In Ayao Edoh Zanou's paper, "Cosmic Birefringence and the Concept of Spirits, Angels, and Demons" (May 2025), the author blends philosophy of science and religion to argue that good and evil are scientific phenomena rooted in dissipative structures and cosmic birefringence. Living organisms, as open systems processing energy, generate constructive (adequate ideas/angels) and destructive (inadequate ideas/demons) interferences. Evil is defined as premeditated acts violating justice (fairness), love (giving, forgiving, serving), and peace (mental tranquility), requiring conception, justification, and execution. This mechanism, drawing from Spinoza, Nietzsche critiques, and physics like Dirac's work, posits evil as resistible through knowledge, not inherent to humans but their actions. The paper urges understanding this to reduce wars and crimes, viewing the universe as an energy hologram where entropy favors destructive signals.
Comparing to libertarian and anarchist views on evil, similarities emerge in opposing unprovoked harm or coercion. Libertarians, via the Non-Aggression Principle (NAP), see evil as initiating force against persons or property, prioritizing individual liberty without state interference.theanarchistlibrary.orgmereliberty.com Anarchists extend this, deeming all hierarchies (including capitalism) coercive and evil, emphasizing freedom and equality as intertwined.theanarchistlibrary.org+2 more Both align with the author's rejection of unjust disturbance, framing evil as restrictions on autonomy.
Differences lie in scope and mechanism: The author's virtue-based, scientific-religious framework requires intent and premeditation for evil, excluding accidents, while libertarians may include negligence under NAP violations, and anarchists attribute evil to systemic hierarchies rather than individual signals.reddit.com+2 more Libertarians often tolerate minimal governance or capitalism; anarchists reject both outright.
Notably, no act is evil—whether planned or unplanned—as long as the intention is not to restrict another being or beings' freedoms, echoing NAP's focus on non-initiation and anarchism's anti-coercion ethos, potentially bridging these perspectives for pragmatic harmony.
