Blog Post #2: The Republic of Chaos: Justice, Systems, and the Architecture of Choice
Blog Post #2:
The Republic of Chaos: Justice, Systems, and the Architecture of Choice
In life, and in my 22 years in law enforcement, I have learned that #Justice is rarely a straight line. It is more like an abstract thought that can be interpreted with many different meanings, such as Fairness, Morality, Ethics, and Legality.
These ideas and concepts of Justice are nothing new to society. In fact, the same conversations we have now about Justice, Ethics, and Morals were discussed and pondered long ago by Philosophers like Kant and Socrates (#Plato’s #Republic).
When I was imagining the Things Not Meant to Be Seen universe, I wanted to move beyond the clichés of “Good vs. Evil” tropes by creating characters whose outcomes were based on the choices they made when faced with circumstances they could and could not control. I wanted them to mirror the real-life people I’ve met who may not have really been “bad” people, but who just made really bad choices in critical moments.
I wanted Heroes who battled with personal ideologies over always choosing the “Greater Good”, and I wanted Villains whose choices and circumstances would make readers’ hearts ache at the choices made that make them unredeemable.
The Pyramid of Civility: A Bargain for Survival
To better understand these characters and concepts, let’s look at a framework I call the Pyramid of Civility, which is a system I created, mirroring Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, that defines our societal existence as a species.
Once we look at it, I want you to ask yourself:
“Outside of a civilized society, does ‘Justice’ really even exist?”
The Foundation (State of Nature): Our base condition as humans is a “war of all against all.” It is driven by pure survival and primitive instincts. This is the beginning of our species as modern humans over 250,000 years ago. This state of chaos, which we have no records of, is what I believe led us to form interconnected and cooperative social groups (societies).
The Morality of Survival: This is the second level of the Pyramid. It is the Social Contract. When we collectively chose to trade absolute freedom for security. This security is enforced by force and the threat of force(Think Wild Wild West).
The Morality of Social Order(3rd level): Once survival is secured and society starts to become more civilized and sophisticated, we are able to build complex hierarchies and legal codes.
The Morality of Self-Actualization(Highest level): Only in a stable society can we shift to individual rights and the freedom to demand acceptance of our own unique expressions of identity and personality.
The Mirror of #Nature vs. #Nurture
My protagonists, Kayin and Rob, are two sides of the same philosophical coin. They represent a "Nature vs. Nurture" experiment; if their shoes had been swapped at birth, their roles might have been, too.
Rob (The #Nihilist): He mirrors my own nihilistic outlook. In an ever-evolving universe, our actions can feel inconsequential. Rob is the voice of that void… the belief that if the universe doesn't care, why should we?
Kayin (The #Existentialist): He represents my defiant side. He acknowledges the void but chooses to build anyway. Like the Socratic Ideal, Kayin believes that even in a corrupt world, the “excellence of the soul” is the only thing worth fighting for.
To really bring this home, I had to incorporate the concepts of society through the lens of Systems Thinking and as a living, breathing organisms. I did this by incorporating ideas of Culture vs Hierarchical Structure in society.
Throughout Things Not Meant To Be Seen, the concept of Justice hangs heavy in the air between the lines on the pages. To dive into this, let’s first talk a bit about the final exchanges of Book I of Plato’s Republic. The dialogue shifts from an argument over definitions to a profound inquiry into the value of a human life.
Thrasymachus, who argued from a political realist perspective, insisted that #injustice is superior to #justice because it allows for the strong to dominate. He claimed that the unjust man (the Tyrant) is the happiest because he has secured the ultimate survival advantage… which is #power (this is Rob’s perspective).
Socrates countered this claim by shifting the metric of success. He argued that profit isn’t about external acquisition (money, power), but internal operation. To prove that the just life is the more profitable life, Socrates introduces the Function Argument, a logical chain that connects the ability or purpose of a thing to its excellent quality.
#Function (#Ergon): Socrates defines a thing’s function as the specific work that “…one can do only with it or best with it” (Plato, 352e).
In my own words, Function is:
The specific job or purpose something exists for, or is made to do, like eyes for seeing, ears for hearing, or a watch for keeping time.
#Virtue (#Arete): Socrates defines virtue not in the modern moral sense, but as the equivalence to excellence.
The special quality or ability that lets an item or thing do its function with competence or excellence (2020/vision, perfect pitch, a Swiss-made watch)
#Socrates established those definitions to build a deductive argument (Socratic Method) proving that justice is necessary to live an excellent, just life (Kayin’s perspective).
From my #philosophical perspective, this argument is a perfect representation of identifying and shifting the warring ideas of justice from a state of Survival/Power in an uncivilized society to a state of Self-Actualization in a sophisticated and civilized society.
#Thrasymachus argues from the perspective of a person speaking on the inherently violent and self-centered nature of men. To him, a profitable life is one where you survive and conquer in order to thrive. He views the competence of critical thinking as a weapon to be used against others who aren’t shrewd.
Socrates argues that living is not just biological survival or the strength of force, but an art form that requires skill (virtue). By defining Justice as the excellence of the soul, Socrates reframes Justice not as a leash that holds us back from getting what we want (as Glaucon and Thrasymachus argued) but as the very engine that drives us toward living a life of purpose and fulfillment. He conceptualized that the profitable life is not the one with the most spoils, but the one that functions most competently as it was designed to.
The Ultimate Verdict: Personal Choice
Whether we label someone a “Hero” or a “Villain” ultimately comes down to #PersonalChoice regardless of circumstance.
Rob is a victim of the systems he had no control over. He was manipulated and given circumstances that he couldn't control. But even with the uphill battles he faced, his Justice was ultimately defined by what he chose to do with his trauma. He allowed himself to stay blinded by his hate rather than letting go of his pain.
Kayin was also a victim of the systems he was born into, only in a different way. The difference was, he was able to recognize that he had the power to choose his own destiny. (We will be able to debate whether or not his circumstances allowed him to have that awareness, but I’ll digress for now lol).
Justice is one of the hardest things to define because it isn’t just a legal outcome… It’s a human condition. It is the “internal health” that allows us to function as more than just biological organisms that breathe, but as beings who live with purpose.
What do you believe? Is Justice a set of rules we follow, or a frequency we have to find within ourselves?
Let’s talk shop in the comments.
