Emergent Evolutionary Holism and Utopian Horizon Value Theory: Our Next Step Forward

Abstract

My lifelong quest has been to address the problem of nihilism raised so forcefully by the work of Nietzsche in the 19 th century. This nihilism remains, of course, very much manifest in the current world disorder. This quest was indicated in the title of my first book, From Nietzsche to Wittgenstein: The Problem of Truth and Nihilism in the Modern World (1989). In the course of this quest, I have encountered two fundamental dimensions of human existence that bring us beyond nihilism: first, the mystical realization of the unspeakable oneness of existence which is present at all times in the background of our experience, the eternal now that frames all human thought and action. Second is the temporal, emergent evolutionary upsurge to actualize the values arising from the Cosmic evolutionary process. With a host of others, some of whom are reviewed in this paper, I argue that the “One” (as it is called) is going someplace through the emergent evolutionary upsurge of the Cosmos. Human beings have evolved to facilitate this process. The two dimensions (time and timelessness), of course, are necessarily intertwined. Nevertheless, this essay focuses on this second dimension of human existence that likewise overcomes nihilism. It discusses the “early-modern background” from which we are emerging, the question of language and its symbols, contemporary “spirituality,” our increasing understanding of Cosmic evolution, the key role of Kant’s “Transcendental Unity of Apperception (TUA),” the concept of “Utopian Horizon” deriving from these reflections, and the conclusion concerning “our next step forward.” It brings together viewpoints of many thinkers to develop an overview of our human situation revealing the fundamental role of the future, human ethical values, and our utopian horizon. In closing, it considers our next step forward in the form of an Earth Federation.