Genetic Theory of Reality

James Mark Baldwin left a legacy that has yet to be fully examined, one with profound implications for science and the humanities. In some sense it paralleled that of his friend Charles Sanders Peirce, whose semiotics became understood only a century later. Baldwin was trying to make sense of complex biological and social processes that only now have come into the limelight as biological sciences have re-emerged in psychology. Baldwin's focus on development, based on the observation of his own children and extrapolated to his general theoretical scheme, is fully in line with where contemporary biological sciences are heading. This is exemplified by the bounded flexibility of the work of the genetic system. The general principle of persistent exploration of the environment with the result of creating novelty, which was the core of Baldwin's theoretical system, has since the 1960s become the guiding idea in genetics. Contemporary developmental science is rooted in Baldwin's thinking. In his new introduction, Jaan Valsiner shows that Baldwin's Genetic Theory of Reality demonstrates how human beings are in their nature social beings, establishes an alternative conceptualization of evolutionary theory, and formulates a system of developmental logic, all of which serve as the foundation for developmental psychology as a whole. This is a work of social science rediscovery long overdue.

Table of Contents:
Introduction to the Transaction Edition by Jaan Valsiner Supplementary Commentary by Patrick Bateson Preface PART I: INTRODUCTION: GENETIC INTERPRETATION CHAPTER 1: THE PROBLEM: GENETIC MORPHOLOGY 1. The Question of Interpretation 2. The Historical Problem 3. The Intrinsic Problem 4. Scheme of Treatment CHAPTER II: INDIVIDUAL INTERPRETATION 1. The Nature of Interpretation 2. Interpretation as an Organisation of Interests 3. Interpretation as the Social Organisation of Interests 4. The Progression of Interpretation 5. The Realities as Interpreted CHAPTER III: THE PARALELLISM BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL AND RACIAL INTERPRETATION 1. The Question of Racial Interpretation 2. Racial Interpretation as Organised Social Interest 3. The Stages of Interpretation PART II: DEVELOPMENT OF INTERPRETATION CHAPTER IV: EARLY RACIAL INTERPRETATION: ITS PRELOGICAL CHARACTER 1. General Character of Early Racial Interpretation 2. The Social Character of Early Racial Interpretation 3. The a-Dualistic Character of Early Racial Interpretation 4. The Relatively a-Logical Character of Early Racial Interpretation CHAPTER V: EARLY RACIAL INTERPRETATION: ITS POSITIVE CHARACTER 1. The Social Organisation of Primitive Interest 2. The Affective Nature of Primitive Generalisation 3. Imitation and Ejection in Primitive Thought 4. Primjt1ve Animism and Mysticism 5. The Rise of Mediate or Logical Interpretation CHAPTER VI: THE RELIGIOUS INTERPRETATION 1. The Religious Interest 2. The Religious Experience 3. The Religious Object: its Personal Meaning 4. The Religious Object: its Ideal Meaning 5. The Development of the Religious Meaning: its Logic 6. The Social Character of Religion CHAPTER VII: RELIGIOUS REALITY AND RELIGIOUS NEGATION 1. The Religious Object as Existing 2. The Union of Ideal and Actual in Religious Reality 3. The Religious Antinomy 4. Religious Negation: I. the Non-Religious or Secular 5. Religious Negation: II. The Irreligious or Profane 6. Profane Reality: the Arch-Devil 7. The Philosophy of Religion: Religion as Organ of Value CHAPTER VIII: LOGICAL INTERPRETATION 1. The Transition to Logic: the Role of Imagination 2. The Problem of Reflection 3. Logical Theories: Scheme of Treatment CHAPTER IX: LOGICAL INTERPRETATION: MEDIATION THEORIES 1. Actuality Theories: Intellectualism 2. Examination of Intellectualism 3. Ideality Theories: Voluntarism 4. Examination of Voluntarism CHAPTER X: IMMEDIATE THEORIES: I. THOSE BASED ON THE PRIMITIVE AND THE TRANSCENDENT 1. Their Basis: Immediacy 2. Theories Based on Primitive Immediacy (Primitive Mysticism, Subjectivism, Idealism) 3. Theories based on the Immediacy of Completion or Transcendence (Intuitionism, Dogmatic Spiritualism, Criticism, Absolutism) 4. Results CHAPTER XI: IMMEDIATE THEORIES OF REALITY: II. THOSE BASED ON THE IMMEDIACY OF SYNTHESIS 1. The Immediacy of Synthesis 2. The Use of the Immediacy of Personality (Higher Mysticism, Super-Personal Theories) 3. The Synthesis of Feeling (Platonic Love, Constructive Affectivism, Faith Philosophy) 4. The Æsthetic Synthesis (Aristotle, Kant, Schelling) CHAPTER XII: RESULTS OF THE HISTORICAL SURVEY: THE DEMAND FOR AN INTRINSIC SYNTHESIS 1. The Presupposition of Truth and the Postulate of Value 2. The Fruitful Method, Genetic PART III: JESTHETIC IMMEDIACY CHAPTER XIII: THE INTRINSIC SYNTHESIS, ÆSTHETIC 1. The First Step: Imaginative Semblance 2. The Æsthetic Interest Synthetic in the Sense of Intrinsic or Autotelic 3. The Æsthetic Object Synthetic in the Sense of a-Dualistic 4. The Æsthetic Ideal Synthetic in the Sense of Syntelic 5. The Æsthetic Reality Inclusive and Privative 6. The Æsthetic Reality a Synthesis of Universal and Singular CHAPTER XIV: THE ÆsTHETIC INTERPRETATION 1. Æsthetic Realisation as Reconciliation of the Presupposition and the Postulate 2. Æsthetic Realisation as Reconciliation of Actuality and Ideality 3. Æsthetic Realisation as Reconciliation of Freedom and Necessity 4. Æsthetic Realisation an Immediacy both of Reconciliation and of Fulfilment 5. Æsthetic Intuition a Union of Theoretical and Practical-and More 6. Æsthetic Reason and Absolute Beauty PART IV: CONCLUSIONS CHAPTER XV: PANCALISM: A THEORY OF REALITY 1. What Reality Must Mean 2. Sorts of Relativity 3. The Æsthetic Content a Non-Relative Whole 4. The Æsthetic, a Non-Relative Mode 5. The Æsthetic, a Non-Relative Acceptance 6. The Æsthetic Non-Relative as Respects the Relation of Knower and Known 7. The Knower and his Experience: Pancalism CHAPTER XVI: COROLLARIES 1. The Nature of Reality 2. The Only Alternative-Pluralism 3. Pancalism, a Constructive Affectivism Glossary of Terms Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Index

About the Author :
James Mark Baldwin, Jaan Valsiner