Interdependence and Identity as Historical Concepts

Bennett Gilbert (Portland State University)

November 15th, 2024 3:30pm - 5:00pm PST

Abstract:

The twin concepts in the title will be introduced in the contexts of the philosophy of history and of philosophical personalism, as distinct from (though related to) their uses as logical and metaphysical categories. Concepts, or ideas, in general have, I argue, real existence through the way that personal agents use them in creating the histories of human relations. Brief consideration of various models of the binary relationship of interdependence and identity shows that these models do not match this reality. I introduce a personalist account, which has a more thoroughly diachronic character. Further remarks on concepts vis-à-vis intrinsic and extrinsic relations expands this idea. Interdependence and identity are then considered in terms of three kinds of systems: biological, communications, and panpsychic. The value of all this appears finally in terms of relationships in moral life and, in conclusion, in an understanding of the nature of cultural theory as an intellectual enterprise.