"All science is determined by categorial closure" (Gustavo Bueno).
"Scientific truth is a constructed truth" (Gustavo Bueno).
The Theory of Categorial Closure, by Gustavo Bueno
Gustavo Bueno, Spanish philosopher, heterodox Marxist, original, polemic and controversial thinker, his philosophical thought is called "philosophical materialism":
Philosophy is a historical process that begins with Plato. The pre-Socratic ideas were not properly philosophy. Bueno declares himself a Platonist philosopher, especially in the sense of the philosophy of the Academy.
Philosophy is neither a science nor a wisdom, nor is it the mother of sciences, nor is it on a higher plane, nor is it a knowledge of first principles. Philosophy is the analysis of the ideas of the positive sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, etc.) and their possible interrelations. Without the positive sciences there would be no philosophy. Philosophy feeds on the positive sciences, which is where the new ideas really sprout. The positive sciences constitute the "knowledge of the first degree" and philosophy is a "knowledge of the second degree".
Materialism is equivalent to philosophical consciousness. It excludes all possibility of spiritual life without reference to organic life. But materialism is not only physical or corporeal, for it includes the reality of incorporeal material entities. Nor is it historical dialectical materialism. Its ontology is materialistic, but generalized. Indeed, according to philosophical materialism, there is only one matter (M) and 3 types or genera of materiality:
M1: The external, that is, corporeal or physical-empirical or mechanical entities, including physical space. For example, the distance between two bottles of water placed on a table is as real as the physical bottles. Distance is incorporeal matter.
M2: The internal, which is the mental world, including the supraindividual. For example, rationality.
M3. Abstract objects (with their properties and formalization), such as geometric space, parallel lines, Platonic solids, prime numbers, mathematical theorems, etc.
Philosophical materialism is opposed to the dichotomies realism-idealism and subject-object. It is also called "hyperrealism". It is reminiscent of Popper's three-worlds theory.
The theory of categorial closure −also called "categorial circularism"− is the theory of science of philosophical materialism, the gnoseology of Gustavo Bueno. He uses the term "gnoseology" to refer to the theory of science, reserving the term "epistemology" for the theory of knowledge. Bueno has published 5 volumes on the theory of categorial closure (there are 15 planned), the main ideas of which are:
The positive sciences are closed in their respective categories. Each science determines a category of reality, irreducible to the other categories. These sciences are independent of each other, without prejudice to their eventual interrelations among themselves.
Scientific truths are attained through processes of closed construction, by establishing operative relations between their material terms that give rise to other terms of the same category. For example, with natural numbers we have the operation of adding two natural numbers, which produces another natural number. Addition is said to be a closed operation with respect to the set of natural numbers. Another example is two chemicals that combine to produce another chemical.
These operations establish the limits of each categorial unit, science and gnoseological field. The categories are not prior to the internal operative process, but result from the operative process. There are multiple sciences and each of these sciences are defined by the categorial closure. The closure defines an immanent field where the operations are defined.
Therefore, scientific truth is a constructed, practical truth, rather than a theoretical, propositional or representational truth. It is a "material truth", understood as an objective relation of synthetic identity between material contents.
Science is neither knowledge nor epistemology but gnoselogy. The sciences are not speculative and there are no principles or preconditions.
A theorem is constructed (not deduced) from a set of more elementary figures or terms (the analytic identities) that are synthesized to form an autonomous piece. A theorem is a "gnoseological cell", a "synthetic identity", a scientific truth. Examples:
The Pythagorean theorem. Its truth consists in the proper identity between the sum of the squares of the legs and the square of the hypotenuse.
7+5 = 12 is another synthetic identity. The symbol "=" is a relational predicate.
Synthetic identities are the true "closing principles" of any scientific discipline. A discipline is a set of theorems or synthetic identities.
Gnoseology is divided into analytic and synthetic. Both are connected. There are no analytic identities independently of synthetic identities.
One must start from the empirical multiplicity, which are given identity schemes, such as point, straight line, circle, 360º rotation, inertia, conservation of the quantity of motion, etc. Identity appears and makes sense in plurality. Identity itself is also multiple.
A "sinexion" is a process of production of a synthetic identity. This concept is the foundation of a new conception of logic, which is neither deductive nor demonstrative. Between identity schemes there are "synectical links" that are ontological, not logical, in nature. Synectics is a kind of necessary unity that links distinct identities, but is itself irreducible to identity. Intuitive examples of sinexion are: the two poles of a magnet, the obverse and reverse of an object, the dual theorems of projective geometry, the physical principle of action and reaction, each of the points of a circumference (which has its opposite at the other end of the diameter), and so on.
Synnexion and identity are opposites, though necessarily linked. Synnexion is the process of union (or connections), the result being synthetic identity.
The sciences are neither knowledge of a reality external to them nor mental or symbolic representations of reality. The sciences are a reconstruction of reality itself, which culminates when a synthetic identity is achieved, which is scientific truth.
Truth is not something that is predicated of the sciences in general, but of each of their theorems. A science cannot be considered as a set of truths, since many of its contents are neither true nor false, but merely "intercalary".
All science is material. There is no distinction between formal sciences and empirical sciences. Only gnoseological analysis can provide fundamental criteria for the division of the sciences.
It is necessary to replace the expression "object of a science" by the expression "field of a science". For example, biology does not have life as its object, but the field formed by nucleic acids, mitochondria, cells, etc.
The term "symploké" (network of intertwined or interwoven elements) was used by Plato on several occasions to characterize linguistic relationships, such as the type of connection existing between the letters of a word and the combination of words or syllables that form the speech, the "Logos". The Platonic symploké implies the principle of discontinuity, according to which "nothing is isolated from everything, but not everything is connected with everything; otherwise nothing could be known".
Bueno uses this same term to refer to the composition, interweaving and relationships of diverse elements to form a system that exhibits order. And also as a support of his pluralist philosophy (ontological pluralism), to refer to the multiple and discontinuous character of the objects of the world, objects that always exist "enclassed", that is, grouped in classes.
The elements of the system are in a relationship of both opposition and con-nection. A plot is fundamentally a plot of material realities, to which corresponds a conceptual plot. Symploké is, for Bueno, the very foundation of philosophical rationality, a rationality based on ideas and which is different from scientific rationality.
MENTAL and Categorial Closure
Categorial closure refers to the fact that there are interrelated elements and operations that define or shape a domain. There are multiple sciences, each defined by a categorial closure. Therefore, the theory of categorial closure is opposed to the single, singular science.
However, the primitives of MENTAL are universal, they affect all domains. And their manifestations (expressions) and their combinatorics at the operational and descriptive level produce expressions, all within the general universe of expressions, symbolized by Ω. Therefore:
If all science is determined by categorial closure, then in MENTAL there is a global, universal categorial closure (), composed of all possible expressions, which leads to universal science.
MENTAL expressions are the result of a synthetic process carried out from simple elements, which are manifestations or instances of abstract primitives.
In MENTAL there is no philosophical materialism, but "philosophical abstractionism", which is common to the physical and mental world. And philosophical rationality and scientific rationality are one and the same thing, for they are both based on abstraction.
For Bueno there is only one "matter" and 3 kinds of materiality. In MENTAL there is also only one "matter", but it is of abstract type; there is only abstraction but configured or structured in 12 dimensions. The deep reality (external and internal) is abstract, so the subject-object duality is overcome. Space and time are also abstract. Ontology and epistemology are the same thing. The hypothesis of universal abstraction is the simplest, so it must be closer to the truth, to the true reality.
Philosophical abstractionism does not oppose the dichotomies realism-idealism and subject-object, but harmonizes them.
The universal categorial closure also implies a universal ontological and epistemological closure, since the primitives or archetypes of consciousness, which represent the ontological and epistemological limitations. These closures delimit the possible worlds. Moreover, epistemology and gnoseology are the same thing.
The Platonic symploké recovers in MENTAL its original linguistic sense and corresponds to an environment of interrelated expressions, an environment that has a certain sense as globality. However, contrary to the Platonic argumentation, "everything is related to everything", but at a deep level, since everything is based on the same abstract archetypes. Language relates everything.
Bueno's dialectic is ascending, that is, it goes from the particular to the general, from analytic to synthetic identities. In MENTAL, the dialectic is descending: from general principles to particular expressions.
In MENTAL, philosophy is not associated with the positive sciences. Philosophy appears in the principles, in the primitives, which are identified as philosophical categories that allow to relate all things.
Bibliography
Bueno, Gustavo. Idea de ciencia desde la teoría del cierre categorial. Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo, 1976. Disponible en Internet.
Bueno, Gustavo. ¿Qué es la ciencia? La respuesta de la teoría del cierre categorial. Pentalfa Ediciones, 1996. Disponible en Internet.
Bueno, Gustavo. Teoría del cierre categorial. Pentalfa Ediciones, 1992. Disponible en Internet.
Bueno, Gustavo. Teoría del cierre categorial. T. 1: Introducción general. Pentalfa Ediciones, 1992.
Bueno, Gustavo. Teoría del cierre categorial. T. 2: Gnoseología como filosofía de la ciencia. Pentalfa Ediciones, 1993.
Bueno, Gustavo. Teoría del cierre categorial. T. 3: Sistema de doctrinas gnoseológicas. Pentalfa Ediciones, 1993.
Bueno, Gustavo. Teoría del cierre categorial. T. 4: Sistema de doctrinas gnoseológicas. Pentalfa Ediciones, 1993.
Bueno, Gustavo. Teoría del cierre categorial. T. 5: Sistema de doctrinas gnoseológicas. Pentalfa Ediciones, 1994.
Bueno, Gustavo. Ignoramus, Ignorabimus!. Revista El Basilisco, 2ª época, nº. 4, pp. 69-98, 1990.
