TOP Quarterly Update #8: 03 April 2013
Dear Member,
Values are so important, so valuable, that you would think everyone would be clear about them. Children could be taught about how they work in primary school.
Instead, everyone prefers to speak about their favourite values—sustainability, equality, freedom, their religion &c. But unless you grasp what values are and what they do, you cannot handle them very well—instead they handle you! So values are as often the cause of strife and disrespect as productive of goodness and progress.
Yet goodness is what values are fundamentally about.
All the above is by way of introduction to the latest posted frameworks.
Framework Posting in «Your Better Self»
As promised, the frameworks, nested within , continue to be developed. Since the last newsletter, you can access the frameworks for a better communal existence,
and for how goodness is produced. The final framework in the series will be a Tree that I call «Bringing Goodness to Life».
To focus properly on goodness, it is essential to have clarity about values. So I have summarized the key features of in the goodness topics. You don't have to get into the details, but for those who wish to fully understand, TOP now provides free downloads of the relevant Chapters and Tables in my far-too-expensive text: Working with Values: Software of the Mind (1995).
By the way: do you disagree with some THEE propositions? Excellent—make your comment in the new Disqus facility on the relevant page. It's the only way forward.
Starting the TOP Studio
The TOP Studio has now been established on the website with 4 Rooms.
The Frameworks Room is for taxonomic material that is still in development—either in regard to formulation or to exposition. So comments via Disqus are particularly welcome.
■ . The Principal Typology within is posted because it is the basis for the frameworks within . So far only the Types are posted, but I will soon post the Typology Essentials Table and its implications. Then I will post my initial formulations for the Tree framework for
■ . The most significant finding, significant for you as well as for science and philosophy, is the direct relation between work and language: see the full picture here (if the link doesn't work, enter the Studio and navigate to the topic: "Language in the QHs"). If you are intrigued, read around it.
Most of my research and consultancy dealt with conventional formal organizations. Frameworks are now being posted for: •methods of managing, •structuring organizations, •management processes, •organising management in organizations, and •pressures in management.
I have also put effort into clarifying work within other domains e.g. scientific disciplines, societal institutions, spiritual traditions, family life. These domains are taxonomically located in what THEE terms a «Q-expansion» I want to discover formulations that will apply across all 7 domains (i.e. Q-hierarchies).
The Architecture Room is for my ideas and investigations into the structure of THEE. There is nothing much to see there yet. However, I have a string of mini-projects that I would like to post.
■ The first project will generalize and develop the finding that it is possible to force the oscillating duality of elements in a Primary Hierarchy to reverse. When that happens, the element becomes part of a different Primary Hierarchy. Recent investigations of this phenomenon revealed systematic features. The inquiry process also helped me clarify gaps in the 7 Primary Hierarchies. I won't try to summarize the findings here, but the patterns revealed are surprising and intriguing!
■ The second project will examine the Art Kleiner conjecture. I developed this in 2009 and confirmed it to my satisfaction in 20102011. However, it has a deeper architectural significance. My postulates about Q-structures are only supported by one example. This conjecture will simultaneously enable a second example and provide useful confirmation. As a bonus, the material is fascinating: it deals with how to develop social status and pursue self-interest in society. It helped me understand my position and others' too.
The Exercise Room now contains the former Games of THEE, and I will add other examples that put popular, interesting ideas into a THEE taxonomic perspective.
The Glossary Room is where the Glossary for THEE is being developed. This is a massive task which will go on for some time. In its unfinished state, it is more of a curiosity than a tool. Volunteer assistance is required to make it as useful as possible for us all.
Focus Shift
As the amount of taxonomic material increases, I find that my curiosity in how it all hangs together is growing.
You will see the results of this new focus in the Architecture Room and Exercise Room of the TOP Studio as just indicated.
A key element in my work has always been reading widely. I like comparing writings of social scientists, philosophers, and practitioners. It's partly necessary to ensure comprehensiveness and particularly important for academic integration. But I find that I no longer wish to master fields in that way, and so I look to others with a similar scientific commitment to take up this baton.
I want to spend more time getting to grips with the architecture. For this, it is necessary to have a feel for a wide variety of contents in many fields, and to have worked with many examples of the fundamental THEE forms. I want to inquire in a different way using my experience and accumulated discoveries.
This shift feels natural and right. It is a necessary precursor for coding THEE in a suitable computer language to facilitate its use and study. And it will surely generate conventional scientific hypotheses, possibly neurobiological.
Blogging Continues ...
There has been rather little feedback and so I have decided to blog on a more occasional basis in the future. Since the last newsletter, I have written informally about:
Spiritual implications of THEE:
Goodwill and the Emergence of Spiritual Elements in the Taxonomy
Current investigations into work and willingness:
Penetrating the Mysteries of Free Will and Being Human
Getting Help: When the Pupil is Ready
Language, Reality and Work: The Joy of Wittgenstein
And, once again, why we need taxonomic inquiry:
Psychosocial Reality Stands on Two Legs
Mind over Brain: It's Our Only Hope when it comes to Eating
That's it till next time.
Take care and thanks for your support.
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