A Guide for the Perplexed

A Guide for the Perplexed is a short book by E.F. Schumacher, published in 1977. While better known for his 1974 environmental economics bestseller Small is Beautiful, which made him a leading figure within the ecology movement, Schumacher himself considered A Guide for the Perplexed to be his most important achievement. His daughter wrote that her father handed her the book on his deathbed, five days before he died and he told her "this is what my life has been leading to"'.{{Ref|Pearce}} As the Chicago Tribune wrote "A Guide for the Perplexed is really a statement of the philosophical underpinnings that inform Small is Beautiful."

Levels of being

For Schumacher one of sciences major mistakes has been rejecting the traditional philosophical and religious view that the universe is a hierarchy of being. Schumacher makes an elegant restatement of the traditional chain of being.

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Schumacher agrees with the traditional view that there are four kingdoms:

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• Mineral
• Plant
• Animal
• Man

Schumacher argues that there are critical differences of kind between each level of being. Between mineral and plant is the phenomenon of life, As Schumacher says though scientists say we should not use the phrase 'life energy', the difference still exists and has not been explained by science. Schumacher points out that though we can recognise life and destroy it, we can't create it. Schumacher notes that the 'life sciences' are 'extraordinary' because they hardly ever deal with life as such, and instead content themselves with analysing the "physico-chemical body which is life's carrier." Schumacher goes on to say there is nothing in physics or chemistry to explain the phenomenon of life.

Related Topics:
Life - Life energy

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For Schumacher, a similar jump in level of being takes place between plant and animal, which is differentiated by the phenomenon of consciousness. We can recognise consciousness, not least because we can knock an animal unconscious, but also because animals exhibit at minimum primitive thought and intelligence.

Related Topics:
Consciousness - Unconscious - Thought - Intelligence

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The next level, according to Schumacher, is between Animal and Man, which are differentiated by the phenomenon of self consciousness or self awareness. Self consciousness is the reflective awareness of one's consciousness and thoughts.

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Schumacher realizes that the terms - life, consciousness and self-consciousness - are subject to misinterpretation so he suggests that the differences can best be expressed as an equation which can be written thus:

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• 'Mineral' = m
• 'Plant' = m + x
• 'Animal' = m + x + y
• 'Man' = m + x + y + z

For Schumacher, these three factors (x,y and z) represent ontological discontinuities. He argues that they are differences can be likened to differences in dimension; and from one perspective it could be argued that only humans have 'real' existence in so far as they possess the three dimensions of life, consciousness and self consciousness. Schumacher uses this perspective to contrast with the materialistic scientism view, which argues that what is 'real' is inanimate matter; denying the realness of life, consciousness and self consciousness, despite the fact each individual can verify those phenomena from their own experience.

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Schumacher directs our attention to the fact that science has generally avoided seriously discussing these discontinuities, because they present such difficulties for strictly materialistic science, and they largely remain mysteries.

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Next Schumacher considers the animal model of man which has grown popular in science. Schumacher notes that within the humanities the distinction between consciousness and self consciousness is now seldom drawn. Consequently, people have become increasingly uncertain about whether there is any difference between animal and man. Schumacher notes that a great of research about humans has been conducted by studying animals. Schumacher argues that this is analogous to studying physics in the hope of understanding life. Schumacher goes on to say, that much can be learned about man by studying minerals, plants and animals; because man has inherited those levels of being; all that is 'except that which makes him human.'

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Schumacher goes on to say that nothing is 'more conducive to the brutalisation of the modern world' than calling humans the 'naked ape'. Schumacher argues that once people begin viewing humans as 'animal machines' they soon begin treating them accordingly.{{Ref|AGFTPp31a}}

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Schumacher argues that what defines man is his greatest achievements not the common run of things. He argues that human beings are open-ended because of the human powers of self awareness, which as distinct from life and consciousness has nothing mechanical or automatic about it. For Schumacher "the powers of self awareness are, essentially, a limitless potentiality rather than an actuality. They have to be developed and 'realized' by each human individual if he is to become truly human, that is to say, a person."{{Ref|AGFTPp32}}

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Progressions

Schumacher points out that there are a number of progressions that take place between the levels. The most striking he believes is the movement from passivity to activity, there is a change in the origination of movement between each level:

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• Cause (Mineral kingdom)
• Stimulus (Plant kingdom)
• Motive (Animal kingdom)
• Will (Man)

One consequence of this progression is that each level of being becomes increasingly unpredictable, and it is in this sense that man can be said to have free will.

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Schumacher notes increasing integration is a consequence of levels of being. A mineral can be subdivided and it remains of the same composition. Plants are more integrated; but sometimes parts of a plant can survive independently of the original plant. Animals are physically integrated; and so an appendage of an animal does not another animal make. However, while animals are highly integrated physically, they are not integrated in their consciousness. Humans, meanwhile are not only physically integrated but have an integrated consciousness; however they are poorly integrated in terms of self consciousness.

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Another interesting progression, for Schumacher, is the change in the richness of the world at each level of being. A mineral has no world as such. A plant some limited awareness of its immediate conditions. An animal, however, has a far more rich and complex world. Finally, humans have the most rich and complicated world of all. Indeed Schumacher says it could be argued that only humans are the truly 'real', given only they experience all the levels of being.

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Implications

For Schumacher, recognising these different levels of being is vital, because the governing rules of each level is different, which has clear implications for the practise of science and the acquisition of knowledge. Schumacher denies the democratic principles of science, he argues that all humans can practise the study of the inanimate matter, because they are a higher level of being; but only the spiritually aware can know about self consciousness and possibly higher levels. Schumacher states that "while the higher comprises and therefore in a sense understands the lower, no being can understand anything higher than themselves."{{Ref|AGFTPp31b}}

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Schumacher argues that by removing the vertical dimension from the universe and the qualitative distinctions of 'higher' and 'lower' qualities which go with it, materialistic scientism can in the societal sphere only lead to moral relativism and utilitarianism. While in the personal sphere, answering the question 'What do I do with my life?' leaves us with only two answers: selfishness and utilitarianism.

Related Topics:
Moral relativism - Utilitarianism - Selfishness

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In contrast, Schumacher argues that appreciating the different levels of being provides a simple, but clear morality. The traditional view, as Schumacher says, has always been that the proper goal of man is "...to move higher, to develop his highest faculties, to gain knowledge of the higher and highest things, and, if possible, to 'see God'. If he moves lower, develops only his lower faculites, which he shares with the animals, then he makes himself deeply unhappy, even to the point of despair."{{Ref|AGFTPp22}} This is a view, Schumacher says, which is shared by all the major religions. Many things, Schumacher says, while true at a lower level, become absurd at a higher level, and vice versa.

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Schumacher does not claim there is any scientific evidence for a level of being above self consciousness, contenting himself with the observation that this has been the universal conviction of all major religions.

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