Logic of Reciprocity

An ontology (Dynamic Differentiated-Holism) and logic of reciprocity is advanced as the basic theoretical framework in understanding natural reality. Originating first with the Taoist 'Yin-Yang' view that existence is a set of complementary opposites^[1], the idea of reciprocity treats all basic ontological distinctions as interdependent, mutually supportive realities.

"Reciprocity" means distinguishible yet mutually supportive realities, viz., existence exists as a co-realization of facts. Instead of an either/or logic, reciprocity argues for a both/and logic of existence, subsuming an either/or logic. One that requires the consistent application of a generalized principle of complementarity.

Reciprocity rejects and subsumes all forms of dualism; that is, the classic philosophical dichotomies are actually all interdependencies. Reality is both a one/whole and a many/plurality; reality is both stability (being) and change (becoming and passing away); reality necessarily contains both order and chaos, which in effect depend upon each other. Entities are defined through their relationships with other nested natural units. Reciprocal interdependencies operate across multinested scales of existence. And—ecological reciprocity, entails that the organism and the environment are open and interpenetrating systems and form an interdependent unity. Within a framework of ecological reciprocity, there is no absolute boundary between the organism and the environment, and neither can be defined independently of the other. Consciousness, knowledge, the self, behavior, etc. are all ecological realities co-realized in a supporting environment.

Gibson’s ecological approach to psychology is anti-dualistic—neither mind and matter, conscious subject and world, are ontologically seperate realities. In Gibsonian psychology, there is a reciprocal connection between self-awareness and other-awareness (viz., think of "reciprocal connections" as a sort of circular, feedback loop view of causality), a reciprocal connection between awareness of persistence and change, and a reciprocal or interdependent awareness of the spatial arrangement of surfaces, including the perceiver’s body, and the temporal arrangement of events in the world, including the perceiver’s life.

List of important reciprocal connections: #todo

• Spacetime Reciprocity
• Energy-Symmetry Reciprocity
• Structural-Functional Reciprocity
• Permanency-Change Reciprocity
• Mind-Body Reciprocity
• ...
  (more to be filled out soon---don't wanna spoil anything without a ready explanation)

A central tenet of this logic's complentary ontology is that reality or existence is fundamentally evolutionary (crucially this is not to be conflated with a teleological or "creator-driven," theistic view of the universe---"evolutionary" simply means that it's:), characterized by processes that are non-linear, adaptive, and far-from-equilibrium. Drawing from principles of nonlinear thermodynamics and homeokinetics (and related or derivative fields), existence is understood as inherently dynamical, cyclic (conformal cyclic cosmology), even, where every process of differentiation is continuous with integration.

Rejecting Plato’s elevation of eternity and the primordial as the "highest" level of reality, standing above time (where time, in essence, is a “fall from perfection”), the evolutionary model of reality sees time, order, complexity, freedom, uniqueness, life, consciousness, and other supposed “higher qualities" as processes that are all reciprocally coupled together and co-evolving in like fashion. All evolution is reciprocal evolution—things evolve together, (influencing the systemic conditions or degrees of freedom and constraint) pushing or instigating each other along. Organisms and their environment evolve interactively and interdependently as a total system. The theory of evolution as a global phenomenon articulates that the geological, chemical, and atmospheric components of the earth have co-evolved, interactively with the biosphere of life—serving as a prime example of differentiated-holistic reciprocal evolution; life moves the world as much as the world moves life.

But, before we get ahead of ourselves, we must understand further how these ideas have manifested throughout history. Aside from the ancient philosophy of Taoism, the basic idea of reciprocity derives all the way from Aristotelian functionalism to the work of the open systems theoretical scientist Ilya Prigogine. And many other notable influences. For an indepth history of the development of Gibson's concept of reciprocity and his broader approach to science---see: The Reciprocity of Perceiver and Environment---here, the foregoing will be summarized only in essentials:

#todo