Quote Originally Posted by Schwarzkreuz View Post
We say the map is different from the territory. But what is the territory? Operationally, somebody went out with a retina or a measuring stick and made representations which were then put on paper. What is on the paper map is a representation of what was in the retinal representation of the man who made the map; and as you push the question back, what you find is an infinite regress, an infinite series of maps. The territory never gets in at all. […] Always, the process of representation will filter it out so that the mental world is only maps of maps, ad infinitum.

Map–territory relation
Hm, not quite sure why there would be a regress here (let alone an infinite one). Representation is always of some thing(s), and in this case, couldn't we say that what is represented in the first instance are physical objects in the world (aka the territory)? There might be a straight forward story to be told about light refracting off of objects at different frequencies and impinging upon out retinas... yada yada yada culminating in our (re-presented, if one is a representative realist) perception of said objects? I don't mean to suggest that there is not a problem about perception, for there certainly is, but even if we lack "direct" (i.e. unmediated, un-re-presented) access to said objects, such objects would none-the-less be what they were (assuming that Idealism is false). That is, they would exist "un-re-presented". And so if such objects, along with other environmental conditions, were the proximate cause of our perception of them, this would seem to preclude any regress.

Anyway, the myth concerning Sophia and the demiurge was interesting (I'm only slightly familiar with Gnosticism). Yet given just what you said about it, I wonder if there is and value to art within a Gnostic system. It seems that Sophia represents the highest good, or "perfection" in this picture, and the divine realm, as her creation, would thus be perfect. Yet if the demiurge is only able to create an "imperfect" representation of this perfect realm (and further, if the art of humanity is but a representation of that), what is the value of such representation? Is it to be seen as valuable (though imperfectly so) insofar as it is modeled on that which is valuable? Or are all such representations only so much shoddy kitsch?

My knowledge of Gnosticism is limited, but if memory serves, doesn't that system tend to completely devalue the material realm just because it is so base in comparison to the spiritual/divine realm?

Cheers,
-Arsheesh