[Xmca-l] Ethical Hermeneutics and Enactive [E-movement cognitive science]

[Larry Purss]

I  have been reflecting on my imaginative process linking up various
threads and the *styles* or *moods* expressed in these alternative models.
Martin's article on the history of the development of *romantic*
hermeneutics and Gadamer's extension of the Romantic version to be a more
*philosophical hermeneutics* that is a more encompassing horizon of
understanding.  Then in the thread on *testimonio* and the *third space*
the work of Enrique Dussel and his theory of *ethical hermeneutics* which
posits that Germanic hermeneutics developed within  a Eurocentric
prejudice* was mentioned.
Another thread was Greg's posting D. Hutto's notion of *the E-movement* in
cognitive science.
Another thread was exploring the ideology of individualism and its relation
to more *collectivist* notions of the *self* or *subject*  I would like to
think out loud on how these various topics may be linked. I will begin with
Hutto's exploration of *Radical Enactive Theory*:
The question that Hutto explores is more expressed in his article  that I
am attaching. It is the preface introducing his book "Radical Enactivism"

In particular listen to how he  distinguishes between "basic" cognition
that is enactive and more mediated cognition. I read this distinction while
keeping in mind Vygotsky's notion of verbal thinking AS *circumscribed* and
other modes of consciousness that do not overlap with *verbal thinking* may
be the phenomena of *radically enactive cognition*

The question that I am asking through Hutto's article  is:   How *central*
is verbal thinking and how *immature* or peripheral is enactive
cognition? Are *verbal thinking* and *radical enactive cognition* more
*permeable* and is the relation between *basic* cognition and verbal
thinking more fluid than some assume?

Holding Vygotsky's notion of *verbal thinking* as a *circumscribed*
phenomena which may be considered as central  then tacitly we may consider
other *basic* enactive cognitive phenomena as peripheral. I am suggesting
this notion of central and peripheral may be questioned as a model to
explain ouw ways of knowing, being, and acting.

Leaving Hutto and Enactive basic cognition  I will shift focus to another
notion of the *center and periphery* and related notions of developmental
immaturity that is expressed in Enrique Dussel's notion of "ethical
hermeneutics".
The question he is exploring is the Eurocentric mood or style of thinking
as it links to prejudices of *immaturity* and *maturity* between the
*center* and *periphery*. I am considering this *style* of Eurocentric type
thinking AS *felt structures* [as Raymond Williams uses the term]

Enrique Dussel gave the Frankfurt lecture titled "Eurocentrism and
Modernity". In that lecture he quoted Hegel to give an example of Hegel's
Eurocentric *thesis* which Enrique says is contrary to his own thesis of
"ethical hermeneutics".
Enrique quotes Hegel to capture the mood of Eurocentrism which he is
challenging:

"There arises via the reestablishment of Christian freedom the
consciousness of SELF-justification of the Spirit. The Christian principle
has passed through the formidable discipline of culture: the Reformation
gives it its exterior dimension WITH THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA ....  The
principle of the free Spirit makes itself here the BANNER for the whole
world, and from it develop the UNIVERSAL principles of reason ....  Custom
and tradition NO LONGER HAVE VALIDITY;  the different forms of right need
to legitimize themselves as founded on RATIONAL principles.  Thus is the
Spirit's freedom realized. [Werke, 12 -13]

Enrique chose this quote because in it Hegel is focussing on the
*centrality* of Luther's Reformation for the transition to *modernity* that
is Eurocentric. The Reformation  considered as the central *basis* for
modernity can also be considered as a central way of understanding the
roots of the ideology of individualism.  Enrique points out that for Hegel
there were three stages of the "Germanic World" as the *development* of
modern Christian Europe. The Germanic Empire was "the Kingdom of the
Totality, in which we see a repetition of past ages" [Werke, 12:417]

Enrique interprets this passage as saying THIS age of modernity BEGINS with
a properly German event: the LUTHERAN REVOLUTION, whose "principle" is, in
turn, [hermeneutically] fully in the Enlightenment and the French
Revolution. For Enrique, Hegel projects onto the German past - onto the
Reformation to be specific - the RADICAL effects of discovering the new
world which produced in Europe at the end of the 15th and beginning of the
16th centuries the *other* of the Eurocentric world.

At this point I would recommend reading Suzanne Kirschner's book "The
Religious and Romantic Origins of Psychoanalysis* to get a *sense* of how
deep and extended in European history is the notion of the ideology of
individualism. She explores the *mytheme* of the *fall* away from the
*source* and the yearning to reunite with this *source* from neoPlatonism,
through the mystical stream of Protestanism, and into the Romantic response
to the Enlightenment and on into psychoanalysis.
The point I am making is how deep and complex is the ideology of
individualism and that this history can be traced.

It IS a particular situated tradition and we are implicated in its
prejudices. I use prejudices as a factual statement not a negative
statement. It is for us to reflect on the ideology of individualism and
decide if individualism is positive or negative.
"Ethical hermeneutics* as practiced by Enrique Dussel *extends* Gadamer's
insights of the *power* [or force] of interpretation WITHIN *interpretive
communities* to ask "who is included" and "who is excluded" in our
*interpretive communities.

The notion of *immaturity* may be complexly linked to the ideology of
individualism.  Whatever is *at the center* can be imagined as *being
mature* while *others* at the periphery are *immature*

I see connections between Vygotsky, Hegel, Hutto, Enrique Dussel, and the
third space as *ethical hermeneutical practice.

I apologize if this is too idiosyncratic and too personal.  Modernity, AND
the ideology of Individualism I believe are intimately linked to the
Reformation. Enrique has added the notion that to understand the
Reformation we must understand the Age of Discovery and how Eurocentric are
the notions of modernity and the ideology of individualism

Larry
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