From: ibshambat@gmail.com   
      
   My ideas on this subject then lead me to invent a philosophy that I call   
   Integrationism. Integrationism seeks to achieve the best outcomes in dealing   
   with non-valued dualities. I applied this logic to many subjects, including:   
      
      
   Nature and Civilization   
      
   Individual and Humanity   
      
   Men and Women   
      
   Public Sector and Private Sector   
      
   Art and Business   
      
   Thinking and Feeling   
      
   Objective and Subjective Investigation   
      
   Analysis and Experience   
      
   The Inspired and The Methodical   
      
   Philosophy and The Creative Process   
      
   and some others.   
      
   I stated among other things that the best way to investigate social phenomena   
   is to both observe them and experience them. The first sees the external   
   effects but misses the experience of the participants. The second understands   
   the experience of    
   participants while failing to see its external effects. When you have both the   
   external perspective and the internal perspective, you understand both; and   
   you have a full picture of the phenomenon.   
      
   With thinking and feeling, my recommendation has been to encourage and develop   
   both. Thinking by itself leads to coldness and lack of compassion; feeling by   
   itself leads to mindlessness and self-absorption. I see no reason to see one   
   as better or worse    
   than the other; both are there either by evolution - in which case they   
   evolved for the benefit of the species - or by divine design - in which case   
   they are there by will of the Creator. And if human nature is fallen, then   
   that would extend to thinking    
   and feeling equally. In either case both are equal - either in mutual virtue   
   or in mutual sin. So my recommendation is to train people in both. That way   
   the two correct errors in one another and synthesize with one another to   
   achieve wisdom faster and    
   fuller than either would by itself.   
      
   Neither do I see any reason to see business and government as better or worse   
   than the other. Both are there to serve demand - one in the marketplace, the   
   other at the poll booth. Both are capable of doing right, and both are capable   
   of doing wrong. So I    
   recommend having both a vibrant private sector and a functional government.   
      
   Hobbes made a hideous error of thinking that the state, composed of people,   
   would be better than other people. Libertarians make the opposite error:   
   Thinking that the government is the only possible source of severe wrongdoing.   
   Both are completely wrong,    
   while coming from opposite sides. The state consists of people; so does the   
   rest of the country. I see no reason to see one as being better or worse than   
   the other. I have known people in the Soviet Union who suffered horribly under   
   the government. I    
   have known people in America who suffered horribly from bad parents, or the   
   mafia, or destructive religous sects. American government is checked,   
   balanced, and subject to accountability. Private family, community, and   
   corporate power is not. This allows    
   the same to get away with greater abuses than are allowed the government. And   
   while the libertarian spends all his time scrutinizing the government, genuine   
   corruption grows up right under his own nose. The correct solution to this is   
   to see the    
   potentials for wrongdoing both in the government and in the private entities,   
   and to correct these potentials.   
      
   I also advocate having both education and life experience. That would give one   
   a much fuller understanding of life than either would by itself. The merely   
   educated are constantly accused of a lack of common sense, and the merely   
   experiential are    
   constantly accused of ignorance. Having both would correct both problems.   
      
   There is also the methodical approach, used mostly in science and philosophy,   
   and the inspired approach, used mostly in art. The two need to feed into one   
   another. Sometimes inspiration precedes and guides reason, and sometimes the   
   verbalized ideas shape    
   the inspiration. I advocate being both scientists and poets. That way the two   
   modalities are fully developed and feed into one another to achieve wisdom and   
   understanding fuller than either one by itself.   
      
   Then there is the issue of bigotry and artificial blindness. Most social   
   stereotypes have a root in reality. If something exists at a rate greater than   
   chance then there will be a reason for it, though it may not be the reason   
   that you expect. The    
   correct solution is to find out the real reason. Bigotry and artificial   
   blindness feed into one another. The bigoted person would see a social   
   phenomenon and propose a wrong reason for it. The academic would say that it   
   is a stereotype. The person would    
   look and say that the phenomenon is in fact real, so he will decide that the   
   academic does not know what he is talking about and then go on with his   
   bigoted explanation. The correct solution is to acknowledge reality of social   
   phenomena and then find    
   real reasons for them. This will actually defeat bigotry, which artificial   
   blindness completely fails to do. The black people are not at all helped by   
   people claiming that what is happening in their communities is not happening.   
   They are helped by people    
   finding out real reasons for their situation, and then based on that knowledge   
   coming up with real, informed solutions.   
      
   There is also the issue of knowledge and responsibility. Responsibility   
   presupposes knowledge. Without knowledge people do things that they think are   
   responsible but aren't, such as poisoning the oceans and flooding the   
   atmosphere with CO2. Without    
   responsibility the people who are into knowledge come up with various   
   destructive ideas and behave in a manner that is parasitical or worse. It is   
   vital to have both knowledge and responsibility, resulting in informed and   
   rightful action.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)