Robert H. Kane’s Searches in the Realm of Aspiration
I recently finished a series of lectures on audiobook that I picked up from my local library. It was called Quest for Meaning: Values, Ethics, and the Modern Experience is part of the Great Courses collection and is a recording of 24 lectures by the American philosopher Robert Hilary Kane.
One of Kane's most notable contributions to philosophy is his response to postmodernism. Postmodernism is a school of philosophical thought that claims that because of the pluralism of modernity, “no grand theory that stands above all finite points of view and gives us a general picture of the world can be found” (Kane, 1999). According to Kane, the conclusion of postmodernism is that “we all have our individual narratives, our stories to tell about the world. But they're just our stories, and nothing more than that. For real human beings are necessarily trapped in finite points of view, for which we cannot escape to a higher or absolute God's eye point of view” (Kane, 1999).
Kane is not a fan of postmodernism. He says that the logical result of postmodernist thinking is moral relativism, skepticism, and indifference to the noble pursuit of philosophical truth. Pessimistic as this may seem, the postmodern worldview is an understandable response to the overabundance of points of view that we're exposed to on a daily basis because of technology and globalism. Attaining absolute philosophical truth can seem not only an overwhelming task but also an illusory one, a vanity, pursuit that could easily be given up on.
I know what it's like to be trapped in one of these finite points of view that Kane mentions. As a member of a totalist religious group, for the first three decades of my life, I really believe that I had the absolute God's eye point of view. But when the inevitability of pluralism and modernity eventually shattered my worldview, the result was no less than traumatic (and I mean that in the clinical sense of the word). As I recovered, I too became consumed by the postmodern skepticism that Kane so dislikes.
But Kane offers an interesting solution to this postmodern condition, what he refers to as aspiration. Aspiration, says Kane, requires a patient and intelligent search for what is aspired to. He says that aspiration is different than hope. It's actually a kind of quest.
Two Kinds of Quests
In order to explain the nature of this quest, Kane goes on to differentiate between two different kinds of searches or quests. The first one, he says, is the search for something that you know exists. This is like when you lose your car keys. You know that they are in the house somewhere, you just don't know where you put them. But you know that they exist. The other kind of quest is what he calls a “search in the realm of aspiration” (Kane, 1999). These searches are a quest for something that you are not even sure exists.
Kane goes on to give these searches in the realm of aspiration three distinct characteristics:
The goal is of great importance.
The one performing the search thinks that the goal is attainable, but attaining it is difficult, and not completely assured. After all, the goal may not actually even exist.
Actions can be taken in the direction of the goal. While such actions do not guarantee its attainment, the one performing the search knows that if they do not take these actions, then they certainly will not attain the goal and will be abandoning all hope of ever reaching the aspiration.
Kane cites the search for meaning in life, the search for wisdom, and the quest for an overarching philosophical truth as examples of searches in the realm of aspiration.
Kane also calls the scientific method a search in the realm of aspiration. Scientists seek the final truth about nature to understand its fundamental laws. In the scientific field of psychology, the search is for an understanding of the fundamental laws of human nature, assuming that such laws exist. The sciences, of course, will never know that they have actually found such a fundamental truth. As Kane puts it “any explanatory theory scheme they possess may have some errors or be incomplete for all they know, to be superseded by something better” (Kane, 1999). Such as the nature of the scientific method.
My Search in the Realm of Aspiration
Kane’s “searches in the realm of aspiration” seem like an optimistic and reasonable response to the flaws of postmodern thinking with its moral ambiguity and skepticism. But given my experiences with religion, spirituality, and efforts to establish a set of values by which to live, I found that at times these very searches in the realm of aspiration can be the ones that narrow our focus, and cause us to get trapped in the finite worldviews that we are trying to avoid. For most of my life, this was in the context of a high-demand religious group, then through the lens of Western Buddhism, and even by way of traditional American materialism. Each iteration led to a restricted worldview, which then had to be deconstructed and reframed, leaving troubling consequences and its wake.
That being said, Kane is inspiring. And his notion of searches in the realm of aspiration is just elusive enough to pique my interest. So I've chosen to take up Kane on his challenge to undergo a search in the realm of aspiration, my medium will be the Provisional Aspirations podcast. The domain will be pretty much anything that piques my academic curiosity. Since my awakening from the ideological fanaticism of my religious upbringing, my interest centers on the psychology of religion, the neuroscience of spirituality, and mental health counseling. I'm fascinated with the intersection of religion, spirituality, philosophy, and psychological well-being at the individual level. And I seek to understand how these fields are connected, and the role that therapeutic communication plays in the relationship.
Also, did I mention that I'm starting an online master's program and clinical mental health counseling? So I plan on using my podcast as a platform to review the books I'm reading, discuss the academic literature that I come across in the domain, and reflect my findings against the experiential data that I draw from my own life. And I hope to connect with people who share the same passions as me. At least that's the plan for now.
After all, it is a provisional aspiration.
But I'm happy to have you join me in the quest.
