Split

The Split is a name used by avout for a philosophical divide within the mathic world that traces to disputes between the camps identified with Saunt Proc and Saunt Halikaarn. At its core is the question sometimes framed as the Aboutness Problem: whether thoughts and symbols genuinely have semantic content ("aboutness") beyond mere manipulation of digits, or whether such content is only an illusion produced by syntactic devices (syndevs).

Origins and positions

• Followers of Proc (often called Procian, and in some contexts Faanian) emphasize a syntactic stance: that apparent aboutness can be accounted for by the operations of syndevs and need not be treated as real semantic content.
• Halikaarn's side (later associated with Halikaarnians) holds that minds can do what syndevs cannot - that aboutness is real, tied to ideal forms in the Hylaean Theoric World. Avout cite Evenedric alongside Halikaarn as advocating this position.

Institutional expressions

• Just after the Reconstitution, at the Concent of Saunt Muncoster, the divide was explicitly mirrored by faculties. Faan served as FAE of The Syntactic Faculty (identified with Proc's lineage), which denied the reality of aboutness.
• Its counterpart, The Semantic Faculty, is linked in tradition to Halikaarn and the claim that symbols can bear genuine semantic content. Reference works describe broader "Semantic Faculties" as tracing their descent from Halikaarn, contrasted with Syntactic ones.

Terminology and usage

• The label "Split" is used in teaching the early history of this divide. In discussion, people may speak of Procian/Faanian positions on the syntactic side and Halikaarnians on the semantic side. The terms index tendencies and affiliations rather than a single order name.

Relevance

• The Split provides the backdrop for ongoing debates about minds, syndevs, and meaning. It frames how avout interpret the capabilities of syntactic systems versus human cognition and influences how faculties and orders describe their lineages.