All content © RJ Robinson 2002-8
Welcome to the personal website of RJ Robinson.
My topic is human intelligence - a subject that could not be more central to human nature and human accomplishment, or to human history, human consciousness and human existence. It is a topic over which an ocean of ink has been spilt, yet one that is as far as ever from being mastered.
My general view of intelligence is that the humanists are right: human beings are truly and objectively rational, creative, spontaneous and free. Defining what that means and explaining how, in a universe of irrational, blind, interminable, mechanical processes it is possible, is beyond any contemporary method or conceptual framework, scientific or philosophical.
Yet we are still far from needing to retreat to pessimism or even agnosticism. But this problem will certainly only be solved when our approach to intelligence comes of age. And like any coming of age, this will demand a good deal of maturity - certainly a good deal more than either science or philosophy possesses at the moment. This topic will also be addressed in these pages.
As for my approach, again in the most general terms, I think it fair to say what needs to be done to achieve the requisite maturity is intimated by a century and more of structural, phenomenological, systemic and dialectical thought, out of which a quite different form of scientific method occasionally peeks.
If you would like to know more, click on any of the links on the left or right hand sides of this (or any other) page. If you find what you read interesting, please contact me. I would be very interested to hear from you.
General
History + Politics
Evolution
Work in progress