Forum Post: When the maxims of our lives are entrenched in the materials we consume to exist, how do we envision a future outside the systems in place?
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 28, 2011, 1:53 a.m. EST by theloraxathome
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Define Ameliorative change and transformative change.
Look into grassroots postmodernism
Ask your self: what am I, who am I, why am I here?
I'm here because I am a college student. In five to six years, I want to be able to graduate college and be able to get a job that would pay the rent, pay for food and living, and let me pay off any debt I might have.
I tend to see myself as less reliant on being a consumer, and more of a provide-it-yourself type of person. Case in point, my family grows our own fruits and vegetables, and raises our own beef. Still, I worry about how I would be able to continue this tradition. It means that while I may rent for a considerable amount of time, buying and owning a house and property is a high priority for me. That means having a job that pays enough to do more than just scrape by; I need to be able to save up money as well.
In the end, I'm just a kid here, fighting to be able to get a job so I can live how I know how to best. All I want is a future, but I won't settle for less than a fair chance.
Please, start us off. Perhaps you follow Kant's theory of perception into reason. Go ahead, don't be bashful - I'll follow up.
Well, let me take a wild stab at the general direction Kant was going and which Hegel apprehended. You perceive and then process the information through categories or, if you will, your conceptual apparatus, which is essentially your belief structure. All processing of information of the nature of society, politics, etc (if you do imagine you do think about this) is processed through your belief structure. So, it doesn't make a lot of difference what you see since your understanding is more reflective of your conceptual apparatus (however loosely defined it is). To go beyond your conceptual apparatus you have to realize you have one or transcend it by other means (mystical, drug induced, etc.). Reason is the point at which you understand why you believe what you do. That's why Socrates was so smart (he knew he knew nothing). Hence, this is where critical thinking started. Never read Kant (too challenging for me, I guess) but Hegel used his leap in epistemological thinking to develop his dialectical method of understanding reality. And Dialectics is really where it is: that is to say, not theoretical by based in reality although for Hegel he looked at it from a Spiritual standpoint. Marx took it a step further and grounded the dialectic in materialism. He gave us the correct Method for understand the historical dialectic although he wrapped it up in politics which has confused most modern thinkers since he began an advocate for a society based on shared labor to be used for shared ends. Oh well, hardly anyone understands this stuff, really. But is is very useful for a number of reasons. Erich Fromm had a deep understanding of it, I believe.
You've unknowingly moved into Schopenhauer's immanent will.
I see. You are into intellectual games and verbal jousting, not reality. You've burned a lot of the midnite oil but not to wisdom;s advantage. Didn't think you would get it but few do.
Ha.....A man of genius makes no mistakes; his errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.