On the (Co)Evolution of Crises

The chapter is aimed at proposing a logical and institutional model of a co-evolutive mechanism of the societal generic crisis. To this end, the main point is the concept of symbolic species, as artefactual species. This concept is defined based on sufficiency predicates and anchored in its signification for the human being and for the society as a whole. A fundamental feature of symbolic species is found in its speciation (including the differences from the biological species speciation), and, in this matter, a typology of symbolic species speciation is provided. The next basic point refers to the evolutionary process of the symbolic species, and especially the co-evolutionary process. Further, it is proved that the societal generic crisis is a symbolic species, in a logical examination of the respective sets of sufficiency predicates. The rest of the chapter is aimed at proposing a co-evolutionary model of the societal generic crisis, for which the co-species is the normative framework of the society. In this context, are identified the genotype, phenotype, mutation, transcription, and translation of mutation, fitness, and selection (better said, co-selection). The co-selection between crisis and normative framework is grounded on two conjectures, namely, two principles/laws: the saturation law and the minimum entropic gradient law, through which the co-selection (and, so, co-evolution) of crisis and normative framework require what was called dendritic interactions between the phenotypes of the two symbolic species concerned.