Is the game over for traditional philosophy and religion?

If philosophy is “the rational, abstract, and methodical consideration of reality as a whole or of fundamental dimensions of human existence and experience” (britannica.com) then for the most part sociobiology has superseded philosophy. When E. O. Wilson, the father of neo-Darwinist sociobiology declared the biological origin of social behavior it was virtually game over for traditional philosophy and religion. The postmodernist's became like scholastics arguing over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

As long as we are alive every cell in our body demands survival and reproductive success. This natural activation can be blocked, subverted, or it can be unknown to us, but it can't legitimately be intellectually or instinctively denied. The biological origin of our social behavior as empirically explained by the evolutionary sciences and sociobiology actually ends the intellectual defense of postmodern relativism. Generally speaking any existing values come from the various social and cultural methods we try (including postmodernism) as attempts to biologically and genetically advance ourselves, consciously or unconsciously.

When Wilson said, "The genes hold culture on a leash. The leash is very long, but inevitably values will be constrained in accordance with their effects on the human gene pool. The brain is a product of evolution. Human behavior . .is the circuitous technique by which human genetic material has been and will be kept intact. Morality has no other demonstrable ultimate function," it was game over for traditional philosophy and religion.

But Godhood is not dead, spirituality is dead. With theological materialism I say that the activating purpose in evolution---along with random selection—is to evolve toward higher and higher consciousness and intelligence and finally toward the survival and reproductive supreme success of ascending levels of Godhood; but that's a moral function and an end or purpose in nature that Wilson probably doesn't affirm because he probably believes in the complete randomness of evolution. When we can take a serious look at activating purpose in evolution then the separations between religion, philosophy, and science can harmonize with a real single narrative of history and morality.

Liberal ignorance about climate change will destroy the people they claim to help

The rise in temperatures is mainly part of a larger macro cycle. In macro terms the climate over the past 450,000 years follows a saw-tooth shape when seen on a graph, with samples taken from ice cores. Much cooler temperatures seem to be the norm over time, and there is a distinct cyclical pattern to the earth's temperature, with levels at the current higher temperatures followed by rapid decline, with the peaks of warmer climate relatively short. Human activity has in fact increased greenhouse gases and warming but the rise in temperatures is mainly part of this larger macro cycle. (See “The Global Warming Conundrum”)

Liberals are fools about the reality of poverty and about rejecting the way to combat poverty with economic growth. The improvement in life conditions for billions of black, brown, and yellow people around the world has been based mainly on the exploitation of local sources of coal and oil. Liberal ignorance about climate change will destroy the very people they claim to help.

Even so, there are enough good reasons to husband and conserve our dwindling fuel resources, to reduce pollution from burning fossil fuels, as well as reducing the vulnerability of importing oil from unstable regions. Sure, we should develop alternative sources of energy, but we should reject foolish liberals on climate change and its solutions.

The hierarchy of drives

We have the desire to eat before we have the pleasure sensation or happiness that comes from eating, which lowers the value of the ethical theory of hedonism saying that pleasure is the highest good and proper aim of human life, as well as lowering the Greek philosophical position (Aristotle) that happiness is a final end or goal that encompasses the totality of one’s life.

I see the hierarchy of drives roughly in this sequence:

First comes the primal material activation to evolve to Godhood

Then the material activation of desire

The biological activation to survival and reproduction and evolution

The biological activation to power

The biological activation to pleasure and happiness

The biological origin of social behavior.

This places religion at the beginning of drives with the material activation to evolve to Godhood and culminates in the biological origin of social behavior and the creation of sophisticated cultures that unconsciously or consciously serve the hierarchy of drives.

Theological materialism is built on this hierarchy of drives, as well as the political philosophy of ethnostates based in sociobiology.

The former Eastern Bloc is winning the culture war

Ian Henderson points out in “How Communism Saved the Eastern Bloc from Cultural Marxism” (Chronicles March 2020) that although “Joseph Stalin was a mass murderer who ran a vast system of gulags...he promoted ethnic Russians throughout the Soviet hierarchy...made the Russian language compulsory in schools and offices... initiated socially conservative policies to enhance social discipline and increase the Russian population via the promotion of strong family units and motherhood...outlawed homosexuality, placed restrictions on abortion and divorce, and shut down the feminist agenda...In stark contrast, the free world, after about 20 years of strong cultural conservatism following the end of the Second World War declared Western civilization to be the problem and its dissolution the answer...Eastern Bloc nations, despite living under Communism, retained all the elements needed for a culture to prosper...With the exceptions of Estonia, Belarus, and the Czech Republic, all of the former Eastern Bloc nations are overwhelmingly religious and all, including the aforementioned three, are socially conservative.”

No wonder many in the Western Alt-right have embraced the Russian Aleksandr Dugin (who hates the West). Dugin sees the world dualistically with the West as the evil Antichrist and the Eurasia as the good “Angel of Arctogaia." Dugin and the Traditionalist School have virtually rejected all that is great in the West, science, technology, biological evolution, and perhaps most importunity the high genetic quality of the people of the West. Real patriotism in the West is lost in seeing the only the flaws of the West, which are redeemable. For example, an ethnopluralism of ethnostates or regions could be established legally in the United States with our constitutional separation of powers and states, protected by federalism.

Henderson concludes by saying, “...So-called conservatives in North American and Western European countries seem to cave to the demands of the cultural Marxist left that dominate the political narrative...As of this writing, the former Eastern Bloc is far better positioned to preserve their respective cultures than is the West. We may have won the Cold War, but it’s the East that’s winning the culture war.”

The realistic single narrative of human history and morality

 Of the various approaches to the philosophy of history, such as historicism, where the moral standards relatively depend on the context of history, empiricism, where historical experience comes primarily from examining sensory experience as the guide to understanding reality, or enlightenment rationalists, who mostly ignore the biological origin of social behavior and the ethnic and cultural preconditions for the creation of political orders because the subject has been culturally and politically taboo since World War Two.

This quote by the great sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson sums up a realistic approach to human history and morality : "The genes hold culture on a leash. The leash is very long, but inevitably values will be constrained in accordance with their effects on the human gene pool. The brain is a product of evolution. Human behavior...is the circuitous technique by which human genetic material has been and will be kept intact..Morality has no other demonstrable ultimate function.."

Human nature has been and remains genetically ethnocentric, even xenophobic, as well as being kin-centered, gender defined, age-graded, heterosexual marriage-making, hierarchical, with group-selection as the primary unit of selection, followed by individual-selection. The real challenge of ethnocentric and xenophobic human nature is to move beyond the supremacism that has plagued it. This suggest that if the noble statesman of the future see guardianship of the state as trying to avoid sedition, discord, and civil war, they will honor the biological origin of social behavior by taking on the damaging racial competitions disguised as calls for equality etc., and advocate the creation of an ethnopluralism of ethnostates for all groups, black, white, brown, yellow, or red, in harmony with real human nature. Then they will protect each ethnostate from marauding imperialists, global businesses, supremacists, chosenists, Marxists, etc. An ethnopluralism of ethnostates could be established, legally, in the United States with our constitutional separation of powers and states.

I believe the activating purpose in evolution---along with random selection—is to evolve toward higher and higher consciousness and intelligence and finally toward the survival and reproductive supreme success of ascending levels of Godhood; but that's a moral function and an end or purpose in nature that Wilson probably doesn't affirm because he probably believes in the complete randomness of evolution. When we can take a serious look at the activating purpose in evolution then the duality between religion and science can be made whole with a real single narrative of history and morality.

The delusions of politically correctness in America

 The elite media, schools, big business, and politicians have unanimously declared a new version of gender, race, and identity, even though 75 million American's voted for Trump and his traditional values, as he lost what may have been a rigged election. Male sex offenders who identity as females can now use women's bathrooms, a New York Times writer can write that “white people are bullshit” and “cancel white people” and suffer no consequences. And suicidal white liberals go along with this madness canceling out their own people and their own culture.

The power of the cultural influence of the media and the schools is seen in their ability to overrule basic biological/genetically determined human nature. Human nature is universally biologically kin-centered, gender defined, age-graded, heterosexual marriage-making, hierarchical, ethnocentric, even xenophobic, and religious-making, among other things, with group-selection as the primary unit of successful selection, which normally leads to cultural behavior that naturally goes against the cultural Marxism, nihilism, and hedonism we see in United States and the West today. What power the media and the schools have had!

The choice now seems to be to have the country fall apart with civil disruptions and even civil war between naturally competing ethnic/racial groups, or to seek to amend the U. S. Constitution by adapting the constitutional separation of powers and states to an ethnopluralism of ethnostates. All elements of the demographics in America, all groups, black, white, brown, yellow, or red, could then be what they naturally are, protected in their own ethnostates from marauding imperialists, supremacists, and global money grubbers. I prefer the legal constitutional path toward ethnostates. History shows that given human nature that's what happens anyway, one way or another, consciously or unconsciously.

How can we find a way for the world to get along without destroying itself when real human nature is genetically kin and ethnic centered?

 China's tactics and strategy toward the rest of the world has been described as first Rob, then Replicate, then Replace the products of other countries. The communists, of course, won't admit it but their behavior of robbing, replicating, and replacing resembles the biological origin of social behavior, discovered by Darwin and later sociobiology, showing that real human nature is and has been genetically kin and ethnic centered (ie. racist and ethnocentric) with group selection as the main unit of successful survival and reproduction, followed by individual selection. Group-selection was the only way for individuals to successfully survive, so altruism, or being for others, was naturally and genetically limited mainly to kin and ethnic group because they shared the same genes which strive for survival.

Trying to rid human nature and culture of the deep-seated preference for kin and ethnic group, which is attempted by many ideologies and religions, is like trying to rid human beings of being human. This creates a big dilemma for competing nations and people: how can we find a way for the world to get along without destroying itself when real human nature is genetically kin and ethnic centered with group selection as the main unit of successful survival and reproduction? Both the communist and capitalists wont even allow real human nature into the discussion?!

Dominance of one race over all others, whether noble, chosen or savage, it is a bad survival and reproductive strategy, especially in today's overcrowded world, because the un-included groups always gang up on and defeat the supremacy-claiming group, and the cycle goes on. In any case people don't bond with imperial empires, empires are too far removed from local people for natural altruism to work. But the exploiters and marauders of the earth prefer empires, which they selfishly dominate, and, irony of ironies, they often pursue for ethnocentric reasons. Empires always fall apart and reform into ethnostates, or an ethnopluralism of ethnostates, as an honest reading of history shows us. But ethnopluralism needs to be strongly protected and defended from marauding empires.

Real human nature points toward an ethnopluralism of ethnostates as the most humane solution to our deepening identity crisis. Although now just rising, identity politics will continue to ascend, re-identifying with ethnicity, nationality, race, culture and faith is the world's future. People will see that racial and ethnic diversity within the same state is impossible over the long term. Multiculturalism, that is, jamming distinctly different ethnic groups together in one space and then demanding that they all get along has led to far more problems than solutions.

A true natural rights or civil rights movement would promote an ethnopluralism of ethnostates for all groups, black, white, brown, yellow, or red, with each ethnostate protected from marauding imperialists, global businesses, supremacists, Marxists, etc., and defended by a defensive federalism. An ethnopluralism of ethnostates could be established legally in the United States with our constitutional separation of powers and states.

Why happiness and even power, like desire, are secondary goals in theological materialism

Contrary to hedonistic philosophy and relativistic postmodern philosophy, "happiness," pleasure, and even power are only a reaction to deeper materially-rooted needs. The pleasure or happiness derived from eating food is driven by the deeper requirements of successful survival, and not mere pleasure. Before pleasure is experienced there is the materially-rooted desire for pleasure, before food gives pleasure there is the materially-rooted desire for food.

Going deeper, the drive to survival and reproductive success (the sole aim according to science) is driven by the deeper need of evolving toward ascending levels of Godhood as the zenith of success and purpose in evolution. So contrary to many philosophers and scientists survival and reproductive success, happiness, and even power, like desire, are secondary goals. Naturalism in evolution can therefore include the activation toward higher evolution leading to ascending levels of supermaterial Godhood.

Contrary to St Thomas the natural impulses or instincts toward pleasure etc. are not from God, like the other natural instincts they lead to Godhood---while pleasure and the natural instincts are secondary as an aid in the drive to successful survival and reproduction, they are more importantly also a natural aid in evolving toward the ultimate success of ascending levels of Godhood.

Naturalism is religious in theological materialism. Goodness, pleasure, and power, are aspired to for the same reason: they materially evolve toward Godhood. These things do not move from the material to the spiritual, they move from the material to the supermaterial. Defining God as “spiritual” not only defames the material world it defames and blocks the material evolution to ascending levels of real Godhood.

Why Nietzsche and his superman require evolutionary conservatism

"Man is a rope stretched between the beast and the Superman, a rope above an abyss."

If Nietzsche and his superman affirm radical individualism then his superman will not survive or make it possible for the next stage of man, because Nietzsche's “rope above an abyss” involves conservatism. If Nietzsche's trans-humanism is “genetic or or eugenic (rather than cybernetic)” as Romain D' Aspremont suggests in improving the biological body and mind of the species, then if Nietzsche affirms individualism and bypasses group selection that will not allow us to retain and nurture the best of what we evolve long enough to surpass it, which evolutionary conservatism can do.

In theological materialism natural law includes our material evolution to ascending levels of Godhood, so it affirms the rational science inherent in natural law as aiding in our evolution to Godhood. Natural law in evolutionary conservatism brings a conservatism grounded in the order of ascending levels of material evolution to Godhood, which counters both the stagnation of traditional conservatism and the nihilism of modern thinking.

Like most conservatives Irving Babbitt ruled out naturalism as the source of ethics, but E.O. Wilson said regarding the biological origin of social behavior, “Human behavior . .is the circuitous technique by which human genetic material has been and will be kept intact. Morality has no other demonstrable ultimate function...The genes hold culture on a leash. The leash is very long, but inevitably values will be constrained in accordance with their effects on the human gene pool. The brain is a product of evolution.” I would add to Wilson's “ultimate function of morality” the highest goal of material evolution to ascending levels of Godhood.

Evolutionary conservatism sees progress as life infused with the upward climb of evolution toward ascending levels of real Godhood at the zenith of material evolution, which we can and should aid with the evolutionary sciences. It turns out that conservatism as defined by sociobiology can be one of the best ways to survive and reproduce successfully over the long term, but few conservatives seriously apply the insights of sociobiology in defense of conservative principles.

Evolutionary conservatism believes that if real kin and ethnic-centered human nature was allowed to be what it is, it would naturally lead to regionalism, localism, general conservative values, eventually ethnostates, and finally an ethnopluralism of ethnostates for all groups, black, white, brown, yellow, or red, with each ethnostate protected from marauding imperialists, global businesses, supremacists, Marxists, etc., and defended by a defensive federalism.

Then we can all get on with evolving toward Godhood.

Modern art as attack more than art (from the archive)

Art and Sexual Selection

Art seems to have grown out of sexual selection, if so, then women should be better at discerning art, because they have needed to be acute in judging the authenticity of men, since they pay a heavier price with the long-term care of babies if they judge wrong. But the desire of men to impress women might help explain, at least unconsciously, why their are more top men artists and male art critics than women. Homosexuals in the arts, at least in these times, might also explain some of the disparities in the sexual selection-discernment hypothesis.

This gets confusing when we consider the stereotypical common man who says he hasn't a clue as to what color goes with what, especially since men are trying to impress women in sexual selection and should therefore care about the way they look. Perhaps women give central importance to the money or position a man has, at least beyond the teen years, and they just kind of overlook his lack of color harmonizing.

In any case, this connection with sexual selection is probably the way to study art origins (see Dutton's “The Art Instinct) ), which gets us away from the absurd and phony abstractions that define postmodern art. High art (low art too) can then be seen sociobiologically as an affirmation of what the group holds sacred, since the group is the main unit of selection over the long term. 

Modern art as attack more than art

Atonal music actively attacked tonal music, otherwise tones would have now and then occurred, Schoenberg had to consciously avoid tones, as Dutton pointed out. But modern art in general does this too, actively attacking realism, meaning and order, as if to destroy it. Why? Why the anger? Why the desire to destroy? And they were triumphant! They conquered the art world!

People have not, by and large, to this day accepted contratonal music or modern/postmodern art, in spite of its strong promotion, and in spite of the taunts that people are just too lazy to appreciate it. The human mind is not infinitely malleable, not a blank slate. People prefer meaning, order, which are evolutionary traits developed in the minds of our Paleolithic ancestors, mainly because this strengthened social health and helped us survive. Individual artists also used art in the game of sexual selection. Real art throughout human history grew out of these dynamics and out of this human nature.

This says to me that atonal music and modern art were not really a legitimate development in art history but were mainly an attack on the order and meaning of Western culture, more like an abortion, as someone once called it. Who did the attacking, and why? This needs to be brought out more. Was there a pattern?  Names, groups, need to be named. I know years ago Tom Wolfe did a great job in “The Painted Word” exposing the sham of modern art, but more needs to be done, as we try to exhume the meaning of real art from the old battlefield.

The inevitability of ethnostates?

 "The genes hold culture on a leash. The leash is very long, but inevitably values will be constrained in accordance with their effects on the human gene pool. The brain is a product of evolution. Human behavior...is the circuitous technique by which human genetic material has been and will be kept intact..." Edward O. Wilson

The leash that our genes hold on our culture define basic human nature as being genetically ethnocentric, even xenophobic, as well as being kin-centered, with group-selection as the primary unit of selection, and they do so because in the old tribal days ethnic or group-selection was the best way for individuals to successfully survive, so altruism, or being for others, was naturally limited mainly to kin and ethnic group because they shared the same genes which strive for successful survival and reproduction. Those genes are still with us today even if this basic human nature is considered politically incorrect by our decadent prevailing culture.

Ultimately the work of sociobiologists will be allowed to present this real picture of human nature so that we can apply a set of healthy preferences with which political life can find real harmony. This strongly suggests that if real kin and ethnic-centered human nature is allowed to be what it is, it naturally leads to regionalism, localism, ethnostates, and finally an ethnopluralism of ethnostates. A true natural rights or civil rights movement would promote ethnostates and an ethnopluralism of ethnostates for all groups, black, white, brown, yellow, or red, with each ethnostate protected from marauding imperialists, global businesses, supremacists, Marxists, etc. by federalism.  For example, in the U. S. this could be accomplished not by way of radical revolution but through adapting---not overturning---the U.S. constitutional separation of powers and states.

For now the marauding imperialists, Marxists, and global money grubbers block this from happening with help from the brainwashing tactics of the schools and the media, but ethnostates seem inevitability because values will be constrained in accordance with their effects on the human gene pool.