Parametric Determinism - A Dialectical View

A Dialectical View

Mandel believed that his theory of parametric determinism in history is a dialectical one, insofar as it interprets the dualism of free will versus determinism as a unity of opposites.

The "unity" refers to the fact that the two opposites exist only in connection with each other, the most important implication of this being, that the result of human action can shift or change at least some of the parameters. This is obviously not possible in a formal mathematical model in which the parameters are assumed to be totally fixed and constant at all times, let alone in a religious portrayal of eternity. In a dialectical model, ultimately nothing remains constant, only the pace of change varies. Thus, thinking dialectically requires that we incorporate the dimension of time deeply into our thinking, but we can recognise this dimension, only by being attentive both to what is stable and to what is changing.

The "unity of opposites" implies the cognition of a type of connection which could exist only because it is mediated by something else. A "unity of opposites" according to Mandel does not normally exist without mediation or "mediating links". Without mediations, it would explode or collapse. Once we identify what those mediations are, we can move the discussion about history beyond shallow abstractions about its "paradoxes", "contradictions" and "ironies". We can understand specifically what keeps the "unity of opposites" necessarily in place, and how one of the opposites might prevail over the other in the end. Anything can follow logically from a contradiction. But not anything can follow, if the contradiction is resolved in a particular way, and thus it is the particular way in which contradictions are resolved, that rules out some further contradictions, and rules in the possibility of other contradictions. In this way, we can show that the original contradiction gives rise not only to a set of other contradictions, but also to a set of mediations which hold the contradictions in place, and thus that the existence of the contradictions is dependent on a certain problem-solving strategy.

If history was only a chaos or a combination of coincidences, people would be unable to experience free will by making choices between known options, let alone understanding their own history at all. The true enemy of freedom will therefore emphasize chaos and coincidence even if there isn't any. If history on the other hand was totally pre-determined, people would not even be able to reach an awareness that they could change things, let alone make a free choice or self-determined decisions. Determinists find this happening everywhere. Yet if people were totally free to make their history as they choose, regardless of the given circumstances, it becomes impossible to understand why their choices often do not obtain the results which they intended. Libertarianism may be fine, until it turns into its opposite, a paralysing chaos all round. Thus, in a dialectical interpretation, human action should be viewed both as determined and as self-determining, so that the parameters of effective action can be discovered, rather than be an "eternal mystery" permitting no discovery at all.

To whom would such a philosophy appeal? It would appeal to people with sufficient experience of making free choices with real effect, yet sufficiently intelligent to understand the limits of free choices. If people experienced no real freedom at all, they would be unlikely to believe in parametric determinism. Whatever they do, has no effect. But if people believed they were totally free to do whatever they wanted at each moment, they would also reject a parametric determinism, because whatever the situation might be, it would have no effect on their actions. The philosophy makes most sense to people who are conscious of both freedom and determinism, and Mandel implies - rightly or wrongly - that these people are overwhelmingly the modern working class, i.e. the great mass of wage and salary earners.

Mandel's dialectical interpretation is completed with the claim that the development and evolution of ideas in history is not random or arbitrary, even if it appears at first sight illogical and difficult to understand. That is, the variability of ideas also operates within given parameters, which again means that although some different conclusions can be reached, other conclusions are ruled out from the start. That is, the development of ideas has its "internal logic", but it may be that we cannot understand what that logic is simply by looking at the ideas themselves, unless we understand the social and physical context in which they occur. It may not make sense on its own, but it does make sense in a given context. To understand the idea, we have to look at what is behind the idea. It may take an experienced observer however to separate out what ideas are attributable to the creativity of a person or group, and what ideas are attributable to the social and physical context which influences them. And, ultimately the full meaning of ideas cannot be understood without that context. To ignore that context in the analysis of ideas leads to scholasticism.