Humans blindly accept quantity (as territories, groups, or money) and what symbolizes it as a goal of life, and sacrifice Quality (human life) as a means to reach this goal. However, if according to the FO [fundamental order] that we understand as logic, Quality is the end while quantity is a necessary means, then, a fundamental inversion exists in the human world. This inversion is the base, the origin of what is called “evil.”
Humans adore quantity. Even in science the quantitative aspect of nature is given the privilege of being the only objective reality. Yet, quantity by itself seems to be something as meaningless as repetition. However, within the pursuit of scientific knowledge, the focus on quantity has one very small but fortunately also a very important variation. In analytic chemistry, there is a tacit acknowledgment of a qualitative side of nature. Analytic chemists perform two kinds of analyses, the qualitative and the quantitative, in order to learn about an unknown material.
The qualitative analysis is an admission that in addition to the quantitative, there is a qualitative aspect in nature that merits attention. However, the term,” quality” according to G. Kateman and F. W. Pijpers “has not been treated in detail in the literature up to now.“ (Quality Control in Analytic Chemistry by New York: Wiley-Interscience Publication, John Wiley & Sons, 1981), 7). Perhaps chemists do not bother defining “quality” because the qualitative analysis usually gives results in quantitative terms. That convinces scientists that quantity is the only objective reality there is.
However, what makes the qualitative analysis “qualitative” is that its purpose is a unit that gives identity to quantity. Without this identifying unit, the quantity would not have identity and it would be meaningless. The unit chemists looks for in a qualitative analysis is a whole in itself that is unique to the analyzed substance and that is stable. Even though the numerical values that identify this “quality” are quantitative and even though the nature of each unit varies (this constituent can be an element, a conglomerate, or a radical) this unit is stable. This stability is a temporary indivisibility that makes the ingredient a single whole individual. This unit is not reducible to smaller parts without its unique nature as individual being destroyed. In the case of water, for example, the unique, indivisible constituent is the H2O molecule. If the H2 is separated from the O, the result will no longer be the base of water. This indivisible unit in turn gives identity (that chemists look for) to a quantity like water. Chemists acknowledge the purpose of the qualitative analysis as being the search for the “identity of the constituents of which a substance or mixture is composed.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica (Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1958), s.v. “Chemistry,” 395, by E[rnest] H[aywood], S{wift]).
What I am proposing is that the absolute Quality, and the object of the qualitative analysis are both one and the same, except that the Quality that we can experience as a natural unit is one that has been modified by quantity and so it is presented in quantitative terms.
The reason why Quality appears to be baseless, superficial, and quantity appears to be the ultimate foundation of everything material is because “nature” is the interaction of Quality and quantity, and its quantitative aspect is deceptive. It obscures Quality. An apple is Quality because it is a specifically identifiable thing; it is a single, stable, whole unit that is unique to a neat pile of apples, for example. The apple is the Quality; but in this pile, it exists repeated. Repetition devalues Quality to a minimum number that belongs to the set. Repeated, Quality becomes a mere property of a quantity. The manifestation of each apple (Quality)within a pile is reduced to being the properties of the pile (quantity) such as color, coldness, etc, known as “sensible qualities.” If each apple is red, the pile becomes a red unit. So, when there is a repetition, quantity comes forward as what appears to be a Quality, without actually being one.
Everything material that we experience consists of collections of smaller units. The pile of apples is a unit made of smaller units, and so is also a living organism a collection of smaller units. And so, a collection of units might seem to be much the same as any other. The difference between the two is that in the case of Quality, a natural unit is a collection of its units naturally organized by the FO. Quantity (the effect of the tendency of each unit to collect) is used by the FO as a means to built a more liberated Quality in the from of a stable unit that manifests as “itself,” as something that exists independently of outside influence, as something that is objectively real.
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The Quality, as it is organized by the FO gives identity to quantity. The apple is what gives identity to the pile of apples. Quantity, the pile, is not the basic reality. The reality of the pile depends on the subjective manifestation each apple as “itself.” That is what gives content and the objective reality to the pile. A pile cannot exist without something to pile up. One can say that quantity is opportunistic because quantity without Quality is just a number but this number becomes “real” as it gets the support of Quality. A quantity needs the identity of Quality to become real.
In all, quantity is not just a secondary, inoffensive, neutral aspect of nature; it is a deceptive. Even most scientists are deceived by the displacement of Quality to the superficial level (as mere properties as colors, for example, that can be translated in quantitative terms) and thus they remain convinced that quantity is the only objective reality.
In nature, the power of quantity is not absolute because it has to move according to the rules of the fundamental FO that we understand as logic. And its basic rule is that the qualitative aspect is the goal while the quantitative is a means. Because of this rule, the power of quantity has to favor Quality. However, quantity is still influential enough so it has the power to interpret the meaning of “Quality.” According to quantity “Quality” is a minimum number (as an element of a set). This interpretation transforms the FO into the same law of probability that rules organized gambling. According to this law only the minimum number wins.
So, even though, thanks to the FO, evolution of life liberated Quality, and the rational being appeared on earth, the fact is that from among all the countless beings (from the most primitive to the intelligent one) that strove toward freedom, because the mediated meaning of the FO, only the minimum number, the Homo sapiens reached it. The Homo sapiens was the lucky minimum number that “won” freedom.
Even though quantity is deceitful and opportunistic in nature, it is exists under the FO. And in spite of the fact that the FO intent is mediated in nature, the rational being reached the top of the evolution scale. He is on “top” only because his will is free from quantity. This freedom allows the will to coincide with the intent of the FO. The FO is inside to the individual. The liberated will recognizes Quality in every helpless individual without exception. This explains the ability of the rational being to legislate his own moral laws, as Kant noted.
The power of quantity is unrestrained because most humans accept the idea that quantity is the supreme end on the altar of which Quality is sacrificed. However, humans are oblivious that there is such a power because this power is a perfect deception. The first thing Homo sapiens must have done when he became very intelligent but not very rationality yet, was to embrace quantity (power over territories, groups, or money) and its symbols as a supreme goal in life, and sacrifice the helpless individual (Quality) as a means.
Since then, we worship the power of quantity by spending much of our energy and time pursuing it. The senseless cruelty with which humans treat each other and other species testifies for the silence of the voice that favors Quality. All Quality including himself is of supreme importance for the rational being. And so the rational being does not need any outside law enforcement to prevent him from harming others. And conversely, the fact that law enforcement is necessary among humans indicates that the advocacy for Quality has been silenced by the power of quantity.
The power of quantity mediates our will so we invert the values of nature without even realizing that we are doing that. Thus, one can say that the power of quantity is a perfect deception. The effect of the fundamental inversion produced by the unrestrained power of quantity over Quality (the helpless rational being) is the origin of what is seen as “evil.” It is interesting that in Mk 5:9 Jesus asks the unclean spirit for its name, and receives the following reply: “My name is legion; for we are many.”
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It is Not “Demonic Males.” It is Demonic Power of Quantity!
In Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence Richard Wrangham, professor of biological anthropology at Harvard University, and Dale Paterson report that male chimpanzees behave like men. They are violent. The book is very informative. However, I have something to say about the word “male,” and I will discuss the issue related to it in light of the concepts of Quality and quantity
At the most basic level, there can only be only one kind of human being because there is only one kind of Quality, and it has the tendency to increase its self-value. However, there are two anatomical and physiological systems within individuals that divide the species in two types: male and female. Each of the two systems is involved in the building and modifying the brain structure itself, and thus, each sex influences the direction and the context within which the individual sees things and thinks.
The male sex is the system that actively promotes quantity. This system is necessary for the survival of species. But, when the power of quantity silences the individual’s own qualitative voice, then this system drives the individual to pursue quantity at the expense of Quality. This is an inversion that contradicts the fundamental order (see “Quantity and Quality”), and it is what makes individuals “demonic” (see “Good and Evil” above).
But females can also be demonic. That is because the sex is not the individual. It is only an anatomical and physiological system, and this system is also present to a lesser extent in the female. It is known in the scientific world that there is no such a thing as an individual of pure male or pure female sex. Each individual has a mixture of both sexes. So, every individual of female sex can also be driven by the power of quantity.
Although testosterone is produced in large amounts by the Leydig cells in the testis, it is also produced in smaller amounts in the adrenal cortex of both sexes and in the ovaries. Because of the much higher concentration of testosterone in males it is typically called 'the male hormone' but it seems to influence the behaviour of females in a similar way. Testosterone mainly influences the social behaviour of an individual by encouraging behaviours orientated towards dominance, aggressive and sexual interactions. (Dr. Adinda Sannen, Bonobo Project –Planckendael, U.A.)
The presence of testosterone in the female explains why female individuals can also be “demonic.” But, even though females have the anatomical and physiological system that promotes quantity, it is less developed. Therefore, the power of quantity in the female is less influential, and this explains why females are less likely to be violent.
“Demonic” individuals attack isolated individuals because isolated ones lack quantitative support, and this leaves Quality unprotected, helpless. The power of quantity aims to silence Quality instantiated in the helpless individual, and also its defender, the female. They are the central targets of demonic individuals and their groups.
On the one hand, the quantitative system contributes to the perfection of Quality when it functions according to the fundamental order. It is the male that displays the highest Quality achieved by its species. In nature, the individual males display the best qualities that are typical of their species such as strength, beautiful colors (peacock), sounds, grace as in dancing, also initiative, and creativity. Among humans, males excel in quantitative sciences such as mathematics. This knowledge, when used according to the fundamental order, contributes to the welfare of Quality.
On the other hand, the quantitative tendency that originates from the male sex within the individual can be an obstacle to this individual’s qualitative development. It could be this is what Jesus meant when he said: “and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.” Mathew 19: 12. I think that in this passage Jesus tries to convey, with the best vocabulary available at that time, that the male sex, as the source of the power of quantity, is an obstacle in the road toward the qualitative perfection of human beings. It is very doubtful that he was talking about castration.
In all, the origin of violence is the power of quantity that hides in the individual and can sway the will of the individual that is ignorant about his qualitative self. Knowing about Quality and quantity and the relationship between them helps define the sexes as systems, and that makes it possible to pinpoint the origin of violence. The ambiguity of the term “male” reflects the murkiness in the minds of people about the nature and the role of the two sexes, a murkiness that can be cleared in light of the concepts of Quality and quantity.
Tatiana Bertschinger
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