Book 66
ON ONTOLOGY (1)
BOOK 66: THE PROLEPTICON
1. On Ontology
What are we? What are the essential characteristics, qualities, or properties of our existence? Tough questions to be sure – the toughest. Perhaps, a simple analogy could provide a “map” for the course of our existence. We are a subject, but potentially, we could be substituted for by any other object in a suitable analogy. So, let’s say, we are a car. The subject – the car – exists, and this constitutes a temporal frame necessarily. Therefore, by being a subject existing, time is the first property of our existence, and it is related to the concept of self.
English poet, John Donne, astutely noted that, “no man is an island”. The car as subject representing self is not doing so in a vacuum. We are the car on the road, and the road constitutes a spatial frame necessarily. Therefore, by being a subject existing relative to other things existing, space is the second property of our existence, and it is related to the concept of other.
The car has velocity, and it moves along the road. This movement constitutes a state of change necessarily. The self is changed by the movement, and otherness is changed by the movement. Change is the third property of our existence, and it is related to the concept of relationship.
The car has direction, and it moves along the road one way, and not all ways at the same time. This direction constitutes a state of intention necessarily. The self intends to move in a particular direction, for whatever reason. Intention is the fourth property of our existence, and it is related to the concept of motivation.
The car can accelerate and decelerate. Perhaps, I can offer that acceleration relates to the concept of influence – the self acts at a self-determined pace. Also, deceleration relates to the concept of consequence – the self reacts to resistance from factors within relationships, and outside of personal motivations. Therefore, a fifth and sixth property of our existence is that we influence, and we face consequence.
Therefore, a starting point for an ontology on being human would use the car analogy to appreciate that we are a self in time among other in space, that experiences change through relationship, and intends to participate through motivation such that we influence happenings, as well as face consequence.
If we take the analogy one step further toward epistemology, then the notion of a stoplight along the road determines how we experience phenomenon. We obey (green light), resist (amber light), and defy (red light). Therefore, we are a thinking-thing that has six fundamental properties, and we obey, resist, or defy within our environment.
This book is structured into six sections aligned with the properties of being from this rudimentary ontological proof.
1. On Ontology
What are we? What are the essential characteristics, qualities, or properties of our existence? Tough questions to be sure – the toughest. Perhaps, a simple analogy could provide a “map” for the course of our existence. We are a subject, but potentially, we could be substituted for by any other object in a suitable analogy. So, let’s say, we are a car. The subject – the car – exists, and this constitutes a temporal frame necessarily. Therefore, by being a subject existing, time is the first property of our existence, and it is related to the concept of self.
English poet, John Donne, astutely noted that, “no man is an island”. The car as subject representing self is not doing so in a vacuum. We are the car on the road, and the road constitutes a spatial frame necessarily. Therefore, by being a subject existing relative to other things existing, space is the second property of our existence, and it is related to the concept of other.
The car has velocity, and it moves along the road. This movement constitutes a state of change necessarily. The self is changed by the movement, and otherness is changed by the movement. Change is the third property of our existence, and it is related to the concept of relationship.
The car has direction, and it moves along the road one way, and not all ways at the same time. This direction constitutes a state of intention necessarily. The self intends to move in a particular direction, for whatever reason. Intention is the fourth property of our existence, and it is related to the concept of motivation.
The car can accelerate and decelerate. Perhaps, I can offer that acceleration relates to the concept of influence – the self acts at a self-determined pace. Also, deceleration relates to the concept of consequence – the self reacts to resistance from factors within relationships, and outside of personal motivations. Therefore, a fifth and sixth property of our existence is that we influence, and we face consequence.
Therefore, a starting point for an ontology on being human would use the car analogy to appreciate that we are a self in time among other in space, that experiences change through relationship, and intends to participate through motivation such that we influence happenings, as well as face consequence.
If we take the analogy one step further toward epistemology, then the notion of a stoplight along the road determines how we experience phenomenon. We obey (green light), resist (amber light), and defy (red light). Therefore, we are a thinking-thing that has six fundamental properties, and we obey, resist, or defy within our environment.
This book is structured into six sections aligned with the properties of being from this rudimentary ontological proof.