JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE

EARLY PHILOSOPHY (1977–1984)

With a brief introduction by the author

Copyright © 2007–12 JOHN O'LOUGHLIN

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INTRODUCTION

As suggested by the subtitle, ‘early’ implies all of my philosophy, or works with a predominantly philosophical dimension, dating from 1977–84, a seven-year period during which I seriously began to explore my capacity as a philosopher, albeit a self-taught one, and to experiment with a variety of genres, including essays, dialogues, aphorisms, maxims, and even notes. It was during this period that I escaped my initial starting-point in dualism and, via a brief flirtation with Spenglerian historicism, came by degrees to approach philosophy, as with The Transcendental Future, from a post-dualistic and effectively pro-transcendentalist standpoint, a position that was to culminate in 1984 with Social Transcendentalism, and thus with a more or less systematically ideological approach to logic such that was both an ending and a gateway to a fresh beginning in my philosophical journey, if I may put it like that.

The ending, as it transpired, was transcendentalism with a social dimension within the concept of what has been termed ‘the Centre’, and such a position is well documented in the final text in this compilation. The fresh beginning, however, was to leave essays and dialogues completely behind and lead me to develop a more consistently aphoristic approach to philosophy, as to philosophizing, which really began the following year (1985) and has continued, with minor variations, right up to the present.

Suffice it to say, however, that the latter stages in my philosophical advance are beyond the scope of this compilation and can be found on the Internet in a variety of permutations, including CENTRETRUTHS-Journeys to the Centre of Truth, my complete philosophical oeuvre, and, more immediately, The Omega Octet, the starting point of which is Devil and God-The Omega Book (1985), which happens to be the sequel to Evaluations and Revaluations, the next purely philosophical work after Social Transcendentalism. It is at the threshold, therefore, to that mature period of writings of a philosophical order, which become increasingly cyclical in character, that this collection of works ends, and for some it will prove far enough. I only hope that others will be sufficiently impressed by what they read here and in the following texts to brave further readings and to carry on with a journey that does not end until the final destination of definitive metaphysical truth has been reached.

John O'Loughlin, London 2007 (Revised 2008–12)