Naturalistic Theory
The 6,000-Year Ontohistory of Civilization
How to read the ontohistorical sequence →
Civilization suppresses relational being through two intertwined mechanisms. Across six millennia, they progressively transform physical reality, the psyche and the structure of thought.
Relational Being Reduction
DMR
Direct Materialistic Reduction
- Violence
- Enclosures
- Monumentality
- Mass labor projects
SMR
Symbolically Mediated Reduction
- Symbols
- Representation
- Abstractions
- Language
Reduced through DMR and made progressively less tangible through SMR.
Reduced through separation, interiorization and the construction of the individual.
Reduced and shaped through transcendence and successive Thought Regimes.
The ontohistorical sequence
Civilization begins
Physical reality becomes a primary target of reduction
Some disconnection from nature and animal being precedes Civilization
Symbols, representation, abstraction and language intensify
PR becomes less tangible
Ideas take on greater weight
Essences gain importance
Transcendent formations emerge through SMR
Men and women become separated after Civilization; the psyche is reduced
Transcendence
DMR continues
First Thought Regime: Ancient Near East
Simple form: gods and imperium
Iliad and Odyssey
Western mythos
Hebrew Purity Regime
Proto-self
TR 1 + naturalistic oppositional thought
Pauline interiorization
Proto-self
TR 2 + naturalistic oppositional thought
DMR continues, though with lessening force
Augustinian theological self
TR 3 + naturalistic oppositional thought
Ongoing SMR and transcendence
Protestant Individual
Phase I
Modern Thought Regime (TR 4)
Division of Unities (DoU)
Protestant Individual
Phase II
Instrumental Rationality (IR)
Protestant Individual
Phase III
Scientization and Mathematization (S/M)
Protestant Individual
Phase IV
Formalization (F)
Protestant Individual
Phase V
Computationalization (C)
Protestant Individual
Phase VI
Algorithmization (A)
The accumulated endpoint of physical, psychic and thought reduction.