p.62

What is Differentiation? --

a simple formula to understand the “DNA” of differentiation

Differentiation is the generation of difference.

The Diverse differentiates and this differentiation differentiates on and on and on. This is its essence. From this process comes variety, diversity, detail, parts, individuality, change, complexity, particularity, conflict, duality, the new, evolution, chaos, splitting, the creative, inner and outer, range, simultaneity, non-hierarchy, the indeterminate, the vague, the inefficient, the wandering, the unstable, the flexible, the non-uniform, the independent and so much more.

The Diverse is diverse in space, expressed as endless forms and things, moving in infinite space; and diverse in time, expressed as ongoing evolution, and also the simultaneous existence of one phenomenon at different stages of development.

In this short piece, a simple way of differentiation is proposed, it will be reduced to 4 easy to understand thought elements.

(This schema is for teaching purposes only. It is not meant to become a fixed table or a dogma, it is merely a handy tool. The best defense against inflexibility is to stay creative and open to experience, think in terms of a long list that is constantly evolving, recombining and expanding.)

Here are the four categories:

  • DUALITY: Practical duality, Value duality

  • EVOLUTION: Evolution, the new, Progressive development, creativity, wandering, non-logical-linear

  • CHAOS: Chaos, unstability, disconnection

  • INDIVIDUATION: Individuation, difference, simultaneous evolution as individuation, richness, range, complexity, independent, non-uniform

I-D-E-C then are the elements of differentiation, the building blocks, the DNA if you will. A good thesis will try to incorporate these various elements in some sort of combination.

Let us look briefly at each element here:

Under Duality we have practical duality and value duality. The practical duality includes things like outer/inner, theory/practice, physical/ethereal, rest/work, center/periphery, individual/group and so on. These are basic dualities of life that we have to manage. The value duality is a duality of opposites but it is very different from the practical duality. This duality is impractical or idealistic because its dualities includes pairs such as good/bad, right/wrong, true/false, higher/lower, better/worse, beautiful/ugly and etc. These dualities or dialectics are about our values, our ideals, our goals, our strivings. See articles: The Evolutionary Good; The Dynamics of Duality, Dialectic or Tao)

Evolution has a long list of themes. We have process or development of something that yields a new thing, twists and turns. We have the “new” arising in this process. We have “creativity” as an essential dynamic in this process, producing new things, producing differentiation itself. Evolution is non-linear because it is not deductive, it does not copy models, it wanders about, explores, encounters novel things.

Chaos is another category of differentiation here. Chaos is clear enough, order is sundered by differentiation, it creates a state of disconnection, instability, atomism etc.

Individuation produces difference, it creates new individual things. It creates the richness and range of the world. Individuation produces independence. It creates the non-uniform, the different and unique and so on. Also individuation acts upon evolution and produces simultaneous evolutions of the same thing at different stages like children/adults, teachers/students etc. When applied to dualities it says each duality in the concrete is specific.

The applications of this many behaviors and dynamics is vast. We can use them to understand problems and issues in the cosmos, Nature, society and the mind.

IDEC, Individuation, Duality, Evolution and Chaos are the building blocks of diverse thinking and method. In some combination a complete thinker will be using all of these elements. Of course, each person or doctrine or culture will have a bias, and they will prefer some aspect, one the DNA elements over the others.

If you look at religions and philosophies of the past, you will see that they are using these methods and perspectives in differing combinations.

So the I-D-E-C are building blocks of the DNA of Diverse philosophy, they contribute to a strand a genetic strand of thinking, they are the core vocabulary of a theoretical statement.

Now that we understand this we can approach a second issue of diverse philosophy, and that is, “Undifferentiation”

The secondary and minor force in the cosmos is that of “undifferentiation" or "undiff". Undifferentiation is composed of organization, stasis-stability, similarity, commonality, replication, deduction, hierarchy, thinking in terms of singular causes or "essences" and more. Undifferentiation is opposite to differentiation. It is a necessary power and law in the Diverse

Undifferentiation creates organization, structure and stability in the cosmos and in Humanity. Undifferentiation is both objective and subjective, in Nature and within people. Undifferentiation creates living systems, social institutions, education, government, economics and more. So undifferentiation is a highly important phenomenon. But is the secondary or minor force because differentiation constantly challenges the stable products of undifferentiation with its evolution, duality, chaos and individuation.

Using the IDEC scheme we can simply say that undifferentiation if the opposite of differentiation and thus its components are Negative I, Negative D, Negative E, Negative C --- or -I, -D, -E, -C

Undifferentiation operates by opposing individuation with similarity, models, commonality.

It opposes duality by saying there is none, it is all one thing.

It opposes evolution by saying we need a stop to change and the new.

It opposes chaos by saying we need structure, stability, relationship, connection.

Thus we have plus IDEC and minus IDEC as two sets of categories in thought system for diverse philosophy.

And so these two sets of DNA, one positive, one negative work together to form things that are alive, form structures with a dynamic, form unity that has difference within it.

The result of these two DNAs is a Diverse Whole!

So we have two strands of DNA, one positive, one negative that in combination create the life of our thought and the life of the world.

Hopefully this schema is helpful in understanding the complexities of diverse philosophy.

Cage Innoye

Axxiad News