The Emergence of Affectivity and the Origin of Meaning: The Birth of Life from a Judgemental Philosophical Perspective

This paper explores how 'Affectivity,' a core concept of Judgemental Philosophy (JP), in conjunction with other elements of the Pre-Judgemental Field (PJF) (Receptivity, Indeterminacy), the Resonance Drive (RD), and the Judgemental Triad (JT: Constructivity, Coherence, Resonance), can be intrinsically linked to the birth of 'meaning-seeking life.' It proposes that the emergence of Affectivity, rather than presupposing a universal teleology of the cosmos, may be an emergent property arising through principles of self-organization and emergence under conditions where the universe has attained a certain level of complexity, making abiogenesis possible. Specifically, it discusses how the moment a primordial living system first 'affectively receives' environmental stimuli as 'something related to itself'—experiencing value and the nascent seeds of qualia, rather than mere physical impact—can be understood as the birth of Affectivity and the concrete context for the 'First Resonance Flicker.' This flicker is posited as the initial ignition of the most primordial form of the JT. Furthermore, the paper outlines the structural process by which the emergence of Affectivity triggers the RD and enables rudimentary JT processes, leading to the transition from a mere physico-chemical system to a 'subject that experiences and judges meaning.' This paper aims to demonstrate that Judgemental Philosophy, by engaging with scientific inquiries into the origin of life, can offer a profound philosophical explication of how 'meaning' and 'subjectivity' first gained a foothold in the universe.