A new research paper on Apithology theory will be presented at the 59th Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Science in Berlin (August 2nd-7th, 2015).

The paper is titled: The Apithology of Humanity Psychology: Humanity as a Generative System. This is the fifth paper on apithology published in the Proceedings of the Society (i.e. 2009 Brisbane, 2010 Waterloo, 2012 San Jose, 2013 Hai Phong).

The importance of this paper is three fold, being described as: “The contribution of significance made by this paper is to comment on global health from a different premise (i.e. generative paradigm), at a different scale (i.e. humanity-scale), for a different purpose (i.e. future enablement).”

This significance of the paper to the Apithology community includes the following novel contributions:

• It provides a bridging work between the thesis of conceptions and the first book;
• It provides the underlying premise (although not the detail) of the Health of the Whole Matrix;
• It specifies the system rules for generativity modelling within the premise of generative systems theory;
• It introduces the idea of generative potentials (although doesn’t include detail on the Ten Potentials);
• It explains the three tensions, the three dimensions, the three metrics, and the three healths succinctly;
• It provides commentary on the three definitions of humanity and offers an apithology informed open-ended definition;
• It contains the explanation of how to form an Apithology Triptych and the necessary components for validity;
• It specifies the Eight Expressions of the generative capacities for humanity-scales systems of conceptions.

The paper defines what this approach enables by way of its proposed emphasis. One point of guidance in the paper reads:

“It is already recognized that a natural unfoldment of complexity may lead to systemic vulnerability (Holling, Peterson, & Allen, 2008). At the same time there is, in each same moment, the possibility for the formation of generative potentials. For this reason, instead of being a tool for predictions of collapse, stagnation, or transcendence the vital work of apithology theory is to actively provide for the presence of the capacities for generative enablements. The places that request this are anywhere the potential for humanity’s aspirations may manifest.” (p. 16)

This recognition, of the moment by moment opportunity for the generative (and the practical means of the realisation of the potentials then generated), is perhaps apithology’s main contribution to contemporary knowledge and philosophy.

The paper concludes with this pronouncement:

“For those interested in a humanity-scale generative inquiry for the enablement of future potentials, rather than the remediation of individual problem-level situations by the repetition of past incapacities, there is now a premise, practice and pathway.” (p. 19)

We can understand by this quote how the questions we have, will guide what we (must) pay attention to – and how this suggests a deeper inquiry into how our forms of attentiveness, might be best informed.

Reviewed: 12 July 2015