Hi James,

 Thanks. I agree with you fully about interlevel causation. This is something UTOK tries to help folks get clear about. Indeed, in the UTOK’s taxonomy of science given by the ToK into Periodic Table of Behavior (attached), your analogy is good, but not quite what UTOK gives. Rather, it is cells (floor 5) that are Life’s equivalent of atoms (floor 2) at the Matter level. The reason is that both cells and atoms are primary units of organization. Genes are the fundamental “digits of biological information” and correspond to Floor 4, and are akin to subatomic particles (floor 1).

 

Not sure if you saw that Lee B. posted this article earlier. My reply was:

 

“If anyone believes either that “genetics determines all/there are one-to-one gene-behavior relations” OR that “genetics have nothing to do with our talents, dispositions, or proclivities,” then they simply are not educated in the science of (mental) behavior.”

 

Both atoms and genes are justifications/constructions, so long as that is the referent point we mean in the semiotic triangle (i.e., our human constructions versus the referent). Of course, they are also both scientific ontological concepts that refer to things in the ontic reality (i.e., they are not just justifications/constructions, which is what something like a fictitious novel is).

 

I fully agree with you about knowledge helping us to depolarize society, I welcome any opportunity to help people start on a journey of awakening to the truth. Moralizing about genetics, either as entities that determine human behavior or as inevitably dangerous concepts that lead us to Nazism are not pathways to the truth.

Best,
Gregg

 

 

 

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