Dr Neville Buch
Abstract
The “Problem One, Two, Three” identifies a fundamental breakdown in intelligent communication characterized by a recursive failure to recognize corruption—defined as an abuse in thinking—across three distinct scales: the Individual (One), the Cohort/Persons (Two), and the System (Three). This breakdown is rooted in Bureaucratic Humanism, a state where the movement’s intellectual core is hollowed out by a Techné Mindset that pathologically prioritizes narrow efficiency and quantifiable data over reflective human authorship. Consequently, ideological factions on both the Left and Right frequently succumb to an Epimethean fault, where critical awareness of corruption arrives “too late”—only after the individual abuse has metastasized into systemic failure. To resolve this, society must undergo a developmental ascent toward Communicative Action, reinventing “thinking” (penser) as “caring” (panser) to restore truthfulness and accountability to our shared reality.
Individual, Persons, System(s): The Problem One, Two, Three
I. The Techné Mindset and the Birth of Bureaucratic Humanism
The failure of modern communication stems from a “technicization of cognition,” where the act of thinking is reduced to a series of information-processing operations and instrumental metrics. This Techné Mindset treats the individual not as a proactive author of their own existence, but as a “puny human node” within a vast, automated network. When this mindset is applied to humanistic goals, it produces Bureaucratic Humanism—a stagnant tradition captive to political “strategic action” aimed at maximizing profit and control rather than mutual understanding.
Corruption, in this context, is primarily an abuse in thinking. It occurs when calculation is divorced from original meaning, causing knowledge systems to “forget” their origins and truths. This “Historical Forgetfulness” ensures that individuals and cohorts repeat past intellectual errors because the “why” of the system has been banished from memory.
II. The Scales of Corruption: Problem One, Two, and Three
The “Problem One, Two, Three” describes the three-tiered progression of this intellectual abuse:
- The Problem One (The Individual): Corruption begins at the level of individual cognition through “denoetization”—the mechanical liquidation of the capacity to think and judge. The individual abdicates their role as the “master of the what” and becomes a passive conduit for the system’s logic.
- The Problem Two (The Persons/Cohort): Abused thinking is socialized through cohorts that prioritize “Political Profit” and “Integration Propaganda”. At this level, groupthink and “militant exclusionary practices” marginalize any internal critique that might expose the lack of philosophical rigour.
- The Problem Three (The System): Finally, the corruption becomes structural. The technocratic state generates a “systemic closing” where communication is replaced by cybernetic behavioural control.
III. Late Criticism: The Epimethean Fault of Left and Right
The sources suggest that ideological support for corrupted entities—whether 50 years ago or today—is a symptom of being “stuck in the politics of 1989” or earlier. This is the Epimethean fault: the tendency for hindsight (afterthought) to arrive too late to correct a design that lacked foresight and empathy.
- The Left-Wing and Radical Organizations: Historically, elements of the Left have supported organizations like Hamas under a “populist simplistic formation” or “master narrative” that overlooks the internal abuse of thinking. By the time elements of the Left become critical, the Problem Two (cohort abuse) has already hardened into a Problem Three (systemic corruption), making the realization “too late” to prevent historical carnage.
- The Right-Wing and Political Apparatuses: Similarly, elements of the Right have supported systems like the Republican Party during the “Trumpocene,” blinded by a “populist colonialism” that denies humanity’s truth. The “managerial bubble” of such organizations induces an “immense regression” toward absolute non-knowledge, where the collective only recognizes the system’s corruption after the individual authorship has been completely cannibalized by technical and bureaucratic control.
IV. Conclusion: Restoring Authorship through Communicative Action
The escape from the “One, Two, Three” cycle requires a transition from the “Junior” mindset of docile execution to a ”Senior” state of social accountability. This is achieved by rejecting Strategic Action—manipulation aimed at one’s own success—and adopting Communicative Action, which is oriented toward reaching a reasoned consensus on legitimate norms. Only by uncoiling repetitive patterns of error through Spiral Historiography and implementing Panser (Thinking as Caring) can we protect the human person from the “coldness of pure calculation” and ensure that the “who” remains the master of the “what”.
Dynamic of Cognition (DoC) Analytic Table: The Problem of One, Two, Three
| DoC Component | Pathological Stagnation (The Regression) | Evolutionary Advancement (The Ascent) |
| Prejudice (Centre) | Technological Determinism: Believing the system (Three) is an unalterable path dictated by efficiency. | Reflective Self-Understanding: Questioning the individual (One) social and historical bearings through truthfulness. |
| Attitudes (Thinking/Extrovert) | Strategic/Purposive-Rational Action: Communication used to manipulate cohorts (Two) and maximize political profit. | Communicative Action: Dialogue aimed at mutual agreement and the restoration of human authorship. |
| Typologies of Value (Feeling/Introvert) | Measurable Utility: Prioritizing vocational fitness and data over moral character and wisdom. | Holistic Flourishing: Valuing social relations where satisfaction comes from meaningful contribution. |
| Exclusion (Sensation/Intuition) | Historical Forgetfulness: Systemically ignoring the origins of intellectual abuses (One) until the system (Three) fails. | Spiral Historiography: Actively “uncoiling” patterns of error to detect corruption before it becomes systemic. |
| Inclusion (Thinking/Feeling) | Sociological Propaganda: Enforcing uniform behaviour through “Integration Propaganda” to preserve a corrupt cohort. | Panser (Thinking as Caring): Including empathy as a cognitive shield to protect the particularity of the person from calculation. |
Bibliography
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Stiegler, B. (1998). Technics and Time, 1: The Fault of Epimetheus. (R. Beardsworth & G. Collins, Trans.). Stanford University Press.
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Endnote: Corruption in this essay specifically relates to an abuse in thinking, whereby the cognitive ability to exercise critical authorship is surrendered to automated, technical, or group-think systems.
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Neville Buch
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