Prepare to journey with me through the grand history of humankind…

Hegel wrote that for every movement (philosophic, artistic, politic, etc.) there is a reactionary movement which exemplifies beliefs that oppose the original. Out of these two forces, the thesis and antithesis, arises synthesis, an evolutionary combination of the two.

While premodernism and modernism concerned themselves primarily with object, with reductionism and the possibility of absolute knowledge, and while postmodernism asserts that “beauty is only skin deep,” and eschews any notion of true knowing, structural experientialism (synthesism) suggests that a complete understanding of the subject of our study requires emic and edic understanding, and a united comprehension of the two. Structural experientialism, or what I like to call synthesism, unites advances in psychological understanding of the 20th century with Kantian and post-Kantian epistemology, bringing in as supporters the vast mythology of humankind, the history of a multitude of cultures and religions that are the tributaries to the world of today, and an advanced understanding of knowledge and human limits.

Synthesism endeavours to provide a basis for understanding how we understand the world proper, as individuals, as members of social institutions, and as human beings. It makes no claim to point toward the way of absolute knowledge, nor does it (unlike relativism and existentialism) confuse an inability to know final truth with the non-existence of any truth. Synthesism points out that we perceive our world through certain mental structures. By attempting to understand these structures that tint our knowledge of reality, we can best bring light into the shadows.

In my attempt to relate synthesism to you, and to make a rational argument for its use as a tool in understanding our understanding, I plan to journey through the grand and exciting territory of philosophy, mythology, psychology, history and art. Not only do I hope that by guiding you through the many tributaries of synthesism, you will see the widespread proof of the theory, but I also hope that you will come to realize the manifold effects these mental structures have on mankind.

Prepare to journey with me through the grand history of humankind, and to emerge (I hope) with a fresh understanding of life and of knowledge. At the very least, I hope your mind will be kindled by the words and thoughts expressed herein.