It’s the Stupid Economy Stupid: Part III

The Personal-Interpersonal Ramifications
Embedded in the Economic Reconstitution of Identity?
(A Third Working Paper)*

The apparent simplicity of harmonized complexity…

1.   Introduction

	In this third working paper let me closely examine possible changes in the constitution of identity as found reflected in and through recent changes in the nature of the economic market place (and by extension their political causes, effects and ramifications). Human identity is a continual work in progress and our intersection with others in our economic interactions with others would appear to be as good a place to start in order to investigate changes in how we might go about go about perceiving and re-perceiving the apparent nature and value of each other, and, the apparent nature and value of our own sense/s of identity. (1)

	As both passive and active participants in the marketplace and its economic circulation of value, in and through self-reflection, by various means, our own sense/senses of identity must forever remain a ‘work in progress’ subject to a fluctuating intersection of apparent continuities of value and discontinuities within the same along with the emergence of new directions and the re-emergence of older directions in these processes of value-formation. In this third working paper let me look more closely at this process of re-constitution. I would like to argue that rather radical changes in the current economic and political scene, both here in Australia and overseas (in Particular USA and Europe), will be reflected in similar shifts in how we see others and in how we come to see ourselves. Moreover, I would like to argue that such relative discontinuities are both passively reflective of these contemporary shifts in identity and actively instrumental in enlarging these same shifts in the constitution of identity (initiated through chaotic promotion and/or reversal of a collective miscellany of prior trends). (2)

	As much economic discussion is taking place in the media, along with even more accompanying commentary but less debate, this area of concern, is I believe, a good place to investigate recent differences in the constitution of personal and interpersonal identity. Closely allied to such shifts in economic perceptions are closely associated political innovations in dealing with the same (although these aspects of the economic and the political need not necessarily be completely isomorphic in emphasis or attitude or temporally coincident with each other). Such concentrated concerns on economic matters is natural in an economic crisis, especially one that is global in extent. I would like to argue that such concerns also heavily implicate matters of personal and interpersonal identity (and thence the primary objective of this project, namely, to what degree do changes in such issues re-constitute personal and interpersonal identity). (3)
Latest version paper: www.homestead.com/noelshomepage/noelshomepage3.html 
2.   The Theoretical Nature of Self							 

	Identity is a complex matter and, therein lies its theoretical resolution as a problematic issue, namely, our recognition of its complex nature as complex. I.e., subject to chaotic organization – between its apparent simplicity and its apparent complexity in and through the integration of a bewildering array of distinctive senses of self that collectively and hierarchically make up this overall constituted sense of self. In its epistemological organization an overall sense of self is arrived at through an integration of all its contributing senses of intentionality. Hence its complexity. Thence its phenomenal appearance of an integrated sense of self from a relatively empirical point of view and the complete absence of a substantial sense of self from an absolute transcendental sense of self if that perspective were at all possible from a direct experiential point of view. To this extent an engaged transcendental ego can only be that sense of self that deals with the relatively non-transcendental. Conversely, an engaged empirical sense of self is that embodiment qua embodiment perceived from a non-empirical point of view, i.e., an engaged transcendental perspective. As stated, an engaged transcendental perspective can only be the relatively trans-empirical treatment of the relatively empirical. How is this process of treatment to be view (metaphorically, and, theoretically, practically and critically?) (4)

	This process of accommodation is arrived at through the integrated nature of intentional fields. As argued on numerous occasions elsewhere, in an intentional field the intentional object or objective is arrived at through an intentional concentration upon the simulation of that intentional object/tive in its appropriate intentional field. Now, this a sense of self is almost a third-party so to speak in its intentional observation of this relationship between the intentional object/ive and its corresponding intentional field; i.e., in this relationship between intentional focus and its corresponding intentional field. Together, this relationship, in its intentional inspection establishes a intentional sense of ego appropriate to the nature of that field. Hence intentional visual perceivers in their intentional visual fields, and, similarly, in all other intentional fields. As all these fields can be relatively integrated into an overall sense of intentional self (in their prior being able to be extracted from) hence the apparent simplicity of such phenomenal-intentional complexity. Thence the intentional repertoire of an intentional subject through focusing on aspects of this relatively integrated complexity, e.g., as a visual perceiver, as a visual rememberer, as an imaginative visualizer, as an agent acting in a visual field, as an intentional agent able to identity subjects and objects in a visual field (and differentiate between the same, etc.), etc. Various facets and aspects of this hierarchically enstructured complexity that can be focused upon establishing an associated complex sense of self within this overall sense of self. (5)

	How does this complex sense of self respond to changes in its personal-interpersonal environment? What relationship is borne between apparent continuities and apparent discontinuities in this regard? More specifically, how might the self and its sense of identity be constituted and differentially re-constituted? (6)

	As noted above, intentional consciousness simulates that in which it is directly in contact with by virtue of taking on that intentional complexion when and where that form of intentionality is obtainable, i.e., can be entered into constructively and constructively reflected upon. This is arrived at when intentional productivity is retained through iterative intentional retention. Furthermore, such retention is retrospectively associated with prior patterns of similarly constituted intentional formation within associated genres of meta-textual activity. Furthermore, through prospective anticipation or intentional protention the genesis of that process of intentional formation is measured as either successful, part-successful or non-successful. Thence these three temporal orientations are configured within intentional formation and its thematization of identity be that of subjects whether that primarily be of its own complex sense of self or some other self or set of selves and/or objects and/or fields. Hence the cooperation between retrospective re-tention, the immediacy of intentional in-tention and the prospectivity of  pro-tention. (7)

	That given, as above, how does an overall sense of self find itself acting within this world-of-Life with others, before others? (8)

	Cognitive consciousness is realized through a hermeneutic circle of comprehension in which cognitive constructions are emergently enriched within this circulation of value. The three moments of this ‘circular’ process mirroring these three gestalt facets of focus, field and associated sense of self, being respectively, analytically oriented, synthetically oriented and a balanced attitude towards both of the former. All of this thematization as a complex intentional process takes place in and through an overall transcendental suspension. Given such a balanced state of affairs how do we escape its continual encirclement and potential paralysis within the same? (9)
	
	In the past I have argued that we escape the hypothetical paralysis (and psychosis) of the transcendental suspension (and hermeneutic circle) through a suspension of the same (and thence a suspension of that suspension, etc., etc.). However, such a solution cannot be completely satisfactory since we cannot completely escape the nature of the suspension itself by invoking one more suspension, etc. Rather, it would appear, in suspending the suspension we allow the accumulating consequences of that suspension to burst forth if and when an adequate asymmetry arises in the ongoing course of its work. We have before us, e.g., the metaphor of weight as in the ‘weight of evidence’. If evidence is found to rightly privilege a certain interpretation then in the chaotic moment of the suspension of the suspension a certain bifurcation is then definitively entered into. We exercise a choice, our freedom of will, but given this accumulative asymmetry in a sense the apparently right choice is now chosen for us given this weight of evidence in favour of the same. Moreover, all apposite choices are also already pre-configured for us in and through the propriety and appropriateness of the genres of activity validly or invalidly adopted and adapted in that respect.  E.g., if we were writing a letter to x then that letter should be addressed to x and not y. Moreover, a letter should have a certain resemblance to a letter, etc. (10)

	However, such analysis is only provisional (and symbolic). Correctly, when we are engaged with a ‘living text’ no degree of reductive activity is ever going to be able to capture the emergent nature of the situation as simulated for us in and through our engagement with the same. (11)

	This summary sketch understood and accepted, if only hypothetically, what can we definitively say about identity given its formation in and through a process of identity formation. That identity is simulated, has a degree of apparent simplicity despite the complexity of its hierarchical substructures. That we have an emergent sense of self forever engaged as a work in progress. However, through habitual sedimentation we might also say a sense of self is thematized that possesses, along with process of retentional memory, etc., a sense of ego-solidification and its pre-positioning on a number of frequently met topics of interest to that particular ego-formation. However, despite such sedimentation of habit, discontinuities in practice can also manifest themselves in and through points of bifurcation if and when there is the perception of a new direction or course of responsive action that should be adopted and adapted to our current interpretation/s of the situation currently to-hand. Identity cannot be essentially approached through a reductive calculus (nor through the synthesis of a mere perspective thought apposite in an a priori fashion upon the mere basis of past responsive behaviour). The simulation of identity is the identity of simulation – an ongoing processes that emerges in and through our engagement within the world-to-hand. Obviously, changes in identity formation will concern themselves with these points of discontinuity within the mainstream of apparent ego-continuity. (12)

As already noted, identity is neither an absolutely active affair nor an absolutely passive affair! Furthermore, rather than becoming involved in controversies over nature versus nurture, and, controversies concerning an intrinsic goodness versus evilness, let us just assume that for the ego to function at all a certain degree of integrity must be assumed before that identity itself could assume a certain sense of identity! Just as a lie can only be performed in the context of a series of overall truthful dispositions, so too integrity must be assumed as a pre-requisite for the very functioning of that embodied ego formation under scrutiny. That granted, let me remark that differentiations or re-directions of identity are probably of greater interest and import. Let me now examine, in general terms of reference, to what degree and in what manner the current economic crisis is effecting personal and interpersonal identity formation through a re-direction of identity-responsiveness. In other words, what general discontinuities can be pointed out in this regard, in this changing economic climate and its radical innovations and redirections in practice. (13)

3.   Radical Discontinuities in Economically Identity Formation

	Various characteristic factors have precipitated this crisis, and, disseminated a globalization of its extent, and, various behavioral factors have been promoted in a variety of responses to the same. Under these three heading I would like to note, first, respectively, irrational exuberance, greed, diminished regulation and oversight, proliferation of practices that possessed a short-term profitable return, severed responsibility and a transmission of the same to some other non-involved stake-holder usually in the context of group of mutually non-actively involved membership. Then, a loss of transparency, a general delusion that accepts mere superficial guarantees of stability and a general culpability in that regard. Lastly, the chaotically predisposed pre-conditions and conditions for a transmission of this type of situation on a globalized level of dissemination along with responses in reaction to a radical redirection in the markets. No doubt other factors can be found under these three headings. Certainly, responses in reaction to a discovery of crisis can be universally described along certain modes of response, e.g., fear, panic, a rational desire to exit such positions, an irrational short-term aspiration to think one could successfully exit such positions once the market is following an irrationally chaotic collapse of confidence, a feeling of being trapped, etc., etc. Problematic responses compounded by constraints to service debt, provide for current living expenses, find other adaptive responses of a more profitable nature given a shrinkage of positive possibilities in this regard. (14)

	We might say that an optimistic horizon has collapsed and is now currently replaced by a pessimistic horizon that to some extent is also self-fulfilling. Accompanying this global transition in mood, etc., we also meet some radical innovations and initiations in economic trends and orientations. Some re-orientations have facilitated by political intervention, others have been facilitated by economic innovation; generally the emphasis in this matter has been on the economic side of the ledger so to speak. The ramifications of these discontinuities and innovations in practice are of concern here to the degree they also radically redirect identity formation be that on a personal level or an interpersonal level of interaction, be that on a national level or on an international level of interaction. Given this earlier climate of irrational exuberance and diminished regulation, supervision and responsibility, and, this shift to a climate of economic chaos, fear and dysfunction and possible disruption what can we say in general terms of reference on economic, political and social levels of interaction? (15)

	So far, it would appear, we have been granted a swift and determined response by certain world leaders with a degree of prescience and presence that has commanded our admiration, and hopefully, our long-term respect and gratefulness.  Deep-seated prejudices have been uprooted and turned around, relatively surprising innovation have been invoked that only a few months ago would not even have been contemplated as necessary let alone as either possible or desirable? Let us examine these re-positionings from economic, political and social perspectives. (16)

	From a de-regulated and a markedly under-regulated marketplace, albeit with minimum regulation in a less systematic manner, to a marketplace with a much greater degree of supervision, all in the space of a few weeks, and enacted with a minimal amount of debate, shows how times have changed and how the consequences and implications of these changed times are so relatively unnoticed. Economic times will become much tougher… many countries are already in a state of recession… and others will follow. Into this vacuum of crisis it is natural to ask will Australia also follow in a similar fashion? However, with some degree of confidence re-established in some financial circles we should also ask, hypothetically and hopefully, have we escaped from what could be a worse situation, a situation where escape would have been much more difficult (and perhaps impossible if confidence could not have returned to the center of the financial world within commercial banking and allied services?)? In America, investment banking has effectively deconstructed. Some investment banks are in receivership, others have been taken over by commercial banks. In Australia there are proposals afoot for financial institutions to take on the rights, privileges and responsibilities of a bank along with guarantees traditionally and recently supplied to such institutions given their degree of regulation and fiscal propriety in regards to the degree of capitalization they must maintain as a minimum requirement, etc. This is all quite ironic given that commercial banking and investment banking were to be kept separate in the corrective aftermath of The Great Depression. But times have changed. A consensus has formed, hopefully, that globalization is the way to head, and in which direction we should keep heading, and, that we should not return to the myopia of a protectionist economic platform. What are the consequences of this moderate degree of optimism in this regard? (17)

	A sea-change politically and economically, instrumental in this transformation and effected by this transformation we must also perceive and interpret a change in fundamental moral attitudes in our relationships with others. Minimum degrees of regulation are inevitable and in their own quite way will proliferate (more often than not merely to explicate already implied processes and practices). In counterbalance we should find less reluctance to overseer and supervise public processes be they economical or political or social in orientation. Then, we too must argue for and maintain, adequate degrees of oversight and supervision. In the midst of this change w also need to note the degree of supervision necessary for a particular system to function properly. Certain features assisting this process of oversight. The invocation of overall transcendental suspensions, moderate amounts of legislation, adequate supervision, and, a greater awareness of the Other promoted in and through greater degrees of transparency and awareness. Insisting that supervision, in turn, to be adequately supervised, and, that an adequate degree of transparency also here be exercised! (17)

	More than ever we live in a world of simulation, in a world between the virtual and the non-virtual. Too often I have heard complaints about the financial system (read the ‘banks’) and their fancy financial services along with their endless trading in a virtual world of paper finances. But people forget that all financial institutions effectively trade in a virtual world. The very money in our pockets, should we have some, is itself a financial device that gets traded. Coins have some intrinsic value but often not much more than a small fraction of its nominated worth, whilst notes have virtually no intrinsic worth! But, we miss the point. We operate in an economy built on agreements in whose articulations we must come to trust, to credit, believe to be credible. Without such trust we get a crisis of credit of the likes we have just managed to get out of. Hopefully! Rather than disparage financial instruments, let us instead  better manage these resources and ‘grow’ ‘our’ economy. Hence my insistence, also, on greater degrees and practices of transparency. Be that in economic, political or social spheres involved in our living-well-with-others and the accumulating influences and consequences realized in such degrees of mutual trust and authenticity. (18)

	From a freewheeling world of individualism (often more praised in conservative circles) and claims for smaller government (that are never ever ever eventuated in conservative forms of government, nor in non-conservative forms of government for that matter either) we now proceed to a new world order, at last, that is going to be (or should be) more society oriented rather than socialistically oriented. No longer can we de-regulate and under-supervise. To some measure, we must accept being to some small degree at least, our brother’s keeper. Furthermore, in a recognition of increasing complexity our approaches and procedures need to be more dimensionally attentive to the nuances necessary for good governance. Supervision needs to be supervised, regulation needs to be regulated, responsibility needs to be made responsible, actions need to be mutually entrusted with consequences and not just with pursuing their ensuing profits, responses need to be conducted transparently and criticisms of the same need to be conducted in a similar fashion. Into this ‘new’ world-order we have been dragged whether we are aware of this or not! All of these changes are going to impinge on how we deal with other and how others are expected to deal with us. (19)

4.   Conclusions

In the chaotic complexity of the great marketplace of this world, small actions can how profound consequences out of all proportion to the merit of their triggering cause or causes. Conversely, profound actions can have non-consequential consequences in a more final scheme of things. Similarly, in a vision of this chaotic landscape resulting equilibria need not be in equipoise, nor in fruitful equilibrium, be something we can feel equanimity for or feel such points of balance to be something we could or should feel desire for. Dynamic equilibria need not be balanced and fruitfully bountiful! Indeed, they can equally imprison us in potential wells that bear only a minimal resemblance to their true potential given less adverse circumstances. Ultimately, through simulation, there is no absolute difference or distinction between subjects and subject, subjects and objects and subjects and apparently different contexts of operation.  Furthermore, through simulation, albeit directly in contact through the immediacy of all participants in their relationships with each other, it follows that there is a permeability between all forms of interaction in such a manner that actions and responses in one sphere are to be mirrored in some form or other in all other relevant spheres of interaction. In this mirroring, however, there need be no perfect mirroring since all reflection takes place from its own point or points of view.  Here the intended moral is that economic actions will have political and social consequences, and, political actions will have economic and social consequences. Although never in absolute synchronicity at the same time they can be never too far from influencing each other in that same moment or period of time. This characterization of the overall situation reflecting the equal chaotic complexity and apparent integrity or simplicity of the same. Like a vast crystal, the Life-World mirrors and reflects all changes of state within, such apparent differentiations in discontinuity re-constituting the formation of identity therein, within this living World-of-Life. From such dynamic changes of conditions new states will emerge and submerge back into this eternal economy of value in whose circulation we find ourselves and find each other. Through such a prism we find the value of personal relationships, a sense of the interpersonal, the sense of the national and the sense of the international – giving with one hand and taking with the other. Participants in the economy of the Life-World that can be neither absolutely active nor absolutely passive. In recognizing this fact of our being-with-others, a relevant degree of responsibility should always be accepted and acted upon; a state of affairs best promoted through an authenticity of transparency in that manner and to that degree that best promotes our business in the world and the business of others in business with us in this world, this same World-of-Life (in all its transcendental possibilities that can be acted upon and possibly enacted). For so does it appear to be the Way of the world…! (20)
							Noël Tointon, Sydney, 15.11.08.

Postscript: Psychological Method?

	How does one conduct a careful psychological examination of such imputed shifts in thinking and practice? Go from anecdote to a survey of their general existence or non-existence? Conduct various studies from time to time and try to infer shifts in public thinking in this regard. Or, perhaps, as more or less suggested, in general terms of reference examine this permeability between the economic and the political and its extension to and from the social by studying changes of emphasis in metaphors/mythical texts, etc? N.