PLANNING
Contents:
Planning is the cognitive concretisation of value and purpose.
A generalisation is a statement that reveals the common and causally/logically significant features of an unlimited class of units, which could be entites or phenomena. A “broad” generalisation is one that deals with a broader context, i.e. that ties together a wider range of units. The key value of broad generalisations is that they show the causally/logically significant thread tying a range of specifics, enabling you to tackle specifics with preloaded knowledge, preset orientation and insight.
For example, using the mathematical principles of forces and the strength of various materials (e.g. stone, wood, etc.), we can project how much load a given structure (out of a wide range of specific structures) can withstand. As another example, using the law of noncontradiction, we can reject any and every self-contradictory claim without a second thought. As yet another example, using the generalisation that preparing for known contingencies leads to higher preparedness for the unexpected, we can always remember to think and act on what could happen and what should we do to prepare. As a final example, using the principle that the world is not going to align with my interests by itself, I am always prompted to be proactive and ambitious rather than reactive and passive.
This quality of a generalisation is useful in:
This helps in:
Reason is the faculty of identifying and integrating the material provided by the senses (note that mental integration is the identification a range of concretes — a range which may be infinite in potential — through one mental unit). The core mechanism of reason is selective focus (i.e. focus directed toward only a selection of conscious units), and by its nature, selective focus is volitional, i.e. non-automatic. Hence, emotion and intuition, while invaluable faculties, are not rational faculties, since they are automatic mental actions and reactions based on internalised premises and practices. Moreover, emotion and intuition are such that (1) they have no inherently effective method; their effectiveness depends on how they were built up (i.e. through what premises and practices), and (2) they are not means of integrating concretes to a broader context; such integration can only be done through volitional, i.e. non-automatic selective focus.
As elaborated in The Standard of Value from Ethics from Philosophy, every goal that is self-derived (i.e. based on one’s own existence) is either an end in itself (i.e. a partly or wholly self-fulfilling goal) or means to another end; the alternative would be a goal not tied to one’s existence, i.e. a goal from elsewhere passed onto oneself like a program to an automaton. Hence, since goals are either means to other goals or ends in themselves, there is at least some hierarchy of goals that integrates one’s every goal.
Value is that which one acts to gain and/or keep; it is the object of a goal. Since one’s existence is not immaterial and needs the achievement of material states, hence one can have no value-less goal. Since values are things in reality that have certain natures and thus exist and act in certain ways, and since goals are integrated, values are also integrated, and like anything in reality, what integrates them are logical and causal relationships.
Hence, we see that conceptually, there is basis for at least some hierarchy of values with one value at the top. Now, by experience, we see this conceptual conclusion to be very evidently true; values have certain requirements to achieve them, which means the achievement of certain other values, and so on. Moreover, though specific values integrate into broader values, the natures of these specific values depend on the way the broader values exist within the specific context; we also see this by experience. For example, the value of independence, in the context of sustenance, is the ability to sustain oneself through one’s own work, whereas in the context of judgement, independence is the ability to form and hold convictions based on one’s own thinking.
Furthermore, as discussed in “Value-seeking is continuous” from The Nature of Value from Ethics from Philosophy, values are conditional, time-bound and a constant need in some form. Hence, to pursue our values so as to best fulfill our top value, we need to divide our time and resources as per our hierarchy of values. Now note that, there are absolute values (e.g. the absolute value or reason and purpose), but their pursuit is contextual; after all, broader values only exist if tied to more concrete values, and ultimately, like truth, values only hold meaning if they are concretised to the point of direct experience (as reinforced by “Concretisation is essential to value” from The Nature of Value from Ethics from Philosophy).
However, since a broader context can only be dealt with in terms of abstraction, broader values can only be dealt with by the use of reason. Hence, values must be pursued by organising them through a non-automatic (i.e. volitional) process of thought based on reason, i.e. on experience, evidence and logic.
Considerations 1, 2 and 3 together show that (2) grasping broader generalisations of truth and value are important to a human, (2) reason must never be abandoned for the sake of emotion and intuition, and (3) one’s broader grasp of values must be concretised both experientially and cognitively. Hence, we see the gravity of the following point: the cognitive concretisation of value and purpose leads to a plan.
Three key points are relevant here:
Now, the basic need for any cognitive pursuit is clarity, i.e. identification of particular similarities, differences and relationships; after all, to be is to be something in particular, and likewise, to know something is to know something in particular. However, point (1) shows the need for simplicity, i.e. unit-efficiency, which is the use of the least number of mental units to hold the relevant facts, ideas and context in focus. This need is made more apparent in Efficiency and Rationality from Rationality in Practice from Epistemology from Philosophy.
Note that values are a form of truth, since they identify the requirements for a state of existence. Hence, logically, the need for clarity and simplicity apply to values as well as truth in general, which means we need clarity and simplicity in both cognition and motivation. This means we must be able to concretise both the steps to reach a goal as well as the value of the goal itself. These are the ingredients of an effective plan.