01.29.08
Metaphysics 1
1 Ontology
1.1 The Cogito
“… I must finally conclude that the proposition, I am, I exist, is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind.” – R.D.
There are three things most should agree upon1
in light of this statement:
- When something is put forward or conceived, it is not possible to deny that something is doing the putting forward or conceiving.
- When something is put forward or conceived, it is not possible to deny that putting forward or conceiving exists.
- When something is put forward or conceived, it is not possible to deny that there is something put forward or conceived.
Simply put, there are things that conceive which I will refer to as consciousness, there is the subject of the consciousness which I will refer to as matter, and there is how consciousness describes the matter, which I will refer to as description. These are the three things that exist upon reflection, always.
1.2 Substance
“If the true is what is grounded, then the ground is not true, nor yet false.” – L.W.2
To analyze consciousness, matter and description, the analysis must be done in terms at least as fundamental as consciousness, matter or description. The only things as fundamental as consciousness, matter or description are consciousness, matter and description: these three are the only things that cannot be denied.
One option remaining is to analyze consciousness, matter and description in terms of each other. However, analysis of fundamental things in terms of each other leads to unexpected results. If matter and description are studied as functions of consciousness, then consciousness becomes neither describable nor indescribable and neither material nor immaterial. If matter and consciousness are regarded as descriptions, then description is neither alive nor dead and is neither material nor immaterial. If consciousness and description are functions of matter, then matter is neither alive nor dead and is neither describable nor indescribable. Therefore it is not possible to treat one of the three as more fundamental than the others without severe consequences.
In light of the results of the above discussion, all three are to be understood equally as substance. The three substances are consciousness, matter and description.
2 Explanation
With no one fundamental substance how is explanation possible?
2.1 Relativity
Relativity means there is no preferential perspective for the description of natural phenomena: each of us has a location as good as everyone else’s when it comes to describing the physical world. Relativity is applicable to substance as well: there is no preferential ontological perspective for substance and hence any understanding of substance is a legitimate place to begin analysis of substance. Anyone may consider the arguments from Section 1 regardless of prior ontological commitments.
Though I believe substance relativity to be self evident, a few words of support may be given. Consider the case if it were not true, i.e. there were preferential ontological situations, access to certain substances, that enabled those with access to have special insight to the mysteries of the world. People without this special access would have no way to gain it unless they were somehow given access by someone who had it; it would be undiscoverable. However, since we are investigating that which is common to everyone, as stated in Section 1.1, this is not the case and hence substance is relative.
2.2 Perspective
Relativity also means that the onlooker’s perspective has to be taken into account when describing natural phenomena: motion means motion relative to the agent describing the situation. When studying substance no one is free of ontological commitments and these need to be accounted for (just as any motion of the onlooker needs to be accounted for in physics). At any given point it is possible to be looking at a situation from the perspective of consciousness, matter or description.
For example take the question, “Does the sun shine?” From the perspective of consciousness, the answer is no: the sun is not conscious and hence it doesn’t do anything. From the perspective of matter the answer is yes: the ball of matter called the sun radiates photons, and radiating photons is shining. From the perspective of description the answer is possibly sometimes: when the sun is conceived of as shining, then it is shines.3
Whichever of the three ontological commitments is being appealed to will dictate the answer or explanation received. No one is beholden to any particular substance and can change ontological commitments in an instant, as long as the requirements of Section 1.2 are met, which does mean that there may be more than one `correct’ answer for a given question. This does not mean that all the answers are equal: saying `If you say it does,’ may be technically correct from the descriptive perspective, but many times only an answer from the other perspectives is accepted (or advised).
3 Instances
In physics, motions and locations are determined by perspective; what is determined by perspective in substance?
3.1 Commitment
As mentioned in the previous section ontological commitment determines what the explanation or answer that is given to a question. Making a commitment is an activity that only a conscious thing can do. Moreover:
- If something is put forward or conceived, then something committed to putting that thing forward or conceiving it.
If this is false, then something was put forward and nothing committed to putting that thing forward; it was put forward or conceived without some conscious thing committing to having done so. If this was done without the commitment of the conscious thing, then it was not put forward: only conscious things can put things forward or conceive of things. Therefore all conscious things that put forward or conceive of things make commitments.
Commitments and perspective are relative to each other: perspective depends upon what commitments are held, and perspective determines what those commitments are. For example if I am committed to one person then my perspective on other people will no longer include those people for a variety of activities. If my perspective is that monogamy is unrealistic, then a commitment to one person is likewise unrealistic.
3.2 Things
The things that exist are determined by perspective too. Depending upon available information and theory, different perspectives on what sort of things make up this world can be presented. Life, death, dogs, personality, atoms, words, food, pain, etc. Whatever can be put forth as a subject of the consciousness is a thing. No thing is `wrong’ in the sense that it is the subject of a consciousness.
Things and perspective are relative to each other: perspective determines what sort of things populate the world, and the things that populate the world determine perspective. Until the discovery of the subatomic particle, many people believed that the atom was the smallest building block of the universe. The discovery of a new kind of thing forced people to change their perspective on what the universe was made of. Conversely, if I have had a few too many unexplainable experiences then my perspective might allow for things like ghosts without me ever having witnessed one.
3.3 Meaning
The meanings of our descriptions are determined by perspective. You can pick your own examples of the meaning of a sentence meaning something different depending on perspective, but Rodney Dangerfield provides classics:
A girl phoned me the other day and said… Come on over, there’s nobody home. I went over. Nobody was home.
Rodney’s perspective caused him to believe the sentence to mean something other than the literal meaning, which was exactly what the girl intended. Conversely, if a rosy picture is painted, then this description is meant to determine the perspective taken on the situation.
Meaning and perspective are relative to each other: perspective determines what descriptions mean and what our descriptions mean determine our perspectives.
Footnotes:
1The statement, “Something happened or something did not happen,” is also always true. If people object to the use of the Cogito, perhaps this sentence will provide a sufficient alternative. Other tautologies (It’s raining or it is not raining) introduce something new (rain) and hence are not as fundamental.
2Wittgenstein, L. On Certainty #205
3“Will the Giants win the Superbowl?” Consciousness and matter are silent. This question asks what you can conceive and hence is purely descriptive. Unfortunately it is looking like this is as likely as conceiving a round square. Go Eli!
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