With the evolution of semiotic systems, new fields, tenors and modes speciate from previous lineages, creating new registers of meaning-making. This causes the more integrated ancient models that served the needs of very small communities to differentiate into parallel strands. Model speciation can be said to occur when one line of modelling breaks from the requirement of being consistent with a traditional lineage. A comparatively recent example of this occurred in Renaissance Europe when cosmological models construed from empirical data gradually ceased (to be required) to be consistent with ancient (experientially inconsistent) models sanctioned by religious authority.
[1]
Some large-scale speciations can be understood in terms of whether ideational construals or interpersonal values are deemed the more textual relevance. For example, scientific models generally afford more textual salience to the consistency of ideational construals, whereas those of the Arts, especially since the emergence of the Sciences, generally afford more textual salience to the consistency of interpersonal values.
[2] That is, in the
long term, scientific works tend to be selected
[3] on the basis of ideational consistency, whereas artistic works tend to be selected on the basis of interpersonal consistency.
Science is a systematic method that is intended to
reduce uncertainty about the ideational truth of models of the categorisable: their self-consistency and their consistency with other models already held with high degrees of certainty. The Arts, on the other hand, are concerned with expressing such interpersonal meanings as the specific
attitudes valued by a community: emotional values/truths (
affect), æsthetic values/truths (
appreciation) and ethical values/truths (
judgement).
[4]
Footnotes:
[1] The current Christian fundamentalist insistence that biological models conform to an ancient model that evolved millenia ago in the Middle East derives from seeing biological modelling as a strain within an all encompassing religious lineage.
[2] Perhaps the increasing salience of one strand of interpersonal meaning in Western Art is demonstrated by the increasing delicacy in depicting emotional states through facial expressions.
[3] The principle of Occam’s razor, which ordains simplicity as a selection principle for scientific models, is a variation on the theme of systems seeking out lowest energy states.
[4] In the religious pictorial art of Mediæval Europe, the size of the depiction of figures varied with the value/status afforded them by the religious institution, decreasing in size from God to angels to saints to clergy to laiety.
ChatGPT revised:
Speciation of Meaning-Making Models
As semiotic systems evolve, new fields, tenors, and modes emerge from existing lineages, generating new registers of meaning-making. This results in the differentiation of previously integrated models — such as those suited to small-scale traditional communities — into parallel strands. A model can be said to speciate when it no longer seeks consistency with its ancestral lineage. A notable historical instance occurred in Renaissance Europe, when cosmological models construed from empirical observation gradually ceased to be required to align with ancient, experientially inconsistent models sanctioned by religious authority.[1]
Some large-scale speciations can be understood in terms of textual priorities: whether ideational construals or interpersonal values are treated as more salient for model coherence. For example, scientific models tend to prioritise ideational consistency, while artistic models — especially since the rise of the sciences — tend to prioritise interpersonal consistency.[2] Over time, scientific works are more likely to be selected[3] for their coherence within ideational systems, while artistic works are more likely to be selected for the resonance of the interpersonal meanings they express.
Science aims to reduce uncertainty regarding the ideational truth of models of the categorisable — their internal consistency and their consistency with established high-certainty models. The Arts, by contrast, specialise in the expression of interpersonal truths: the affective attitudes (emotion), æsthetic appreciations (beauty, harmony), and ethical judgements (virtue, responsibility) valued by a community.[4]