Unism

No formal definitions

Having read this page you will hardly get any clear idea of what that Unism thing is all about. And no other page would give you such a definition. However, any selection of Unism Online pages would give you impression of some aspect of Unism, and, hopefully, the whole of Unism Online will virtually be representative enough of the approach to be developed.

Certainly, one could compose a statement of the type "Unism is ..." But what would be the use of it? Only very naive personalities can believe that a couple of phrases might convey the final and complete essence of happiness, love, honesty, sincerity... There are several reasons for not believing that.

Thus, why should there exist a single definition of what is different for different persons, or in different circumstances? Any opposites are the opposite sides of the same, and they remain opposite within that whole. Since any formal definition can only refer to an abstraction, no complete definition is possible.

On the other hand, no definition can be final, if it is to be applied to something in development. Things may seem stable for quite a while, but suddenly show up in an unexpected turn, indicating that there evolution has come to a critical point. The more so for human ideas, that grow and transform into their opposites, violating any abstract representation.

Why Unism?

As always, the words do not matter much. Any other term might do as well. However, the name of Unism was chosen to hint on the uniqueness, universality and unity of the World, the 3U principle lying in the basis of the philosophy of Unism.

For another reason, one could take the close relationship of Unism to Communism: thus, Unism might be called Communism without the "comm-" component - this agrees with the idea of removing the relics of herd psychology from what goes far beyond the limits of primitive communal existence.

The name of Unism was to avoid duplicating the terms used by other people in other times. However, this goal can hardly ever be achieved, and one could encounter a number of texts that use the word "unism" in a sense different from that accepted at Unism Online. For instance in theosophical writings by G. de Purucker, the term "unism" is used for what is called "syncretism" at Unism Online: the state of no distinctions that precedes any analytically divided state.

One could also recall the aesthetic conception by Polish painter Wladyslaw Strzeminski, developed in 1920s, which was also named "Unism". Strzeminski's ideas have much in common with the aesthetics of Unism Online - however, the two approaches should not be mixed.

Roots and sources

In general, Unism can be said to accumulate the ideas that appeared in the literature since millennia ago. But the most close sources are, no doubt, in the work of Hegel and Marx: the former has invented the method, the latter has indicated how this method should be properly used. Of course, Ancient Greek philosophy has influenced the development of Unism, and the acquaintance with Indian and Chinese philosophies made its important contribution to the whole.

Among modern philosophies, only few can be said to bring in any sound ideas. Since the middle of the XX century, most philosophers only re-discovered what was already discovered in dialectical materialism, just adding more confusion and pseudo-scientific look. Some new ideas have appeared within Marxism in the former USSR, but, in general, modern philosophy is stagnant and of little use for Unism.

For another source, mathematics should be certainly mentioned. All the history of mathematical theories serves as an excellent example of dialectical development, and one could come to the hierarchical approach on that mere basis. However, mathematics contributed to the growth of Unism also in a negative way: the attempts to formalize the idea of hierarchy have lead to a clear understanding that such a formalization cannot be achieved without a drastic revision of the very logic of formalization, and the principles of hierarchical logic have been formulated as a result of the search for the limits of the existing methodology in mathematics, including many "alternative" and "nonstandard" theories.

Studies in human psychology were one of the major sources of Unism, since nowhere else the universal reflexivity of hierarchical development manifests itself with a comparable clarity. These studies started with the psychology of creativity in the arts (including creative art perception), but then they included most branches of modern psychology and even some aspects of psychiatry. The problem of the formation of consciousness in the course of natural development is the central question of the philosophy of Unism.

Computer science has much influenced the development of Unism as well. The history of ideas in computing, hardware and software architecture, networking protocols and distributed computer applications - they all model a number of fundamental processes that are well describable within Unism.

Hierarchical approach

Unism as a comprehensive ideological platform has grown from the studies in what is conventionally called hierarchical approach. This methodology still forms the core of most applications of Unism in the arts, science and philosophy. That is why a review of hierarchical approach should constitute an essential part of Unism Online.

However, due to historical reasons, there is still no uniform explication of the basic principles of hierarchical approach: it has always been developed within a special investigation, hence taking the form of this special research. A few texts collected in the section of Unism Online dedicated to hierarchical approach as such can only be considered as a very sketchy notes on the topic, rather than a compendium.