“Non-h” is an abbreviation for the “non-human,” everything other than human.
Many philosophers and social scientists of the last century have argued that we are in a”prison house of language” in which everything that we experience bares the mark of human language. Others believe that only experiences apprehended through language have meaning. Non-h philosophy explores our experience of the non-human as a source of inspiration and creativity that lies partially or entirely outside of human language and meaning. As such it will address the experience of non-h at the core of everyday human experience; the transformation of biological, psychological, and social dimensions of being human; and our encounters with non-human awareness and intelligence.
Non-h does not refer to the not human which is a distinct category relative to the human. Non-h refers to the logical complementary class of the human rather than its contradiction. Non-h is an unbounded “Other” which functions like a perceptual background to the figure of our experiences, a source of inspiration which transcends the self. It is mysterious but not hidden, vivid and distinct but unbounded. It is mute objectivity, the thing-in-itself Other than the story of humanity, existence without essence. The non-h evokes rather than signifies and informs without becoming a message. It is expressible through textures and temperatures, through gestures and sound beneath song, and through metaphor that is perpetually in excess of its comparisons.
The philosophy of non-h will explore its inspirations and insights for our values, knowledge, and sense of presence to others and the world. It will engage with investigations in neuroscience, logic, linguistics, aesthetics, and personal relationships. It contributes as corrective to the overuse of reductionism in science, sentimentality in the humanities, anthropomorphism in religion, and humanism as a myopic vision of our place in the universe. “Spiritual experiences,” the excitement of discovering an “objective truth,” and the artistically sublime are all facets of the non-h, not because they are all similar experiences but because they all point beyond humanity.
Non-h is more like a shift in perspective than a discipline or topic. Non-h philosophy explores a realm “outside” traditional dichotomies such as artificial-natural, subject-object, mind-matter, sciences and humanities, and even human-not human, but “outside” only in the sense of exploring their contexts rather than asserting a spiritual or parallel universe that is independent of the normal world. Non-h is a different way of engaging the world rather than the exploration of a different world.
From the perspective of non-h philosophy calling the world “objective” is like using a dead metaphor. The “objective” world is that which objects to our projections like mistaking our ability to predict events as having discovered intentions or goals, or imagining that objects are permanent or have finite sets of defining characteristics. Non-h philosophy can never be used to ground truth or absolutes nor be a voice of authority. It gestures toward existence rather than naming or making claims. It points to the horizon of meaning in a perpetual exploration of that which makes truth possible. Non-h can serve as a “motor” or “desire for” critical reflection but never itself provides the content of answers. Experiencing the non-h can be a celebration, evoke a sense of communion, or draw us into overwhelming feelings of alienation and terror. Non-h is the vivid and intimate silence of the world revealed when the chatter of meaning subsides and in rare moments, when the chatter ceases entirely.