054 - Can Hegel Save Us from a Brutal Return to Tribalism?

The Electronic Revolution has dramatically changed how the world receives and processes information.  The previous print revolution helped usher in the Enlightenment, the Scientific Revolution, nation-states, and individual rights through its emphasis on visual, linear thinking, i.e. left-brain thinking.

However, the Electronic Age reintroduced the audio factor to mass communications beginning with radio.  This was followed by television bringing a return of both audio and visual in one package.  And this resulted in a step toward a nouveau-tribalism, harkening back to ancient tribal societies where the spoken word interacted with nature in one environment.

The Internet added more fuel to the fire.  This has meant, among an increasing percentage of citizens, a loss of the ability to find much meaning in a big tent nation-state.  The fragmentation and specialization of media and politics has put identity groups, "tribes," as a driving force today in many places.  History has shown that tribal societies often fought brutally for recognition, and the new tribes are increasingly doing so today.  

Hegel, a pre-electronic literary man of letters, foresaw this problem.  And I believe his speculative philosophy, one that recognizes identity within differences, with its focus on the whole (right-brain) as well as the parts (left brain) can provide a useful guide for these trying times.   

Transcript

Gregory Novak 0:00

Hello, this is Gregory Nowak. This is the cunning of Geist episode 54. Welcome back. The purpose of this podcast is to explore philosophy. Uh, psychology and science with an emphasis on the great philosopher. George Wilhem Friedrich Hagle. The central tenants of this podcast are as follows. One that there's more going on in the world and blind purposeless, naturalistic materialism. It is called Geist in German, translated as mind or spirit in English. To that evolution is central to the universe. We are. Part of the universe. Thus, we are revolving as the universe is three, that there is a higher realm than the finite plane of existence. But it is not separate from us. It is spirit Geist, and it is working within all of us. It is our internal passenger who can provide direction, meaning, and purpose in life. And for that, we're all part of an historical process of increasing human consciousness of spirit, which allows freedom and rationality to evolve positively in the world with the aim. Of spirit increasingly come to know itself as actual as real. Now. In this episode of the cunning of Geist, I will be returning to a subject we covered. A few episodes back in episode 48, and I'll be exploring once again, the notion of tribalism in today's world on try to get even a little bit more specific than, than I did back. Uh, back then. And in particular how society particularly Western culture is dividing itself up into different identity groups, where are increasingly at each other's throats. Hate, no longer involved. Just what somebody else does hate. Now also involves what somebody else says and even what they think. The internet. Latest step in the electronic revolution has fueled this. The print age before that brought about the importance of the individual and nation states. This is now eroded to a noticeable degree and it will most likely get worse. And I believe that her Galean philosophy does in fact point a way to address this. It's not a magic bullet. It's not some kind of secret sauce or whatever, I do believe that he provides a deeper way to view the individual, the groups they belong to and their relationship to society and how, how they organize. So I planned to explain what I mean here in this episode. First let's just review some general background before we get into the details. The invention of the printing press. Kicked into high gear, a left brain orientation in Western society. Printed books and newspapers were also central to the formation of the modern nation state. And it included the reformation of many religions and clearly Protestantism, which came out of Christianity and reformed Judaism, which came out of, out of Judaism. And part of the new nation state, a very important part was in new emphasis on individualism, on the individual. And this wasn't just due to the fact that reading is a solitary activity, but that the constitution of these nation states reformed with a focus on the individual and their rights. The printing press also hastened the enlightenment and the scientific revolution. And these liberal democracy, certain behaviors were governed. Obviously there were laws and rules. But in general, what you thought and your own beliefs. Uh, and what you said, these were free with. You know, certain limits, you can't yell fire in a crowded theater. Uh, but the book produced a visually oriented linear way of thinking and processing information. But these are not the things that the nation state, the modern nation state was built on. It was more built on the individual having their own rights. And their, their right to, they'd have certain degree of freedom. And in, in terms of what they said, what, how they acted, what they did, as long as. It was in the laws and within the law of the state and didn't hurt anybody else. Now the print dominated culture face to nuance, lot with the onset of the electronic revolution. People now had new ways to receive information, not just through books and newspapers. First, there was the Telegraph. Which would like communication at a distance than the telephone. Which was followed by radio and television. And then the computer brought us the internet. The change was a major disruptor of how people viewed themselves in their societies, which I'll get into in more detail. This bombardment of information created massive specialization and all media, which caused a loss of a feeling of a general community within the nation region or town, which I'll explain. And this loss of, of meaning happened, happened for many and. As a result, it caused a reversion to what is called tribalism. Where one to find meaning and identity and recognition, they have to identify with a group of like-minded individuals. To a much greater extent to find this recognition. The nation state can no longer provide it to them. It's too fragmented. Uh, but what's more in tribal societies. It's not, as I mentioned before, it's not only what you do that counts. It's also what you say and what you think. And the tribal holds you accountable for that. And that is because the tribe itself is identified by what a thinks and what it says. It's not just that. It's uh, a member of a country, citizen of a country. It's a, oh, you're a tribe. You're a specialized group that believes these kinds of things. So. That's what it's all about. And, It's the meaning that the self gets through the identity group or the tribe. He's, he's not getting any more by some lofty constitution of the nation state, which applies to all individuals. Now is that, as I said, this tribalism can lead to intense conflict. And even death. So, what are we to do? So com. I believe that Hagle provides an answer to that, uh, or at least a partial answer that can set us on the right direction. And that is his notion of reason, which is right-brained holistic, purposeful thinking. As a compensator to the linear either or common thinking of the left brain. And I'll explore all this in this episode. Now let's get into some more specifics. Let's go way back before the invention of writing people first lived in small groups of hunter gatherer. As modern humans have existed in this form from about. Roughly 200,000 BC. Then around 11,000, 12,000 years ago, some peoples in certain areas started to settle down into communities. They practice farming and the domestication of animals. And this is often termed the neolithic revolution occurred in various parts of the world, but many point to the Lavant region of Southwest Asia. As one of the earliest, if not the earliest occurrence of such a settled community. This area is often referred to as the fertile Crescent. Uh, these very early societies had to organize. They had to have specialization of labor. Certain amount of property rights. Because there were settled down and were living together. And importantly, all communication was verbal. there were, stories, rituals, histories were passed down. Only by word of mouth. There was no writing, no alphabet. That would not happen for several thousand years later. Now let's let's push forward though. To the invention of writing. When did this actually occur? Well, letters in writing first occurred in Mesopotamia around. 3,300 BC. This was falling quickly in Egypt, around 3,100 BC. So the possibility is spread cannot be ignored. Early forms of letters also appeared in China around 1300 BC is a form of Devin nation. We have discussed the Chinese each Xing several times here, but in particular, in episode 30, which is entitled synchronicity the itching and halal. And if you remember from that episode, the etching uses pictorial symbols to express ideas. And it's very ancient. it, the first form of writing in China that appeared in 1300 BC may have been linked to the eating. Now. Scholars debate whether, the knowledge of writing actually spread somehow, but many do not believe that it did that many fields, that it actually occurred at different. Parts of the world separately because the language is really do suggest very separate development. Now the invention of writing at a very profound effect on human beings. The word now became an abstract symbol as well as a vocalized sound. Words began to have an abstract quality to them. They did not have before. In fact, it was a. Uh, a double abstraction. The spoken word is the first level of abstraction. It's a word that stands for some thing. The written word is an abstraction of the spoken word. So it's a double abstraction. Now importantly, Before the written word, the spoken word was an immediate part of the total environment. The spoken word was probably what separated us from the animals and, you know, in the Bible. in the beginning was the word. in, in John, in the new Testament. And when this occurred, when the first, person spoke of. Uh, some syllables. And pointed at something that's lost in history. Uh, however, the written word many field was the second greatest advancement of humankind. As noted historian, James breast, it said quote, The invention of writing and of a convenient system of records on paper has had a greater influence on uplifting the human race than any other intellectual achievement in the career of man. Writing was the beginning of civilization. End quote. These symbols, these abstractions could even take on a spiritual dimension. Anybody that's familiar with it. The Jewish Kabbalah. Understands this. And there's a certain spiritual element to the Chinese eating as well. Now. Something else happened. With the coming of the written word, and this is important. Rather than being a part of the total environment. Now that surrounds somebody with sound smells, object, things that they're touching, hearing. Site now with separated and abstracted from the other census. This puts site. On a new higher level. Once the written word, appeared. Now we've discussed Marshall McCluen many times here. Before, particularly in episode 21. And I'm not going to quote McCluen from his 1962 book, the Gutenberg galaxy he's. He says, quote. From the invention of the alphabet, there's been a continuous drive in the Western world toward the separation of the census of functions of operations, of states, emotional and political, as well as tasks and quote. As McCoon noted. This trend of specialization was particularly pronounced in Western civilizations. Let me quote him again. Quote. Let us compare Chinese and European culture. Western alphabetic and Chinese literacy represent two extremes of writing the alphabet. Is used phonetically to visually represent the sign of a word. Chinese characters are used. I picked a graphically to represent the idea of a word. Consequently, they are less abstract and less specialized in alphabetic writing. Eastern and Western thought patterns are as polarized as their respective writing systems. So it goes right back. The differences between east and west can probably be traced right back to the invention of writing. And these different parts of the World. Okay, let's stop here for a second. McClune is recognizing that Western languages are based on a phonetic representation of the sound of the word. It's a linear representation. The syllables are written by letters and align. Chinese characters, however, are based on pictures that represent the idea of the word. The west is more linear than east is more holistic. A picture is a, is a totality. The west is obviously more left-brain and the east is more right-brain we've discussed this dichotomy before many times, but particularly the definitive episode in his right brain left brain was episode 10 that we did back in 2010. Now. The differences between thought patterns Eastern west we've talked about before as well, that we've noticed that Western thinking tends to be more linear in Eastern, more circular. And we've pointed out the key difference that left brain thinking corresponds to one type of thinking. separating either or kind of thinking, breaking things down. Hagle called this type of thinking verse, stunt in German or common understanding. Now the right brain, however, corresponds to our more holistic reasoning process and Hagle called that Vernon. In German. which corresponds to reason. Let me continue with. McClune cause this is interesting. Quote. They're developed in the west and only in the west, a group of innovations that constitute the basis of Western thought. These include, in addition to the alphabet, the Western alphabet codafide law, monotheism, abstract science, formal logic, and individualism. All of these innovations, including the alpha-beta Rosa within the very narrow geographic zone between the tigers Euphrates river system in the GNC. So within the very narrow timeframe between 2000 BC and 500 BC. We do not consider this to be an accident. Well, not suggesting a direct causal connection between the alphabet and the other inventions. We could claim all over that. The phonetic alphabet played a particularly dynamic role within this constellation of events. And provided the ground or framework for the mutual development. Are these innovations and quote. So McClune is pointing out that the left brain thinking may be linked. To several innovations in the west. He also notes though that, uh, the Chinese also had many notable, innovative achievements, including, and according to him now, metallurgy irrigation systems, animal harnesses, paper ink. Uh, printing the first movable type gunpowder rockets, porcelain and silk and quote. So. The key difference though, in cultures, I believe. Is one of an almost exclusive left-brain orientation in the west and the east being. Certainly more holistic. And I've certainly seen this firsthand by studying and working with the chain. Practically my entire adult life. Uh, just to remind you again, that the itching it's composed of. Um, the tick in, in yang lines and you. Through combinations of a solid and broken line. You come up with 64 hexagrams and hexagram is six lines. And each of these hexagrams is analyzed as a picture. Then when you look at the sixth, it looks. It looks like an abstract picture. And this produces the story of the hexagram and it can be used to answer your question and show you how this situation relates to your life. Now. Let's move forward a thousand years or so. And the invention of writing got more complex. The Greeks, interestingly were the first to add vowels to the letters of the somatic alphabet. I was not aware of this until I was doing research for this episode. The Greeks in fact, made the first phonetically complete alphabet. And we see what kind of impact this had on Greek culture, Greek society, and Greek philosophy. This is where, you know, Western philosophy began. Now after the, written word, the next greatest advance was the invention of the printing press. And this turbocharge things more than just the production distribution of books. Most scholars agree that the printing press is a major contributor to the creation of the modern nation state. America, the United States of America is a perfect example. We provide an interesting quote quote. In many narratives of American nationalism, both popular and academic. The United States begins in print. With the production dissemination and consumption of major printed texts, like common sense. The declaration of independence, newspaper, debate, debates over ratification. And the constitution itself in these narratives print plays a central role in the emergence of American nationalism. As Americans become Americans through acts of reading that connect them to other like-minded nationals and quote. The French revolution can be viewed very similarly. I think Hagle, certainly thought that way. And both revolutions began the trend for independent nation states governed by a constitution of free and equal citizens. And I know yes, freedom, the right to vote. Citizenship came later for certain groups of people in the United States and in another countries. Uh, but the printing press did allow the dissemination of thought of news in one language to one population or a nation can share it's one common narrative. They can share a common history. Because reading printed material is a solitary pursuit. The nation states also emphasis the worth of the individual. Uh, obviously there are different nation states, of course, but ideally the individual is free to practice their faith, have their own opinions. This is part of the basis is why they call them liberal democracies. in these liberal democracies. Back then. Politics along with sex was not discussed really in polite company. When people got together. As long as one of bade the law, what they thought and what they said was their business. I've been remember back. Years ago, growing up people. People really didn't care. What you, what you thought they want to know who, what your religion was or who your people were. Where'd you come from, particularly in America, because. You know, you read the German or French or English or, You know, come from some country. Where did you come from? Where'd your people come from, but that was about it. They didn't assume because if you came from somewhere that you thought a certain way or whatever, And it's interesting. You often heard the expression. It's a free country in the United States and then 19th and 20th centuries. Growing up in America. I certainly heard that a lot. And the, in the second half of the 20th century, But all this began to change with the coming of the electronic revolution. And it is interesting. That this fact is not even fully appreciated, even in our own day. Now. The beginning of the electronic communication revolution began with the Telegraph. But then really it was just a faster transmission. across long distances. And the telephone was invented in 1876. Now this then brought the auditory sense back to communication. You. Can I hear somebody speak? It was one-on-one communication though, at a distance. It wasn't mass communication. The world certainly became smaller as a result of the telephone. But it was essentially still the same world. And the telephone was then followed quickly by the invention of radio in 1895. Now generalized national communications could be produced in the auditory realm. This began the entrance of audio back into the world of left brain dominated visual world. As we've discussed here before. Radio had a very strong ability to reach people emotionally. In the first half of the 20th century, there's nothing like hearing a person's voice. You can hear their passions, many people like podcasts, those that are listening to my voice. It can be a. Better experience to listen to me talk than to read the words that I'm saying. And I also believe that that's one of the reasons why podcasts is so popular today. But going back to the 20th century. And it, the radio's impact on the country, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Hitler, all used radio very effectively to galvanize the countries and emotionally prepare them for war in ways that print books, newspapers could not. And very famous example is Franklin Delano. Roosevelt's fireside chats during, the great depression. World war II. Over radio Americans felt like he was sitting in the living room with them talking at over, uh, how things are going. Then television arrived on the scene. That was a big change. And the world now began getting information in a true non-linear manner. Television was visual and audio at the same time, it creates one impression. and it was a little blurry. So you could fill in a lot of the blanks. And in many ways, this resembled more, the way ancient tribes received their information in a more holistic manner. Now. Back in the fifties, I would say through the eighties, there were only a few major networks. Uh, he had three basically in the United States and they pretty much dominated what people saw and heard. So even though you had this new technology, And this new, non-linear visual, um, audio. device streaming at you, you still were. There was still one message going out to the people. And back then the television one television broadcast could reach. The country could reach vast majority of citizens. Uh, we all shared the same events. We shared the same history as a case in point 73 million Americans, 41% of the entire population. I watch the Beatles on the ed Sullivan show. When they first came to America in 1964, America was still one country back then. And even though. This was mass communication. television still had its own effects, including image oriented, telegenic politicians, people thought JFK was the first image oriented tele telegenic politician. You could possibly get away with less substance. If you were telegenic. we mentioned before in an episode hub people that listened to the Kennedy Nixon debate on radio thought Nixon won cause he was more substantial, but those that saw it on television, there was no question. Kennedy was the head charisma in magic. The, popularity of rock and roll, which was really introduced to America through television, Elvis Presley in the fifties, the Beatles in the sixties and the rolling stones. That showed a return to a more tribal form of music, which was brought about through that medium. And then of course, if you fast forward the. Even a bigger change occurred in the 1990s, I believe. There was an increase in the specialization and segmentation and media. There was the introduction of the internet. And during the 1990s, I believe. Wasn't didn't have in one day, but I would say over the decade began to become clear division, started to occur in society. And then. For example, the mainstream television networks and leading newspapers began to take a subtle, yet noticeable, more left leaning stand. So I'm feeling it was because a lot of them were located in New York. And people in the Midwest and the south. In the United States. Began to feel the, maybe they're not being spoken to. And then bias also slipped into the reporting of the news. And, it was felt that that would help viewership if they could be more provocative and, engage people more that way. Cable television came along and it provided many more television choices. there's several hundred and interesting in United States, there were several Hispanic television stations available on cable TV. They were entirely in Spanish. We're back in the eighties. When. Cable to be first came on. I thought that those Spanish channels would only last, maybe five, 10 years. When the recent immigrants from, um, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Latin America, when they would learn English and they start watching the English channel, but then that doesn't happen. th there still are several Spanish channels. And this allowed the Spanish culture to, to remain. And the assimilation did not occur to the same extent that it did with the earlier immigration. populations into, into the United States. And further graded, further fragmentation of the American culture. Talk radio became a big right wing news source with people like rush Limbaugh, providing an alternative conservative take on the news. Limbo developed a very strong national audience. people that he appealed to providing further division. And, you know, people look back. My generation, the baby boomers looked back to 1960s is that was the big change of new values came in. Nuverra's regarding women's rights, civil rights, sexual practices. But something else happened in 1990s. Which is a splitting of the country. I think the perfect example is us president, bill Clinton's. Sexual affair with a young intern, divided the nation as to whether this was just sex between consenting it. Dolls are outright workplace sexual malpractice. And that's when I first noticed that. The country. that I was a citizen. I was starting to move in very different directions. Uh, people within the country. The internet started to grow in popularity, which allowed people to seek out their own news sources. Competing cable news channels now offered a station for the right. And one for the left. Cable TV grew to over, as I said, 200 channels and the internet became ubiquitous and actually, uh, something that's absolutely necessary. to get information the news today. Newscasters realized that they got better ratings by playing to the extremes either to the right or to the left and, and not by, playing to the boring middle politicians realize the same thing too, that they could raise much more money by playing to the extreme elements of their party. The 30% on the right or the 30% on the left, then the 40% in the middle. Now something very profound happened as a result of all of this. Before the citizen of the nation state believed they were part of a country with some degree of commonality, gave them a sense of meeting. Now with the rapidly increased fragmentation immediate, there was no one big community with shared values. There was no more one big tent. To find meaning in one's life in the internet age, one was forced to join a tribe. to, to join a smaller section from which they could get their news share opinions. These trucks could be based on politics, religion, the arts values, almost anything. And importantly, people got recognition through the tribe. They got their recognition back. In today's world. It's not, it's not enough to say I'm recognized. Cause I'm a say I'm a Canadian now. What, what, what. What tribe people like to, I know people don't use the word drive, but I'm using it here. You understand what I mean? And people can belong to more than one time simultaneously. And there's another thing about tribal group. Think since it identifies itself with the beliefs and values of its own tribe, it now considers those that don't share those beliefs and values is the enemy. And this can lead to rank or hatred and even violence. It's no longer what you do. The cats it's your beliefs and values are what counts and what you think. And that's what's what's been happening. other tribes are now viewed as the enemy. And this has many negative consequences for today's nation state. when one party or tribe wins an election. They're viewed as the enemy, by the other party and tribe and so forth, it goes back and forth. Hagle actually foresaw this problem and referred to it as a knock that would need to be resolved. We. Provided that quote in an episode 48, but let me repeat it. It was pretty interesting in the short. He states at the end of the philosophy of history court, this collision is not noticed this problem is that with what G history has not occupied and whose solution it has to work out in the future end. Now let's move to the final section, this episode on Hagle. And I believe in thinking about all this, that. What I know about Hegel's philosophy that it can actually provide a way to address this increased polarization. Uh, thinking of Hagle, he himself certainly fits into the zeitgeists of the printed page. The book, that period of history, he wrote several books himself. He provided commentary and numerous others, He commented on all the classic philosophical texts. He was clearly a man of letters. Now it would have been expected to Hagle would have stayed in the, in his lane, in the linear left brain lane and composing his philosophy. But he did not, he went much further, and this is what I want to. Demonstrate. Let's get into it. Firstly Hagle practically invented the concept of othering and his famous passage of the Lordship bondage section in the phenomenology of spirit. Also known as the master slave dialectic. We did an entire episode on that. In episode 13 of the cunning of Geist. Many of you are familiar with it. And the way it is reconciled eventually is that both the Lord and the bondsman ended up with mutual recognition. Of each other. And this is generally how I see Hagle is not being worked out. I know it sounds simplistic, but I think this is, this is the answer. One in belonging to a tribe. Or a group one must accept disagreements, but also have mutual respect in and try to seek common ground. And. The key here though, I think is inhales two ways of thinking that I described earlier. And I think that's how this is possible. Uh, this can be obtained. The left brain common understanding, which is visually oriented, always separates and divides is the left brain that facing a loss of meaning in the nation state, due to new technologies manifest and other, and keeps coming. But analysts negatives about the other many of which are misrepresentations and exaggerations. And, you know, I have to say that's pretty much all you hear from both sides are misrepresentations and exaggerations today. The right brain reasoning is more holistic and an encumbrance is all the census to create a big picture. It comprehends the big picture. Now both sides are necessary as we discuss in episode 10, but the right brain sees the big picture and sets direction and purpose. The left brain sees the tactics to accomplish the goal. And the big picture of the right brain reasoning can see beyond the tribe. In fact, they can even see beyond the nation state. It can think globally. The name should state itself may pass away as a concept at some point in the future. We already live in a global electronic village or global living room, maybe a better analogy now. And then in the internet age. It may take us a while to recognize is landmass territories are no longer the most important thing. Resource allocation is global in nature, cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, and others are the current rage, which may further rewrote the power of the nation state when they lose the power to print money. Of course, this will all occur some time in the, in the future, in the way distant future. But the key takeaway from Hegel is this that we are never going to think all like. We have to find the identity and difference. If someone said, if everybody thinks the life and no one is thinking. What we can do is recognize and respect our common ability to think that we do share in common. And to see one species on this planet. That do have common goals. In fact, our common goals as human beings on planet earth, I believe far surpasses the various nouveau tribal differences that the left rein wants to continue to point to. And. And divide people in groups. We need to use both our right brains and our left brains, both reason and common understanding both for pneumonia and for stunt. This is how I believe Hagle offers an approach. To lead us from the doom and gloom of tribal wars. So to summarize. Western culture is currently dividing itself into different identity groups, tribes, which are increasingly at each other's throats. Not just on hatred for what the other group does, but hatred for what they say and hatred for how they think the internet, the latest step in the electronic revolution has certainly fueled this. The print age brought about the importance of the individual and the importance of the big tent nation state. But today is much different due to this new technology. And I believe that his galleon philosophy plants a way to address this. It's not some peace plan. It's not some simple solution, but it's a deeper way to view the individual, their roles, their groups, and their need for recognition and respect. And their relation to the entire planet. And to view the entire thing is an evolving process, which we're all part of Raul in the same boat. We need to combine both specialization and globalization. When you combine the individual and the collective. With differences, of course, but with mutual respect and mutual recognition. For common girls central. To the evolution of humanity on this planet. Well, that's it for this episode. I know it's been a rather long one, but hopefully interesting. Thank you so much for listening. Please follow the podcast, Facebook page at cutting of Geisler. I'll be listing all the references here And I will be posting a written transcript of this episode for your old school print types. As soon as I can get to it. And I also post relevant comments between episodes on this page. So be sure to check it out. And also please follow me on Twitter at cunning of Geist and be sure to like rate and review this podcast wherever you listen. And please tell your like-minded friends about it as well. Let's start our own tribe and feel free to share episodes on social media. And as I said before, please check out the Hagle study group on Facebook. If you're not already a member. Lots of top scholars are at that site and we have very interesting. And in-depth discussions. So this is Gregory Nowak. This is the cunning of Geist. See you next time.