Method Important in Cultural Change

It is slowly sinking into my mind that the first order of business in any activity is a consideration of method. Method is in fact a continuing consideration and the major factor in seeing growth and maturity.

I am reminded of this in listening to the recent OCON presentation given by Don Watkins, “Changing the Debate: How to Move from an Entitlement State to a Free Market,” which you should listen to. I have noticed that a few people have criticized attempts at influencing the culture as being in effective. The critics had nothing more to offer about how to do that, as if the other people were failing, perhaps the critics hadn’t figured it out either. We must keep in mind that this is something we have to figure out how to do. Again, just like everything else in human activity, learning how to communicate and influence is a matter for induction, possibly trial and error. You don’t improve your ability in anything sitting in a room thinking without evidence. You can come up with ideas, but you then have to try them out and evaluate the results, several times.

It is true that winning our battle will require many repetitions of good ideas, done from many different perspectives, by many people. It is also true that those people will have to be ones who are doing it for selfish reasons, not out of duty. I think that we have many good, selfish reasons to do it. Becoming motivated shouldn’t be hard.

What Don has to say is excellent and has several important ideas. It is a good place to start. Other inspirations include the very effective activities by The Center for Industrial Progress, created and guided by Alex Epstein. I am sure there are others. (Suggestions?) We each need to learn what we can, practice, do it, think, analyze, and add to our knowledge.

It is too soon for much to happen, but the insights in Dr. Leonard Peikoff’s book, The DIM Hypothesis will also affect how our message will be delivered (as I have suggested earlier in this blog).

So if you are engaged in this battle, keep your eyes open and listen to what your fellow fighters are doing. Think about your approach. And closely consider the feedback and any other indications of the response your actions produce. Use your rational facilities. Apply method.

An Implication of The DIM Theory for Activism

One important element of the philosophy of Objectivism is that it has a purpose: that of living as a human in this world. Each insight of Objectivism has implications about what a man should do to achieve happiness and prosperity.

The DIM Theory is an excellent application of philosophy, and, in the breath of its reach, it is fundamental in understanding how philosophy underlies a culture. I think that it has implications for us.

I want to expand the response I have seen to Dr. Peikoff’s book. From what I have seen, the idea is that LP has given us a prediction and we now sit and watch to see if it proves out. LP makes clear in the book’s closing pages that he isn’t suggesting giving up and that his prediction isn’t a mathematical certainty, but other than clarifying who our ultimate enemy is, people have acted as if there is nothing more to say.

I disagree. I think that the book, in its identifications of fundamental movers of cultural change, has given us a greater understanding of what we should be doing. Our actions to mold our culture should be amended by what we learned from LP. Our activism needs to include a specific purpose to be more effective.

By activism I mean action (meaning attempts to persuade) taken to change the culture, which I think should include actions taken to keep things together long enough for cultural change to occur.

Dr. Leonard Peikoff’s (LP) theory is that the fundamental fact of a culture is its attitude towards integration, i.e., concept formation and the structure of knowledge. Consequently, to change a culture, one has to change its mode of integration.

The approach to integration is in turn based upon the culture’s intellectual leaders position on two philosophic issues: the nature of reality and how man acquires knowledge. If one understands correctly these two issues, one will be lead to a rational, i.e., reality based, method of integration.

It follows then that the direct approach to changing a culture is to address these issues: integration, existence, and reason.

The proof for this conclusion is in The DIM Hypothesis and the writings of Ayn Rand and LP. I do not look at my reasoning as deductive despite appearances.

To apply the implication of LP’s insight requires much thought. I regard what I have to say as a small beginning.

In most cases, addressing the fundamental questions isn’t beneficial. In other words, don’t preach. It is often enough to push rational integration, LP’s I mode, by example, i.e., by referring to reality, facts, and at least implying that thought, a process is necessary to understand an issue. It won’t help to be too subtle. The implication has to be clear.

One way to do this that comes to my mind is to always concritize. Refer to facts connected with an abstraction, and point out that one without the other is meaningless.

My thought is that one should include some aspect of the fundamental issues in every written or spoken statement. You need not always refer to integration. Including the independence and absoluteness of physical reality or the requirement of a rational thought process would also be valuable.

I do not mean to say that addressing issues of rights, morality, government activities, and irrationality in general aren’t worthwhile. I am saying that the more the issues affecting cultural change are included in your arguments, the more impact our efforts will have.

A Suggested Perspective on the DIM book

I expect that most people read The DIM Hypothesis and come away focused upon LP’s conclusion, his prediction on the direction of U.S. culture. Certainly, LP does himself center the book on the goal of reaching a prediction. The force of his prediction is magnified by the fact that the book is closely reasoned and objective, i.e., it is based in the facts of the reality of human history and human nature. The book is itself an excellent example of the scientific method.

I, however, want to focus your attention on a different perspective, what I perceive as an implication. I want you to think about what LP has to say about how cultural, philosophic change occurs. I want to examine the implications and proscriptive insights we can gain. What does the book mean for our own actions? Can we do things, our attempts to achieve our own view of a proper culture, better, based upon what LP has to teach us about cultural change? What do we do differently? What are we doing that is effective?

I have one specific idea in mind, which I will present here in the next few days. But I want you to think about this perspective first.