Weber Notes 2

“It is certain that the integrity of personality flows from the existence of values to which it’s own life is related. And if on occasion these values were located exclusively within the sphere of its own individuality, then self-realisation with respect to just those interests for which it claims validity as values is the idea to which personality relates itself.” -Max Weber

***
Interests directed at external validity; validity defined as interest: that is how the personality relates itself to itself; as valuing thing to self-interested thing.

Note 140

Existence is a framework within which one thing relates to another. It is a pragmatic concept. Applied to experience, it is a framework by which the contents are related to each other.

Note 139

Truth and duality coexist. Truth is what we call our ideas; consistency is what we get in the world. So it is meaningless to say what is true in the world. But there are standards of truth in what we think of it; given by the world. This makes our statements about our thoughts about the world true or false - it does not make our statements about the world true or false. The language games that translate the former into the latter may take different forms.

***
Time just is the process of determinacy interacting with indeterminacy. Laws are determinate; but states of the world are not. So multiple equilibriums are possible.

***
Language games translate properties into meanings that relate to each other. For example, truth and consistency. In doing so, they define the justification (pragmatism), reference and use of the subject.

Weber Notes 1

“As rational action in the the economic and political sphere follows its own law like autonomy, so every other rational action in the world remains inseparably linked to worldly conditions that are alien to brotherliness.” - Max Weber

***

Society as technology to navigate, discover and develop structures and processes around lawlike autonomies in physical, economic, political, social, and teleological domains.

Note 138

The maya is the concept of truth itself: truthfulness springs from illusion. Form violates the essence of truth.

Therefore nothing is knowable.

Note 137

Two sources of growth: improved rate of circulation of transactions and money (demand-driven); or improved processes and products (higher circulation of activity or new activities which translates into higher capital circulation and hence drives growth).

Note 136

Competition is mimetic. Units compete for dominance over groups; groups compete for mimetic dominance. Institutions exist to establish, concretize memes into standards, within a context of existing standards.

Power as such in relation to power as an instrument of mimetic competition is as short run to a long run phenomenon.

Note 135

In any complex system, it is not one factor, but a set of factors, that drive a change in question. However, the set of factors that can drive change depend on the interrelationship between that set of factors and other factor conditions, or, an existing systemic state, making changes path-dependent in actual situations. It is assumed constances in those relations that allow for theory.

Note 134

Things belong to a cause-values-identity nexus.

***

The notion of the properties and object of the self is built on the usefulness of the combination of psychological features and the social structures (profiling, incentives and restrictions) that accompany these features.

Note 133

Space and time are just languages for interpreting signals, that is, a form of sensory grammar.

Culture

Culture as framing of natural problems as social problems.

Social values as a necessary condition of doing so - and culture as a seat of contention of values as social values.

Teleology as prioritization of values and culture as contest - every gesture is an expression of contention. So every non-significant gesture renders the culture sterile.

Political Pragmatism as Philosophy

Political pragmatism as philosophy calls for the flourishing of the greatest number of individuals in the context of the value structure of that society- made in recognition of facts of society- and is neutral about systems of governance.

It distinguishes between value structure and power structure of a society- pragmatism is conservatism about value structure not power structure.

Note 132

If you know what you’re doing, your goal should be to maximise return for a given acceptable amount of risk.

If you don’t know what you’re doing, your goal should be to minimise risk for a given acceptable return.

Note 131

Understanding is in essence the understanding of categories, that is, how they fit together or envelop one another.

***

What determines the primacy of systems? Is that a meaningful question?

Note 130

When do properties become things? When they become causal agents in systems of relations, and are used as propositional subjects. They are epistemically, not ontologically significant.

Philosophical Investigations Note 6

Subject/object distinctions are not a function of form but of clarity over the parameters of a language game for a certain use.

***
Solidification of qualities as things as a means of establishing relationships among qualities via rules of grammar to anchor and direct language games.

Philosophical Investigations Note 5

Normal is established in the context of the strange, and the strange in the normal.

Properties can only be established within a context. What about colours, like blue or red? Yes - these are descriptors established within a colour context - colours only make sense when related to each other.

What about things? As subjects, they extend beyond the frame -they are what the frame is about. As the intelligible object, they are understood by their properties - defined by their context. The method identifies the concept by contextualizing it, as Wittgenstein notes.

But the concept lies beyond the meaning. Only if the concept lies beyond the use can use be made of it.

Note 129

Two kinds of strategy: forward strategy and backward strategy.

Forward strategy is defined as the application of the principles of momentum and improvisation: to assess the present situation and capacities, in order to determine feasible outcomes and the routes to achieve one’s ends, working from and within the current context.

Backward strategy begins from a set of preferred outcomes based on one’s values and preferences. It then defines the means to achieve these ends, in a variety of situational contexts.

At the risk of confusion, we might call the former “short-run” strategy, and the latter “long-run” strategy.

The cultivation of capacity for both and the ability to suit the combination of both ways of thinking to the opportunities and constraints of each situation is called adaptive strategy.

Note 128

Generally, in any social interaction, the most important language game is the one that one has with oneself.

A thought is the death of an idea.

Viewed in this light, what is said are residues of truth that have evolved beyond it, and as a characterisation of the relationships of the past, must be viewed as an act of finality.

Note 127

One might say that excess of saving over investment and falling interest rates tend to indicate demand constraints and excessive inequality, while excess of consumption over investment along with rising interest rates indicate savings supply constraints and insufficient inequality.

Rising rates are due to high costs of risk or overheating and inflation. One might say that these may be caused by inadequate savings, which may be partially attributed to overconsumption. Multiplier effects of consumption increase the asset base of banks and hence credit provision, which may help address the problem.