Society is interactions between individuals who exist only because of their interactions. How did this process begin? Each of us exists as an organism because of an interaction between two other organisms and as a self-conscious individual because of our participation in a linguistic community. We speak because we are spoken to. We are able to reflect on and think about a personal history or biography because we have internalized language. Without that, we would experience only physical sensations and our responses to them. How did language begin?
A species of chattering animals cooperatively manipulated its environment. Maybe some one animal uttered not a spontaneous scream of fear but a mock scream intended not to fool anyone that he was afraid but to convey to a companion, "You are in danger." If the companion not only heard the articulated sound but also understood that it was intended to convey information to him, then that would have been the beginning of language. Thus, social interaction and individual psychology are essentially interconnected through language.
The following future histories are listed in a conceptual, not a chronological, order:
in Robert Heinlein's Future History, history merely happens;
in Poul Anderson's Technic History, history happens and Chunderban Desai tries to understand it;
Both Isaac Asimov's Second Foundation and Anderson's Psychotechnic Institute develop a predictive social science as well as an applied mental science.
Arguably, a precise social science is impossible and any mental science supplements self-knowledge gained directly through experience and meditation/contemplation.
I wrote some notes towards a future history in which political action would be combined with meditation through "karma yoga." See:
"A SPECTRE Is Haunting Europa"
Influences on "SPECTRE"
For "karma yoga," see here.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Very likely, I agree, the earliest ancestors of what would become the human race began the process leading to a true language as you described. And I was reminded of Chesterton's amusing discussion of how PUNS played a role in developing languages in THE EVER LASTING MAN.
And I believe a precise social science is an impossibility because of how "chaotic" and unpredictable human beings are. At most, we can detect broad patterns of the kind discussed by Toynbee, Spengler, Voegelin, and Hord. With that last writer being esp. influential on Anderson's thought.
Ad astra! Sean
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