The Journal of Loose Ends

Volume 1, (No. 4)

A Hint of Urine

Abstract: This edition begins a series on evolutionary psychology and subjects touched by it. We shall see that, like the proverbial creepy uncle, evolutionary psychology is very handsy. Therefore, it makes sense to delineate the reach of its touch before tackling the subject directly. However, it’s worth getting our feet wet before even this tentative foray; a definition is in order, at the very least. The idea behind evolutionary psychology is that thinking animals adopt certain behaviors with the attendant beliefs. psychological prerequisites, and maximizing physical adaptations, because the set of behaviors in question improves reproductive fitness. That hypothesis is now itself taken as a belief under the post-scientific paradigm. Whether belief or hypothesis, the statement’s normative content is apparent. Evolutionary psychology’s premises provide a reason for the behaviors in question. With a few minor assumptions granted, the plain language denoting the behaviors asserts preference in its description, without the need for further elaboration.

For example, humans developed visible sclera because, as evidenced by the exaggerated blinking behavior of other primates, the contrast between the iris, the eyelid, and the sclera improves nonverbal communication within members of the social animal’s group, which lends a Machiavellian advantage to those who possess the superior means of communication.

The description in such a case doesn’t describe so much as it prescribes. It presents the eye’s geometry and visual layout as dependent upon evolutionary psychology’s reasons. Something is missing in the description of dark irises surrounded by white sclera without those reasons.

Here is the point of contact between evolutionary psychology and the source of this edition’s research. The Institute for The Derealization of Normativity is at once a think tank and a political organization strongly associated with institutions of higher learning espousing anti-realist theories across a number of domains. The Institute’s focus is on language.

Per their mission statement, “evolutionary psychology’s methods can transform any and all descriptive contents to normative contents. The current state of affairs reflects a fait accompli in that regard. The Institute’s founding proposition shall be further development in evolutionary psychological method in the interest of arresting and reversing normative trends.”

The following article, first published in the proceedings of the Institute gives a rough idea of how they may accomplish that end.

Proceedings of the Institute for derealization Of Normativity

Volume 3, (No.6)

A Hint of Urine

Across cultures, grocers admit to habitually setting the clearance rack for food items and other discounted household goods next to the bathrooms. Our previous survey documented the lack of insight into this practice on the part of the store owners, as well as the prevalence of the arrangement in stores of different size, market demographic, and consumer species. Here we expand our research. We employ evolutionary psychological methods to induce an explanation with suppressed normative content.

Subsequently, with the normative content isolated, we can eliminate it from the contaminated descriptions.

Foundational beliefs: Normativity infests descriptive speech universally. As a result, normative attitudes shape behaviors and language, in their favor. Our beliefs are unjustified. But prove stronger than typical, unjustified beliefs because they lend themselves to subtle forms of equivocation and stand opposed to beliefs with equally poor justification. Not as strong as counterfactual beliefs, but close,

Anecdotes: Our anecdotes are strong despite their number and vulnerability to a statistical evaluation. Controversy is built in and permits an endless chain of disputes.

Results and discussion: Food packs prudential reasons for consumption within itself. If it is consumable, it recommends itself for consumption. In every culture that has suffered any hardship, certain foods bear reasons for their consumption, which are difficult to tease apart from their description as food. The intestinal linings of omnivores, various congealed blood dishes, minced entrails, unleavened bread, pickled fish in a jar, and even certain spices or food odors associated with predation of one sentient race upon another would not bear food’s primary description (Edibility) otherwise. No unschooled person looks at a plate of chitterlings and thinks it’s a good idea.

On the other end of the spectrum, we encounter foods whose necromantic transformation leaves them with reasons for consumption founded on their consumers’ physical and psychological vulnerabilities more than any possible reason inherent in the substance itself.

The first category of foods rarely ends up on a clearance rack, with a few notable exceptions (gefilte fish). It is too difficult to disguise. The second category encompasses most of the clearance rack’s contents. Hyper-processed foods are for the addicted, the poor, and the indiscriminate. Because those foods are also cheap, it’s easy to overprice them, run a surplus, and recycle them onto a shelf, where they may sit for weeks before consumption.

No one wants to be associated with food that has power over its consumer. Nor does anyone want to associate with the weak and morally flawed individuals who voluntarily enthrall themselves to moist sugar, fat, and starch,

The supermarket bathroom is no place for decent folk either. It serves as a haven for shoplifters. It exists for episodes of poor planning or emergency only. In either case, it must stand out to avoid any delays. It will naturally see most of its use from demographics at the extremes of age. Because it does not get used frequently, the room is small. For all the reasons above, a faint odor of urine hovers about the doors.

With the scene set, we can see how the clearance shelf, plays out. Certain foods recommend themselves for consumption, not just as a means of sustenance, but for what they represent ethically. The grocer has an interest in keeping the decent consumers in touch with those preferred items. The decent folk need an indicator to help with classification and a means to separate themselves from the riffraff without controversy. Everyone wants to know who the bathroom untouchables are, and those who need the bathroom or are otherwise down on their luck need a clearance rack along with the toilet. The feng shui is in place immediately, and you know who you are. Now, by this analysis, you really do know who you are, and you should feel terrible about yourself. With our papers’ publication, the project of normative derealization regarding food takes a massive bite out of its opponent, something it will soon be able to do without any residual stigma.