An Introduction to 'The American Poltics and Economics' Blog Site: Words From The Author -- DGB

Words From The Author

Good day!

My name is David Gordon Bain. I publish a network of different but interconnected blogs and blog sites that address different areas of knowledge, different areas of living, and different current and past issues.

All together, these blogs and blog sites can be referred to as my 'philosophical treatise' or 'philosophical journal'. It is all published online in this collection and network of blogs and blog sites. The work or treatise as a whole is called: Hegel's Hotel: DGB Philosophy-Psychology For the Layperson, the Academic, and the Professional.

I also sometimes refer to my work as 'DGBN Philosophy-Psychology' and/or 'GAP-DGB Philosophy-Psychology'.

The premise here is that life -- and all aspects of human living -- consists of countless 'dialectic splits' between 'polar opposites'. This idea goes back to the very beginning of Western Philosophy. Anaxamander (611BC-547BC), the second oldest Western (Greek) philosopher described a type of philosophy that I translate some 2550 years later as 'power-dialectics' (or in politics, 'power-politics'). This is a type of human relationship (interaction, encounter) where one person or one side of the dialectic split or disagreement tries successfully or unsuccessfully to basically 'dominate' or 'overpower' the other person or side, leaving the other side at least temporarily 'marginalized' unless or until this latter side can in turn dominate or overpower the first side.

Much later than Anaxamander, Thomas Hobbes described this same basic idea as did other philosophers in similar and/or different ways. This type of philosophy and/or politics can best be summarized as either: 1. the 'Master/Slave' relationship; and/or 2. 'Might is right.' One of the other ideas that Anaxamander expressed (in my words) is that 'power is never permanent: the 'opposite polarities' will always take turns 'dominating' and 'being suppressed, oppressed, and marginalized' by the other. In other words, power is never permanent but always 'subject to time and change'.

In contrast, Heraclitus (540BC?-480BC?), said something significantly different about 'polar opposites and splits' than Anaxamander. Specifically, he argued (and I am translating again) that the polar opposites -- black and white, men and women, up and down, high and low, Spartans and Athenians -- are attracted to, and need each other in order to function in 'ideal, harmonious, wholistic dialectic balance'.

Thus, for Heraclitus, the aim of the 'dialectic split' is 'dialectic negotiation and union' -- compromising, 'splitting differences', and out of this negotiation, essentially finding a way to come to a 'dialectic, wholistic, harmonious homeostatic balance' that basically works for both opposing parties...

To this, DGB Philosophy-Psychology-Politics...gives the name 'democratic-dialectics' or 'dialectic-democratics' in contrast to Anaxamander's idea of power-dialectics. The Eastern (Chinese) equivalent to democratic-dialectic comes probably from Lao Tse, the Han Philosophers, and the beginning of Daoism. This evolving Eastern philosophy is best captured in the dialectic-democratic harmony of 'yin' (feminine energy, estrogen, soothing, compassionate, settling, rootedness, groundedness, security, family, caring, loving, empathic...) and 'yang' (masculine energy, testosterone, self-assertion, boldness, risk-taking, flying high, courage, confronting...)

This language is not designed to be 'sexist' and 'stereotyping' but rather to highlight the opposite characteristics and qualities that we all need in our lives to different degrees in order to live a 'balanced, dialectic-democratic' life.

Let us say that an integration of stereotyped masculine and feminine qualities and energy ideally creates the potential of living dialectically and democratically with a combined and entwined 'more balanced masculine-feminine energy'.

This goes back to an old Platonic myth that asserts that (some Greek) 'God' basically took a 'man-woman' (a 'hermaphrodite' consisting of both sexes encaptured together in one body), 'split them in two' (the dialectic split), and then basically said: 'There you go, ladies and gentlemen (Adam and Eve, if you are biblically minded). You both need each other to complete your other opposite, missing half -- I have separated you; now it is up to you two to go out and find each other again, integrate your opposing polarities, and find a way to be happy again. If you can, you can; if you can't, you can't. It is your problem, not mine.'

In the perspective of DGB Philosophy, Anaxamander and Heraclitus -- taken together -- are just as important, if not more important, to a basic understanding of human evolution and history -- i.e. 'the dialectic history of man' -- as their much more famous later Greek philosophers -- Plato and Aristotle -- were/are.

My (Post-Hegelian) thesis is that the evolution of life as captured in either: 1. the Hegelian formula of a) 'thesis'; b) 'anti-thesis'; and c) 'synthesis'; and/or the Darwinian (or the 'Adam and Eve biblical) genetic formula of a) 'thesis-genetics' (male sperm); b) 'anti-thesis-genetics' (female egg); and c) 'male-female-synthesis-integration' (united sperm-egg) is captured in the fomula of 'dialectic evolution'. Dialectic evolution involves a multitude of similar and different 'individuating or splitting' and 'synthesizing, integrating or unionizing' forces that both come together and split apart with the regularity of day and night, and of high and low tides. In one of my essays, I have called this 'The Dialectic Force of God'.

Man is caught between a 'will to dialectically have power over' (DGB's version of Anaxamander's 'power-dialectics and power-politics') and a 'will to negotiate, compromise, integrate, synthesize, unionize...(DGB's version of Heraclitus' 'democratic-dialectics').

The evolution and the history of man can very appropriately be described as a struggle between man's 'will to power over' vs. man's 'will to negotiate, compromise, integrate, synthesize, unionize' -- i.e. a struggle between power-politics and democratic politics.

In 'The American Politics and Economics' blog site, I simply aim to trace and develop -- both realistically and idealistically -- the essence of this struggle in the ongoing history and evolution of the American people.

-- dgb, Aug. 12th, 2009.

-- David Gordon Bain,

-- Democracy Goes Beyond Narcissism,

-- Dialectic Gap-Bridging Negotiations,

-- Are still in process...