On the Constitution of Contemporary Identity:
The Role of Small Groups, and, A Defense of Shopping(?)

…its always a good time to go shopping…
(an archetypal shopping slogan)

0.    Introduction

	This paper is the keynote address for the Fifth Philosophy Conference of the Continental Philosophy Group. I have tried to write it in a relatively non-technical language with additional detail placed in the footnotes.

	I will begin by producing a very brief, potted history of two groups, namely the one above, the Continental Philosophy Group, and the second being A Square-Circle, a poetry group run along similar lines to the former. My interest in doing this is to determine how one can evaluate the value, the successfulness or otherwise… of these two groups and the potential role this type of group might play in the constitution of Contemporary identity. 

	I use the expression “Contemporary” to indicate my belief that we are entering a new era of the post-Postmodern. I have devoted a number of papers to this topic and they can be found on my homepage-site www.homestead.com/noelshomepage/noelsintro.html Essentially, this transition is signaled by a re-constitution of the identity of national/tribal/localized affiliations/small groups, etc; a re-investment in the spontaneity and creativity of an existential sense of the present or contemporary, the production of art-forms of a more interactive nature (between artists, audiences, interpreters, etc), literary texts that ‘live-out’ the immediacy of the vernacular and all genres of activity along with the aesthetic promotion of the otherwise ordinary, etc….

	After briefly examining these potted histories I will then quickly note the problematic area of the constitution of current identity and voice some concerns on the apparent intrusion of shopping into such a domain. Then, I will look at the experiential nature and value of relationships and their necessary role in the constitution of identity writing a relatively non-technical paper on this subject. Then, armed with this analysis, I will re-look at the nature and role(s) of small groups and in the process proffer a qualified defense of shopping.

1.    A Brief History of Two Small Groups

The Continental Philosophy Group grew out of a monthly discussion group on the Macquarie University campus in the School of History, Philosophy and Politics. Its main area of focus was on phenomenological philosophy especially with reference to the work of the German philosopher Edmund Husserl. Its other main area of focus was on Continental Philosophy in general. With students getting their degrees, and moving on, and changes in the staff in the philosophy department the group shifted very briefly to the Sydney University campus and thence to a series of coffee shops in Newtown. We are now in Surry Hills: 

The Continental Philosophy Group
Surry Hills, at the Rustic Café, 
on the corner of Crown St and
Devonshire St (straight up from the
Railway Tunnel) meeting upstairs 
every second Sunday of the month at 3pm.

The format of how we function as a group is usually as follows: a person, self-nominated, presents a paper in the manner of their own choosing with a lengthy period for questions often during and after their presentation. A custom of ours is to have photocopies of the paper so people can read along with the presenter. Having a text-to-hand helps focus the questions and keeps most of the discussion on the topic. Not that there are no digressions, but, usually, they more often than not head back to the topic. This process of reading-questions-reply, etc., often takes about three hours and is a period when all the members around the table find themselves seriously, but enjoyably, engaged with the topic-to-hand. I, personally, have found it a very rewarding process; inspiring me to write for this type of audience and, often, afterwards, re-writing what I have written considerably strengthened by this ongoing process of constructive criticism… this process of critical re-presentation….

	The poetry group has a similar philosophy - we read our own poetry with photocopies of the text-to-hand. This focuses peoples’ criticism on the text. Usually the poet discusses the context of the poem and what they are trying to achieve. Then they read the entire poem, sometimes being asked to read it a second time. The poem is discussed from a number of angles - imagery, form, meter, perceived weaknesses and strengths, grammar, spelling, originality, resonances with other poets, etc. 

A Square-Circle (Poetry Group)
Surry Hills, at the Rustic Café, 
on the corner of Crown St and
Devonshire St (straight up from the
Railway Tunnel) meeting upstairs 
every first Sunday of the month at 6pm.
This name A Square-Circle I chose as I felt it was a good reflection of what we were trying to do - an attempt to overcome various dichotomies, or polarities, between the formal and the informal, poetry and prose (we read short stories as well), male and female, style and lifestyle, author and audience, performance and non-performance oriented poetries, etc. We also rely heavily on the presence of photocopied texts being to hand and, perhaps, see ourselves as a “sit-down” group of poets rather than as just “stand-up” performance poets.

	Both groups have been going for nearly twenty years. In terms of duration they might well be deemed successful. On the other hand, our numbers oscillate around a half-dozen intrepid, creative folk happy to spend about three hours seated around one long table in intensive interaction waving a text in our hands when not emending it with a black or red pen. Quantitatively, we may not be setting the world on fire in terms of an ever expanding membership. On the other hand, qualitatively, this very focused style of interaction has been a very creative atmosphere for what has been inspired within and from the intensity of this scrivener's den - hundreds of poems and dozens of philosophy papers!

	A meditation on the regular waxing and waning numbers and types of people that attend has convinced me that groups often have a definitive life of their own and that there is a very important role for small intensive groups that of their very nature of their modus operandi can never grow much larger without a constitutional upheaval should that of type of transition appear so ordained. Only so many people can sit around a table designed for ten or twelve persons, after that you get an inner and outer circle in a group whose 'normal' nature is to co-opt the almost equal interaction of those present in a face-to-face series of exchanges… a process that becomes something very difficult to do with people through either architecture or desire who wish to remain silent whilst passively sitting on the fringes of the activity. Then, in the poetry group, I find twelve people reading poetry cuts down both the time and the quality of this overall interaction and that that the texts being presented may well deserve more time, or, would at least benefit more from a longer period of examination and gentle, occasionally, not so gently cross-examination… all done in the spirit of letting the text speak and, therein, speak more ‘loudly’… (without ‘screaming’!)….

	And now for something completely different… shopping! 

At the end of this paper I will show why I want to contrast the role(s) of small groups with this most ubiquitous of behaviours. The theme of this paper is the constitution of Contemporary identity - just how do people in this age of the Internet, mobile phones, cd's, dvd's and a veritable smorgasbord of cryptic abbreviations, find a sense of personal value in this rapidly changing world? This problematic territory involved in the thematization and evaluation of personal identity and value has become, and remains, one of my main areas of philosophical focus.

2.    A Brief Overview of the World of Shopping

	Shopping in today's world is for some thinking, thoughtful people an object of disquiet and concern. By many standards, most of us have more disposal income than had by previous generations, especially those young people in possession of full time work, or, at least, more income that gets disposed off, and, the rituals and practices of shopping seem to have pervaded our culture in a way not seen hitherto before with acts of conspicuous consumption on a scale not practiced except by the very powerful and the very wealthy. Many voices have been raised in concern about this transformation or, rather, privatization, of our culture. The current intrusion of 'shopping' and its aura of consumerism, capitalism and conspicuous consumption is even a disquieting phenomenon for the Chinese Communist Party recently sold on the idea that private enterprise is a more successful way to grow the economy. But what we gain with one hand we loose with the other… Although Chinese Mandarins have always shown a suspicion and disdain for business; downgrading merchants below scholars, aristocracy, military and peasants, the current manifestation of this political phenomenon of a reactionary disquiet is increasingly heard, in a sort of code, whenever some official or semi-official spokesperson is heard or read complaining about the "loss of spiritual values….". This type of statement is quite ironic and rich considering the historical 'depths of concern' shown by this type of political organization for any form of religious life be it traditional and orthodox (as witnessed, e.g., in the continual, ongoing, heavy-handed interference in all forms of Tibetan spiritual life), or, non-traditional and non-orthodox in orientation (as demonstrated in recent crackdowns on various so-called 'cults'). But they do voice, I believe, an intuitively valid suspicion that has been echoing for decades throughout the West in a similar vein. Of course 'shopping' in and of itself is neither good nor bad! Then, again, it could be defined as a form of ‘social good’ when it economically caters efficiently, and so effectively, for the meeting of general basic needs through the production of those goods and services as required, their dissemination and wide-spread distribution, etc. On the other hand, the ethos of shopping has pervaded, infiltrated and permeated many aspects of our culture one would think only associated indirectly, if at all, with the pursuit of shopping like, e.g., mainstream television, newspapers, the architecture of our cityscapes, political life, etc., etc. From a necessary 'end' in itself it has become the ‘means’ for the realization of value and identity in our commercially transformed society, and, conversely, where it once was merely the 'means for survival' it has become 'an unnecessary end unto itself'! Critics will point out –“We no longer buy clothes… we buy labels!” Why are labels now positioned on the outsides of garments? Why on a certain well-know brand of underwear the name of its designer, or proxy-surrogate, is repeated six times on the outside and, then, for good measure, only once on the inside? “Where once we might have bought brands… we now brand ourselves through our purchases!” In an uncivilized sea of semiotic overkill we are continually exposed to this perverted ethos of the market place now mainlining on speed at an accelerating pace where all normal things appear turned on their head! Once upon a time we had a spare 'set of clothes' for best… now we have one or two 'spare wardrobes' full of clothes or, even, a whole room to use as a walk in wardrobe! Furthermore, in most run of the mill shops we are bombarded with a false sense of choice - look for yogurt and you have a hundred varieties to choose from yet look for curds and whey, rennet, junket, fermented goats milk, sheep-milk products and a ‘traditional’ bottle of mead to help digest the former and you will be almost totally disappointed. I suggest it is best not to go looking for these kinds of out-of-fashion items in those covered-over shopping utopias called “Malls”… not without reason, if I am allowed to recycle this pun… Furthermore, this illusion of choice is often evasive and fickle! Find a new product and become a faithful follower of that brand in this day of less choice in commercial venue and beware and bemoan the fact that if it does not sell the requisite number of units per week it will be out the door quicker than you yourself could navigate the cacophony, the omni-present obstacles of book-stands and smaller shopping booths and so-on, etc., on your way to finding the exit. It is my observation here that these buildings are not generally designed for your ease of exit… rather they seem to insist on you making an endless circuit till they squeeze the last drop of finance from your wallet, or, rather credit cards!

	The world of customers seems to be divided into one third who say that they hate shopping, especially in Malls, and, the majority who are dedicated to fashion and who love to shop anywhere and everywhere till they drop, or, their credit cards call a halt to this minuscule stream of beautifully packaged purchases! These ‘selective buyers’ then, themselves, becoming almost permanent, unpaid walking billboards as they exhibit the ‘recognizable’ brands of their purchases as they carry their prominent packaging or wear or use those branded items with their well-labeled designs and well-designed labels!

	In this enlightened era a television in every room and twenty pairs of shoes is not unheard of! Of course, any more pairs of shoes than that and you become a 'connoisseur of fine footwear' and not the mere owner of the “Imelda Marcos Memorial Collection of Shoes, Series Two”.

	Am I being too harsh here? Am I merely re-voicing some reactionary criticisms from a past era when most people could not afford such over-consumption? What does one do when one has bought a twenty-first pair of shoes - feel guilty and send the ten oldest pairs off to the local opportunity shop where another breed of shopper can merely echo your obsessive behaviour in their chasing of brands on the cheap and in turn add to their 'collections'!? In this day and age of mass production perhaps consumers do the manufacturers a favour though our over-consumption? May be what is missing is merely a sense of balance and a re-direction of our energies into a wider range of pastures?

	What I am going to do now is look at the nature of human interaction in the light of my ongoing philosophical research. Over the last few years I have been engaged in writing two sets of essays, one on miscellaneous topics in psychology, and, the other, in theology and therein setting out to find a place for the idea of God… an attempt to discern whether this type of philosophy makes sense and under what conditions it might appear to do that? Both topics have served as wonderful excuses to look more deeply into the nature of personal identity and value, metaphor, insight, the phenomenological natures of intentionality, relationships, meaning, authenticity, etc. Hopefully making a small contribution to these types of debate when not fanning the flames of controversy by trying to put them out!

	In this task I am going to assemble my ideas in a more approachable and less technical form. The version of my argument that will be adopted will entail a series of observations and conclusions rather than a linked series of closely worked arguments around a central topic. That topic is the hermeneutic circle and the role therein of the (ongoing overall) transcendental suspension in the determination of personal identity and self-authenticity!

3.    A Relatively Non-Technical Version of My Main Argument

	A number of years ago I was intrigued by a philosophical problem as to which came first, “a process of analysis or a process of synthesis?” Analysis presupposes a state already in an integrated state of synthesis that can then be broken down. On the other hand, a synthesis presupposes a state already in a relatively dis-integrated state of analysis that can then be (re-)integrated. My solution to this puzzle was to say that we approach this state of affairs and find it already in the form of a partial synthesis-and-analysis and that this complexity was already present before either a process of analysis or synthesis could be conducted upon it. A bit like answering the problem as to which came first “the chicken or the egg?” and to answer something a bit along the lines that both must already be first present before we can have these ‘non-alternative alternatives’. With this solution to hand I realized that the hermeneutic circle, the circular process of going to and fro between the parts and the whole in our understanding of a text (and in an understanding of that text vis-à-vis other similar and dissimilar texts and/or genres) involved a third ingredient, namely, this hybrid state of wholes-and-parts, i.e., a complex uniting both modalities in the form of a pre-conditional synthesis-analysis. So, correctly, or more appropriately, the hermeneutic circle should be looked at through the lens of these three aspects or moments. For example, words in a sentence are read with the sentence as a background context whose pressure of apparent intent helps us to read out those meanings that seem to be not called-for. Imagine trying to read a sentence in a foreign language, you have not adequately mastered, merely with the aid of a dictionary. Now, if the dictionary offered only one meaning per word the chances are high that it will miss the meaning intended in that sentence especially if the nature of that sentence has a specialist-oriented formulation. On the other hand, if the dictionary is one of the better ones then each word will often, on average, proffer a number of diverse meanings. The longer that sentence, and the more technical its apparent language, the greater the number of possible meaning combinations that sentence would appear to take on if we were unable to weed out those additional meaning-possibilities. Now, each sentence can be read against the backdrop of the paragraph; the paragraph against the backdrop of the page; the page against the backdrop of the book; that book against the backdrop of books written in a similar genre, etc. Now, you can see why they call this circle between parts and whole a hermeneutic circle since interpretation must involve this going to and fro between the parts and the totality of a text, etc., in order to build up a comprehensive understanding of that text.

	Without getting too complicated at this point I will now proffer some of my findings in my research looking into this phenomenon of the hermeneutic circle. In my examination of this process of interpretation that which is focused upon is a text and that is treated as like any other object in the world presented for such scrutiny. On the other hand, the polar aspect that observes totalities or unities of a text is effectively meta-textual in nature and oriented towards the nature of genre. For example, when I write a letter I adopt the form of a letter and, hopefully, it will look like a letter with an address at the top and a signature at the bottom, etc. Now, conventions that dictate the form of a genre are determined intersubjectively, i.e., by other people (both dead and alive). So, in this light we get a sense of the other being present in what an individual does in their (non-unique) adoption and (unique) adaptation of those genre conventions. Lastly, the third moment in this process of interpretation involves this relationship between textual 'object' and the genre dictates of 'others' and essentially implicates an existential sense of one’s own self, a sense of self living in the midst of this process of interpretation which is none other than a process of trying to make sense of what it is currently dealing with in this world-of-life and “who it is?” involved in this very process. Thus, a search for personal meaning and identity must come about through the exercise of all three of these moments! Crudely put, there must be an economy in play between objects, others and a sense of one's self involved in the hurly burly of this whirlpool of the hermeneutic circle as our attention washes around and between these facets that help to constitute this sense of meaning and meaningfulness along with a sense of place for-us in this world of 'objects', ‘others' and our own sense(s)of 'self'!

	The moral of this short story is that all forms of value come about through an economy between these three kinds of things, namely, things, other people and our own sense of an engaged ego - that take away any one of these three ingredients and you have no cake to speak of! 

There is also a second moral to this story and that is the philosophical 'fact' that to operate properly in this whirlpool of competing interests one has to correctly entertain a balance within and between all three kinds of parties. This is what I call an overall transcendental suspension to be technical and the ramifications of this 'insight' are profound and far-reaching!

	For a start, without all three parties being present there can be no creation of value, i.e., no sense, no meaning nor meaningfulness, and, therein, the non-constitution of personal identity automatically follows. On the other hand, with the presence of all three types of parties identity, in all its forms, can creatively flow forth. So it follows that in our economy of value we can do without neither objects nor other people (whether in fact or by proxy)!

	Second, there must be an ongoing dynamic balance between all three types of parties for a relatively non-distorted appreciation of their interaction to evolve and therein impart an authentic, relatively non-distorted sense of self-identity, etc! 

	Lastly, a third principle needs to be noted, namely, our engagement within the life-world needs to be conducted with some degree of intensity, energy, intent and desire to be acquainted with what is currently being related to.

	Hence, the constitution, and provisional definition, of an authentic sense of identity must involve these three principles of inclusion, balance and intensity in order to realize a valid, valuable, invaluable sense of personal identity - a world of value-creation that is realized through an intently desired, appropriately conducted and balanced interaction in this world-of-life held equally in relation to its objects as to other people and to our own overall sense of self!

4.    The Valuable/Invaluable Role of Small Groups!

	One way to intently engage within this world-of-life is to participate in small groups whose purpose is to focus on a certain task or set of tasks. With one or more texts-to-hand and/or objects in some form or other in a process of intensive participation with-and-before-others it is my belief an existential creation of identity can be realized whose depths of value may grow with a greater degree of facility and authenticity! That, perhaps this manner of how we should 'effortlessly' purport ourselves in the world should be carried over to the entire run of our passage through this world-of-life? That, in the process this sense of balance and proportion (that constitutes the overall transcendental suspension) should be extended equally to how we stand before all things, and how we stand before all people and before all institutions…! And this brings me back to how we should, more correctly, regard shopping and its all-pervasive transformation and distortion of our culture. That, as we cannot do without things in the process of constituting this sense of value, that semblance of meaning and meaningfulness that gives life that intrinsic taste of purpose, it follows that we too should engage with them with all due process, intently but in a state of balanced dis-interested interest and interested dis-interest…!

	As this existential attitude of authenticity demands that we must never remove our interest from the things of this world as we live our-life-before-others it follows that we can never truly disengage ourselves from either things or other people. On the other hand, this interest in things and other people needs to put in a proper perspective, namely, a state of engaged (transcendental) balance or, to be technical, an overall transcendental suspension. But, rather than be technical at this point let me illustrate this existential state of mind with a few illustrations that might make a better sense of this authentic type of attitude to the life-world that I am attempting to portray here….

	You know that type of 'experience' when you are reading an exciting novel and the world portrayed on that page almost comes alive…

	You have a few unhurried moments to look at a beautiful picture, say the painting of a complex village-scape by Breughel, and this wonderful world of detail keeps you enraptured for some time as you enter into its pictorial ‘space’…

	You have a friend make a cup of tea for you and it really tastes quite wonderful even though, at home, you use the same brand of tea…

	You find someone in need of help and that you are able to assist in this situation and find in the process a pleasure in doing so… or that same sense of relief when you find someone happy to assist you in your moment of need however small or great…

	You are looking at a beautiful landscape and the mist, and colour of the sky, the sounds of the birds… seem truly sublime…

	You are listen to a piece of music that you have heard before but this is the first time that you seem to deeply understand it and enjoy it, in a way that didn't present itself previously…
	
	No doubt each one of us could supply a number of other examples of this engaged state of being-in-the-world that we too could equally empathize with.
	
	And this brings me back to this other theme of shopping, and, a conclusion to this short paper.

5.    Conclusion: On the Necessary Role for a Comprehensive Economy of Value

That as all value is derived from its associated economy of engaged activity we should not disparage the economic! On the other hand, we need to re-engage authentically with the intrusive manner of contemporary commercialism by what ever means we feel to be appropriate for-us as we move through this world-of-life… intently interacting with those things we find there-for-us as we pass before-others in a balanced state of ongoing self-purportment. In this light, as one possible avenue, we might find a better balance in our life by entering into the life of those small groups that we find open up to-us this ‘spiritual’ dimension of the authentic and, therein, as a consequence of this process of re-orientation, find ourselves 'spending' less time and money on those things that don't reward us to the same degree and in the same manner… therein realizing a deeper sense of our-being-in-this-world-of-things-as-we-stand-before-others in and through our discovery of this existential sense of our authenticity of being as guaranteed by, and constituted in, this one world-of-life!

							    Noël Tointon, Sydney, 8/9.11.03.