The Hinge Factor

From Descartes to Nietzsche

Photo by Christophe Hautier on Unsplash

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“In my book on 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘴𝘮 I identified two irreducible lines of development in the philosophy of the modern age, one from Descartes to Nietzsche and the other from Descartes to Rosmini.

The second line rediscovered and deepened the tradition”…

— Augusto del Noce

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“It is no coincidence that the age of atheism is also that of totalitarianism, because totalitarianism is precisely political atheism”…

— Augusto del Noce

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“In the dream of 1619, we have a Descartes who was led by mathematics to the discovery of the true rhythm of thought, for which it is not a question of starting from reality but in some way of founding it, of proceeding from the subject towards the object”…

— Augusto del Noce

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Hinge Factor

A hinge factor is the critical moment where an event or detail can unexpectedly swing the outcome

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Can we trace back through the history of Western Civilisation intellectual thought, the origins of the Crisis of Modernity [LINK] and the Crisis of Post-Modernity [LINK] [LINK]?

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The beginning of the process of modern Man’s attempts to deconstruct the intellectual triadic scaffolding of Western Civilisation [LINK].

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Was it 13th-14th Century English Franciscan friar and scholastic philosopher William of Ockham’s nominalism [LINK]?

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[LINK] - Peirce and the Threat of Nominalism

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Or was it also the ideas of 16th-17th century French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician René Descartes [LINK] (e.g. Cartesianism [LINK] and Cartesian Dualism (Substance Dualism) [LINK]) being widely embraced and extended by 19th-century German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche [LINK] to a Primacy of Man?

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Had the ideas of Descartes (res Cogitans - cogito, ergo sum - “I think, therefore I am”…) led to the notion of the Conscious Self & Ego [LINK] and a re-orientation towards a Primacy of Human Consciousness [LINK] (e.g. Cartesianism [LINK], Idealism [LINK], Modern Gnosticism [LINK])?

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[LINK] - Spirit Wars - Modern Gnosticism

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Had the ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche extended the notion of a Primacy of Human Consciousness to the Primacy of Man (e.g. Theology of Marxism [LINK], Historical Materialism [LINK], Übermensch [LINK], Will to Power [LINK]) and the Self?

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[LINK] - The Will to Power

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Are the following some of the consequences of attempting to deconstruct the intellectual triadic structures of Western Civilisation [LINK] and re-orientating our understanding of Reality towards the Primacy of Human Consciousness and the Primacy of Man?

• Endemic Marxism across Western Civilisation [LINK] [LINK] [LINK];

• Anthropomorphism of Christian Theology, Philosophy and Metaphysics [LINK];

• Secularism and the Politics of Immanent Anthropomorphic Salvation [LINK];

• Emergence of Liberation Ideology, including an attempted liberation from God, Nature and Himself [LINK], including Trans Humanism [LINK];

• Embracement of the Labour of The Negative and Deconstructionism (i.e. a Marxist permanent revolution) as part of a restless progressive motion [LINK] (e.g. deconstruct the family, ignore personhood, remove religion (love of God), disavow history, dismiss normative sciences (i.e. Truth, Aesthetics, Ethics - the Good), remove patriotism (e.g. love of country - nationalism ) and citizenship (Westphalian Sovereignty - Ancient Greek citizenship), dismiss transcendental metaphysics, theology and philosophy etc… );

• Embracement of Dialectical Materialism - Marx [LINK] - Mao [LINK] - Stalin [LINK] - that combines Idealism (Hegel) and Materialism (Marx) through a process of reflexivity [LINK] and praxis [LINK] as the Marxist modus operandi technique of manipulation for Societal, Cultural, Political & Economic transformation [LINK];

• Social Construction of Reality [LINK] [LINK] [LINK] that reflects a Primacy of Man, Primacy of Human Consciousness and a Will to Power;

• Philosophy of Mechanisation (e.g. World, Mind, Body are Cartesian Mechanical Machines) [LINK] that reflects the Primacy of Man and Primacy of Human Consciousness (i.e. Aristotle Logic - Study of Thought [LINK], noting it is only one of the three modes of Reasoning (i.e. Aristotle - deduction) [LINK]);

• Inversion of Reality, where our understanding of Reality is inverted (i.e. a reverse order) [LINK]. Rather than Man participating in Reality, instead Man creates and socially constructs Reality [LINK];

• Emergence of Scientism and Scientific Gnosticism [LINK] that flows from the inversion of Reality and Knowledge [LINK];

• Endemic Nihilism [LINK];

• Erosion in our Cognitive Liberty [LINK] [LINK];

• Endemic Materialism [LINK] [LINK] despite the Metaxic semiotic nature of Human Being [LINK] and Monism (Peirce);

• Erosion in our Sense of Coherence [LINK];

• Emergence of a Post-Truth Society [LINK] and Post-Truth Education [LINK] (e.g. Post-Modern Liberalism [LINK]);

• Emergence of the Simulacrum [LINK], Hyperreality [LINK], Hypernormalisation [LINK], and Virtual Reality [LINK] as the Map becomes the Territory [LINK], Geometries of Unknowing are embraced [LINK], and Signs without Substance [LINK] are deployed;

• Emergence of a New Totalitarianism [LINK] as Reality is increasingly socially constructed [LINK], imposed through force [LINK] and alignment with a political & intellectual orthodoxy [LINK];

• Emergence of new political structures that are increasingly disconnected (i.e. anti-Human [LINK]) from a Divine Order [LINK] and Gods Will [LINK] - Hobbesianism [LINK], Socialism & Communism [LINK], Fascism [LINK], Communitarianism [LINK], Third Way [LINK], and Globalism [LINK]; and

• Embracement of a Technology Society [LINK] and Technological System [LINK] - a Technocracy [LINK] - as Reality must be Socially Constructed [LINK] and imposed through force [LINK], and technology provides the mechanism for control.

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The history of intellectual thought of Western Civilisation can be viewed as the gradual metaphysical synthesis of:

a. Triadic Metaphysical and Physical Divine Order of Being (What Exists) - God (Necessary Being (Creator) - Plato & Aquinas), Conscious Man (Contingent Being (Created) - Plato & Aquinas) and the Natural World (Contingent Being (Created) - Plato & Aquinas) - The One, Nous and World Soul (Plotinus) - Father, Son (Incarnated) and Holy Spirit (Christian Theology) - Way, Truth, and Life (The Bible - John 14:6);

b. Triadic Metaphysical Order of Knowing and Intelligibility of the Conscious Self (res Cogitans) (What can we Know) - Ontological (Aristotle), Epistemological (Kant) and Phenomenological (Peirce) Categories of Thought that are grounded in a Real Distinction (foundational to Saint Thomas Aquinas Metaphysics) between essence (what a thing is) and existence (that a thing is) - Deductive (Aristotle), Inductive (Kant) and Abductive (Peirce) forms of Reason grounded in three modes of Being (Peirce) - Laws of Conservation (Divine - Created Being (Existence)), Laws of Physical Process (Symmetric - Matter is effete mind, inveterate habits becoming physical laws - Peirce) and Laws of Mind (Asymmetric) (Peirce - The Law of the Mind (1892)) - Primisense, Altersense and Medisense elements of Human Consciousness (Peirce);

c. Triadic Metaphysical and Physical Order of Being of the Self (this Being) (Unity of this Being) - Real Being, Ideal Being and Moral Being (Rosmini) - Pathos, Logos and Ethos (Aristotle) - Firstness, Secondness and Thirdness (Peirce - three modes of Being) - Mind, Body and Spirit (Christian Theology) - Body, Soul (& Heart inner core of Soul) (Aquinas) - Intellect, Will and Appetite (Aquinas’ Soul) - Mind (Intellect), Soul (Vitality) and Heart (Will) ( Matthew 22:37) - Manage, Comprehend and Meaning (Antonovsky - Sense of Coherence);

d. Triadic Metaphysical and Physical Order of the Whole (What does it Mean and how should I ought to Act (Habits)? (Peirce) - Unity of Real Being - this Being with Being (Heidegger)) - The Semiotic Phenomenological mediation (via Signs) of the Conscious Self and Being - Being, Knowing and Meaning - Semiotic Triadic and Pragmatic Maxim (Peirce) grounded in the Triadic of Reason (Peirce, Bacon, Aristotle), Triadic Categories of Thought (Aristotle, Kant, Peirce), Triadic Modes of Being (Peirce, Firstness, Secondness, Thirdness), Universality of Reason (Kant) and the Univocity of Being (Duns Scotus), Scottish Common Sense Realism (Reid - Truths are Self Evident) and Divine Will, Moral Duties and Natural Rights (Locke); and

e. Triadic Metaphysical & Physical Order of this Being with a Natural Order (Intelligible Form & Orientation of all Being (Cosmos)) (Human Phenomena of the Will and God’s Will) - Human Reason & Actions, Natural Law and Eternal Law (Aquinas) - Truth, Justice and Beauty (Plato) - Truth, Ethics and Aesthetics (Peirce - Normative Sciences) - Divine Will, Moral Duties and Natural Rights (Locke) - Father, Son ((Logos), and Holy Spirit (Trinity of Christian Theology) - Being (Purpose), Word (Truth), and Love (Action) (Christian Theology).

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