The I-E Model as an Objective Benchmark to Identify the World's Platonic Make-Up*

Laurens Sipahelut

Translator

The I-E Model outlines the author's world view that combines Plato's allegory of the cave, Bill Murray's 1993 movie Groundhog Day, and PoliticalCompass.org's political chart under a single concept. It will set an objective benchmark against which subjective notions can be measured against and that can be used to identify the Platonic make-up of an individual, a community, a nation, or even that of the entire world.

Plato's allegory of the cave, the first component to the model, forms a metaphysical framework. It depicts the transformation of the desire-driven egoistic state of mind, i.e. the prisoner chained to the wall of the cave, into a desire-free altruistic state of mind, i.e. the prisoner that has been freed from the cave.

Its key idea: humankind's egoistic desires are played out in the physical world but, Plato says, that world is an illusion. The real world, he says, takes place between your ears. As a consequence, change cannot be brought about through the manipulation of things in the physical world; it can only be achieved through the mind. The prisoner that has been freed from the cave knows this to be true.

The second component, the movie, breaks down the metaphysical transformation into four desires the chained prisoner must see out before a breakout from the cave's confines is made possible. The desires are, from base to apex: Survival, wealth, power, and knowledge.

Its key idea: Every person has to go through a progression of desires before a desire-free altruistic state of mind can be achieved.

The third and final component, the political chart, links the metaphysical to the physical. It shows how the desires play out in the physical world with the desire for survival—the chart's social dimension—being represented by the Authoritarianism-Libertarianism y-axis and the desire for wealth—the chart's economic dimension—being represented by the Left-Right x-axis. The desire for power—politics—manipulates the axes not unlike a puppeteer operating a marionette using a control bar.

Its key idea: the people at PoliticalCompass.org brilliantly and astutely reduced the political system to a two-dimensional chart to give account for the social and economic dimensions of politics. It coincides with the progression of desires depicted in Groundhog Day though without acknowledging the desire for knowledge.

Plato making mention of the imperative for philosophers to become kings implies that an additional z-axis representing the desire for power needs to be added to the chart. This allows for the desire for knowledge—philosophy—instead of the desire for power—politics—to operate the control bar, i.e. rule by philosopher-kings instead of by politicians. The model can now be assembled.

First the cave's floor plan needs to be modified. Instead of having a single expanse, a triangular (read: pyramidical) structure will be put in to partition the space into four tiers with the widest section—the base—resting against the cave's wall and the narrowest section—the apex—pointing away from it. Each tier, from base to apex, represents a desire, i.e. survival (at the base), wealth, power, and then knowledge (at the apex). The triangle's tapering shape symbolizes the desires' hierarchical nature as the higher desires form an arch over the lower ones.

With the movie incorporated, next to be incorporated, and by doing so finish the model, is the political chart, but now with the extra z-axis added. The original two-dimensional chart allows for the expression of only the first three desires as it leaves the operation of the control bar to politics (the desire for power) by omitting philosophy (the desire for knowledge). In the cave, this would've had produced a three- instead of a four-tiered triangle but by having the latter in place humankind's desire for knowledge can now be accounted for.

In the original chart, both the axes represent scales extending between two extremes; Left-Right for the x-axis and Authoritarianism-Libertarianism for the y-axis. They point to dualism. What Left and Libertarianism have in common is they are both inclusive just as Right and Authoritarianism are exclusive. The dualism hence pertains to inclusiveness and exclusiveness. This same idea will be applied to the z-axis (politics) and to the control bar, the desire for knowledge aka philosophy.

To incorporate the chart into the model the only thing that needs to be done is making the triangle dualistic in nature and to do so, while also taking into account the triangle's hierarchical nature, the only thing that needs to be considered here is the apex because whatever goes down there will trickle down in an information cascade to the tiers below. So the top tier (philosophy) can be either inclusive ('I') or exclusive ('E') even as it assigns either an 'I' or an 'E' value to each of the other three tiers below it. To allow for all the possible permutations to play out, the apex needs to be given four 'I' and four 'E' values which it can then assign to itself and to the other three remaining tiers. Sixteen permutations are made possible this way:

[Philosophy, Politics, Economics, Sociality] OR [Control Bar, Z-Axis, X-Axis, Y-Axis]

1. [I, I, I, I]	5. [I, E, I, I]	9. [E, I, I, I]	13. [E, E, I, I]
2. [I, I, I, E]	6. [I, E, I, E]	10. [E, I, I, E]	14. [E, E, I, E]
3. [I, I, E, I]	7. [I, E, E, I]	11. [E, I, E, I]	15. [E, E, E, I]
4. [I, I, E, E]	8. [I, E, E, E]	12. [E, I, E, E]	16. [E, E, E, E]

The permutations point to the Platonic make-up (read: states of mind) of an individual, a community, a nation, or even that of the whole world. That is to say, they represent those values prevailing at a given point in time as opposed to those professed on paper (e.g. constitutionally). These values are in a constant state of flux as Fear transforms 'I's into 'E's and Love transforms 'E's into 'I's. (Fascism, for example, is 'I' transformed into 'E' at the social level, i.e. on the model's y-axis.)

Every person has a Platonic triangle as does every group, people, or nation. A triangle's size is determined by the extent of influence the philosophy nested in its apex exercises in the physical world. Smaller triangles are superimposed over larger ones. The world's true borders are not delineated by country but are rather determined by the forces of Fear and Love, and they may shift from time to time in a game of triangles.

As a philosophy cascades down a triangle, it manifests in ever more crude forms of expressions. At its most crude it manifests as a physical structure. For example, people used to build cathedrals, today it's shopping malls: The larger the triangle the more ubiquitous its cathedrals of desires become.

It should be noted that the cave's interior is a desire-driven and therefore an egoism-proper and therefore an exclusiveness-proper environment while its exterior is a desire-free and therefore an altruism-proper and therefore an inclusiveness-proper environment. As a result, inside the cave the 'E' value is a true value while the 'I' is a false value. By the same token, outside the cave the 'I' is a true value while the 'E' is a false one.

Thus expression of the 'I' value inside the cave is but a simulated one, an instance of such principles as the golden rule in action. The default expression is that of the 'E' value. But human beings have an intuitive yearning to evolve and to express the true 'I' value, i.e. to step outside of the darkness of the cave and into the bright light of the open expanse. Thus man's obsession with religion and spirituality and his interpretation thereof in an exoteric light, i.e. as an expression of the false 'I' value. Outside the cave the interpretation becomes esoteric in nature, meaning that of the true 'I' value.

According to Plato, the most important purpose in life should be to look past the veil of illusion and to perceive true reality, something that can apply to individuals (i.e. on a micro scale) and to communities or nations or indeed the whole world (i.e. on a macro scale) alike. However, it is an effort that is as important as it is difficult as it requires a person to have quenched all the egoistic desires save the one for knowledge. The desire for knowledge will then fuel that person's search for answers to the Big Questions, which most certainly will constantly involve putting cherished beliefs through the wringer. And even then true reality will not dawn unless the notions of past and future are quieted and only the now is perceived. It is, however, possible to help the process along by advancing inclusive philosophies, politics, economics, and socialities [I, I, I, I]. Such an endeavor should be in fact the most important thing a nation state could do to justify its existence.


* An earlier version was published as an enclosure to an open letter addressed to Dutch politician Geert Wilders with the subject line A Stupid Open Letter to Geert Wilders Pt 2, dated September 26, 2016. The letter can be accessed online here https://pionirbooks.blogspot.sg/2016/09/a-stupid-open-letter-to-geert-wilders.html.