Radical Functionalist

Sorry I haven't updated. I've been very busy. No promises on updates, but I'll get them up as I produce them or to continue the discussion. As a side note, Al Gore's new book, The Assault on Reason, ties in a lot with what has been bothering me. Seems I'm not the only one disturbed by the death of critical thought.

Here's something to chew on:

Radical Functionalist


Introduction

In witnessing the sudden collapse of reason and critical thinking, I have come to a conclucsion not unusual in the course of history. It is said there is nothing new under the Sun. Rejection of reason in favor of a comfortable lie is a historical pattern that is so oft repeated as to be comfortable for many people, like an old well-worn slipper.
I find myself unable to join those vast ranks of the willfully ignorant, however. Something in my fundamental makeup requires that I assertively reject this condition.
It is from this that I have determined to rejoin the ancient conflict between passion and reason, on the side of reason. To this I bring an old idea reconfigured in a new manner, a meme rebuilt to thrive in the current environment.
And so, reader, I give you Radical Functionalism.

Radical

To be called a radical is often considered derogatory or insulting. Radicals are often assocated with words like angry, short-sighted, or even anarchist.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines radical as:


adj.
1 Arising from or going to a root or source; basic: proposed a radical solution to the problem.
2 Departing markedly from the usual or customary; extreme: radical opinions on education.
3 Favoring or effecting fundamental or revolutionary changes in current practices, conditions, or institutions: radical political views.
4 Linguistics. Of or being a root: a radical form.
5 Botany. Arising from the root or its crown: radical leaves.
6 Slang. Excellent; wonderful.

What a great word.
Here we have a concept that means both departing from the normal, and yet cutting away all needless complexity and getting to the basic heart of a matter. A word that says that we favor fundamental changes in current practices, and yet also indicates growth from the roots.
And, of course, it also means "wonderful."
So don't act surprised if we bask in being called radical, if we embrace it in all of its meanings. No, don't be surprised if we lift a flag and raise our voices in a shout to shake the very heavens themselves as we announce to the world, yes, we are radical.
For in being radical, we are alive.

Functionalist

Ah, but to be radical alone is not enough, for we live in an objective reality, and we must find our way in life. We must do what it takes not only to survive, but to thrive. We must do that which needs doing, and do it well.
Functionalism means we do not shrink from this duty, we use our minds and our reason to determine the best way of doing something, as dictated by our goals and our values, and then we do it.
As we are radicals, we question everything with no limits. As we are functionalists, we pay attention to the answers even if they aren't the ones we want to hear.

Foundations

The foundation of Radical Functionalism (hereafter refered to as RF, or ref) is self knowledge. The ancient wisdom tells us: first, know thyself. And so we must, if we are to live happy, fulfilling lives. To know ourselves, we must first understand our values and our needs.

Foundations: Values

Our values are the core of our being. We must understand them, cutting away all that our society, our upbringing, our culture, and our personality have layered on top of them. We must look within and find that which lies at the core of not only who we are, but who we want to be.
A value is that which forms the basis for all of our opinions, beliefs, and actions. From the core of our values, both core and peripheral, come the arguments through which we make decisions.
A value is a statement of meaning and worth. It is internal to each of us, and guides us in every thought and deed. Some values are simple. Some people believe that property, the possession of things, is the central value from which all morality flows. Some believe life at any cost is the ultimate value. Values are not correct or incorrect, they are by definition subjective choices.
A value can be complex and contextual. An example might be "leave the world a better place than it was when you arrived by increasing human happiness and decreasing human suffering." This is no less valid than the simple value statements of life and property above, and no more valid. Those who agree with it will find it more noble, those who find the property value to be their core value will disagree. Even still, however, people with different values can often live together in spite of their disagreements, as long as their central values are not put into direct conflict. From this principle civilizations are built.
Sometimes, we discover a dissonance, a stark difference between the values we truly have, the values we wish to have, and the values we think we're supposed to have. Sometimes who we are, who we want to be, and who we think we should be are three different things.
No person can discover true happiness without coming to a peaceful understanding in this inner conflict.
Perhaps our true core value is selfish gain, yet we long to have a core value of making our families happy, and yet the culture we live in says that our core value should be selfless sacrifice for our fellow humans.
How can a person reconcile these things?
To strive for personal change and growth is as natural as breathing. To better oneself is noble, for by enriching our own internal lives we enrich the lives of those around us. Sudden change, however, is not only dangerous, it is often impermanent. True and healthy change takes place over years.
Babies do not become adults in the course of a night.
And this is the lesson to be learned: simply because we realize our core value we have is not the one we wish to have is not a reason to punish ourselves. Instead, we should celebrate, for we have taken a step on the way of change.
And change is life.

Take a moment, smile, and ponder the beauty around you.

Awareness is a gift from our ancestors, from the first struggling cells floating in the ocean to our parents, who through whatever means concieved us and gave this frail matter a chance to be self aware, to think and reason and feel.

Perhaps our core value and the value we wish to have are in harmony, but there is a third challenge we must pass. We must understand what value those around us would have us live by, and understand why. We must decide if this is a value we can take as our own, either as a core value or a peripheral value, or if we must reject it.
To go against the herd is often difficult, but if we do so in order to embrace our true values, or in order to strive for the values we wish to have, then the effort will be worthwhile and rewarding, for we will know that we do the right thing.

Peripheral values are those that we hold, but that will always be subordinate to our core values. When forced to choose between our core values and our peripheral values, the choice is often (though not always) simple.
Values are creations of our subjective mind, however, and sometimes they are not in conflict with other values but with the objective reality of needs. It is at this intersection that we find ethics.

Foundations: Needs

Sometimes values arise from needs. Property rights lose value when one person is starving and the other has bread. All but the most stubborn will resort to stealing bread if their family is starving, even if they would not steal to feed themselves.
Needs temper the implementation of our values. Perhaps our core value is that of life at any cost, and so we oppose abortion, birth control, euthenasia, and any unneccesary risk to life and limb (as those found in many sports). This, however, is tempered by our need to continue our own life, to provide food, shelter, and medicine for our loved ones, and so on. Thus we may pursue our value indirectly, by working hard at a good job and donating money to a cause that furthers our values. Even then, some amount of money will be held back to maintain our own lives. We do this because if we do not meet our needs, our overall impact over the course of our lifetime is lessened. We choose to make small efforts over a long peroid of time instead of a single big push because we believe that in the long term, the sum of those smaller efforts will better further our value of life.
For this same reason, we do not give all of our money to the unemployed homeless, we do not surrender our houses and our clothing to those who have neither.
At times we feel guilty, for our short term immidate actions to satisfy actual needs lead us to push even our core values to the periphery. The functionalist, however, understands that true furtherance of values sometimes requires us to serve our needs first, and our values second.
The risk of this is that we begin to lose sight of our values. By subverting our values for a need, it becomes easy to turn the means to meeting that need into our new core value. It is in this way that people lose their way and become obessed with things which they do not truly value. Because they have lost sight of their core value, they can never find happiness, and thus they begin to destroy themselves from within.
Ancient wisdom tells us that a camel will sooner pass through the eye of a needle than a rich person will find happiness.
This is because most humans do not value wealth more than they value smiple things like the happiness of their family, or the love of their partner.
The balance must be struck. Needs must be met, but the means to meeting needs must never be seen as a core value, they must be kept firmly in our minds as a means to the ends of furthering our values. When means become the ends, we place happiness forver out of reach.
There is also the risk of letting the ends justify any means, and yet we tend to ignore the long term costs of subverting our values in order to meet a percieved need. Often, when we subvert a value to meet a need, while that need is met in the short term we create for ourselves greater needs in the long term, which require us to subvert our values again and again, in a cycle that becomes impossible to break without some sacrifice, one that is often greater than what we gained.
When our family is starving, it might be justified to steal bread, but only if we've first gone to the person who has the bread and asked, first, what need of the baker we might meet in order that they meet our need for bread, or perhaps looked to see if there is a way we can bake bread for ourselves.
Sacrificing a value to meet a need must always be the last resort, or we work against ourselves for no true gain.

Radical Questions, Functional Answers

It is at this meeting of needs and values that we find the concept of Radical Functionalism.
When we find ourselves forced to make a choice, we must first discern what our true choices are. Often, a problem will be presented to us along with a selection of answers, as if we only had a few paths to choose.
As radicals, we reject this and use our reason to analyze the situation, and then discern what answers to the problem further our values. Then we choose that which we prefer, based on the interaction of our core values, peripheral values, and our needs.