The way that concepts are created and formed in a society provides a useful window into the daily outcomes in that society. Of course, at our current stage of conceptual advancement, there is a tremendous complexity that we will have to cut through and simplify in order to even talk about it, but that's how it goes.
The concept is a strange, seemingly disembodied entity that we catch glimpses of in writings, illustrations, aural arrangements, and juxtaposed images, among other things, which are really just material and communicable expressions of that entity.
But the concept can often seem more real than the physical world which it is embedded in. Indeed, it sometimes seems as if we are suspended within an insulated world of concepts, like some sort of amniotic fluid which keeps us nourished yet separate. Nevertheless, this ghostly, disembodied concept-world does eventually meet the earth, and influence it, as the earth influences it.
Let's say you are about to get kicked out of your house. Your conceptions of what the surrounding world is like, what the surrounding people are like, and a projection and prediction of what is likely to happen all go a long way towards establishing your state of mind in that very moment, which will largely determine the actions you take.
Further, the way in which people will interact with each other can largely depend on their mutual conceptions of each other, and conceptions of what is possible or even probable. And then these concept-lead interactions create realities of their own, after initial behaviors set in motion further chains of events. If someone thinks that I am the archetypal fool - an image manufactured and conjured up by the greater society they are part of - and then treats me as such, I will be strongly predisposed to respond in kind, say by reacting negatively or just avoiding the problem altogether, thus reinforcing that conception in the end.
To be fair, the way in which concepts are put together, and their tendency to stick and circulate are also dependent on the way in which the society is structured and how it operates, and it also depends on the basic constitutions of those individuals hosting concepts of a certain nature, and carrying those concepts out in a certain way, as they become exposed to others with similar or differing concepts. So the entire conceptual apparatus is dependent on a historical trajectory and formation.
Part of that historical trajectory and formation is that of organized and technical production, in which human beings in cooperation with each other make extensive use of internal mental concepts to plan and realize an enormous and complex technical field of production and habitation.
And this precious and tender faculty is precisely the critical target that our vested political and economic interests like most to screw with. Due to the highly technical and urban nature of modern production and habitation, the various interlocking conceptual apparatuses that we make use of to guide our efforts makes for a very vulnerable and powerful resource to hijack.
And why not? Individuals have learned to seize upon the relations of energy and matter and manipulate them to sustain and reproduce themselves, and so there must be a way to seize upon the individuals in relation to each other and manipulate them to sustain and reproduce a state of affairs favorable to the one with the power to move things in that direction. But then this contains within it a burdensome cost which is not immediately appreciated.
Let's put forward a simplified illustration. Say, there is a paranoid political conception that is circulating, let's say, through political propaganda spread by opportunists or some such, which suggests all of one's opposition are conniving killers, and that they should be treated and dealt with as such.
This is a conception that only works for someone in an extreme and persistent state of fear and desperation, and whose sense of collective trust has shattered. This conception not only validates and edifies the original state of consciousness, but further shapes it and directs its explosive energy. And then this paranoid conception goes on to create further damage and perpetuate itself as it is carried out, amplifying the state of affairs that gave rise to it. And so on.
There are various favorable short term outcomes to be had by manipulating these concepts, and thus influencing the general direction that political and economic actors may take. If you portray your opposition as conniving and murderous, well then you can eventually get them out of the way without putting all of that work into negotiation and communication, and putting in the required resources to sustain that entire relationship. If your society is indeed breaking down, then some power can be had by directing that destructive power away from yourself and towards whoever happens to be an opponent.
But now you are reproducing individuals and spreading them throughout the world with that given conception embedded in their head, and moreover, accelerating the effects and widening the scope of that concept, and then wherever they come into contact with their perceived opposition, they carry out the prescribed actions regardless of the underlying reality. An explosive concept will eventually create explosions, and concepts, in consideration of their permeable borders, have a tendency to spread far and wide and take on a life of their own through the gradual unfolding of their subjects into time and space.
Putting together a bad conception and embedding it into someone is like introducing a knife into a tense situation, or trafficking arms into a battlefield, and the people that encourage them should be held responsible as such. People with bad political and economic conceptions can do real damage in the real world with their actions.
Really this is a pretty naive position, and plenty of observers across time have had similar observations and insights to share. But concepts do have a potent power of their own, and they have a way of sneaking up and obscuring the reality that they are attempting to navigate. Sometimes it is worth thinking reflexively about them.
This is of course a tough and complicated subject to suss out. I'll stop for now, but eventually I'll have to return to this and chip away at it from another angle, and further the analysis.
