Exploring the being of knowing

The Shitshow: the evidence of the difference between conservative and liberal.

Reading Time: 2 minutes
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Internal squabbles over spending are putting McCarthy’s future as speaker in doubt and upping the odds of a government shutdown at the end of the month.
— Read on www.huffpost.com/entry/kevin-mccarthy-gop-spending_n_65098e3be4b04435d2600c06

—- In order to see this as an epistemological issue, politics must be set on the shelf.

In a very simple fashion, before we pull out the political dictionaries, conservative is to hold, to keep, to save, as in scarcity, holding onto some. This as a common simple thought and despite what Webster might pose.

Similarly, liberal. It is an odd sort of pairing, actually, for liberal is more about giving, abundance, applying to all.

Again, we need not look to other official definitions, we have them already in us when we use the words.

So, ironically, when we look presently at what is happening with the Republican House, we we that, of course there is a conservative element that really conserves the ideal of an individual scarcity. This is what is holding up the budget.

In an upcoming paper I contextualize the political wings of U.S. governance to say they are names for how one perceives what is to be done with the fact of knowing, as to what I am able to do as a Being in the universe (logistics). Conservative and Liberal, in this way, are real ways of being in the world (semantics), and hence our modern democratic institution as a response.

The conservative understands implicitly that a Being is a human being that is “sovereign”, so to speak, that the human being has an element of itself that is “indivisible” and itself unique; Being is conserved. So it is, conservative governance stems from the body that arises because we all individual people are interacting in negotiation at all levels; even the common is negotiated. The fight is to conserve the ideal of myself as what I am.

Correspondingly, the liberal view understands in line with more strict phenomenological standards, that knowledge is Being, and so my knowledge (cognition of or ability to make the philosophical argument is not the issue in this ontological case) extends to everyone and everything. So it is we have the extreme positions there of radical social justice, because everyone and everything is included in the expression of one’s Being, so what I feel is right, must be right for everyone in that phenomenologically ethical world. Liberal governance concerns negotiation at the level of an assumed common Being. The liberal fight is to apply their ideal to what I am as we are all included in this knowing.

The basic issue we face currently in our world is due to each versions’ ideal being confronted by the other more directly than in the past.

The irony can only be politically negotiated. The domain of reality.

Enjoying this? The Sunday Same is my biweekly letter: one essay like this, every other Sunday morning, straight to your inbox. Subscribe at lanceamh.substack.com.

A note on how I use AI. I write everything on this blog myself: the ideas, the arguments, the words. I do use AI, but as an editor, not a co-author. It helps me with grammar, formatting, and structure. That use is recent: AI has been part of my process only for roughly the past year’s worth of posts. Everything older was written without it, because there was nothing like it to use. What I have found is that AI most often misinterprets what I write philosophically, so its suggestions are usually wrong, and a good deal of my attention and editing goes into sculpting each post until it reflects the ideas correctly. The ideas are never AI’s.

For transparency, I keep a Word document of my original writing and the full exchanges, back and forth with the AI, that produced each post. If anyone is interested in how a piece came together, that record is available.

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About this blog

Essays in mental health philosophy—less “tips,” more why things work (or don’t). I look at the first principles under therapy, psychiatry, psychology, and everyday life, and occasionally share notes from papers and books-in-progress.

This space stands alongside—not inside—my counseling practice. If you’re seeking therapy in Colorado, there’s a link in the footer.

About the author

Lance Kair, LPC, blends philosophy, mindfulness, and counseling to help clients find agency, meaning, fulfillment, and healing through deep understanding, self-awareness, and compassionate therapeutic collaboration.

Copyright © 2025 Lance Kair, LPC | Website by TechG

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