06/23/21

Looking at Kirk Kanzelberger’s Essay (2020) “Reality and the Meaning of Evil” (Part 5 of 18)

0019 Here is a picture of the ongoing conversation between observer and graduate student.

0020 The party animal says what pops into “her” head. The graduate student replies that the declaration turns one actor in the event_2a into a symbol of evil_2b.

0021 The observer scratches “her” head, asking, “Did God create the symbol?”

Ah, the mind-dependent reality of a symbol_2b may enter into the slot of the phantasm_2b as a stand-in for the mind-independent reality of the cat’s action_2a.

Or so, the graduate student judges_2c.

0022 Clearly, the cat cannot be evil, since the cat acts out its perfection. The cat is what it is. But, if the cat were human, then such injurious action would be immoral, if not illegal. Thus, the cat’s action becomes a symbol of what ought not to be. The graduate student’s well-trained intellect brings what is into relation with what ought to be.

The phantasm_2b, first objective_1b in the observer_3b, then intersubjective_1b in both observer_3a and student_3a, supports the formation of a suprasubjective judgment_2c. If the observer_3b follows the rules of reason, agreement_1a resonates with truth_1c. The same agreement_1a might happen if the observer_3b is enthralled by the graduate student_3b, or visa versa.

06/22/21

Looking at Kirk Kanzelberger’s Essay (2020) “Reality and the Meaning of Evil” (Part 6 of 18)

0023 What is a judgment_2c?

A judgment_2c is a triadic relation composed of three elements: relation, what is and what ought to be.

0024 Here is a picture of the observer’s utterance, spoken without reflection.

0025 In this, a cat stands for ‘something’ evil, even though God created the cat in goodness. Somehow, the observer plucks a symbol of the cat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, then declares that symbol to be relevant, without a second thought. That symbol describes a person, who breaks the wings of another person.

Surely, such a person is evil.

0026 The observer’s declaration has all the ingredients that go into a judgment.

However, it comes out as blather_2a, a subjective_1a event, pretending to be intersubjective_2b, and therefore carries the weight of judgment_2c.

The party animal anticipates that the graduate student will agree with the statement.

If “he” does not, then “she” will look foolish.

No one wants that.

0027 Is there a privation here?

The observer’s impression_2b claims to be true, as opposed to false, or maybe, deceptive. It_2b appears to be sensible. It_2bcoheres with the structure of judgment. Yet, it_2b really is just a way of saying that people can be like cats. It_2b is an object_2b that does not express the fullness of its intersubjective potential because it makes sense_1b. More or less. No judgment is really needed. Only agreement. Humans are cats.

06/21/21

Looking at Kirk Kanzelberger’s Essay (2020) “Reality and the Meaning of Evil” (Part 7 of 18)

0028 Our spoken words_2a weave the fabric of our subjective reality_1a by telling us what is happening_3a.

The observer states her impression that the cat is evil. The statement would be accurate if the cat is a person. However, the cat is just a cat. The cat is not a symbol of a person. It is a natural being.

0029 In section three, Kanzelberger states that no living animal or plant strives for privation. Each strives for its own good, its own fullness of being. Since the fullness of one may conflict with the fullness of another, privation is proportioned according to the food chain. The bird knows that. The cat knows that. Well, if they don’t, they certainly behave as if they do. The bird flits nervously. The cat stalks its prey.

In nature, agents for privation and death stand ready at hand. They carry the aura of inevitability. Not even the mountains stand forever. Is there a cosmic beauty to this pervasive evil? Everything is tested, horribly, relentlessly and in reality, by conflicts among diverse goods and forces.

Yes, outcomes vary. Some conflicts end as win-win. Some end as lose-lose. Most end as win-lose. In these win-lose contests, the agent who wins is satisfied, but may symbolize “evil”. The unsatisfied agent may escape the label of “evil”, but at what cost? Starvation? The sufferer loses and may be granted the symbol of “victim”. The one who avoids danger becomes “happy go lucky”.

0030 What does this imply?

First, obviously, a lot of energy flows through biological systems. An animal or plant cannot rest in the fullness of its being. Metabolism demands fuel. Metabolism drives many of these conflicts.

0031 What if I declare that metabolism is evil?

Surely, it is a common denominator in the good of all living things. Without it, there would be no conflict. The lion would lie with the lamb.

Yes, both would be dead.

0033 Natural evil does not make sense. Surely, we need not imagine that rocks or photons suffer when annihilated, but the same cannot be said for animals and plants. Natural evil, the conflict among subjective goods and the playing out of privations, makes no sense, in a world where each subject has its own metabolism.

It makes far more sense to imagine that all the actors are human.

06/18/21

Looking at Kirk Kanzelberger’s Essay (2020) “Reality and the Meaning of Evil” (Part 8 of 18)

0034 On the situation level, animals prepare to act_2b.

In contrast, humans generate phantasms_2b. What does the thing or event_2a mean to me_3b?

0035 But, I am not alone.

Therefore, moral meaning plays out in my phantasm_2b. The objective object_2b may not necessarily trigger action. But, it_2b activates a moral order. It triggers an intersubjective being_2b.

On one hand, the intersubjective being_2b is contiguous with the objective mind-dependent being_2b and may be willing to face the test of suprasubjectivity_1c.

A phantasm_2b will not suffer privation, when its intersubjective reality_1b seeks to be contextualized by suprasubjective potential_1c.

On the other hand, a phantasm_2b may be stated as blather_2a. Instead of facing the test of suprasubjectivity_1c, the phantasm_2b comes out as an event, a statement_2a, that seeks to be objectified_1b as agreement_1a. Agreement_1a coordinates perceptions_2b and appears to support an intersubjective reality_2b that does not need to face the test of suprasubjectivity_1c.

After all, if we all agree_1a, it_2b must be true_1c, doesn’t it_2b?

This phantasm_2b suffers privation, because intersubjective reality_1b should be elevated to its suprasubjective potential_1c.

Instead, it_2b seeks agreement_1a, through its own expression_2a, in the presence of others.

The observer plans to go to law school.

0036 The graduate student, in some capacity (remember, alcohol is consumed at these parties), knows this.

So, inadvertently, “he” brings what the observer says to generate agreement_1a into the suprasubjective realm_1c, by questioning “her” opinion.

0037 Here is a picture of the resulting judgment_2c.

06/17/21

Looking at Kirk Kanzelberger’s Essay (2020) “Reality and the Meaning of Evil” (Part 9 of 18)

0038 I see what is happening_3a, I ask, “What does this mean to me_3b?”.

This business about phantasms_2b is crucial. If our mind-dependent beings, our phantasms_2b, are to stand the trial of the suprasubjective_1c, then their symbols_2b must be true_1c. Plus, they must be able to be subjectively_1a communicated. They must be witnessed as things and events_2a.

0039 There is a profoundly biological reason for this. Our genus evolves by cooperating in teams. Each team is like the cat. It disposes privations to others, in order to achieve its perfection. One team hunts rabbits. Another team digs up tubers. Human teams hunt and gather, all in the pursuit of their fullness of being. The One Who Gives, Without Us Knowing Why, provides in many different ways.

Just as metabolism resides in every living being, the One Who Gives, resides in each social circle. As noted in Comments on Clive Gamble, John Gowlett and Robin Dunbar’s Book (2014) Thinking Big, the One Who Gives is an object that brings all teams into relation. Otherwise, teams might come into conflict. Like metabolism, this relational object stands undifferentiated from the organization objectives of each team. This relational object sustains them all.

0040 We choose our teams based on disposition and natural abilities. Or maybe, our teams choose us. After all, if a prosperous team lasts long enough, generation after generation, our kind will adapt to its challenges. The tasks will become more intuitively natural. Evolutionary psychologists will call these adaptations, “mental modules”.

0041 In the Lebenswelt that we evolved in, there is no contradiction between the phantasm_2b simultaneously touching base with the potential of truth_1c and the potential of subjective agreement_1a. That is because hand talk_2a and hand-speech talk_2a image and indicate their referents_1a. A referent_1a defines the objectivity_1b of each gesture word_2a. The referent_1a is also suprasubjectively evident_1c. If it_1a were not real_1c, it_1a could not be imaged or indicated_2a.

In our current Lebenswelt, there is a contradiction. Speech-alone_2a talk is purely symbolic. It_2a does not image or point to anything_1c. So, the phantasm_2b suffers a privation, opening the door to a condition where the potential of subjective agreement_1a may be actualized without the simultaneous realization of the potential consilience_1cunderlying the One Who Gives, Without Us Knowing Why_3c.

06/16/21

Looking at Kirk Kanzelberger’s Essay (2020) “Reality and the Meaning of Evil” (Part 10 of 18)

0043 How do teams work?

In the Lebenswelt that we evolved in, we join a team and our commitments_2c are plain to see. Each person has a role_1cand communicates that role_1c through behavior, including manual-brachial gestures_2a. These gestures_2a are natural signs. They are icons and indexes. They are subjectively experienced as images and indications_1a.

0044 But, there is a caveat, the more obvious the gesture, the more distinct from any other gesture, the more likely the gesture will be instantly understood. So, each gesture-word_2a becomes more and more distinct from every other gesture-word. Language consists in systems of differences.

0045 Word-gestures_2a are symbols, purely relational beings, striving for fullness within an ever more effective system of differences. Language evolves within each team. Humans, as a kind, adapt to what each team does_2b.

0046 What does this mean in regards the prior interscope?

Here is a diagram of the social construction where the situational phantasm_2b (including its manifestation as langue_2b) aligns with both things and events_2a (including parole_2a, hand and hand-speech talk_2a) and a judgment_2c (which cannot be symbolized, so is expressed as a commitment_2c).

06/15/21

Looking at Kirk Kanzelberger’s Essay (2020) “Reality and the Meaning of Evil” (Part 11 of 18)

0047 Our capacities for phantasms_2b are adaptations to the Lebenswelt that we evolved in.

Each team talks in icons and indexes that are so distinct that they function as symbols in a symbolic order (a finite system of differences). This is parole_2a. Langue consists of the sign-objects of word-gestures that picture or point to their referents_2b.

Our genus innately assumes that gesture-words_2a image and indicate things and states of things_2a. Our human ancestors continue to think this, even when a new way of talking, speech_2a, gets added to hand talk_2a. In the beginning, Homo sapiens practices hand-speech talk. They do so for around two-hundred thousand years. Then, something radical happens.

0047 Humans drop the hand-component of hand-speech talk. This is no accident. There is an archaeology to the Fall. Humans adopt speech-alone talk. The semiotics of speech-alone talk potentiates civilization.

Speech-alone words do not image or indicate their referents. Speech-alone deprives us of an automatic, intuitive answer to the team-oriented question, “What does this mean to me_3b?” The thing that we picture and point to in our gesture-word_2a, where is it?

Oh, I know. Let’s build an artifact_2a, an idol_2a, that will validate our spoken words.

0048 In our current Lebenswelt, we are deprived of the fullness of gesture-words_2a.

Evil is privation. So, is speech-alone talk evil? Are our phantasms evil? Are our judgments evil?

They all suffer privation of the fullness of what they evolved to be.

06/14/21

Looking at Kirk Kanzelberger’s Essay (2020) “Reality and the Meaning of Evil” (Part 12 of 18)

0049 Kanzelberger writes, “Moral evil deflects from a norm which the voluntary agent is conscious.”

0050 What about the agent’s unconscious?

Does the story of Adam and Eve bring, to consciousness, the arrival of an evil, a privation, that natural selection ruled out by grounding talk in gesture, even in its final incarnation, hand-speech talk?

0051 In the Lebenswelt that we evolved in, our hand and hand-speech talk words overflow with meaning, because they image and indicate the things that they refer to. The referent itself defines the word. How can a gesture-word be false? How can a gesture-word be deceptive? They are pictures and pointings, even though they operate in a symbolic order.

In our current Lebenswelt, our spoken words do not image or point to anything.

0052 How horrifying and unbelievable is that? How deep does the privation go? Does it trap our desire? Does it entangle our will? What does this mean to me_3b brings the actuality of moral thinking in phantasms_2b into relation with the possibility of objectivity_1b, on the basis of a thing or event_2a which now, consists of spoken words_2a, which are sequences of formant frequencies.

Moral evil arises when our spoken words_2a, which are purely symbolic, sow and reap the joys of symbolic privation within our phantasms_2b. We find the right words to both express and conceal our falsehoods and deceptions. Prostitution is not the world’s oldest profession. The oldest job is to tell someone something that they want to hear.

Oh, that is prostitution.

06/11/21

Looking at Kirk Kanzelberger’s Essay (2020) “Reality and the Meaning of Evil” (Part 13 of 18)

0053 I can get away with anything if I can find the right words. Call me a smooth talker.

Every one of us is infected with this potential. We are sinners before we are conceived. Let us not strain under the illusion that we can sort out the voluntary from the involuntary, knowledge from ignorance, or freedom from slavery. Speech-alone talk produces a privation rarely seen in the natural world. My spoken words can tell me whatever I want to hear.

0054 That is just the beginning.

My own self-justification_3b seals my commitment_2c to free-nihilation_3c

I_3c decide what makes sense_3c, not the One Who Gives, Without Us Knowing Why_3c.

Then, I expect_3a someone else to agree_1a with my blather_2a.

0055 The sacrament of baptism contests this mystery of iniquity. Grace flows into human nature. A spiritual battle is already engaged before my arrival.

06/10/21

Looking at Kirk Kanzelberger’s Essay (2020) “Reality and the Meaning of Evil” (Part 14 of 18)

0056 Kanzelberger lays out the moral theodrama.

The mystery of iniquity starts to unfold when I come up with ‘something’ objective_1b, without attention to the rules of reason and the divine law_1c. At first, the objective_1b sets aside the suprasubjective_1c, by not admitting to the intersubjective_1b.

I decide what makes sense_3c.

0057 Isn’t this the nature of concupiscence? Why should I worry about right reason or Yahweh’s law? I’m going to hang out with Cupid. Cupid likes me. Cupid agrees with me.

After a phantasm_2b of deliciously-worded_2a desire_2b becomes habitual, self-justification_3b strains towards the intersubjective_1b. For self-deception_1b to become openly regarded, it must first become intersubjective.

So, I, a self-deceiver_3b, search out a team that will judge_2c my privation_2b as virtuous and true. Let my intersubjective_2bhabit find an accommodating suprasubjectivity_1c. Yes, I may join the club. I may join the secret society that does not pay attention to some aspect of the rule of reason or the divine law_1c, then justifies the consequences_2a.

In fact, our common intersubjective privation_2b reflects a self-congratulating fullness of suprasubjective being_2c. Our good is obvious to anyone who is “educated”. We all love one another and despise the uneducated morons, don’t we?

0058 We blather_2a in production of our subjective agreement_1a.

Are we really free to choose_1b?

Or, am I forgetting something_1c?

0059 There are privations in things and events_2a, including speech-alone talk_2a.

There are privations in phantasms_2b, losing the balance between judgment_2c and speech_2a.

Here is a diagram for social construction.

What am I missing?

An Archaeology of the Fall

A Horror Story by Razie Mah