Nonsophistic exclusivisms have no bearing on
propositional reality at all;
or if they do, the exclusion or exclusivity concerns people who have a
special relationship with certain thoughts or systems of thought.
But also people are nonpropositional
entities and therefore the subdivision of nonsophistic
exclusivism is a subdivision of nonpropositional reality itself.
That is to say, for the classification of the manifestations of
exclusivism we are not going to distinguish between predicates
and the things having these predicates. The object of exclusion
or exclusivity is conceived of as being the same in both cases.
Moreover, in this chapter we will confine ourselves to
primary things having
primary predicates, at least as
far as nonpropositional reality is concerned.
Exclusivism as a belief, attitude or
practise pertains
to a nonpropositional being with a mental faculty.
While one particular person or personified being (the 'self' or 'ego') is
the subject of the
exism, its object can in principle
be anything that somehow relates to the
ground-world of the primary
domain.
A very useful way of distinguishing the kind and extent of
nonsophistic exclusivism is, then, to relate it to the species
the subject belongs to, or
'er body belongs to. This
'species' does not necessarily have to be the biological species (with
or without the pseudobiological name Homo sapiens in the case
of human bodies or persons who have such bodies). It could
theoretically be any group of three or more living or nonliving
(nonpropositional) things to which the subject belongs
'imself, and of which
'e has a certain image which
is of greater significance than any other similar image. (The minimum is
3, if there has to be a subspecific level between the level of the
self and that of the species.)
If a species is the object of exclusion or exclusivity,
the manifestation concerned is a manifestation of 'specific
exclusivism' or 'speciesism' (X.10). (The meaning of
specific is here relating to a species.)
If the object of the exism is a subclass of the species (but not the
subject 'imself), it will be called "a subspecific exclusivism"
(X.9). (This subspecific may or may not relate to a taxonomic
subspecies.)
If the object of the exism is a superclass of the species,
that is, a class of which the species itself is a subclass, it will
be called "a superspecific exclusivism" (X.11).
For the purpose of the present chapter we have assumed that all persons
are human beings (without having assumed the reverse).
It therefore accords with this assumption to read "human" or "anthropic"
for "specific", "subanthropic" for "subspecific" and
"superanthropic" for "superspecific".
The facets of inclusivity antithetical to superanthropic and
anthropic exism have the same name: superanthropic
inclusivity (N.10 & 11).
The name of the facet antithetical to subanthropic exism is
anthropic inclusivity (N.9).
At least three types of manifestations of superanthropic
exclusivism can be x-ed, namely spatiotemporal, biotic and
mental ones. Mental superanthropic exclusivism (X.47) is
exism re the superanthropic class of conscious beings, or re the
mental or 'the mind' in a superspecific sense. It is merely
mentioned here because of its
existential
aggrandizemental
operation which involves, or is nothing else than, superspecific
(epistemological) idealism (X.47.02.13). This is the belief
that the nature of reality would exclusively lie in (a superspecific
type of) consciousness. Idealism may also be of
an anthropic or lower order.
The 'opposite' of idealism, materialism, which teaches that reality
is exclusively spatiotemporal, concrete or material, may be conceived
of as existential aggrandizemental spatiotemporal exclusivism
(X.45.02.13).
Spatiotemporal exclusivism(X.45) is exism re a superanthropic
class of spatiotemporal or concrete beings. The
unitary manifestation of
spatiotemporal exclusivism does not only comprise materialism as the
antithesis of idealism, but also an exclusive or disproportionate
attention for, or preoccupation with, material things and relations.
A historically important manifestation of
compositional spatiotemporal exism is
geocentrism or aggrandizemental Earth-centered
exclusivism (X.11705.02).
Geocentrism takes Earth, that is, the planet inhabited by the human
species, as the exclusive center of perspective and valuation.
Thus geocentrists even used to believe (or religious inquisitors forced
them to 'believe') that the Sun would revolve around the Earth, while
the Earth would be at rest.
A
principal operation of geocentrism is the
belief that one or more gods and/or demons or its/their incarnation(s)
can only be found on Earth or in the atmosphere enveloping it, and
nowhere else in the universe. But principal Earth-centered exism can be
abnegational too, for example, when it is
professed that the supreme being is a god that can (usually) not be found
on Earth, or in the atmosphere enveloping it, but that dwells in a
'heaven' far above and away from this earth.
Heliocentrism is aggrandizemental Sun-centered exclusivism
(X.2927.02) and also a manifestation of spatiotemporal
superanthropic exism.
In heliocentrism the Sun is an exclusive center
of perspective, because it is taken as the center of the whole
universe, for instance, or of another system extending beyond
the superanthropic Solar System. The belief in a sun-god, which
is or has been part of various religions, is a form of supreme
(or perhaps, nonsupreme
divine) heliocentrism.
In addition to mental and spatiotemporal superspeciesism
biotic exclusivism (X.46) has been mentioned as a type of
superanthropic exclusivism. This is exism re a superanthropic
class of living beings, or re life itself, that is, life versus
nonlife, or the biotic versus the nonbiotic. When life itself is
the object of exclusion or exclusivity, the class of living
beings is universal, and the biotic exism unitary instead of
compositional. If aggrandizemental, this life-centered exclusivism
(X.46.02) is a form of exclusivism in which life in itself
is conceived of and/or treated as superior to nonlife. Living
beings would thus merely as living beings have a higher,
ultimate value than nonliving beings; or nonliving beings
would, unlike living beings, have no (intrinsic) value at all.
The facet of inclusivity antithetical to this manifestation of
superanthropic exclusivism is 'suprabiotic' or
'life-transcending inclusivity" (N.46). Our suprabiotic,
superanthropic inclusivism entails that we shall not embrace any separate,
independent 'principle of life' with 'life' as an ultimate
value. What the implications of this position are, and what they
are not, will be discussed in the chapter
Life and Nonlife.
A narrower version of superspeciesism than life-centered
exism is animal-centered exclusivism (X.93.0); animalism is a
manifestation of it. As a cognition animalism is the belief that
a god or demon must necessarily have, and does exclusively have,
animal (including human) characteristics,
altho they may
gradually exceed normal, natural power, size and/or intensity.
Moreover, one god or demon may combine the characteristics of
different human and nonhuman species.
However, if every god is portrayed as a human-like being and every demon
as a (partially) nonhuman animal being, for instance, then this is
not superspeciesism but a manifestation of self-aggrandizemental
speciesism.
