Looking at John Walton’s Book (2015) “The Lost World of Adam and Eve” (Part 21 of 22)
0177 Proposition 20?
It is not essential that all people descend from Adam and Eve.
Nor is it esse_tial.
0178 However, there is more to say about this proposition.
Here is a picture of the Fall and Aristotle’s hylomorphe.
0179 This hylomorphe describes a noumenon.
Science investigates phenomena, the observable and measurable facets of a noumenon. These facets must be material. Otherwise, how would scientists observe and measure them?
The Positivist’s judgment contains an apparent contradiction in what it regards as what is. A noumenon cannot be objectified as its phenomena. What does this mean? On one hand, given a suite of phenomena, one cannot readily tell what the noumenon is. On the other hand, given a noumenon, its phenomena are readily identified through observations and measurements.
In other words, an easily recognizable noumenon invites scientific inquiry into its phenomena.
0180 Consequently, proposition 20 indicates that the failure of one particular model should not stop scientific inquiry into the phenomena of the noumenon described in the doctrine of Original Sin.
0181 The phenomena are obvious. Fallen humans have many… shall I say… counterproductive tendencies, including trends to settlement, gaming the present order for advantage, then manipulating truth in order to justify our advantages, then losing the original settled order on unsuccessful solutions to the contradictions that we introduced in our pursuits of advantage.
0182 Now, direct descent from Adam and Eve is Augustine’s clever model. It accounts for the data. But, because this model is scientific, it can be debunked. Plus, it has been debunked by the laboratory-based discipline of genetics.
If Augustine were still around, he would propose other models, such as the social milieu model proposed in the 7700s (U0′) by Piet Schoonenberg, S.J.
The hypothesis of the first singularity features a model that says, “When humans first appear in the fossil record, they practice hand-speech talk, because speech is added to hand talk during our speciation. Then, 200,000 years later, when the Persian Gulf fills, the rising waters force two hand-speech talking cultures into the same territory, resulting in a fusion of the two cultures, as well as a new language, the Sumerian. The Sumerian language is a creole. This creole is the first example of speech-alone talk. It lacks the hand-talk component.
“As it turns out, the semiotic differences between speech-alone and hand-speech talk are so significant that speech-alone talk potentiates unconstrained social complexity, while hand-speech talk does not. This explains why the first civilization arises from the Ubaid of southern Mesopotamia. Plus, this explains why all of us are entangled with the Ubaid. All civilizations in our current Lebenswelt practice speech-alone talk.”
0183 Here is an alternate Augustine model for the phenomena of the noumenon of Original Sin.
Original Sin is an easily recognizable noumenon.
This noumenon invites scientific inquiry into its phenomena.
0184 The hypothesis of the first singularity is a more plausible natural science model than Augustine’s model of descent from Adam and Eve.
Plus, the natural science model (based on the realness of semiotics) somehow changes our appreciation of the noumenon, the thing itself.
If the natural science model becomes what the noumenon must be, then a novel suite of social sciences are born, encompassing both psychology and sociology.
0185 Here is a picture.
0186 To appreciate this argument, consider articles in the series, Phenomenology and the Positivist Intellect, available at smashwords and other e-book vendors.
