The Proclivities of Particularity and Generality

Abstract

The proclivities of particularity and generality describe a polarity, held together by a naked emotionality that signifies a felt middle-term. This polarity indicates a type of circular reasoning, and can endlessly oscillate due to an equivocation that confuses particularity with generality that may block emotional energies and prevent resolution. Deduction and induction represent the same polarity, as does the frequentist and Bayesian interpretations of statistics. Reintroducing emotion back into logic returns an intuitionist logic and grammar, and this permits the resolution of felt tension. This intuitionism is tied to a time-sense that oscillates between foresight (to particularity) and hindsight (to generality). Emotionality is found relating to causation, agreeing with A.N. Whitehead. It is hypothesized that the intuitionist logic provides a universal grammar, or a vitalistic organizing principle, that has impacted on biological evolution. This agrees with panpsychism and panentheism.