Summary of text [comment] page 45

I now return to page 45, where Schoonenberg accepts that “evil is a statistical necessity” for God’s creation and wonders whether it applies to the realm of freedom and morality, that is, to us.

[There are two types of statistical necessity.

One relates to instrumental causes.  Instrumental (dyadic) causea and effects build situations₂, such as those found in de Chardin’s interscoping nested forms.  Consider the workings of homeostasis₂, metabolism₂, and definition₂.

Statistical chances of instrumental failure account for why we slip from actuality back into possibility, through illness, poisoning and violence.

The other relates to formal requirements.  These explain our particular designs. Consider the designs of homeostasis₂, metabolism₂ and definition₂.

Often, we slip from actuality back into possibility with respect to some level of the interscoping forms because our particular design could endure only a certain statistical range of challenges.  Each one of us exhibits a slightly different design with its corresponding vulnerabilities.

Both types of failure are familiar to us.  These statistical necessities appear in the production and maintenance of all designed forms.]