ELEMENTAL SPECTRA

Welcome to the PHILOSOPHY of

ELEMENTAL SPECTRA

A supernotational philosophy project by John O’Loughlin

Hyperlinks to the files of which follow the brief introduction below:-

Dating from 1988-9, this work investigates the significance of the four basic elements, viz. air, fire, water and earth, with regard to a variety of different disciplinary contexts, including science, politics, economics and religion, and then seeks to draw ideological and moral lessons from the apperceived correlations. Of additional significance in relation to the Elements are the relationships between being and doing, awareness and emotion, mind and brain, nature and artifice, individualism and collectivism. There is also, within Elemental Spectra, a critique of Arthur Koestler's tripartite theories, as developed in books like The Act of Creation and Janus - A Summing Up, as well as a refutation of the theory underlying his psychological pessimism concerning the dichotomous relationship between what he calls the 'old brain' and the 'new brain', roughly corresponding to the cerebellum and the cerebrum. In fact, Koestler is no less the principal philosophical target of this work than Schopenhauer was of the previous one (Towards the Supernoumenon), and although I acknowledge my debt to him as an influence on my thought, I was able to move beyond him at this point and accordingly dispense with a number of his theories. – John O’Loughlin.