12-fold configuration of requisite variety

Reimagining Principles Enabling an Existential Ecostery (Part #8)

There is a major puzzle to the widespread preference for use of 12-fold configurations in a variety of domains (Checklist of 12-fold Principles, Plans, Symbols and Concepts: web resources, 2011). Elsewhere the suggestion is made that, as a combination of 3-fold and 4-fold, it offers a means of transcending the much-commented human cognitive constraint within the 7-fold -- "plus or minus two" (Geometry of meaning: an alchemical Rosetta Stone? 2013). There it is argued that the 12-fold may well constitute a requisite degree of cognitive variety. It has also been explored in generic terms (Eliciting a 12-fold Pattern of Generic Operational Insights: recognition of memory constraints on collective strategic comprehension, 2011).

The challenge here is whether this then offers an approach to the array of fundamental qualities (indicated above), conflated across systems of categories, avoiding (to some degree) the conventional cognitive traps to which the 2-fold, 3-fold and 4-fold patterns draw attention (as noted above).

Correspondences: One approach to the "conflation" is through a degree of recognition of "correspondences" -- themselves questionable, if not highly questionable as a consequence of a particular cognitive bias (Theories of Correspondences -- and potential equivalences between them in correlative thinking, 2007). The question is what cognitive commonality underlies any such correspondence and how engagement with it is to be enabled. In this sense the roles of distinct riddles, or learning questions (as with a koan), become significant in recognition of the puzzle (or paradox) implied by the commonality. This is perhaps a form of cognitive "twist" of which the Mobius strip is indicative (Engaging with Questions of Higher Order: cognitive vigilance required for higher degrees of twistedness, 2004).

"Deities": A suitably provocative point of departure is through the pantheons of various belief systems, such as the 12-fold Dodekatheon of Greece and the Dii Consentes of Rome, between which correspondences are well-recognized. Their gods are no longer honoured and respected as in the past, just as belief in deity is systematically challenged by science -- which has little of value to say about "quality", other than with respect to measurement. However the systematic exploitation of the names of deities as intellectual property (for marketing luxury products, or as logos of major institutions) is indicative of a valued association to the qualities they distinguished -- seemingly beneath the dross of verbiage (and beyond the ken of science). Indeed, as noted above, the "values" now widely acclaimed are effectively the "gods" of secular society -- and are "worshipped" accordingly. In marketing terms, the "gods" have reinvented themselves -- or been given a new image.

A special issue on Les Mythes Grecs: pourquoi on n'y echappe pas of the journal Philosophie (Summer 2013) introduces its editorial as follows to argue how modernity has been colonized by Greek myth:

Les dieux et les héros grecs sont parmi nous: Midas vend des pots d'échappement et Athéna des sous-vêtements pour homme. Sisyphe prend le bus tous les matins et Narcisse fait de la télé-realité. Au hit-parade des métaphores journalistiques, preuve incontestable de leur vitalité, l'hubris de Prométhéee et la boîte de Pandore se bousculent en tête. Chacun peut l'éprouver au quotidien: tout droit issus de la Grèce d'Homère et Hésiode, les mythes grecs nous ont colonisés.

The editorial then argues how the reverse of this semblance is also true in that modernity -- especially philosophy -- has manipulated an essentially malleable heritage to its own ends. Curiously, honoured or not, their temples remain a focus for popular pilgrimages and tourism. Associated artefacts are much valued as an indication of cultural quality.

Despite exploiting the past, philosophy has not however engendered a more coherent understanding -- rather the reverse as previously argued by Nicholas Rescher (The Strife of Systems: an essay on the grounds and implications of philosophical diversity, 1985). This situation is reflected in the absence of any meaningful organization of some 30 contributing (or cited) authors to that special issue -- as discussed further below. By contrast, it is however appropriate to note the uptake of coherent presentations of complex sets of mythological figures in widely popular games such as Dungeons and Dragons -- however they are to be deprecated.

Ironically the fundamental challenge of Rescher's "strife of systems" could be further emphasized by comparing it to Chaos from which the Greek deities were originally understood to emerge -- the formless or void state preceding the creation of the universe in the Greek creation myths.

Curiously "chaos theory" is now a field of mathematics with a variety of applications to the behaviour of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions. Values themselves can be fruitfully understood in terms of the subtle dynamics of the strange attractors of the related study of complex systems (Human Values as Strange Attractors, 1993). There is however little effort to explore the "chaos" which engenders the array of extant philosophies, associated belief systems, and the chaotic array of values -- however "deities" may be associated with them.

Complementary sets of qualities: As with values more generally, it may be argued that any such "deity" constitutes a form of fundamental cognitive nexus entangled with whatever is recognized as the epitome of that particular quality -- a nexus only dimly perceived, perhaps only intuited, as "through a glass darkly". The latter might be usefully compared to the limited capacity of X-ray crystallography to resolve individual atoms. The challenge of recognizing their significance is acknowledged in engaging with both Jungian archetypes and those traditionally associated with Platonic forms.

Correspondences can be sought with other pantheons, based on the qualities thereby distinguished. As implied above, and separately (Examples of Integrated, Multi-set Concept Schemes, 1984), the procedure could be extended to other sets with qualitative implications:

"holy" figures and places: angelic orders, Imams (as with the 12 of Islam), apostles (as with the 12 of the Bible), sheiks (of Sufi schools), heroes, celebrities, sacred places (as a focus of pilgrimage) -- all to be understood as a focus of attention with integrative connotations
tastes / smells: perfumes, spices, wines, beers, cheeses
sounds, tones and tuning systems
writings: scriptures, poetry, stories
drama: theatre, opera, blockbuster movies
games and sports (engagement in playing them, including martial arts)
design: fashion and style

The argument is not that such correspondences necessarily "exist", but rather that human cognitive capacity is disposed to organize significance such as to imply a degree of correspondence, especially where fundamental qualities are of concern. Especially noteworthy is any "distinction" between qualities (as a "done thing" or fait accompli) in contrast with the "process of distinguishing", as an operation implying continuing creative engagement (cf. George Spencer-Brown, Laws of Form, 1969; Douglas G. Flemons, Completing Distinctions: interweaving the ideas of Gregory Bateson and Taoism into a unique approach to therapy, 2001)

Qualitative complexes: As implied by synaesthesia, each of the sets of qualities challenges any singular connotation of the nature of "quality" -- further challenged by whether it is assumed to be well-bounded, as by a noun descriptor, or better understood as a dynamic (as is appreciated in qualities of movement like dance, surfing, aerobatics, and the like). As noted above, values themselves might be fruitfully understood in terms of the subtle dynamics of strange attractors.

Beyond the notion of "challenge" is the sense in which living (and "quality of life") requires a shifting pattern of experience of qualities -- rather than any form of "monotony" -- to a degree that might be compared with "shapeshifting". This might be understood as a cognitive analogue to a varied diet -- an "information diet", with "cognitive vitamins", possibly even supplemented by "additives" if necessary (Clay A. Johnson, The Information Diet: a case for conscious consumption, 2012). The need for stimulants and psychedelics might be framed in these terms.

Cognitive diet: In a society much-focused on healthy physical diet, what are the constituents of a healthy "cognitive diet"? How many "cognitive vitamins" (and supplements) are required? Might they correspond to the 20 vitamins and supplements widely considered essential to bodily health?

Given the lifestyle diseases to which attention is increasingly accorded, are cognitive analogues to be recognized, as separately discussed (Memetic and Information Diseases in a Knowledge Society: speculations towards the development of cures and preventive measures, 2008)? A striking example potentially follows from the incidence of diabetes as a result of excessive consumption of sweet stuffs. Is it possible that a cognitive analogue to diabetes emerges as a consequence of excessive predilection for the "positive"?

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12-fold configuration of requisite variety