Pairing and Vagueness

Do philosophy and globalization have anything in common? Sometimes I pair unrelated subjects as a way to stimulating new thinking. Earlier in this blog I paired Hegel and thermodynamics and discovered some interesting things I would not have otherwise discovered. Here is what I discovered this time:

Vagueness is what they have in common. For instance, globalization can be a vague subject and philosophy deals with vague subject matter. If there wasn't any vagueness or ambiguity about the world, if its function was perfectly clear, there would be no need for philosophical inquiry to figure things out. Among the major subjects philosophy examines, as listed in "The Oxford Companion of Philosophy", are subjects related to human governance like economics, democracy and capitalism. What makes these subjects philosophy studies and globalization potentially vague is that they are broad descriptions about human activities and thus are prone to contradiction and various interpretations, the stuff of vagueness.

The connection between philosophy and globalization is furthered by the fact that globalization is imbued with those structures of human governance philosophy studies. Globalization is chiefly about economic integration, blended with capitalism and democracy. Because of that kinship I see globalization as a form of human governance. As illustrated by The Oxford Companion, philosophy employs economics, democracy, capitalism as tools to understand and explain the tendencies of our world, how people in their circumstances have come to organize and govern themselves. However, as shown by its absence in The Companion, globalization is not employed in that way, as a tool of philosophical inquire. Perhaps someday it will be because I found it a font of information about philosophy's major inquiry, the human enterprise. Subsequently, though, I found it as an entry in the latest edition of "Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy". And there, clearly, you can see the interpretive vagueness about globalization I speak of.

While on the subject, I would like say more about vagueness, this constant companion of philosophy. A question recently asked about it was, "Is vagueness an aspect of reality itself." I certainly think so. Some might think it exists because of ignorance or a lack of clarity. However, I think it is a manifestation of the contradictory, paradoxical nature of our world. It is a result of human diversity. I see it as a synthesized reality which acts as an ether of accommodation, a venue for diverse human interaction, a common ground. It is like... a facilitative mechanism. Humankind has cultivated it as a means of coexisting by abstraction. In the context of human governance, abstraction essentially are technique for containing and transcending the divisive, conflictive nature of humankind. One example is "all men are created equal" which certainly is vague and abstract. Abstractions are intended to be universal, hence their vagueness. Diplomacy, law and politics are examples of its application. I think one reason Democracy and English enjoy mass appeal throughout the world, albeit often tacit - and tacit is a form of vagueness, a sort of committal, noncommittal - is because they understand this reality and use it to their advantage. Vagueness gives them an ease and flexibility about them that makes them more accommodating than other systems. This is not to say that vagueness substitutes, displaces or is in lieu of the core realities involving human nature and its propensities. On the contrary. It works in concert with them. If vagueness had a job description I think it would be that of facilitator. With its emphases on economics, capitalism and democracy, I think globalization is spreading this mutually beneficial attitude around the world.

One more thing about vagueness. Because there is a lack of definition and clarity about it I liken vagueness to a creative device, one that provokes one to examine and think about various aspects of puzzling issues. It encourages a cognitive exercise that one would not otherwise enter into. In this process one is advanced epistemologically because one is mentally engaged and challenged to find a balance. This I think is one of the processes that has advanced and sophisticated humankind. Pragmatism and pluralism, America's main philosophies, have a vagueness about them. (That is why absolutists and fundamentalists have a disdain for them.) There is something utilitarian and relative about them like there is about vagueness. They are successful philosophies and globalization is promoting them around the world.