1. The basic point of this paper is that our society has proved itself unable to design
any
frameworks, whether conceptual or organizational, in which disagreement is an accepted,
permanent integral feature.
The frameworks now used era all based on the assumption that agreement and consensus
is the
essential element an which any viable organization depends.
As a consequence disagreement can never be tolerated except through processes designed
to
eliminate it (e.g. conflict resolution, mediation, arbitration).
These of course include competition and violent conflict, in which victory, through
the downfall of
the opponent, is sought.
2. It would seem that all intellectual and political effort is directed either toward
achieving some
measure of agreement or toward manipulating any disagreement to the advantage of one party so
that the disagreement is suppressed and a particular "agreement" prevails.
Even arguments for a "moral equivalent of war" are based on the necessity
of believing that a victor
can emerge and eliminate the disagreement.
3. Perhaps the most tragic consequence is the amount of effort devoted to the illusion
of "peace" in
which disagreement is somehow absent, inactive or without functional significance.
Every item of evidence indicates the contrary - unless strategies based or the imposition
of a set of
values are considered acceptable, whether or not they are viable as a result of the imposition
process.
5. The immediate relevance of this argument can be seem from the following quotations
concerning
the recent Cancun conference.
Before: "The obvious needs saying, because the biggest threat to next week's
summit of rich and
poor countries in Cancun, Mexico, comes not from apathy but from too-high hopes., So start with
two things that Cancun will not achieve.
First, it will shun the sort of Rubik-cube completeness in which industrial countries
agree, eg. to
reduce tariffs on third-world imports in return for, eg., oil producers' promises to maintain a steady
supply of oil.
Great hopes are once again placed on the slender possibility that something of major
significance
could emerge from the new round of "global negotiations" which it was tentatively' "agreed
should
be held in the future.
A tragic example is the vast body of resolutions generated by United Nations bodies
and almost
immediately forgotten.
Again it is not the continuity from past-to-present-to-future which provides significant
information,
but rather the dynamics arising from the disagreement of past and present positions (as epitomized
by generation "gaps") The nostalgia occasionally encountered for a "golden age"
in the past, and
the hopes projected onto some utopian ideal in the future have a common weakness.
This has effectively generated a kind of conspiracy of consensus, based an mutual
tolerance, and a
horror of disagreement which has progressively under- the original thrust.
12. Because a sense of dynamism would seem to be a fundamental nee,!, the reality
of groups
making up the "peace movement", for example, is one of extensive fragmentation.
The goal of such movements is to eliminate "inequality".
"Equality" is well-implanted as an ideal, hut indicators of its universal
non-achievement are all too
evident.
In both cases considerable difficulty is experienced with disagreement giving rise
to schisms which
in the religion case may be labelled "heresies".
These give rise to violent exercises in suppression.
It is only very recently that the study of discontinuity has proved -1 possible or
admissible in
mathematics as catastrophe theory [3], despite the general nature of the problem and the practical
value of the results to natural and social sciences.
It is the only way to ensure a shared self-consciousness about limited theory as to
the nature of
social dynamics, about limited data for testing theory, and hence about our limited ability to control
our situation well enough to expect to be successful more often than not".
20. The problem of handling disagreement is also evident in the design of legislative
assemblies for
complex societies.
This may be considered an indication that exposure to disagreement is actively avoided
there:
opposition is forbidden or suppressed.
1. It is the philosopher of science Paul Feyerabend who hap recently drawn attention,
dramatically
to the manner in which science-as-practised suppresses disagreement in a somewhat desperate
search for the single method and the ultimate theory (4).
"Such a field study of science reveals that, while some scientists may proceed
as described, the
great majority follow a different path.
He considers that this massive dogmatism is not just a fact but also has a most important
function.
"In the preceding chapters, which are rough sketches of an anthropological study
of particular
episodes, it has emerged that science is always full of lacunae and contradictions, that ignorance,
pigheadedness, reliance on prejudice, lying, far from impeding the forward march of knowledge are
essential presuppositions of it and that the traditional virtues of precision, consistency, "honesty",
respect for facts, maximum knowledge under given circumstances, if practised with determination,
may bring it to a standstill.
It has also emerged that logical principles not only play a much smaller role in the
(argumentative
and non- argumentative) moves that advance science, but that attempt to enforce them universally
would seriously impede science."
3. He considers that the belief that science has found some special method is simply
a fairy-tale.
"But the fairy-tale is false, as we have seen.
There is no special method that guarantees success or makes it probable.
Scientists do not solve problems because they possess a magic want-methodology, or
a theory of
rationality - but because they have studied a problem for a lone, time, because they know the
situation fairly well, because they are not too dumb (though that is rather doubtful nowadays when
almost anyone can become a scientist), and because the excesses of one scientific school are
almost always balanced by the excesses of Some other school.
(Besides, scientists only rarely solve their problems, they make lots of mistakes,
and many of their
solutions are quite useless)". (4, p. 302)
"Basically there is hardly any difference between the process that leads to the
announcement of a
new scientific law and the process preceding passage of a new law in society: one informs either
all citizens or those immediately concerned, one collects 'facts' and prejudices, one discusses the
matter, and one finally votes.
But while a democracy makes some effort to explain the process so that everyone can
understand
it, scientists either conceal it, or bend it, to make it fit their sectarian interests."
"No scientist will admit that voting plays a role in his subject.
Lawyers show again and again that an expert does not know what he is talking about.
Scientists, especially physicians, frequently come to different results so that it
is up to the relatives
of the sick person (or the inhabitants of a certain area) to decide by vote about the procedure to be
adopted.
8. It is ironical that, the avoidance by scientists disagreement, as described above,
and the
scientific dedication to the elimination of discrepancies in theory, are complemented by the deep
disagreement amongst philosophers of science concerning the nature of the scientific process
itself.
At the same time, it is evident that all contact with the world has been lost and
that the stability
achieved, the semblance of absolute truth, is nothing but the result of an absolute conformism.
For how can we possibly test, or improve upon, the truth of a theory if it is built
in such a manner
that any conceivable event can be described, and explained, in terms of its principles?
It enforces an unenlightened conformism, and speaks of truth; it leads to a deterioration
of
intellectual capabilities, of the power of imagination, and speaks of deep insight; it destroys the
most precious gift of the young - their tremendous power of imagination, and speaks of education."
Plutarch, or Diogenes Laertius and not Dirac, or von Neumann are the models for presenting
a
knowledge of this kind in which the history of a science becomes an inseparable part of the
science itself - it is essential for its further development as well as for giving content to the theories
it contains at any particular moment.
"Incommensurability, which I shall discuss next, is closely connected with the
question of the
rationality of science.
Indeed one of the most general objections not merely to the use of incommensurable
theories but
even to the idea that there are such theories to be found in the history of science is the fear that
they would severely restrict the efficacy o traditional, non-dialectical argument."
He gives examples of statements which play an important role in established scientific
disciplines
and which are observationally adequate only if they are selfcontradictory.
This will further reinforce the belief in the uniqueness of the accepted theory and
in the futility of any
account that proceeds in a different manner ...
At the same time it is evident, an the basis of our considerations, that this appearance
of success
cannot in the least be regarded as a sign of truth and correspondence with I nature ...
In other words, the suspicion arises that this alleged success is due to the fact
that the theory,
when extended beyond its starting point, was turned into a rigid ideology".
"General education should prepare a citizen to choose between the standards,
or to find his way in
a society that contains groups committed to various standards but it must under no condition bond
his mind so that it conforms to the standards of one particular group.
The change of perspective makes it clear that there are many ways of ordering the
world that
surrounds us, that the hated constraints of one set of standards may be broken by freely accepting
standards of a different kind, and that there is no need to reject all order and to allow oneself to
be
reduced to a whining stream of consciousness."
"To sum up: in so far as the methodology of research pro- is "rational".
in so far as it differs from anarchism, it is not "rational Even a complete and
unquestioning
acceptance of this methodology Hoes not create any problem for an anarchist who certainly does
not deny that methodological rules may be and usually are enforced by threats, intimidation,
deception.
This, after all, is one of the reasons why he mobilizes (not counter-arguments but)
counter-forces to
overcome the restrictions imposed by the rules."
"Always remember that the demonstrations and the rhetorics used do not express
any "deep
convictions" of mine.
An anarchist is like an undercover agent who plays the game of Reason in order to
undercut the
authority of Reason (Truth, Honesty, Justice, and so on)."
5. Feyeraband takes us to the very useful point at which it is possible to say that
"disagreement is
OKI' and that scientific progress might be impossible if imperfections were eliminated (41 p. 255).
6. The most fruitful guide to further understanding of disagreement should be found
in writings on
dialectics, which were clearly of value to Fayerabend.
"Ce faisant ils obéissaient à un grand principe général do la dialectique: la
négativité.
La dialectique est le produit d'une lutte ininterrompue contre les conceptions adverses.
Elle se définit négativement par ce contre quoi elle s'oppose".
Elles sont, mais Ia vérité de leur être est qu'elles sont finies, qu'elles ont une
fin.
objectivité de l'examen (pas des examples, pas des digressions, mais Ia chose an elle-même).
tout l'ensemble des rapports multiples at divers de cette chose aux autres.
Ie développement de cette chose (respective phénomène), son mouvement propre sa vie
propre.
Ia chose (le phénnomène, etc) comme somme et unité des contraires.
union de l'analyse at de Is synthèse, séparation des différentes parties et réunion,
totalisation de
ces parties ensemble.
les rapports de chaque chose (phénomène, etc) non seulement sont multiples et divers,
mais
universels, Chaque chose (phénomène, processus, etc) est liée à chaque autre.
construction of previously non-existing interdependencies between two systems considered
either
as opposed or as strangers to each other, and which are thus integrated into a new totality; whose
properties exceed them.
It does not clarify the nature of the psycho-social forms to which disagreement can
give rise in the
present, it merely affirms that they are necessarily temporary.
Development for the individual is a series of separations which give rise to a qualitatively
different
sense of unity.
This is the most important clu to beer in mind in our effort to understand the Rg
Vedic conception
and use of Language and of languages.
From this acoustical phenomenon, the number 2 acquires its "female" status;
it defines invariantly
the octave matrix within which all tones come to birth.
It is man's yearning for this impossible agreement which introduced a hierarchy of
values into the
number field.
For our ancestors, the essence of the world and of the numbers which interpreted that
world was
sound, not substance, and that world was rife with disagreement among an endless number of
possible structures ...
Language grounded in music is grounded thereby on context dependency; any tone can
have any
possible relation to other tones, and the shift from one tone to another, which alone makes melody
possible, is a shift in perspective which the singer himself embodies.
18. The previous point would appear to indicate that the deficiency of dialectics
in understanding
disagreement arises whenever some stability is required for disagreement sets higher than the
threefold by which it is characterized (e.g. thesis, antithesis, synthesis).
This is clearly stated by Arthur Young: "But when the stimulus causes wrong action
and the result
is not achieved, the (fourfold) learning cycle becomes necessary.
The most interesting development in this direction is that arising from the impact
of quantum theory
an the conceptual bases for the classification of knowledge (15), especially that of P A Heelan (16)
who is concerned with incompatible frameworks, and with complementary frameworks and
dialectical development.
"The context of assumptions in which I am working comprises those counter-positions
to classical
logical empiricism, established by such authors as N R Hanson, P K Feyerabend and T 5 Kuhn,
such as the absence of any hard distinction between observational and theoretical language, the
validity of multiple explanatory viewpoints, the existence of both continuous trajectories of theory
development and discontinuous trajectories representing revolutionary episodes in the history of
science or culture."
21. Paradox is implicit in the approach of Feyerabend and Heelan, but can it be made
paradoxically explicit?
It is strange that the absence of humour from the development of psycho-social organization
is not
a cause for comment given its fundamental importance to human beings, even in political life.
Such a context might then prove more appropriate for the dialectic process.
22. The remainder of this paper explores the possibility of generating a pattern of
progressively
more differentiated disagreements as a basis for a more appropriate manner of psycho-social
organization.
1.1 The design of any text concerning method immediately raises the question as to
whether that
design will facilitate or hinder implementation of any insights embodied in the text.
1 .2 In recognition of this problem, the design of the "method" outlined
here emerges as the result
of the application of a series of constraints.
Without such explicit constraints, any text on method is free to meander in an unstructured
way
through hundreds of paragraphs of inoperable statements.
1.3 The intent is therefore to establish a constraint framework such that different
kinds of
development discussed can be effectively distinguished whilst at the some time clarifying why
those we do not happen to favour appear disagreeable and essentially unjustifiable, if not
incomprehensible.
1.4 The aim is therefore to achieve an optimum degree of congruence or isomorphism
between
statements relevant to psycho-social reality, methods relevant to the transformation of that reality,
and structures designed to implement such methods.
Instead of emerging only in the dynamics of the debate between adherents of methods,
disagreement is thus "internalized" as an explicit structuring device in the design of the
text.
When a particular probability is actualized (i.e. debate position is taken), the wave
function
"collapses" (ie no other statements are relevant in that context).
3.1 Unless they are identical, members of a set necessarily differ and this difference
may be
interpreted as "disagreement".
3.4 It is the presence of this combination of maximal disagreement with an underlying
commonality, or relationship between set elements, which constitutes the third constraint.
4.3 If further matching statements are required to clarify the methods, these should
be combined in
one or more other sets each complete in its own way.
It is highly probable that the application of the method will also, for example, at
some point involve
an explicit polarization between two complementary approaches or considerations, thus
constituting a 2-element set requiring some form of mediation governed by statements in a 3-
element set.
A hierarchy necessarily emerges with concerns relating to the 1-element set "at
the top".
5.6. The set associated with a given number N effectively gives rise to a range of
N-"person'' games
as an organizational, management, coordination or strategy problem.
A response is that most social science texts avoid the issue of how systematically
their arguments
need to be structured to render explicit as many relationships between statements as is feasible.
However, given the design of the set, each operator would be in maximal opposition
to the other
operators in the same set.
7.4 If such sets of counteracting methods are to be designed, the question is how
much
incompatibility can be effectively built into operators without destroying the basis for grouping them
as a set?
And yet the more they are incompatible, the greater the probability that they will
be able to
"contain" the complexity of conditions to which they are applied (cf. Ashby's Law, also the
gene
pool concept).
9.1 Although previous constraints have emphasized the importance of maximal-incompatibility
consistent with set formation, they fail to allow for a specific openness to the risks and hazards of
real-world processes.
10.1 Although the number pattern ensures a formal relationship between the sets, a
further
constraint is introduced to ensure that there is consistency between the contents of different sets.
11.1 Although a previous constraint requires that the set element have a transformative
dimension,
a further constraint is required to ensure that such operations are important to any isomorphic
management process.
12. 2 A further constraint can be useful, introduced to require that the set elements
be conceived in
such a way, that there is harmonic reinforcement between elements in different sets.
1. In order to generate such an integrated multi-set grouping of operational statements
it is of
course vital to have a rich variety of source material an possible content.
Such material was collected for an earlier paper (18) and tentatively ordered there
according to the
number of elements in the sets in question.
The contents of that paper are given here as Annex 1, as an indication of the variety
of material.
"L'indépendance du substrat: L'idée essentielle de notre théorie, à savoir qu'une
certaine
compréhension des processus morphogénétiques est possible sans avoir recours aux propriétés
spéciales au substrat des formes, ou à la nature des forces agissantes, pourra sembler difficile à
admettre, surtout de Is part d'expérimentateurs habitués à tailler dans le vif, et continuellement en
lutte avec une réalité qui leur résiste.
L'idée cependant n'est pas nouvelle, et on Ia trouve, formulée presque explicitement,
dans le traité
classique de d'Arcy Thompson On Growth and Form; mais les idées de ce grand visionnaire
étaient trop an avance sur leur temps pour s'imposer; exprimées souvent d'une manière trop
naivement géométrique, il leur manquait d'ailleurs une justification mathématique et dynamique que
seules les recherches récentes pourront leur donner ...
On m'objectera qu'ici j'ai comparé l'incomparable, an mettant sur Ie même plan un
processus
biologique d'une part, et un processus de la nature inanimée d'autre part.
Précisément, cette comparaison fera sentir un point important, dont peu de gens sont
conscients:
à savoir que la morphogenèse en nature inanimée est moins bien connue at tout aussi peu
comprise que la morphogenèse des êtres vivants; cette dernière a attiré l'attention des biologistes
depuis plusieurs siècles ...
Given the variety of emphases of sets of an equivalent number of elements, this process
of
generation necessarily involved non-logical operations, especially since the intention was to
maximize the incompatibility between the elements in any given set.
The problem was, using the constraints as guidelines to generate elements of an equivalent
set at
an appropriate level of abstraction.
5. For each set an underlying relationship or theme is common to each element.
2. Prior to, or during, the tuning process itself it will be necessary to sharpen
up the sets to a
greater extent.
4. The tuning process is necessary to overcome the problem of the awkwardness of the
individual
statements.
In effect by shifting the emphasis according to any of the above scales, there is
a shift through the
set of synonyms used to generate the set.
9. At this preliminary stage, it is preferable to assess the value of the approach
an the basis of the
internal structure and consistency of the scheme.
The 2-operator merely dichotomizes each element in a set, elaborating on a common
point.
However a set with 2 as a factor establishes an unresolved polarity which can only
be handled in an
operational setting by introducing a new perspective (the set elements + 1) from which the polarity
can be viewed and balanced.
In an earlier paper (21), it was suggested that oscillation or resonance between two
or more polar
positions was essential to significant integration or qualitative transformation.
13. "Disagreement" as it has been discussed here, and allowed to emerge
in the generated sets
has not been clearly defined.
This is because the definition is implicit in the 2-level set.
15. Each set is a container for a different kind of disagreement.
Each can also be used to highlight what can go wrong when working with operators at
that level,
namely the characteristic errors for that level of operation.
4. The awkwardness of the statements at present draws attention to the basic problem
of how to
condense qualitative complexes.
The solution in traditional cultures of projecting them onto gods or demons (about
whom stories
could be told to bring out those qualities) was a good way of transforming the problem.
5. As designed the scheme is not "ideal" in the sense which is now so easily
condemned.
No set element is imposed, since as a hierarchy of paradoxes the problem of comprehension
is
central.
Freedom to choose between a plurality of competing concept schemes each with overdefined
concepts, namely the conventional approach.
Here the individual, once the choice of scheme has been made, has no further freedom,
because
the concepts within the scheme must be accepted as they are defined.
Freedom to choose how to understand within a single concept scheme composed of underdefined,
concepts whose significance may be partially associated to those of other schemes seen as non-
competing.
Here the individual is constantly challenged with the freedom to understand particular
concepts in
some more significant manner in the light of the concept set within which it is embedded.
6. The generation of these sets has been approached as a design problem in which constraints
are
necessary and must be creatively selected ().
It is possible that the constraints could be refined as part of the tuning process.
7. It might be supposed that the use of any number pattern as a constraint on the
ordering of social
relations is quite arbitrary.
There are however number-bound constraints as psychologists and psychoanalysts have
shown.
8. The basic question raised, as to whether there was any pattern in the present to
the ancillary
processes to which a dialectical confrontation gives rise, is answered affirmatively.
The sets show how the level of articulated disagreement can be increased to produce
the level of
differentiation capable of sustaining a non-homogenized society.
The material forming the basis of this experiment (and used to construct Annex 2)
was originally
presented in a document entitled: Patterns of N-foldness; comparison of integrated multiset
concept schemes as forms of presentation (14).
Annex 1: Geometry of Meaning: This Is a modern effort to order a complex pattern of
information on
change and development In the light of physical concepts of dimensionality and control.
Annex 2: Book of Changes: This is the 3000-year old Chinese I Ching which is conceived
as
encoding the complex pattern of changes in physical and social phenomena.
Annex 7: Tonal patterns of Rg Veda chanted poetry: The Rg Veda is, in terms of survival
over 4000
years, the most successful active communication vehicle.
Art of colour: Artists achieve certain visual effects by selecting Intuitively amongst
a range governed
by a perception-oriented concept scheme distinct from the colour preoccupations of physicists and
chemists.
Annex 12: Language and transformational-generative grammars: Language itself should
be rich in
concept schemes which are themselves a form of language.
This annex, unlike the others, considers aspects of current thinking which have rendered
superficial
the traditional concept sets in this area.
Annex 14: Periodic classification of chemical elements: This fundamental scheme is
included
because of the comprehensibility of the pattern goverrning the complexity of the information ordered.
Annex 15: Systematics: This modern scheme, formulated by a philosopher, is included
because of
the variety of phenomena it encompasses and the leads It offers to understanding number-governed
patterning complexity.
Annex 18: Polygons and polyhedra: This annex indicates the sets of polygons and polyhedra.
Liberation of integration; pattern, oscillation, harmony and embodiment.
1. My Name is Andreas
