I try to help us understand that Social Space in which we humans live. I do so by using ideas from two famous individuals from the last century. (1) The mathematician/philosopher, A. N. Whitehead. (2) The theoretical physicist, Henry Margenau.
From Whitehead I borrow the idea that to understand nature one must do more than merely observe nature. Science is, above all, an adventure of the mind. The human mind makes a crucial contribution to our ability to understand nature.
From Margenau I borrow the idea that the most basic tools of science are Constructs. What are Constructs? They are ways of considering something in nature and adding the mental leap to clarify its component parts. Here are a few examples of Constructs: Gravitation is a Construct in physics. The Periodic Table is a Construct in chemistry. DNA is as Construct in genetics. Neurotransmitter is a Construct in neurology. Each of these considers something in nature and, in addition, makes the mental leap to clarify its component parts. It took many creative leaps of the mind to produce sciences as sophisticated as modern physics, chemistry, genetics and neuroscience.
Margenau and Whitehead speak the same language when it comes to understanding how science actually works. The mind, in the sense of both Whitehead and Margenau, adds the creative leaps that help us understand nature. I try to do the same thing to understand the component parts of Social Space. In two of my books — IMMEDIACY: HOW OUR WORLD CONFRONTS US / HOW WE CONFRONT OUR WORLD and OUR QUEST FOR EFFECTIVE LIVING : A WINDOW TO A NEW SCIENCE / HOW WE COPE IN SOCIAL SPACE — I propose five Constructs as components of Social Space. They are “Riders,” “Closed Moral Worlds,” “Transcendence,” ” Linkage,” “The Second Path.” I spell out the last four on my website: http://www.questforeffectiveliving.com My Constructs are surely not the last word in a science about Social Space. They are merely my suggestion about serious beginnings.
Fred Emil Katz: Living in Social Space 