Intersubjective Reality LO2276

Doug Seeley (100433.133@compuserve.com)
31 Jul 95 04:17:22 EDT

Responding to Marco Frank in LO2218....

Marco, I wish to address the point You raised about a single
intersubjective reality versus multiple intersubjective realities, and
then to follow on to cognitive science and Marvin Minsky... In part I
wish to distinguish between reality, dreams, myths and corporate cultures.

For me, the notion of intersubjectivity implies that the subjectivity of
the group is shared, at least in some manner (such as the story currently
being constructed in an LO thread). Hence for me, multiple intersubjective
realities only has meaning if there can validly be different groups or
communities. You say that You have different realities with different
people, but does this really indicate that there is not an intersubjective
reality between All of Us?

Instead of meaning an absolute reality [what I would take to be the
co-creation of everyone], perhaps you are talking about relative
realilties. What is shared by communities at a particular "now", could be
the different myths or dreaming of smaller communities and at different
times. Hence, corporate culture becomes a collection of stories or
mythology shared by that body, perhaps one could say its dreaming.
Perhaps We could look at the truth within the "Dreamtime" of the
Australian aboriginal culture, and see it as the valid co-creation of a
community of directly linked individuals, not any more or less valid than
any other community's dreaming. Is the dreaming of corporate cultures and
the international business culture any more valild?

I was curious about your phrase, "...cognitive science teaches us that we
cannot observe it [reality]....". Are You really suggesting that
cognitive science has such an authority that its ideas are
unchallengeable? Marvin Minsky has offered up beautifully insightful book
and paradigm in "The Society of Mind", which addresses the multiple nature
of the subjectivity of the mind. But does this really mean that when I
"knock on the door" of your mind, that no-one is really home, just a
networked relationship between multiple subpersonalities and functional
identities? Or perhaps, the mind is a co-creation of fundamental
subjective entities who really are "at home"? Where does the authority
come from for stating that reality cannot be observed [ I am taking this
to mean "known" or "directly experienced"]?

--
Doug Seeley:		InterDynamics Pty. Ltd. (Australia) in Geneva,
Switzerland.
			Compuserve: 100433.133  or FAX   41 22 756 3957