1.7. Gap Multi-Dialectical Philosophy -- The 'Linking' Philosophy

Gap Philosophy is a linking philosophy. Linking is primarily what I wish to do here -- link ideas, link philosophers and philosophies, link psychologists and psychologies, link politics, link law, link business and economics, link medicine, link academics, link pragmatics, all of these different areas of human thought, feeling, and activity I wish to link both internally and externally -- for example, externally between business and humanism, between academics and pragmatics, between ancient philosophy and contemporary philosophy, between Science and Religion, between the Enlightenment and Romanticism, between Hegel and Nietzsche, between Freud and Adler, between Freud and Jung, between Freud and Perls, between Adler and Perls...and so on.

Ultimately, through all this work, I wish to link people together -- as best as this is possible given my belief that man (including woman) is first and foremost a 'narcissistic (selfish and self-absorbed) animal' until and/or unless he, she, and we are socially trained to either optimally balance our human narcissism with altruism, and/or we are taught to deny and/or supress our human narcissism altogether. Most religions do much of the latter -- usually with good intentions, not always with good results. GAP-DGB(N) Philosophy believes that an optimal balance of human narcissism and altruism is essential for the survival of mankind individually, socially, politically, and economically; and that human pathology begins to take place when either human narcissism is overly inflated on the one hand (no morality, ethics, integrity, law and order) and/or overly suppressed and denied on the other hand (religion, morality, and/or some forms of family teaching completely out of control).

Nietzsche ranted loud and clear on the dangers of denying and suppressing human narcissism -- or 'Dionyisianism' as he called it -- he called for a balance between human 'Apollonianism' (reason and order) and Dionyisianism (passion and sensuality) in his first book, The Birth of Tragedy, just as the Han philosophers called for a balance between 'yin' and 'yang', just as Hegel called for a balance between 'thesis' and 'anti-thesis', just as Freud later called for a balance between 'superego' and 'id', just as Jung called for a balance between 'personna' and 'shadow', just as Perls called for a balance between 'topdog' and 'underdog', and just as I am now calling for a balance between narcissism and altruism. Indeed, the 'philosophy of balance' goes a long way back -- back to the beginning of both Western and Eastern philosophy, and remains as strong or stronger in its roots, integrations, extensions, and applications, today as it ever has in philosophical history. What I would like to do is to bring all -- or at least many -- of these roots, integrations, extensions, and applications together in one place -- 'Hegel's Hotel' (named by me after one of my main philosophical mentors, G.W.Hegel) -- together in one system of philosophy -- DGB Philosophy -- in hopefully more integrative detail and clarity than has ever been accomplished before. That is my idealistic goal.

The most important concept in my philosophical system is the 'dialectic' -- a concept with long and important historical roots, not only back to Hegel and Marx in the 19th century, but also back as far as Socrates in Ancient Greece, and before him even, to the 'pre-Socratics' (primarily Anaxamander and Heraclitus) as well as to Confucious and the Han Philosophers in ancient Chinese philosophy ('yin' and 'yang'). Some of the extensions of the dialectic that I will use include: 'healthy dialectics', 'pathological dialectics', 'dialectical creativity', 'dialectical respect', 'dialectical negotiation', 'the integrative dialectic', 'dialectical unity and wholism', 'the multi-dialectic', 'multi-dialectical-unity', and so on.

I will define 'the dialectic' as any type of two way exchange -- either amicable and/or hostile -- whereby both sides are influenced by the fallout of the encounter, dialogue, negotiation, manipulation, and/or powerplay.
In distinguishing between healthy and pathological forms of dialectics, I will furhter distinguish between 'narcissistic dialectics', 'will to power dialectics', and/or 'sado-masochistic(dominant/submissive) dialectics' vs. 'humanistic-existential dialectics', the former indicating a wish to 'dominate' and 'control' the dialectics, the latter indicating a wish to 'sustain the integrity of balance between self-assertion and social sensitivity, between narcissism and altruism'.


There are times when I may take a strong philosophical 'either/or' position, but for the most part I am looking to creatively mediate, negotiate, integrate, and 'bridge the gap' between differences in perspective, lifestyle, philosophy... 'DGB' stands for the initials of my name -- David Gordon Bain -- but it also stands for the essence of my philosophy -- it is a 'Dialectical Gap Bridging' philosophy (indeed, a 'multi-dialectical' gap-briding philosophy).

In addition to 'dialectics', the other strong influence on my particular brand of philosophy is 'humanistic-existentialism'. We can all call ourselves by any large or small group of names that we ideally would like to be associated with. As far as me and my philosophy, I would like to be called a 'multi-integrative-dialectical-humanistic-existentialist'. Much of my philosophy is aimed at integrating Hegel and Nietzsche. I am certainly not alone in my aiming to do this. In different ways, Freud, Jung, and Perls all aimed for and achieved a different form of creative integration between Hegel and Nietzsche in their respective philosophies and psychologies. If my form of creative multi-dialectical integration goes any further than any of these great psychologists -- the results are yet to be seen -- I can only say that I have the luxury of being younger than all of these men, and therefore having the historical advantage of philosophically standing on their shoulders.


- David Bain, Jan 10th, 2007.