Workshop Session 3: Man and Society

In this workshop, we summarized and discussed the remainder of Chapter 2. In it, Lobaczewski includes the basic information that serves as an essential foundation for the whole rest of the book. As I wrote in the Introduction:

Chapter II introduces the basic psychological concepts that will serve as background for the phenomena described in subsequent chapters (especially Chapter IV). These concepts include short overviews of Łobaczewski’s understanding of individual and group psychology, the shortcomings of common understandings of each, and key features of human nature that are relevant to his subject matter, e.g., psychological functions like associative memory, general and emotional intelligence, the natural variability of these capacities and individual talents, socio-professional adjustment (the degree to which one’s occupation makes use of one’s talents), and the phenomenon of social hysteria (a measure of the degree to which any given society is subject to emotional contagion, cognitive errors, and loss of common sense).

The features of human nature elucidated in this chapter are important for several reasons. First, as human universals, they must be taken into account when drafting and implementing policies affecting individuals or groups of any size, as well as when dealing with issues of individual psychology in social interactions. When they are ignored or denied, interpersonal problems arise, policies fail, and negative consequences result. (According to Łobaczewski, all modern political systems are founded on such flawed understandings to one degree or another, thus creating openings for the potential development of various types of macrosocial illness.) Second, they are the features affected or deformed in the various types of psychopathology described in Chapter IV. As such, effective human interactions and policies must not only take into account human nature, but also characteristic deviations from that nature. Third, these features are exploited by individuals whose cognitive-emotional makeup is deformed whether by nature or the environment, or both. Thus, knowledge of these basics can serve as protective means against dangerous personalities, as well as a guide to which courses of action have the most promising prospects for success. Finally, human nature and its variations are what determine the shape and structure of any given society, as well as the outlines of basic human morality. To the degree that certain features are ignored (for instance, when talent ceases to be a criterion for social position in any given field), the social structure will be unhealthy. By contrast, the fullest possible understanding and expression of human nature results in a healthy, creative social structure.

This includes some of the following specific topics:

• the instinctive substratum and its roles (e.g. individual and social development, self-preservation, the affective structure behind social bonds)

• psychological functions, and how they vary between individuals and among groups (e.g., memory, association, reasoning ability, “internal projection and inspection,” basic emotional intelligence, general intelligence, individual talents)

• the importance of disintegrative experiences for the developmental of objectivity and enriching our personalities

• the presence of individuals who have qualitative, not statistical, abnormalities of this substratum or its further development

• reconciling individuality and our social nature

• the psychological worldview (i.e. awareness of the above information) and how it affects a given culture’s development

• how human psychological diversity produces the potential for a complex social structure

• the central importance of socio-occupational adjustment, and this relates to the notion of social justice

During the next session, we will discuss the last few pages of Chapter 2 (on social divisions and macropathy) as well as the whole of Chapter 3 (“The Hysteroidal Cycle”). For readers with the print copy, this will be pages 47-70.

The next session is scheduled for Saturday, December 30 at 12:30 pm.