First Steps

Principals are closely intertwined with other pieces of our intellectual constructs. For example political schools of thought (liberal or conservative) or religious thought (Budist or Christian) or even scientific (Gradualism or Catastrophism). All of these things influence the others, and all claim to be a set of principals. However, if these are the places that we start we are starting with the circumstances and are working back to a principal. In other words we are reacting and then seeking a rational to support such a reaction.

Our thoughts and views then are becoming a product of the reactions that we take. Our emotions drive our actions, which drive our thoughts. If this is the case we are behaving as though we subscribe to "what I do is who I am." This reduces personhood then to a history of performance. The individual is then simply one set of functions, and can be reduced to what ever utility that function may provide to others.