'Some New Ideas", by Warren A. Lyon.

Laclau and Mouffe provide a greater sense of the new specific ity of the political, where ideas of a ruling class are no longer the dominant or hegemonic ideology and have been replaced by a "...field of stylistic and discursive heterogeneity without a norm." This is an important consideration as the way in which political decisions are made and conflicts are resolved have begun to reflect social heterogeneity through the inclusion of new and once marginal ised voices in the political process.  This is the result of transformations in social relations which have provided the framework necessary for the question ing of subordi nate relations and the demanding of new rights,  Leading to the politicization of social relations and a new logic of equival ence which extends itself from workers struggles to struggles of women, racial, sexual, and regional minorities as they merge into a unique and indivisible struggle of all groups against subordina tion and marginalisation. Through a new common sense which changes the identity of the different groups, the interests of all groups are articulated equivalently, where the free development of each is the condition for the free develop ment of all. In the present, there is also an attempt to depoliticise economic, social, and political decisions, making them the responsi bility of experts, restricting the subversive nature of the democratic struggle.  This is seen in the anti-egalitar ian, hier archical, neo-liberal defence of the free market economy, challeng ing the attempt to eclipse a "universal", epistemological discourse by the dis courses of the resis tance of marginal populations which provide the foundations for what Laclau and Mouffe have called the "democratic revol ution."  Nevertheless, the Machia vel lian Prince(Bill Clinton) must hone his virtu to win the new game of the politics of inclusion; a new politics of the present(as Laclau and Mouffe demonstrate) which is not "zero sum" and which gives the subordi nated the hope for improvement in the human condition while Rousseau assures us that the pursuit of the knowledge of self is still a worthy and spiri tually fulfilling enterprise.

Epictetus informs us least about the present conditions. While providing us with proverbial and ecclesiastical writings, he works within a paradigm of divine reason and absolute concepts of truth; both of which have been discluded in the Postmodern discourse. Moreover, he does not provide any insight into the end of grand narratives, the decentering of the humanist subject, micropolitics, simulacrum, or any of the other characteristics of postmodernism.   The ancient concept of self in relation to the postmodern concept of self is one of great contrast. In many senses, the postmodern concept appears to be a fulfilment of the ancients warnings and fears of what would happen to men who lack the knowledge of self. To answer this question, I used Alcibiades, Epictetus, Jameson, and Kroker.   

The ancient concept of self found in Plato and Epictetus is that of a divinely rational and spiritual being which lives in conflict with his physical nature.  These theorists teach us that if a man is to live a just or right life, self knowl edge is a necessity, enabling him to take care of him self.  They also demonstrate that deception of self can only occur, leading to mistakes in life, when one is ignorant and possesses the conceit of knowledge.  A man ignorant of his own needs will fall into error and lead a life of misery. As a result, the admittance and embrace of one's ignorance is the first step one must take to acquire self knowledge.  Unless we are convicted that we do not know anything, we will continue to make errors out of a state of false knowl edge.  Upon recognition of our ignorance, we can begin to inquire and to examine ourselves and our true nature.  Essential ly, knowl edge of the self should bring man into acquaint ance with vir tue.   It is through the acquisition of virtue that a man will know how to take care of himself and others, pursuing a path of human develop ment that will lead to improvement as opposed to corruption.

Both Plato and Epictetus see human development as the improvement of one's soul and not as the improvement of things which one may possess.  As a result, they both express the necessity for men to make contact with that which is divine.  Plato says that a man who knows that he does not know, entrusts his affairs to a superior being which for him is God as he places faith in his divine oracle.  Although these theorists concepts of God are not the same, they both place man under the charge of the divine.  For Epictetus, man is under the charge of reason which is that part of the divine imparted to men in creation.  In their writings, there is an evident relation ship between human develop ment and self knowledge.  Man and mankind can develop so that they either improve upon their condition or become corrupted. The course of human development which one takes is dependent upon the extent of the knowledge of self which one acquires.  The knowledge of the things of this world without the knowledge of self, will result in a man pursuing knowledge to satisfy his desire for riches, power, and wealth, leading to debauchery as opposed to betterment.  

If human development is simply motivated by the desire to find ways to acquire more comforts, wealth, riches, and might, it will lead to misery as men are ignorant and become increas ingly ignorant through their pursuit.  As Plato said, it is "...not he who has riches, but he who has wisdom that is delivered from his mis ery." As a result, the soul will develop in accord ance with its materialistic or its spiritual goals.

In a negative manifestation of the Ancient's concept of self, Postmodern man lives in plato's "cave" of delirium, false con sciousness, virtual reality, depraved emotion, and fragmented existence as Jameson and Kroker demonstrate.

Jameson tells us that man, as the centred subject, has been dissolved by seeking increasing efficiency, developing a postmodern world of organisational bureaucracy.  He possesses a decentered psyche and no longer experiences alienation and anxiety in addition to other human emotions but is a fragmented being where, although there is no longer a self present to do the feel ing, one can experience intensities; "...free floating and impersonal and (which ) tend to be dominated by a peculiar kind of euphoria."  These inten sities are fed by man's new appetite for a world transformed into images of itself and never ending spectacles.  Postmodern society is the society of the "cave" where mental space is that of a degraded "objective spirit" and where cultural production only represents society's ideas and stereotypes about the past.  The dim fire light of Plato's cave makes it difficult to not only see and know oneself but to emerge from one's hovel and look upon the "putative real world" illuminated by the elucidat ing sun.  All that postmodern man sees is a trace of his mental images of the past and of reality upon the confining walls of the society of the simulac rum which has colonised his unconscious through media and advertising.

Assuming to know, we have become self deceived, as the ancients warned.  And by seeking to improve things as opposed to the self, we have come upon the "...ultimate contemporary fetishisation of the human body...acquiring a glossy skin, a stereoscopic illu sion."  Through seeking to relentlessly improve things and not the soul, we have crushed human life altogether through technology; that alienated power which turns back on us and against us and seems to "...Con sti tute the massive dystopian horizon of our collective as well as our individual praxis." The ancients warned us that if human improvement is motivated only by the attainment of comforts, it would lead to misery.  And without the knowledge of self, there is nothing left "...but that which is deplor able and reprehensible...". We fulfil our addiction to images of the past, stereotypes, or texts, removing any "...practi cal sense of the future and of the collec tive project, thereby abandoning the thinking of future change to fantasies of sheer catastrophe and inexplicable cataclysm, from visions of "terrorism" on the social level to those of cancer on the personal." As we glorify  and shape ourselves for the "Almighty" commodity, "having" has become more important than being(Debord) and all we can look forward to is imaginary tranquillity at the price of real happi ness(Rousseau).

Through virtual reality, postmodern man can buy imaginary tranquillity.  he has become "...crash bodies always on the hunt for a new techno-thrill.", not self knowledge.  he has come to a point where he has been born into the "cave" or electronic cage of virtual reality.  He has "..always lived virtually...(where he)...have never had direct knowledge of a (natural) world outside the electronic frontier."  These observations give credence to the ancients exhortations, albeit, in a negative sense.

The self, as Kroker demonstrates, has become virtual such that it is purely aesthetic, disappearing into the "...electronic vortex of the floating self (and) is finally liberated of (fixed) identity, of determinate gender, of (localised) history, and of (bodily) subjectiv ity...which means the triumph of illu sion...(while)...the virtual self...vanishes down the electronic highway from nothing to nowhere."

Postmodern man is the willing practitioner of this new world of the floating self, spasm, and of organs without bodies as he accepts and pursues the material promises of this world which purport maximum informa tion, wealth and mobility, but which, in fact, give us little under standing and (lead to) alienated masses harmonious ly dependent on elite command centres.  

This new virtual experience has given us a techno-skin and has shut down a whole range of human experiences, replacing them with thrills and intensities as Jameson concurs.  We have come to a historical place where technology is the latest and most grisly manifestation of Nietzsche's will to power, leaving the self as a torn and fragmented victim.  Nevertheless, Kroker says that to "Know your self" is still an attainable goal but that self recognition is not so much about knowing the self but about becoming aware and "...discovering anew the shock of the real."  It is about walking out of the "cave" of the electronic cage of virtual reality and into the real (if not the natural) world.  Yet, as the ancients say, the knowledge of self is a process of training of the spirit as an athlete trains the body for competition.  It begins with awareness and awareness begins with the acceptance of ignorance and, in the postmodern, the shock of the real. So let it be that man leaves the illusions of the simulacrum, the "cave", and of virtual reality so that he may begin to pursue knowledge without assuming to know and hopefully realise a new humanity not filled only with the "hope" of catastrophe and holocaust but improvement within the human condition. Technological change is a constant. Human life, it's value and it's safety is also a constant. As such, we shall not be afraid of change. Yet, it is good for us to be informed by the natural inclination to achieve family reproduction, human reproduction and, essentially, population regeneration with technology assisting in some small way from time to time. Population regeneration is a fundamental necessity for every community and economy. We are now also informed by the UN ILO Regulations R202 dated in 2012(the strong voice, will and intention of the ruling classes) that reflects upon technological change, it's impact on human life, shared global economies and the continued importance of human dignity. The need for traditional sources of guidance and innate inclinations remain as guide posts even when we do not allow Amorphous social and societal tradition alone to inform us where such tradition will always involve the immutable truths of ancestral religion, commandments and creeds with various books of faith to influence, lead and guide our Safe, secure direction.

Written in 1994 by Warren A. Lyon.
There are some updates that appear in italics.