The Dialectical Values Simulator is a browser-based tool for exploring contradictions between values. Given any pair of opposing values, the simulator generates a dialectical reading — tracing the tension, the synthesis, and the remaining residue. It is at once a pedagogical tool, a writing instrument, and a magic 8-ball for ethical decision-making under conditions of austerity.
The project extends the character-driven approach of Nickel Nail Curtain Kelp and the interactive archive methodology of The Wrong John Carroll into the register of political philosophy. Where those projects give voice to objects and documents, the DVS gives voice to values themselves — asking what a value says when it is forced to argue against its opposite.
The simulator draws on Hegel’s dialectical method: thesis, antithesis, synthesis. But rather than resolving contradictions into higher unities, it holds the tension open. Every synthesis produces a new residue. The tool is designed to be used in pedagogy, collective decision-making, and artistic research. It is not a simulation of correct answers but of the process of trying to hold two things at once.
“The truth is the whole. But the whole is not ready-made — it must be produced.” — Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit
The simulator runs as a Google Apps Script web application. Enter two values and press generate to begin a dialectical reading.
Open Simulator (new tab)