Symbolism: Its Meaning and Effect [Paperback]

I must say, I am indebted to Colin Wilson for leading me to this book. I read Beyond the Outsider a few years ago, and immediately afterwards was itching to read this book. A.N Whitehead is a clear and logical thinker. A genius of the 20th century, his idea of the two modes of perception: Immediacy Perception and Causal Efficacy. Finally, I think, refutes 'successfully' Hume's theory that causation cannot be perceived.

This is Whitehead's response to Hume and Kant's epistemological challenge. He begins by differentiating types of symbolism like algebra and language, and symbolism from sense-presentation to physical bodies as the most natural and widespread of all symbolic modes. The difference is that direct experience-based knowledge is infallible as opposed to symbolism that may induce actions, emotions and beliefs about things that are simply notions without those examples in reality which the symbolism leads one to presuppose. Whitehead pursues the thesis that symbolism is a key factor in the way we function as a result of direct knowledge.

The human mind functions symbolically when some components of its experience elicit consciousness, emotions and beliefs related to other components of its experience. The former cluster of components is the symbols whilst the latter constitutes the meaning of the symbols. 'Symbolic reference' is Whitehead's designation for the transference from symbol to meaning. Understanding the mind requires an explanation of how we can truly know, how we can err, and how we can distinguish truth from error. These necessitate that we distinguish the type of mentation which yields immediate acquaintance with fact from that which is only trustworthy by reason of its meeting certain criteria provided by the first type.

Whitehead calls the first 'Direct Recognition' and the second 'Symbolic Reference,' illustrating that all human symbolism may be reduced to trains of symbolic reference which finally connect percepts in alternative modes of direct recognition. He claims that no components of experience are only symbols or only meanings. Examples of the inversion of symbol & meaning abound in language. A word is a symbol that can be either written or spoken. Sometimes a written word may suggest the corresponding spoken word and its sound may suggest a meaning. In such a case, the written word is a symbol and its meaning is the spoken word, and the spoken word is a symbol and its meaning is the dictionary definition of the word, spoken or written.

Often, however, the written word effects its purpose without the intervention of the spoken. In this case the written directly symbolizes the dictionary meaning. Otherwise the written suggests both the spoken word as well as the meaning whilst the symbolic reference is made more definite by additional reference of the spoken word to the same meaning. The author's analysis of poetry reveals that in the use of language there's a double symbolic reference: from things to words by the speaker and from words to things by the listener.

Immediate perception of the contemporary external world is defined as `presentational immediacy' which explains why contemporary events are relevant to each other whilst simultaneously preserving mutual independence. This relevance amid independence is the peculiar character of contemporaneousness. The universe discloses itself as a community of things, real in the same sense that we are. Abstraction expresses nature's mode of interaction and isn't merely mental. The other purely perceptive mode of experience he calls 'causal efficacy'.

Symbolic reference must be explained before conceptual analysis, although there's a strong interaction between them. Conceptual analysis as third mode of experience introduces components that are analyzable into actual things of the real world and abstract attributes, qualities and relations. By symbolic reference the various actualities disclosed by the two modes of pure perception are either identified or correlated together as interrelated elements. Thus the result of symbolic reference is what the actual world is for us: that datum that produces feelings, emotions, actions and finally the topic for conscious recognition when conceptual analysis comes into play. Most of our perception is due to the enhanced subtlety arising from concurrent conceptual analysis. And no conscious knowledge exists without conceptual analysis.

Whitehead points out that Hume views time as pure succession. But it is the derivation of one state from another. Time in the concrete is the conformation of state to state, later to earlier; pure succession is an abstraction from the irreversible relationship of settled past to derivative present. The notion of succession reflects that of colour. There's no mere colour but always a particular colour like green or blue; there's no pure succession but always some particular relational aspect in which the states succeed each other. He concludes that Hume's doctrine is great philosophy but not common sense as it fails the test of obvious verification.

Kantians admit that causal efficacy is a factor in the phenomenal world but deny that it belongs to the data presupposed in perception; it resorts instead to our ways of thinking about data. The phenomenal world, as in consciousness, is a complex of coherent judgments, framed according to fixed categories of thought, and with a content constituted by given data organized according to fixed forms of intuition. This Kantian doctrine accepts Hume's naïve presupposition of `simple occurrence' for the data, being the assumption of `simple location,' by applying it to space as well as time.

Humeans & Kantians have diverse, but allied, objections to the notion of any direct perception of causal efficacy. Both schools find 'causal efficacy' to be an importation into the data, of a way of thinking or judging about those data. One school calls it a habit of thought; the other a category of thought. The logical difficulties attending the direct perception of causal efficacy have been shown to depend on the assumption that time is merely the generic notion of pure succession. This is an example of the Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness.

The final chapter explores the dynamics of symbolism which inheres in the very texture of society. By means of its elaborate system of symbolic transference humanity draws on the past to enter the future. But each symbolic transfer may involve an arbitrary imputation that is dangerous. As a community evolves, rules need revision. The art of a free society consists primarily in the maintenance of the symbolic code and secondly in bold revision to ensure that the code serves the purposes of enlightened reason. Societies which fail to combine reverence to their symbols with freedom of revision either explode into anarchy or stagnate and regress under the burdens of the past.

Here Whitehead deals with perception, epistemology, Hume, Kant, Burke, instinct, emotion & action in a rather challenging read. When one examines how a society shapes its individual members to function in conformity with its needs, it emerges that the primary agency must be our vast system of inherited symbolism. Symbols evoke loyalty to vague notions that are fundamental to humanity's spiritual nature.

The author pursues the thesis that symbolism is a key factor in the way we function as a result of direct knowledge. Distinguishing 'Direct Recognition' from 'Symbolic Reference,' he shows that all symbolism may be reduced to trains of reference which connect percepts in alternative modes of direct recognition.

Immediate perception of the external world is defined as 'presentational immediacy' whilst the other purely perceptive mode of experience is 'causal efficacy'. Conceptual analysis as third mode of experience introduces analyzable components into actual things in the real world, plus abstract attributes, qualities and relations.

He identifies the flaws of Hume & Kant in their objections to the notion of the direct perception of causal efficacy. Both schools find causal efficacy to be an importation into the data, a way of thinking about or evaluating the data. Hume's assumption that time is merely the generic notion of pure succession is an example of the Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness. Where Hume errs with time, the Kantians err with space and time.

Whitehead also neatly assesses the best and the worst of Burke's thought with reference to his writings on the American & French revolutions, showing that Burke's revulsion at the excesses of the French one played a part in his subsequent regrettable opposition to all progressive reform and his embrace of the "prejudice" concept.

In order to appreciate the function of symbolism in the life of society one must scrutinize the binding and disruptive forces at work. The advantages of social cohesion and the contrary stimulus of heterogeneity bestowed by freedom are equally important and need to be balanced. Whereas the force of instinct suppresses individuality, symbols simultaneously preserve the health of the community and the freedom of the individual. Symbolic expression preserves society by tying instinct to emotion thus assisting reason to dissect the particular instinct.

Symbolism makes space for the individual within society and at the same time promotes stability and an environment for co-operation between individuals. Whitehead carefully categorizes action as instinctive, reflexive and symbolically conditioned. Pure instinctive action is the response of an organism to pure causal efficacy. Reflex action is a relapse towards a more complex type of instinct by those who have experienced symbolically conditioned action.

The great process philosopher argues that symbolism needs to be constantly pruned and modified by new forms of expression. Old symbols must be remolded in accordance with changes in social structure. The rituals and ceremonies associated with symbolic concepts tend to remain unchanged or become frozen in time while their interpretations are in constant flux. When instinct is not expressed, it becomes toxic as it festers underground, unknown and unexamined by the the force of reason.

Linguistic change is a good example; new words appear, old ones fall into disuse and others undergo shifts of meaning. Language is a living process built on layers of dead metaphor. Sounds and expressions participate in this process of change so in a way, expression is symbolism. A language unites a nation whilst permitting individual opinion including those contrary to the consensus.

Symbolic transference may involve arbitrary and malevolent attributions. Whitehead's analysis reminded me of Chantal Delsol's observation on the current intellectual climate in Europe. Without a sense of purpose, mankind embraces the fatuous as revealed in banal and clichéd discourse. Delsol calls it the "clandestine" ideology of our time, overt ideology having become taboo. This black market substitute is sickly sentimental, arbitrary and intolerant despite furious claims to the contrary.

With reference to the band Rammstein whose act is a particularly grotesque example of what Delsol terms "black market nationalism," Claire Berlinski reveals what the repression of profound instincts leads to. This brilliant analysis, simultaneously hilarious and horrifying, encompasses translations of their lyrics, their use of Leni Riefenstahl footage, their album cover imagery, videos of their songs and the nature of their live performances.

As a community changes, rules and cultural norms need to be revised in the light of reason. When old symbolic systems are rapidly discarded as in the case of the 20th century's secular salvationist ideologies or "isms", violent revolution, oppression and mass murder ensue. Stagnation which leads to regression brings about the same toxic fruits of tyranny and terror that we are witnessing today in the Jihad.

Both rigidity and disruption lead to human sacrifice. Preserving a free society thus requires respect for tradition combined with the constant reappraisal and revision of symbolic codes. Michael Polanyi's view of the role of tradition in his little classic Science, Faith and Society is quite enlightening in this regard. I also recommend Eric Hoffer's The True Believer, a seminal study of the nature of mass movements.