To: ftp.lysator.liu.se (via Ceci)
From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com
Date: 49930814


_Liber Scire: the Epistemology of Magick_
By Frater Nigris

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
The word of Sin is Restriction.


This subject consistently recurs in discussion groups.  Many of us
have hashed out very wonderful ideas and have come to know our
differences.  I'd be happy to rehash some of them, but there are SO
MANY different understandings of terms that I find the process
tedious.  Below I post the model I have come up with that answers the
question about how Magick and Science are related.  Questions
regarding it will be directly addressed.

In brief, my favorite opinion is that magicks are arts AND sciences,
but that all three of these terms must be understood in the way that
the ancients understood them in order to be fully appreciated.

-----------------------------------------------

Herein follows a model and definition (in 'proof' format) of: 

STATEMENT MA:   Magical disciplines are sciences.

Please review the Definitions, Axioms and Theorems below and
comment if you like.  


Preliminary assumptions

I am working under the assumption that what are commonly referred to
by modern Science (what is currently the scientific establishment) as
'science', 'art', 'magick' and 'the scientific method (TSM)' are
really specific cases (along the lines that Newton's Theory is a
special case of Einstein's Relativity Theory).  I am attempting to
present a paradigm which does not make the mistake of accepting that
'objective, material science' (i.e. modern Science) is superior to
other types.

I contend that magical disciplines are also ARTS and will use a
similar elaboration to show this (substituting 'arts' for 'sciences'
and TAM (the artistic method) for TSM).  TAM is not yet developed.
Suggestions regarding its form would be appreciated.

-----

Definitions:


a. disciplines

Systems of thought and/or behavior which include learning 

[Note that this makes all disciplines sciences.  See the roots of the
words 'discipline' and 'science'.  The first relates to learning and
the second to knowing or coming to know.]

=====

b. the scientific method (TSM) - LEARNING  

The ONLY means of establishing correspondence between ideas and
phenomena, consisting of the following elements (applied within
disciplines):


[Each operation below incorporates function C (B).  See Note ** at the
end of this document for additional information about how this model
works.]

1. Create worldview (C) [The first one is generated during childhood.]

2. Create hypothesis (C)

3. Interpret hypothesis within worldview (C)

4. Project performance method for hypothesis (C)

5. Perform and gather results (data) (C)

6. Consolidate data (within or outside worldview) (C)


6a. Given absorbable data:

One worldview is modified and this is followed by the creation of
another hypothesis (2.2).

[Modern Science modifies its 'objective' worldview, disregarding
contrary data.]


6b. Given contrary data:

Another worldview is created, initiating parallel processes 1', 2' and
2.

[This is Kuhn's 'revolutionary science' which modern Science does not
do.]


6c. Given data which bridges worldviews:

The bridged worldviews are callapsed into each other.

[This would be the equivalent of a Meta-Occam's Razor.]


6d. Given enough experience which will not satifactorily fit within a
worldview:

Knowledge systems are left behind for mysticism, which brings about
direct experience (Truth).

[This is the ultimate goal to which Science leads: Gnosis, or
knowledge that is experiential rather than simply intellectual.]


For additional information about TSM, see NOTE ** at the end of this
document.

=====


c. study

Activity that leads toward an understanding of a given subject

[Note the use of the term 'subject' here, which is inclusive of the
personal center of consciousness.]


d. phenomena

Things that can be sensed

[Note here the term 'things'.  An arbitrary selection from the group
of phenomena with which we are presented, a 'thing' is an object we
have come to associate with qualities which are separable from the
rest of the cosmos.]


e. Magick [Compare the common term - 'Science']

A group of disciplines which study and cause willed change

[Magick is therefore a group of learning processes, or sciences.  It
is the engagement of activities which lead toward the understanding of
the subject of effecting intentional variations in phenomena.  It is
also the engagement of activities which show us how to effect these
variations ourselves.]

 

f. magical disciplines [magicks? ...compare the common term -
'sciences']

Disciplines of which Magick is comprised


g. cause (verb)

Effect (verb)


h. willed

Intended/volitive

[Here is one fulcrum of intense study in Magick.  What is the will?
Where does it come from?  Is it somehow 'free'?  How does it differ
from the source and force of manifestation?]


i. change

Differentiation of substance, form or relationship within a system of
phenomena


[This definition is quite broad, allowing for many many understandings
about what Magick is about.]

-----

Axioms:


Axiom S (cience)

Disciplines are sciences if they use TSM.

[In other words, learning processes can be classified as 'sciences'
(tools usable to achieve knowledge of some type) as long as they us
the method with which these tools have been associated.  That the
Scientific Method has no consistent definition says much about the
foundation upon which modern Science rests.]


Axiom U (se) 

Disciplines which study phenomena use TSM.

[This is the linchpin, the most vulnerable and controversial element,
of the entire model.  It requires an understanding that the Scientific
Method is here being defined directly as learning.  Given this, any
discipline which studies anything uses TSM.  However, the generality
of that statement makes no specific connection to Magick.  For that
connection we must emphasize what seems obvious in order to lay the
groundwork for the proposition in question.]

-----

Theorems:


THEOREM  U (se)

Theorem:  Magical disciplines use TSM.


Proof:

Given
1) Magical disciplines study phenomena.  

and
2) Disciplines which study phenomena use TSM.  


Therefore:
3) Magical disciplines use TSM.

[1 - This breaks the traditional clinging to objective cosmologies.
 2 - This shows Magick's placement within the field of epistemology.
 3 - This is the logical conclusion based upon the prior assumptions.]


THEOREM M  [THE STATEMENT BEING DEFINED]

Theorem:  Magical disciplines are sciences.


Proof:

Given
1) Magical disciplines use TSM.  

and
2) Disciplines are sciences if they use TSM.   


Therefore:
3) Magical disciplines are sciences.

[At this point it seems rather trivial to complete the proof, given
that the central feature of it lies in one of its axioms, yet here the
connection is made directly between Magick and Science.  The
Scientific Method is used to justify identifying magicks as sciences
based upon the assertion that magical disciplines employ the same
means (learning, TSM) in their practice.]
  

-----

My thanks to Todd Stark, Chris Burdhoff, Steve Belczyk, and Semhaza
for their arguments and suggestions in arriving at this definition.

================================================================

NOTE **  

Additional information regarding TSM

The functions A, B and C must be engaged and learned previous to the
search for knowledge.  Like mathematical functions, they operate like
 F(x), in which the 'x' is a variable that depends upon the higher level
operation that invokes it for its value.  In each successive stage the 
variable changes based on the context (i.e. in '2. Generate Hypothesis', 
the 'Inquiry' concerns a question within the worldview now posited... 
What can we state given the worldview in question? - 
in '5. Performance and results' the 'Inquiry' concerns the process of 
performance... What is happening?).

The preliminary functions (A, B and C) lie outside TSM proper.  They
must be learned and used to carry out TSM within any field.


Function A

i. Attention
ii. Discrimination
iii. Focus


Function B (A)
[This incorporates (A) in each of its steps.]

i. Comparison (A)
ii. Association (A)
iii. Identification (A)


Function C (B)
[This incorporates B (A), in each of its steps.]

i. Inquiry (B)
ii. Reflection (B)
iii. Analysis (Induction/Deduction) (B)
iv. Understanding (B)
v. Synthesis (Imagination/Modelling) (B)
vi. Expression (B)

============

Comment:

In modern Science most of these processes (functions A/B/C and
operations 1 through 6) are performed on a conscious level.  In Magick
they may or may not be performed consciously.  For example, in
'spontaneous ritual', the hypothesis is arrived at subconsciously in
what is called a 'gestalt' through spontaneous, meaningful experience.

Operations 2, 3 and 4 above are usually carried out in consonance by
those in modern Science so as to restrict hypotheses to the ones that
are 'falsifiable' within the 'objective' worldview.  This sets up the
blinder-effect of ignoring contraries.

We might also posit a 4' which recognizes the restrictions on
hypotheses faced by scientists within a particular culture who are
given pragmatic parameters for performance (i.e. social, physical,
ethical, etc.).  For example, a scientist who hypothesizes that a
nuclear weapon detonated over a large city would have certain results
would not be allowed to perform such an action in order to support or
falsify hir hypothesis.

It ought be said that hypotheses can only be supported and falsified,
but not confirmed (Popper), and that TSM never leads to absolute
facts, only to knowledge structures which are dependent upon unproven
axioms and thus revisable given clear reason.  So far, modern Science
considers no evidence presented it 'clear enough reason' to move
beyond the 'objective' worldview, in which 'consensual reality' is
established.

-----

The following concepts still require description with respect to this model:

A. Observation (functions A and B)
inwardly and outwardly directed

B. Hypothesis (Operation 2)
the need for explanatory coherence

C. Performance (Operation 5)
subconsciously vs. consciously directed performance
hypothesis, performance and gestalt

D. Consolidation of data (Operation 6)
falsifiability in the context of a personal worldview
repeatability and the repetition of ritual

E. Consensuality (Overall goal: Knowledge, and then Truth)
social vs. personal knowledge
objective vs. subjective consensuality

-----------

If anyone would like to flesh out the theory above, please do so.

------------

This model is based on Gregory Bateson's model of Learning
(0/I/II/III), popular Philosophy of Science, some computer programming
theory, and my own understanding of Science