Writings

Panarchy & Autons (Sept 2005)

INTRODUCTION - PANARCHISM & MONOCRATISM

Panarchists posit that the crucial political distinction is between societies that are organised on Panarchic principles and those which are Monocratic.

Panarchy means 'all rule' and is a state of affairs when the needs of each person (or non-human creature) are 'taken account of' in determining the overall activity of society.

Panarchy is thus the state of affairs in which the common good is maximized and 'life is best able to flourish'.

Panarchy should not be confused with communistic democracy in which each person nominally has equal political power with everyone else. Panarchist aim for the 'optimum distribution of power' to maximize human flourishing, and take a pragmatic approach as to how this should be arranged.

The opposite of Panarchy is Monocracy. ('One Rule')

Monocracy is the state of affairs in which a 'single vision' or a 'single will' is able to set the overall direction of society and override all competing visions.

COMPONENTS OF SOCIETY - Autons and Doulons

A Human society can be visualised as being composed of a large number of functional units. These are usually associations of people with a defined system of governance - e.g. businesses, civil institutions, government departments, households, states etc.

Each functional unit can be assessed as to whether it is 'autonic' - i.e. acting as a freely self-governing whole able to set its own goals or whether it is 'doulonic' - i.e. a captive component of a larger cybernetic system in which it has to perform a job determined outside of itself.

A functional unit which is largely 'autonic' can be called an 'auton' (an 'autotelic holon'), and one which is largely 'doulonic' can be called a 'doulon'.

An Auton is not an island detached from the world but relates to other Autons which create the environment in which it exists. Thus it is not completely unrestrained in its actions, but it is nevertheless 'free' in that it is able to think for itself, and organise its own internal affairs without interference from outside.

On the other hand a Doulon is a functional unit which has been interfered with, and had its creative 'goal-setting' capability disabled in some manner. It has been turned into a 'dead instrument' which will provide a predictable output to a given input, and is thus suitable to be a component of a larger system.

AUTONIC & DOULONIC PEOPLE

Individual people can be assessed as to the degree in which they are politically autonic or doulonic.

An autonic person is somebody who is able to think and act freely. They are likely to be intellectually 'enlightened' or mature, and able to think all possible intellectual thoughts without aversive emotional disturbance. (i.e. such a person is able to entertain all possible theories about the world and then select the one which best fits the evidence available.)

A doulonic person is somebody who can be manipulated by others. Often this will be because they have been indoctrinated so that some thoughts have an emotional resonance which makes it difficult to entertain them. Thus they are unable to think the thoughts that would enable them to see that they are being manipulated and break free. Alternatively though somebody may act doulonically out of simple desire for a reward or fear of the consequences of not doing so.

PANARCHIC & MONOCRATIC SOCIETIES

A Monocratic Society is a totalitarian one in which the whole resources of that society are geared towards the satisfaction of the goals of a single agent.

A completely monocratic society would have only a single 'Auton' (Autotelic Holon - or Self-directing System). The rest of society would be composed of a pyramid of doulons (slaves) on different levels. The doulons on the first level below the ruling auton would be given a general agenda by that auton, but given freedom as to exactly how this agenda should be achieved. They would then apportion tasks to the doulons they control on the next level down. These in turn would set more narrowly defined tasks to the doulons under it and so on, until the level of individual people who would work as robots.

However a monocratic society is naturally antithetical to 'human flourishing' because there is no mechanism for individual desires and needs to register politically and find satisfaction. A monocratic society is essentially 'amoral' taking no account of whether people find life congenial or not, whether they are happy or distressed, (except in so far as it might cause them to try and 'break out' of their captivity or disturb the smooth functioning of the system).

Thus some people may wish to work for a Panarchic society where there are mechanisms for 'registering' peoples needs and desires.

Probably there are two principle kinds of relationships that people can have with the world around them that are conducive to a good life.

The first relationship is that of 'ability to influence through own strength'. This is the ability of a person (or larger community) to turn their desires directly into changes in their environment which meet those desires. This includes being able to manipulate the environment as a tool, and also the ability to have an emotional impact on others such that they are inclined to help you (as would happen when people who are bonded to each other identify with each other - i.e. as in most families or larger communities imagined as extended families). Alternatively influence may be obtained with the use of aggression.

The second relationship is that of 'being dependent on somebody who is compassionate'. In this case the person is able to find somebody to help them who wishes to do so of their own free will because they have a desire to see others flourish.

Thus a Panarchic society would try and maximize the opportunities for these two kinds of relationships to develop. This might include:

1. People living or working in fairly small groups which are autonomic - i.e. free to determine their own affairs - and thus free to adapt to the individuals within the group.

2. The existence of autonic people or organisations which are outward-looking and self-lessly compassionate - and who are wise and capable with it. (eg. traditionally might be individuals of a christian religious order, a christian 'gentleman', a charitable institution or else just people who are naturally concerned for the well-being of others)

3. The existence of an autonic ruling elite which has the inclination and the capability to promote the general tendency to Panarchy and to combat the tendency to monocracy. This ruling elite is likely to include elements of aristocracy and theocracy. A good ruling elite would be strong enough to combat any anti-social autons who might try and grab power for themselves and set up a monocracy. However it would not be so powerful that it could rule without the consent of those it governed.

If starting from a state of monocracy then it would be necessary to try and set up autons (i.e. free-thinking and acting individuals or groups) who have a good cognitive grasp of the situation they are in, who have a drive towards creating Panarchy, who are strong enough to have an impact on their environment, and who are able to escape detection, diversion or suppression from the pre-existent ruling power.

Most probably initial autons would seek to spread adherence to a philosophy or religion which best combined the different requirements. This philosophy might be Panarchism itself which is intended to be a possible common philosophy of otherwise disparate groups around the world.

However it could be that the most determined activity would be obtained from autons belonging to a martial religious order with a specific ethnic and religious heritage. However in this case these autons would need the ability to co-operate globally with other autons of different tradition.