#organismic

[bio-matter]

[conza]

The False Organismic Analogies of Scientism

The organismic analogies attribute consciousness, or other organic qualities, to "social wholes" which are really only labels for the interrelations of individuals.19 Just as in the mechanistic metaphors, individual men are subsumed and determined, here they become mindless cells in some sort of social organism. While few people today would assert flatly that "society is an organism," most social theorists hold doctrines that imply this. Note, for example, such phrases as: "Society determines the values of its individual members"; or "The individual's actions are determined by the role he plays in the group to which he belongs," and so on. Such concepts as "the public good," "the common good," "social welfare," and so on, are also endemic. All these concepts rest on the implicit premise that there exists, somewhere, a living organic entity known as "society," "the group," "the public," "the community," and that that entity has values and pursues ends.

Not only are these terms held up as living entities; they are supposed to exist more fundamentally than mere individuals, and certainly "their" goals take precedence over individual ones. It is ironic that the self-proclaimed apostles of "science" should pursue the sheer mysticism of assuming the living reality of these concepts.20 Such concepts as "public good," "general welfare," and so on, should, therefore, be discarded as grossly unscientific, and the next time someone preaches the priority of "public good" over the individual good, we must ask: Who is the "public" in this case? We must remember that in the slogan justifying the public debt that rose to fame in the 1930s: "We owe it only to ourselves," it makes a big difference for every man whether he is a member of the "we" or of the "ourselves."21

A similar fallacy is committed, alike by friends and by foes of the market economy, when the market is called "impersonal." Thus, people often complain that the market is too "impersonal" because it does not grant to them a greater share of worldly goods. It is overlooked that the "market" is not some sort of living entity making good or bad decisions, but is simply a label for individual persons and their voluntary interactions. If A thinks that the "impersonal market" is not paying him enough, he is really saying that individuals B, C, and D are not willing to pay him as much as he would like to receive. The "market" is individuals acting. Similarly, if B thinks that the "market" is not paying A enough, B is perfectly free to step in and supply the difference. He is not blocked in this effort by some monster named "market."

One example of the widespread use of the organismic fallacy is in discussions of international trade. Thus, during the gold-standard era, how often did the cry go up that "England" or "France" or some other country was in mortal danger because "it" was "losing gold? What was actually happening was that Englishmen or Frenchmen were voluntarily shipping gold overseas and thus threatening the banks in those countries with the necessity of meeting obligations (to pay in gold) which they could not possibly fulfill. But the use of the organismic metaphor converted a grave problem of banking into a vague national crisis for which every citizen was somehow responsible.22

So far we have been discussing those organismic concepts which assume the existence of a fictive consciousness in some collective whole. There are also numerous examples of other misleading biological analogies in the study of man. We hear much, for example, of "young" and "old" nations, as if an American aged twenty is somehow "younger" than a Frenchman of the same age. We read of "mature economies," as if an economy must grow rapidly and then become "mature." The current fashion of an "economics of growth" presumes that every economy is somehow destined, like a living organism, to "grow" in some predetermined manner at a definite rate. (In the enthusiasm it is overlooked that too many economies "grow" backward.) That all of these analogies are attempts to negate individual will and consciousness has been pointed out by Mrs. Penrose. Referring to biological analogies as applied to business firms, she writes:

where explicit biological analogies crop up in economics they are drawn exclusively from that aspect of biology which deals with the nonmotivated behavior of organisms. … So it is with the life-cycle analogy. We have no reason whatever for thinking that the growth pattern of a biological organism is willed by the organism itself. On the other hand, we have every reason for thinking that the growth of a firm is willed by those who make the decisions of the firm … and the proof of this lies in the fact that no one can describe the development of any given firm … except in terms of decisions taken by individual men.23

          — Murray Rothbard, The Mantle of Science

[ocsharvard]

What are your post graduation plans? Starting a post-doc at University of Michigan

What advice do you have for Harvard GSAS students? Although this transition period can be especially difficult when looking for job opportunities, you can gain momentum for your future career if you persevere.

[ocsharvard]

What are your post graduation plans? Starting a post-doc at the University of Santa Cruz

[justalittledingedup]

Upside down jelly fish in bio lab today, I think they love bubbles! #bio #jellyfish #bubbles #organismic #wheeee #water

[ayealia]

Flute by C. Musham

[english-tibetan-dictionary]

organismic

bcom ldan 'das - bhagavan, lord, buddha, the victorious, blessed one, exalted one, victoriously transcendent, bcom (conquering 4 maras of organismic being, emotionality, overvalued ideas, and death), ldan (dag pa gnyis, possession of transcendent awareness), 'das (can't be put into a conceptual framework, passage beyond the turmoil), bhagavat (victorious, virtuous and transcendent), victorious one, epithet for shakyamuni [JV]

lus - psycho-organism, body, organismic being, body-mind, skin, bodily feeling, touch (sense), physical existence, physical frame, constitution, lost myself, blanked out person, to be left behind, left over, to get stuck, bogged down, BOdy island, 1 of gling phran brgyad, I was left [JV]

[somewhereinthisuniverse]

Check out D.veloped! His mixes are on fucking crack~ my panties are soaked. I LOVE THIS FUCKING GUY!