The alchemists described their four elements as radices, corresponding to the Empedoclean rhizomata, and in them they saw the constituents of the most significant and central symbol of alchemy, the lapis philosophorum [philosopher’s stone], which represents the goal of the individuation process. . . Most mandalas take the form of a flower, cross, or wheel, and show a distinct tendency towards a quaternary structure reminiscent of the Pythagorean tetraktys, the basic number. Mandalas of this sort also occur as sand paintings in the religious ceremonies of the Pueblo and Navaho Indians. But the most beautiful mandalas are, of course, those of the East, especially the ones found in Tibetan Buddhism, which also contain the symbols mentioned in our text. Mandala drawings are often produced by the mentally ill, among them persons who did not have the least idea of any of the connections we have discussed.
— Carl Gustav Jung, Alchemical Studies
My blog is a work in progress, on a journey towards a personal philosophy. I don’t claim to have any great conclusions. I hope that with enough thrashing about, a gem of understanding may eventually be produced. I don’t wait to completely understand something before I write about it. If I am inspired to post a diagram or write a scrap of text, I do so. As a result, much of what I present here seems incomplete and muddled. It’s just a blog, after all.
I strive to be Aristotelian, but I know I’m more of a Democritan. Because of this, I find my four-fold Structure-Function to be the most interesting, with its ties to the Four Causes, and what I’ve convinced myself is a relation to Linear Logic. Linear Logic is a logic of finite resources, as opposed to classical logic which is a logic of transcendent truth.
Frankly, I don’t understand very much about Linear Logic beyond the basics, and understand even less about Girard’s Ludics or mathematical constructions called Chu Spaces. Perhaps I can find time eventually to understand them better, and use them to relate and analyze all the topics in this blog.
I also think that Richard McKeon’s Philosophical Semantics or Watson and Dilworth’s Archic Matrix might be the most important way to “philosophize” the four-fold. There is substantive material available for them but not much recently. I think that perhaps they can also be linked to Linear Logic or another methodology, but it won’t be easy.
Four is the number of completion, as well as the number of “the material”. Space and time are a regular theme. But there are also so many mental things having four aspects, as well as so many things constructed by humans such as scientific concepts. Many individuals have tried to formulate a syncretic link between many or all four-folds. Why should I think I can do any better?
Many four-folds are seen to be metaphors for other four-folds. I switch from four-folds of science to four-folds of psychology. That isn’t because I believe in any sort of panpsychism. It’s either because we see the world in this way, or we see ourselves in this way, that four-folds occur so often in everything. But it could also be because the world is this way.
Equivalent Exchange 
Stunningly interesting blog…..I am going to be reading a great deal of this!
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I’ve been meaning to leave a complimentary remark at your blog, but I’ve been hesitant, not wanting to leave something unworthy of your endeavor. I’ve found myself not knowing what to write, feeling trapped between the four poles, the terms always shifting, always feeling in every direction anticipated. This is a unique blog but hard to comment on, being both smart and elusive. I love the sort of (dare I say) mystic rationalism I sense in it, the seeking in all conceivable fourfolds their intelligible place in some kind of larger structure. Pieter Brueghal’s magnificent painting The Tower of Babel in your header couldn’t be more apt. Each of your posts is like a room in that great structure built with an aspiration which though increasingly achieving the sublime becomes ever more precarious the higher it reaches into the sky. Also apt: the futuristic skyline of Metropolis (I believe that’s what it is), and the central panel of Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights, with all of its marvelously bizarre forms. I love these things. In a more twisted sense (and I write this while snickering which I hope you join me in), I can’t help but to think also of Pinhead, leader of the Cenobites, character from the movie Hellraiser, the skin of his entire head, pale white and lightly tinted blue, incised cleanly and decisively into neat little quadrants, a large pin shoved deeply into the shared angles of each little square of the painful grid evenly spaced over his head.
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Well, I do wear a lot of plaid shirts, so hopefully that will be sufficient.
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Perhaps this is interesting: http://quadriformisratio.wordpress.com
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Yes, thank you, it is! I have been reading through this for a week or two.
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He is my neighbor. He is studying the fourfold division for many years. I told him today about your interesting blog.
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Ah, it is a small world. Your neighbor’s scholarship is very evident from his writings.
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Magnificent! Two who could flow together and emerge as the same crystal clear and powerful stream. Overcoming any more personal and murky feelings of envy, jealousy and competition, who doesn’t beyond one’s personal realm, in the larger and more universal picture, long for a deep and profound affinity and complementarity?
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Alas, even those that love the study of four-folds have trouble agreeing on a common perspective.
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Thanks for your comment recently. I think that despite the ‘oppositional’ elements we are very much on the same track. At the moment I am touring the United States so the mind is somewhat diverted from philosophical stuff, but I will be in touch when at home (at two weeks time). Greeting, Marten
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Enjoy your visit to the states! I look forward to more discussion.
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Maybe checkout http://wisdom.tenner.org/
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you are an amazing, rare individual. A search for schumacher four fields of knowledge led me here. (the concept was mentioned in a wikipedia entry in KW’s article)Ah, the miracle of epistemological proximity! I was not aware that Schumacher’s conception of the quadrants preceded Wilber, of whose books I read all over 10 years ago as a teenager. Hoping to rediscover more gems of insights (sadly, Wilber is now more prone to repeating ideas rather than generating new ones, I hope he will be able to finish his KOSMOS trilogy before 2020) Keep up your good work, and the building of your own philosophy, I have built a similar project–on my scrivener. I expect great thing from you whether you remain pseudonymous or publish later in your life.
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Absolutely love your work. I am also an avid researcher and intellectual explorer, and your blog feeds my curiosity like non other! I used to perceive my diverse studies and inability to focus on a single area of research as my biggest weakness. After reading your blog I now see this “weakness” was a social construct originating from a complex world of specialization. My studies have since become more fluid as I dive deep into understanding the principles underlying all things. You also made me reexamine the subject of Alchemy, which has become my salvation in a whirlwind of information. Abiding by the law of equivalent exchange, I’m start my own blog to share what I do. I greatly appreciate your work and the inspiration. Mad respect.
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Congratulations on a great blog!
I’ve been studying various tetradologies for a long time now and finding a place where they are put together nicely is a treat.
Please contact me if you feel like sharing findings!
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a fantastic find. to be honest, despite your remark
“Many individuals have tried to formulate a syncretic link between many or all four-folds.”
it wasn’t until finding your blog today in continuing to develop my own fourfold syncretization that I realized I was only the latest in a long line!
thank you for this beautiful resource. my own perfectionism prevents me from being so open 😩
p.s. enneagram deserves more of your interest 👀
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I think this will interest you:
Die Macht des Vierten, Reinhard Brandt
https://meiner.de/die-macht-des-vierten-9680.html
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What you see is, in my opinion, a product of how our brain stores information – Relative to each other in literal relative locations of our brain. I’m sure it’s more complicated and there are emergent factors(not literal locations per word, more like per “Kantian Judgement”)
But yeah. Thought you might find this interesting.
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I think these comments would be better for the post: King – Man + Woman = Queen, but I can’t find an easy way to move them with WordPress. Anyway, interesting! What’s the origin of this diagram? This, I guess: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjZofJX0v4M
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I believe the yellow arrows/vectors, are the ones that interest you to pursue developing these squares.
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