Perception of Reality and the Fate of a Civilization

About the Book

Many observers of the world scene in recent decades have raised questions about the future of Western Civilization, and the United States as the foremost exemplar. They see us locked in tangles of inconsistent intentions and self contradictory efforts to remedy growing political and environmental problems. This development may be an inevitable consequence of the evolution of first principles which deteriorate in a civilization as their implications are drawn out over time. The process is one in which people behaving to maximise individual and social purposes competitively reinterpret their perceptions of reality until the culture stagnates from a deficiency of common purpose.

About the Author

I was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in 1926, and served in the United States Navy from July of 1944 to July of 1946. I then entered the college of the University of Chicago, and received the Ph.D. in Human Development in l960. Married since 1950 to Vivian Maki, with four sons and nine grandchildren. Since 1993, Professor Emeritus, Northeastern Illinois University, previously Professor, Psychology. Also a part time private practice in Clinical/Rehab Psychology since 1960. Publications include the book, Robertson, R.J. & Powers, W.T., (Eds.) Introduction to Modern Psychology: General Psychology the Control Theory Approach. 1990, Benchmark New Canaan, CT and chapters in four books, including the Wiley Encyclopedia of Psychology, (l984); Haworth Press Monograph series on The Psychotherapy Patient, (1985 and 1988); and Chapter 19, in, W.A. Hershberger (Ed.), Volitional Action: Conation and Control, l989, Amsterdam: Elsevier. I have also had a number of papers published in scientific and professional journals.