A map of syntropology · Plot 287

Seeds of syntropology

This is the philosophy underneath the eight bearings: what I think reality is like, how we come to know it, what’s worth valuing, and what all that asks of us.

Take a packet off the wall and turn it over. Sow it, and it comes up as a layer of the ground. Sow all eight and you’ll see the whole plot.

Each packet links to its entry in the catalogue below.

Sown so far0 of 8

How to sow

  1. Take a packet off the wall.
  2. Read the back. It’s the philosophy, in brief.
  3. Sow it, and see what comes up.

On a computer you can drag a packet straight into the plot.

Every layer does something when it comes up. Have a poke.

  1. Syntropology SeedsNo. 1OntologyProcess and relationPlot 287
  2. Syntropology SeedsNo. 2EpistemologyPartial, open to correctionPlot 287
  3. Syntropology SeedsNo. 3AxiologyMeaningful participationPlot 287
  4. Syntropology SeedsNo. 4EthicsWhat it makes possiblePlot 287
  5. Syntropology SeedsNo. 5PraxisBuild, tend, repair, endPlot 287
  6. Syntropology SeedsNo. 6AestheticsA richness of relationPlot 287
  7. Syntropology SeedsNo. 7Social lifeShared arrangementsPlot 287
  8. Syntropology SeedsNo. 8The horizonOpen becomingPlot 287
Plot 287, cut open: the ground the eight packets come up in?????????Nothing sown yet.Take a packet off the wall above.AA′next door’scomes up herecomes up herecomes up herecomes up herecomes up herecomes up herecomes up herecomes up herebeginning · building · maintaining · repairing · endingMORE8the horizon · The metaphysical horizon6the light · Aesthetics7the village · Social life5the worked soil · Praxis4the roots · Ethics3the water table · Axiology2the strata · Epistemology1the bedrock · Ontology

The seed catalogue

Every packet, read plainly

The same eight, set down in order, if you’d rather read than sow. Together they’re a map of syntropology: the ground the eight bearings in Life leans forward stand on.

No. 1 · Ontology

What’s reality like?

Syntropology begins with process and relation. What appears to be a finished thing is often an activity continuing through time, dependent on what surrounds it. Living coherence has to be sustained and renewed.

Please note. “Immanent teleology” names an idea used here: direction can arise through the organisation of a living process, in relation to its surroundings, without requiring an externally imposed script. This doesn’t guarantee a particular destination.

Comes up as the bedrock. Companion planting: Epistemology, The metaphysical horizon.

No. 2 · Epistemology

How do we come to know?

Our understanding is partial and open to correction. Abstraction makes things intelligible, but can conceal what it leaves out. Participation supplies forms of understanding that description alone can’t provide.

Please note. Neither experience nor intuition is beyond question. We need other perspectives, evidence, and the willingness to revise an account that no longer fits.

Comes up as the strata. Companion planting: Ontology, Aesthetics.

No. 3 · Axiology

What’s worth valuing?

I value ways of living that sustain, deepen, or protect meaningful participation. Greater order, growth, or efficiency doesn’t automatically serve those ends.

Please note. This is a commitment about what matters. It can’t simply be read off a law of physics.

Comes up as the water table. Companion planting: Ethics, Praxis.

No. 4 · Ethics

What does that ask of us?

Attend to what your actions make possible for other life, including what they damage or prevent. Your own needs matter, but they don’t settle everyone else’s.

Please note. There will be conflicts and unavoidable losses. A concern for life means examining them honestly. Good intentions don’t make the costs disappear.

Comes up as the roots. Companion planting: Axiology, Social life.

No. 5 · Praxis

How is the philosophy lived?

Syntropising means participating in the formation and care of arrangements that support life. It includes beginning and building, but also maintaining, repairing, and sometimes bringing something to an end.

Please note. The consequences remain open to examination. An action doesn’t become syntropic simply because we call it that.

Comes up as the worked soil. Companion planting: Ethics, Social life.

No. 6 · Aesthetics

What might help us recognise aliveness?

Beauty can be experienced as a richness of relation: something holds together without exhausting what there is to notice. A familiar place or work of art can continue to disclose more.

Please note. This experience deserves attention. It doesn’t, by itself, establish truth or goodness.

Comes up as the light. Companion planting: Epistemology, Axiology.

No. 7 · Social life

How do we live together?

How do shared arrangements affect the people participating in them? Do they develop judgement and enable cooperation? Can responsibilities be questioned? What happens to someone who needs support?

Please note. A group can look coherent without serving the lives inside it.

Comes up as the village. Companion planting: Ethics, Praxis.

No. 8 · The metaphysical horizon

What remains unsettled?

Syntropology treats becoming as open to possibilities that our present descriptions can’t exhaust. You may give this a naturalistic or spiritual interpretation.

Please note. It doesn’t require literal causation from the future or a predetermined cosmic destination. Life leans forward names an orientation towards possibility. It makes no promise of progress.

Comes up as the horizon. Companion planting: Ontology, Aesthetics.

The cover of A Short Book of Syntropology by John Stoszkowski

Keep going

A Short Book of Syntropology

The eight bearings these seeds sit under are all in the book, with a note on every source, and you can read it over lunch.

Buy the book on AmazonRead Life leans forward

My author royalties go to the Great North Air Ambulance Service.

Want to talk it through? The first conversation is free.