Ethical-Political Compass A topography of theoarchy, demiurgy, digicracy and theocracy

Abstract

Abstract Ethical-Political Compass: A Topography of Theoarchy, Demiurgy, Digicracy and Theocracy develops a Master Megaconcept: a higher-order heuristic architecture that does not merely formulate another megaconcept, but provides a common coordinate system for positioning, comparing and relating different megaconcepts concerning ethics, politics, theology, knowledge, authority and meaning. Its function is therefore meta-structural: it organises conceptual structures themselves rather than merely describing one substantive domain. The Ethical-Political Compass consists of four ideal-typical configurations: theoarchy, theocracy, demiurgy and digicracy positioned within a two-dimensional topography. Its vertical dimension distinguishes archè, ordering by principle, from kratos, rule through exercised power. Its horizontal dimension distinguishes systema comprehensivum, a comprehensive ordering system, from arena potestatis, a field in which power is exercised. Together, these axes provide a common structure for differentiating configurations of norm, power, knowledge and authority. The model distinguishes these configurations not only by their political or theological content, but also by their modes of truth formation. Within the model, democratic theoarchy is associated with modern-liberal and scientific-philosophical methods; autocratic theocracy with orthodox-traditional and scholastic methods; apophatic demiurgy with esoteric, symbolic and initiatory methods; and technocratic digicracy with dataist-technocratic and chatbot-mediated methods. The framework therefore asks not only what each configuration holds to be true, but how truth is formed, preserved, mediated or generated. The compass further connects each configuration with a direction of meaning and an associated way of life. Truth, the good, beauty and consolation provide four dimensions through which each configuration can be examined in relation to well-being. The model does not rank these directions or prescribe a preferred orientation; rather, it makes visible what each configuration promises, presupposes and, under its own failure conditions, may cease to deliver. Finally, the two-dimensional compass is extended through a three-dimensional arc network. The arcs represent relationships and movements between positions, including transition, contrast, cooperation, rejection, transformation, tension and instrumental connection. Two questions become particularly important: under what conditions does a configuration's own methodology generate polarising relations with other configurations, and when does the use of digital systems as an instrument begin to introduce or transform the logic of the configuration itself? As a Master Megaconcept, the Ethical-Political Compass thus provides a higher-order architecture for examining how different conceptual systems organise norm, power, knowledge, authority and meaning, both internally and in their relations with one another. It is proposed as a heuristic and exploratory framework rather than an empirical classification of existing political or religious systems.