge. During the Enlightenment, largely due to naturalism, the stage was set for scientificmethodsto become so successful that mythopoeia was discredited, scientific rationalism became seen as theonlyvalid way to speak about the world and the only path to truth. The religious, and particularly Christian response was, and often remains, a rejection of science, the digging in of heels in increasingly ideological theologies, and a reactionary drift into various fundamentalisms and literalisms.

In light of the valid and useful challenge of naturalism, religion needs to update its core assumptions and revision its understanding of spirituality accordingly. And to achieve such a revisioning and place religion on more solid footing in the post-secular, post-religious world now unfolding, requires developing forms of spiritual naturalism which is just what SNS is all about.

Subscribe to The Spiritual Naturalist SocietyLearn about Membership in the Spiritual Naturalist Society

__________The Spiritual Naturalist Society works to spread awareness of spiritual naturalism as a way of life, develop its thought and practice, and help bring together like-minded practitioners in fellowship.

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The Limits of Naturalism? | Spiritual Naturalist Society - Patheos

Ademola Araoye

By Ademola Araoye

In its essence, pan-Africanism was not state-centric. The following is an excerpt from The Ghettos of Pan Africanism repudiating the conceptual deflections of revisionists to hollow out the authentic tenets of this historic radical philosophy for the holistic emancipation of black humanity.

Addis Ababa: May 1963 remains a red-lettered month. Lest we forget, from 23 to 25 May 1963, the summit of all leaders of what ought to have been tentative statehoods just emerging from colonial struggles in Africa took place in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. The vision of a truly concretized expression of Pan-Africanism in a united continental African Republic was however dissipated at this gathering of those assumed to be the catalytic agents of a new glorious African millennium. But this was not to be as the pan-African vision was effectively repudiated. The rejection, including consequential antagonisms that emerged, was papered over in the politeness of euphemisms and rationalizations. Such was the animosity between the progressive camp, which advocated immediate birth of the United States of Africa, and the Monrovia group, the conservative group of states that ostensibly preached gradualism in substantive repudiation of unity, that Africa was split apart. Makonnen Ketema notes that the views and policies of the two groups were so antithetical as to make it impossible for them to work together as partners in an enterprise to which all are mutually devoted. Yet indeed, philosophically and in practical terms, the chasm between the two visions was a bridge too far.

Further, Ketema observes that the Casablanca group, led by the charismatic leader, President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, and the Monrovia group, led by veteran politicians, such as President William Tubman of Liberia and President Nnamdi Azikiwe of Nigeria, had become sworn enemies. By the decision to repudiate the birth of the Republic of Africa and the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the Monrovia group turned out to be Africas wounding fathers. The 32 supposed statesmen and leaders of the struggle for independence across the continent that gathered in Addis Ababa did not heed the prescient warnings not to let slip by the grand and historic opportunity to unite Africa. If they did otherwise, the masses of the people of Africa would not forgive them. But they seemed oblivious of the harsh judgment of history. In the fullness of time, it has turned out that the rejection of political consolidation of the continent was for the personal aggrandizement of the leaders. Again, with the benefit of hindsight of over 60 years, as predicted the unfortunate outcome of Addis 1963 represents historic infamy and an inglorious watershed for black humanity.

In May 1963 the thirty-two men holding the destiny of Africa, and by extension of all black humanity, in their hands derailed the consolidation of emerged embryonic states into the continental United States of Africa. Such a continental Republic could then have been the launching pad of black humanity on a projected natural trajectory to the authentic pan African destination: a vision and mission of African continental political unity with a mandate of an emancipation thrust for global black humanity. The projected continental unity had its roots in the valiant and gallant struggles of the black race for emancipation over the centuries. The struggle for the potential dividends of continental unity that was, hopefully temporarily, repudiated in Addis Ababa 1963 go as far back as the late 18th Century in the Caribbean or to the revolt in Philadelphia of Absalom Jones and Cyril Allen or even to the bold sacrifices of other numerous unsung forces. The horrendous cost to Africa of this unmitigated betrayal in the six decades of instituted contingent statehoods is self-evident. Black humanity is mired in crisis everywhere. The crisis is expressed in distorted identities, associated with new false and incongruous nationalities as well as numerous fictive sovereignties are incalculable: in material, fiscal, cultural, spiritual and in the totality of the endeavors of black humanity. The most damning has been the complete loss of a sense of racial dignity at all levels. There is open jostling to reject black identity and to acquire of new identities. That includes the impositions of strange spiritualities across all strata throughout the continent and the black Diaspora. Black communities, including factions of the Igbo in Nigeria, now proclaim Jewish antecedents without a shred of evidence. The Lemba community in Zimbabwe also accentuates its Jewish heritage. The thriving temple and enclave of a Guru Maharaji in Ibadan, the heart of Yoruba land in Nigeria, reflects the evolved eclectic spirituality of black Africa. These quotidian imponderables define the deep crisis and the associated existential predicaments of black humanity. In terms of economic development, the World Bank highlights that growth rate of GDP of about 3 per cent in 2019 of sub Sahara Africa barely improved on the 2.7 per cent recorded in 1961 and 2.781 in 2015. In the Human development Index of the United Nations Development Program, a statistic composite of life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators, which are used to rank 189 countries on human welfare, 33 of the 56 African countries were classified as in the low human development category in 2019. The continent is thus lagging in different aspects of human wellbeing when, some have noted that Africa is richly endowed with an abundance of natural resources as well as human capital. The existential crisis is replicated in the black Diaspora. Kofi Awoonor sums the predicament of Africa as deluded of his speech and his African religious system, denied entrance into the world of the civilized white man, disillusioned by early hopes of liberty and equality during those post bellum years, he sought solace in Christianity and when the going was hard in desperate acts of rebellion that were put down with ferocious intensity.

The existential predicaments of black humanity are critically manifest in the massive disaffect and total alienation of the deprived mass from its own humanity. The process of self- repudiation has been expressed in a comprehensive defection at all levels from any and everything black and African; physically, psychically, spiritually, and metaphorically. Self- repudiation of black humanity may be contextualized at various levels of their manifestations. At a first level is the generally roguish environment. The environment is contrived to perpetuate the unsavoury agendas of the appropriation of the totality of the space, economic and political, by the scions of the very traitors of the pan-African vision. Having consolidated the stranglehold,the leadership ominously seek to effectively extricate themselves, or so they imagine, from the grating daily realities of the continent that they have manufactured. They facilitate their defection by siphoning or appropriating the totality of national treasuries to build comfortable escape redoubts and well-feathered nests outside Africa. These are physical and psychological hide-outs from the constantly looming potential fury of the dispossessed. Defection is, as well, a dead end survival mechanism to hibernate from the overwhelming stench of the traumatic dispositions of the African homestead. It is against this backdrop that the beleaguered disaffected mass of Africans also tries to defect from the impositions of pervasive harsh realities. They make near-certain choices to perish in rickety boats in the Mediterranean en route real and imagined greener pastures outside the patchwork of dilapidated establishments that pretend to direct the affairs of the many unviable enclave-states that are directly the outcome of the tragedy of Addis Ababa of May, 1963. The disoriented masses of Africans effectively denounce the continent when they drown their collapsed spirits in tumultuous seas to end the travails of African existence. They do this in and to the glare of global ignominy. Home, Africa, and implied blackness, is a treacherous ghetto to exit.. There is a mass exodus to whiteness, yellowness or just about anything that is not black, given the anti-black concept of beauty. Women in Africa bleached their skin in order to fit into the prevailing idea that whiteness is synonymous with beauty, in spite of the health risks associated with transitioning from black skin to a false whiteness. Anne Locke estimates that twenty five per cent of all Senegalese women, like other Africa women, deploy bleaching creams to tone, tweek, squeeze and alter their bodies into whiteness. In the Diaspora, the defection is in psychological, spiritual, emotional distancing from Africa and the black skin, including the creation of new identities such as American Descendants of Slaves (ADOS), differentiating blacks from the African homelands and descendants of slaves

Yet, in the face of and against this seemingly immovable dolorous background, the discredited collective continental establishments decree chroniclers on putting out Afro-optimistic narratives; bolstered with phantoms of statistical data, surreal analyses and synthetic lies to make them look good. In this conspiracy to deodorize the narratives of the toxic realities of black existence consequential to the abdications of 1963, the conspirators take the world for blind. That nebulous conspiracy is preposterous in a globalized world of around the clock newsreel. To set out on a mission of surreal afro-optimistic narration, even in the glaring context of the opposing stark factual, is a political enterprise that corrupts everyone involved. It is politically expedient in asserting that there is no alternative to the current conglomeration of unviable states and the personalized political-entreprenueurial (poliprenueral) patrimonial structures and institutions that litter Africa. They call it Afro-optimistic narratives aimed at countering what is perceived as globally institutionalized negativity on African affairs or Afro pessimism. Yet, we protest in firm denunciations that this implied paradigm of polarity, optimism or pessimism, on African narratives is itself a false discourse. It is founded, funded and propagated by the delegitimized political elites. This elite has numerous and gargantuan skeletons to hide from the world as beneficiaries of a depraved continental order and regimes. Consistent with the need for a radical negation of the dolorous existent in Africa, we deploy a philosophy of Afro-realism in our intercourse with ourselves as Africans and the External order. Afro-realist narratives would advance and be guided, in the context of the existing torment of black humanity, by the existential realities and interests of the communion of African peoples, in contradistinction from the advancement of the questionable interests of states of dubious phenomenological integrity. Afro-realism would be directed by a radical rationalism of knowledge committed to rolling back, through intense focus on the intentionality of the lived reality, the historic and contemporaneous immobility of the continent, from both endogenous and exogenous forces.

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Interrogating the False Narratives of Faux Pan Africanism - The News