What is Objectionism?
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Thou shalt know; self-chosen are the woes that fall on men - how wretched, for they see not good so near, nor hearken to its voice - few only know the pathway of deliverance from ill - Pythagoras
You may have noticed that all over the world people face similar sexual, domestic, social and psychological problems without knowing why. A lot of people admit they suffer anxiety because of the complexity and apparent disorder of the world around them. They admit that the world appears a confusing, often chaotic place without meaning. Because of deep-set uncertainty, many people simply give up searching for a meaning and immerse themselves in their daily socially-prescribed, socially-endorsed roles. They cease caring about their ultimate purpose or end.
Leading experts and clinicians in fields of modern psychology are unable to explain why rates of depression and suicide have dramatically increased since 1900, when Sigmund Freud published The Interpretation of Dreams, which launched the psychoanalytical movement. They are at their wits end to explain why, in an age of astonishing technical sophistication – when apparently more is known about the workings of human minds and hearts – evil in all its forms has not abated one jot. If anything it has increased in scope and intensity. In his fine book The Evil We Do, Carl Goldberg, one of America’s foremost psychologists and experts on human development, writes:
We have now experienced a century of psychoanalysis. Our culture is saturated with its theories. Vast numbers of people have been recipients of its treatments. And yet, in the postmodern world…we are less optimistic about our future than were people prior to the psychoanalytic era
Addressing the perplexing rise in clinical depression, Goldberg states:
…the first international study of major depressive illness reported in 1992 in the Journal of the American Medical Association that there has been a steady increase in clinical depression throughout the world in the present century…people born between 1945 and 1955 were more than twice as likely to incur serious depression in the course of their lifetimes than people born between 1905 and 1915
Answers to the existential problems faced by modern man are the provided by philosophy and psychology. Philosophy is the foundation of psychology. Therefore, if and when the former discipline is neglected, the latter is inevitably handicapped. A study of the works of great philosophers reveals how many theories commonly attributed to famous psychologists originated with their intellectual predecessors. Key ideas found in the works of Bleuler, Groddeck, Freud, Jung, Adler, Horney and Rank, etc, were often demonstrably prefigured in the writings of thinkers such as Plato, Montaigne, Descartes, Spinoza, Hegel, Schelling, Diderot, Schopenhauer, Hume, Hartley and Kierkegaard (not to mention William James). A perusal of Eduard von Hartmann’s remarkable work Philosophy of the Unconscious, published in 1869, allays doubt on the matter concerning the precedence of philosophy over psychology. Indeed the very word psychology was first introduced into the lexicon of the western world as early as 1530 AD by Croatian philosopher Marko Marulić. It was subsequently reintroduced in 1590 by German philosopher Rudolf Göckel, and finally popularized in 1732 by German philosopher Christian Wolff.
Psychological analysis and knowledge certainly helps us diagnose behavioral problems, so we may enjoy more fruitful relationships with ourselves and the rest of humankind. It mentally and emotionally restores us so we can function correctly as social animals. Philosophy, on the other hand, helps us to be better beings. It encourages us to understand our nature as independent Selves, irrespective of our roles in society. Philosophy allows us not merely to fix what is broken, but to gain vivid insight into our own perfection. The harsh but certain fact is that without a rational vision of ourselves as perfect beings in a perfect universe, the tireless, noteworthy efforts of psychologists and psychiatrists to diagnose and mend mental and emotional dysfunction will - like the actions and aspirations of politicians - ultimately lead us nowhere.
…we have looked to psychology and psychoanalysis to provide us with a viable perspective on how to live the good life in an age of cynicism. Clearly, psychoanalysis has not yet provided a sound social theory – Carl Goldberg
For empty is that philosopher's argument by which no human suffering is therapeutically treated. For just as there is no use in medical art that does not cast out the sickness of bodies, so too there is no use in philosophy, unless it cast out the suffering of the soul - Epicurus
Generally speaking, applied psychology and psychiatry tend to be concerned with human imperfection, whereas philosophy tends to be concerned with human perfection. Additionally, philosophical inquiry into the meaning of existence is less likely to result in self-deception and escapism, whereas psychology - the subject ostensibly developed to help us overcome our penchant for self-deception - can actively if undeliberately promote it. This was a critique raised against psychoanalysis by French Existentialist philosopher Jean Paul Sartre in Being and Nothingness. Psychological theories of the hidden unconscious and irrational impulses and instincts often let us off the hook. After all, why take personal responsibility for destructive thought and action when we can convince ourselves we are victimized by powerful mysterious internal forces and urges beyond conscious control. An entire civilization might misconstrue such ideas and use them to evade responsibility. Is this what we see today? Could this be one solid explanation for the all too obvious existential decay in our super-extrovert, ultra-competitive, hyper-cooperative world?
In any event, even on a mundane level, philosophy like psychology helps us find meaning in life. It serves to lessen the deep-set, otherwise incurable existential anxiety that leads to personality “disorder.” Unfortunately, today most people are not inclined to think philosophically. A little exposure to philosophical works and, more often than not, they are put off. Nevertheless, it is the ability to look at life philosophically that brings a working understanding of what is going on in the world. Why are things the way they are? Why are they this way as opposed to that? What does it all mean? What makes people tick? Who am I? What am I doing here? Where am I going? Does God exist? Everyday chit chat, television watching and newspaper reading, does not provide us with sufficient insight into questions of this sort. Moreover, having opinions about a subject is not the same thing as having true understanding.
Those who do not entirely avoid asking metaquestions often look to religion for answers. However, religion appeals more to beliefs than to knowledge. And one must conform to a lot of impersonal pre-established codes and ideas when they take the religious road. In other words, reason and critical judgment are often suspended rather than sharpened. Once a dogma is accepted on faith, anxiety is lessened but, more often than not, the personal arduous search for meaning is abandoned. As the French philosopher Michel de Montaigne once expressed it: “Man cannot make a worm, yet he will make gods by the dozen.”
Crucially, religion is primarily a social phenomenon. One is part of a religion and a religious group. One dresses as the group members tend to dress, speaks as it is customary for the group members to speak, and, almost invariably, one thinks along the same lines as the members of the group are wont to think. In other words, one allows themselves to be indoctrinated by the dogma and mores of the religious group and, when the opportunity affords itself, one eventually seeks to indoctrinate others. This is how and why the world’s many religious communities exist. As Anthony Wallace wrote in Religion: An Anthropological View:
Religious behavior is always social…Some religious behaviors may be performed by individuals in solitude, but no religion is purely an individual matter; there is always a congregation which meets on some occasions for the joint performance of ritual acts
In his book Corruption of Reality, author J. F. Schumacher deals with disassociation and the manner in which humans escape reality. On the matter of irrational religious beliefs he writes:
…without cultural sanction, most or all of our religious beliefs and rituals would fall into the domain of mental disturbance
Membership of a religion is often attractive because of the ecstatic experiences occasionally experienced by ardent believers. Experiences of a transcendent kind are often considered the greatest experiences one can have. A believer can feel God-intoxicated or elevated in spirit. Various Biblical characters, given that they existed, allegedly walked in the presence of God or were imbued by his love, and so on. Generally, experiences of this kind appear to be brought about by external forces or circumstances and are rarely auto-generated. (Consider the conversion of Saint Paul on the road to Damascus or the vision Constantine experienced outside Rome.) In many cases, an individual experiences a euphoric state while in the presence of a group of co-believers. This is common for Evangelists, Southern Baptists, Revivalists, and members of Christian Science congregations. It is also common among various religious sects in the Eastern world. And why not? After all, as infants we were entirely dependent upon our caregivers. Whether our parents were competent or not, abusive or loving, in infancy we and they were essentially indistinguishable. In Escape from Freedom, Erich Fromm explains:
The parents, or whoever the authority may be, are not yet regarded as being fundamentally separate entity; they are part of the child’s universe, and this universe is still part of the child; submission to them, therefore, has a different quality from the kind of submission that exists once two individuals have become really separate
The allure of collectivism is therefore quite understandable. During infancy the psyche was well and truly colonized. Our consciousness is literally a product of society. Inwardly, most of us are not individuals at all; we are everyone. We think, believe, and act as most people around us are wont to think, believe and act. To go against the flow and strive to discover what it means to be a Self, is tantamount to falling from grace and entering hell. As Adam and Eve apparently suffered for their act of self will, so do we each suffer if and when we attempt to individuate...
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