The Dialectical Cube: a Nietzschean-Beauvoirian Architecture | Archetypical Philosophies 9
a Short Essay for the Modern Existentialist
Even apart from the value of such claims as "there is a categorical imperative in us," one can still always ask: what does such a claim tell us about the man who makes it? … This morality is used by its creator to forget, that one to have others forget him or something about him. … In short, moralities are also merely a sign language of the affects.
1 | Three Axes: the Definition of the Human Condition
All disciplines of philosophical inquiry are dedicated to the pursuit of a better understanding of the nature of our reality—and thus, necessarily also a better understanding of humanity’s relationship to it. If we examine the works and the life of any given philosopher using the logic which underpins the theory of both Nietzschean and Beauvoirian archetypes, we may begin to uncover the very first traces of a kind of theoretical framework—a logical, empirically verifiable architecture which endeavors to describe the relative positions of all philosophies within our three modes of existence, as expressed in:
These modes of existence help us, both as readers and thinkers, to ground and identify the various mindsets and attitudes which different people champion as truth within our world.
Here, these three modes of existence are represented as three distinct axes (identified as X, Y, and Z):
X | Individual Subjectivity
What I believe about the nature of my freedom-of-action.
I believe that I am:
+ X : An Agent; that I am a Subject with the Power to act on the world and to change it according to my designs.
- X : Impotent; that I am an Object, with no Power to act on the world or to affect or change my situation.
Y | Metaphysical Objectivity
What I believe about the nature of meaning and value in the world.
I believe the world is:
+ Y : Ordered; that existence should be taken Seriously, and that meaning and value are inherent to to the world.
- Y : Chaotic; that existence is essentially Absurd, and that meaning and value are fundamentally absent from the world.
Z | Social Objectivity
What I believe that Others believe about the nature of my freedom-of-action in relation to their own.
Others believe me to be:
+ Z : Tame; a predictable or controllable Object which therefore has positive Value, and which can be possessed and exploited as an asset toward their ends.
- Z : Feral; an unpredictable or uncontrollable Object which therefore has null or negative Value, and thus can be considered a liability; either to be shunned or discarded as worthless, or to be feared as a threat—a rival or an enemy.
2 | Eight Corners: On Stable Philosophical Positions
He who believes himself Powerless to act, that the world is a place of inherent Order and stability, and whom others see as Docile and manageable, and therefore a potentially-valuable asset.
- X = Impotent | + Y = Ordered | + Z = Tame
He who believes himself Powerless to act, that the world is a place of inherent Order and stability, and whom others consider to be unbridled and Free, and therefore a probably-valueless liability.
- X = Impotent | + Y = Ordered | - Z = Feral
He who believes himself Empowered to act, that the world is a place of inherent Order and stability, and whom others consider to be unbridled and Free, and therefore a probably-valueless liability.
+ X = Agent | + Y = Ordered | - Z = Feral
He who believes himself Powerless to act, that the world is a place of inherent Chaos and volatility, and whom others consider to be unbridled and Free, and therefore a probably-valueless liability.
- X = Impotent | - Y = Chaotic | - Z = Feral
He who believes himself Empowered to act, that the world is a place of inherent Chaos and volatility, and whom others consider to be unbridled and Free, and therefore a probably-valueless liability.
+ X = Agent | - Y = Chaotic | - Z = Feral
He who believes himself Powerless to act, that the world is a place of inherent Chaos and volatility, and whom others see as Docile and manageable, and therefore a potentially-valuable asset.
- X = Impotent | - Y = Chaotic | + Z = Tame
He who believes himself Empowered to act, that the world is a place of inherent Chaos and volatility, and whom others see as Docile and manageable, and therefore a potentially-valuable asset.
+ X = Agent | - Y = Chaotic | + Z = Tame
He who believes himself Empowered to act, that the world is a place of inherent Order and stability, and whom others see as Docile and manageable, and therefore a potentially-valuable asset.
+ X = Agent | + Y = Ordered | + Z = Tame
3 | Philosophical Analogues: the Dialectical Cube in Praxis
Heideggerian Architecture : Dasein & das Man
Kierkegaardian Architecture : The Three Stages
Stirnerian Architecture : Stages of a Human Life
Camusian Architecture : Three Aspects of the Absurd Man
Hegelian Architecture : The Master-Slave Dialectic & The Three Aspects of Spirit
Marxist Architecture : Types of Contemporary Socialism, et al.
Nietzschean Architecture : The Three Metamorphoses, The Master-Priest Dialectic, The Apollonian & the Dionysian, et al.
Beauvoirian Archetypes : The Archetypes of Man & The Archetypes of Woman
4 | Onward
This is the Dialectical Cube in completed form—a logical architecture which emerges from the convergence of the Nietzschean and Beauvoirian frameworks, and which therefore lays claim to the potential to place and describe all extant philosophies as archetypical positions in relation to one another.
Philosophy: a mindset. An attitude.
The way that a person chooses to see the world, and therefore to approach living their life.
Αρχή | archí: origin
Τύπος | týpos: form
An Archetypical Philosophy is the bare-bones, logical basis of a person’s mindset or attitude, inferred from observation of the way in which they choose to live their life.