Integrative Evolutionary Realism

Discussion

Zachary Stein:

"Reality matters. Getting back to reality means embracing a new kind of metaphysics (an integrative evolutionary realism), a paradigm that is still being explicated at the leading edge of metatheory (Bhaskar, Esbjörn-Hargens, Hedlund, & Hartwig, 2015).

Realism about the exterior and physical argues for the existence of laws of nature, facts, processes, and tendencies in the universe (Bhaskar, 1993). Realism about interiors argues these same points for the life of the mind, demonstrating the existence of laws of nature, facts, processes, and tendencies in the domains of the psychological and cultural (Stein, in press). Taking seriously the ontology of human interiors means looking at the evolution of consciousness as well as the structures and dynamics of emotional energy. Both forms of realism (exterior and interior) are implicated when you want to make sense of the human in an evolutionary context. This is precisely what is so powerful about evolutionary explanations of human actions: they ontologize our humanity, making us feel at home in the universe (Kauffman, 1995). Evolutionary explanations give a deeper, broader, and more coherent sense of the reality of the human experience, which is today too often characterized as if it were merely a social construction. I believe that it is actually impossible to live in a culture and with an identity that reflectively takes itself as an arbitrary and meaningless construction. Humans need to orient around a sense of the world and their place in it that they believe is true. This means looking at the realties that underlie both the natural world and the human lifeworld.

Cosmo-erotic humanism offers a new kind of story about the universe, one that seeks to make good on the promises made by the complexity sciences more than a decade ago (Wilber, 1995; Kauffman, 1995; Capra, 1996). A Return to Eros is about the interior dimensions of increases in exterior evolutionary complexity, which are increases in consciousness, creativity, and Eros. These five trajectories of evolution (complexity, consciousness, creativity, uniqueness, and Eros) are reflected in the trajectories of individual development (Gafni & Kincaid, 2017 pp. 199-202). The universe evolves towards more complexity, consciousness, creativity, uniqueness, and Eros, and so does each individual within it. Humans can become aware of this reality, and so begin to selfconsciously steer themselves into the strong currents of the evolutionary stream. This is an ontological claim, not mere poetry offered into a post-truth culture. This conception of reality is not abstract; it has direct relevance to the ethics and politics of relationships.

...

Realism about the exterior and physical argues for the existence of laws of nature, facts, processes, and tendencies in the universe (Bhaskar, 1993). Realism about interiors argues these same points for the life of the mind, demonstrating the existence of laws of nature, facts, processes, and tendencies in the domains of the psychological and cultural (Stein, in press). Taking seriously the ontology of human interiors means looking at the evolution of consciousness as well as the structures and dynamics of emotional energy. Both forms of realism (exterior and interior) are implicated when you want to make sense of the human in an evolutionary context. This is precisely what is so powerful about evolutionary explanations of human actions: they ontologize our humanity, making us feel at home in the universe (Kauffman, 1995). Evolutionary explanations give a deeper, broader, and more coherent sense of the reality of the human experience, which is today too often characterized as if it were merely a social construction. I believe that it is actually impossible to live in a culture and with an identity that reflectively takes itself as an arbitrary and meaningless construction. Humans need to orient around a sense of the world and their place in it that they believe is true. This means looking at the realties that underlie both the natural world and the human lifeworld. "

(https://integral-review.org/issues/vol_14_no_1_stein_love_in_a_time_between_worlds.pdf)