| REVIEWS
A selection of the best from recent issues of the Philosopher
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Private Worlds |
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The Philosopher's verdict: AChariot of the Gods |
Private Worlds, by Georges Dupenois 1996 hb £.9.75 pp98 + index ISBN 0-9527102-0-X Cosmos Publishing, 6 Newton House, Exeter, UK |
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Georges Dupenois clearly nails his colours to the mast of the mental construct, and pursues this view to the bitter end. In fact, not only is the external world a subjective construct, but so are our bodies, our brains, even our minds. The only realities are what Dupenois calls the Substratum (after Kant) and the Overself (an invention of his own). These are collectively a set of forces which create 'vibrations' which the mind construes into objects, thoughts, dreams or ideas and which are dropped into space/time, itself a mental construct in which to concretise these vibrations. Further, the mind, self or ego is simply an interface between the Overself (the universal self of which we are all a part) and the Substratum. To this end, mind is not an entity, but a process or activity, the process of becoming or creating. The extent of the becoming or creating depends upon the extent to which the mind is prepared to deny material and sense data, and 'tune into' (Dupenois' words) the transcendental: the Substratum and the Overself. So far so good, and it is clear, as Dupenois acknowledges, that he and we are deep in the territory inhabited by Berkeley, Kant, Schopenhauer and several Eastern philosophies. It might be worth shelling out the £9.75 for the book simply on that account: it does, in the first two chapters, give a very clear and succinct summary of the non-realist, anti-materialist philosophical position. Unfortunately, Dupenois then falls foul of the problem that all subjectivists encounter: that once you have removed objectivity, logic and scientific thought from the arena, what have you got left to write about? After all, anything you then write can be criticised, by its own lights, as being personal, subjective and of no validity to anyone else. Further, if no objective criteria are being applied to the subject matter, then anything goes. For example, Dupenois can dismiss much of science, and issues involving predestination and free will, as not worthy of debate, since they depend on causality, which is a mental construct and does not exist in the atemporal, non-material world of the Transcendental. Likewise astrology, purgatory, angels, faith healing, miracles, telekinesis and UFOs can all be accepted as worthy of study because they are manifestations of the transcendental perceived by minds which are particularly attuned to it. And this almost arbitrary game of acceptance and rejection is obfuscated by Dupenois' failure to grasp some of the items he discusses. His understanding of Relativity and Quantum Theory is sketchy to say the least, and the description of Schrodinger's thought experiment ('Schrodinger's Cat') is simply incorrect. Perhaps the most serious reservation to have about this work, however, lies not in its actual content or argument but in the oeuvres it represents. I can't give this genre a name but it consists of what can best be called 'speculative' philosophy; the same stable as Chariots of the Gods and The Bermuda Triangle belong in. Such works begin, as does the blurb in Private Worlds, with a request that the reader be open minded. They deny that they are speculative, and couch even the most extravagant claims in terms that are reasonable |
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Never mind what The Philosopher says - take me to the bookshop! |
