Lecture 11. Ontology: the problem of unity of the world

1. Correlation of being and non-being as the basic question of metaphysics

2. Matter as the substance of everything that exists

3. The unity of matter and motion: the concept of space and time

Matter is everything that surrounds us, which exists outside our consciousness, that does not depend on our consciousness, and that is or may be reflected directly or indirectly in consciousness. All the sciences study certain properties and relations of specific forms of matter, but not matter in its most general sense. The philosophical understanding of matter retains its significance whatever the discoveries of natural science. The concept of matter does not epistemologically mean anything except objective reality existing independently of human consciousness. Moreover, matter is the only existing objective reality: the cause, foundation, content and substance of all the diversity of the world.

Some philosophical theories have maintained positions of dualism-acknowledging two parallel but independent worlds, the world of the spirit and the world of matter.

Some philosophers see the unity of objects and processes in their reality, that is, in the fact that they exist. This is indeed the general principle that unites everything in the world. But can the very fact of existence be regarded as a basis for the unity of the world? This depends on how reality itself is interpreted, what is meant by reality: existence may be material or spiritual, imaginary. The theologians, for example, believe that God is real, that he exists but does not possess objective reality. He is unimaginable. Our feelings, thoughts, aspirations and aims are also real-they exist. Yet this is not objective but subjective existence. If existence is the basis of the unity of the world, then it is so only if we are talking about not subjective but objective existence.

The unity of the world is expressed in the classification of the sciences, which records the connections between them that have objective content. The infinite universe, both in great things and in small, in the material and the spiritual spheres consistently obeys universal laws that connect every thing in the world and make it a single whole. The principle of materialist monism also applies to society. Social being determines social consciousness. Materialist monism rejects views that single out consciousness and reason as a special substance contrasted to nature and society. Consciousness is, in fact, cognition of reality and a part of that reality. There is no gulf between the laws that govern the motion of the world, and human consciousness. Consciousness belongs not to any transcendental world but to the material world. It is not a supernatural unicum but a natural attribute of highly organised matter.

Matter is the cause and basis of the entire world's diversity. It holds all the secrets of existence and all the ways of knowing them. The category of matter is reality rich in colours and forms. Its cognition begins when we state that an object exists without yet knowing its attributes. Acknowledgement of matter as the substance of everything that exists is a crucial methodological principle.

The universal connection and interaction forms an attributive definition of substance and presupposes the mutual reflection and circulation of information in the universe. The concept of information has gradually expanded to embrace not only human communication but also the communication between living organisms and the various systems in each organism, the mechanisms of heredity, and finally, the physical objects, the entire surrounding world. The phenomenon of information may today be regarded as an all-embracing attribute of matter in motion, as the definition of all the interactions in the world.

Motion is the mode of existence of matter. To be means to be in motion. The world is integrating and disintegrating. It never attains ultimate perfection. Like matter, motion is uncreatable and indestructible. It is not introduced from outside but is included in matter, which is not inert but active. Motion is self-motion in the sense that the tendency, the impulse to change of state is inherent in matter itself: it is its own cause.

The forms and kinds of motion are manifold. They are connected with the levels of the structural organisation of matter. The basic forms are motion of elementary particles, appearance and interaction of atoms and molecules, the chaotic displacement of particles in the form of heat motion, the mechanical motion of macroscopic bodies, the biological motion with all its diverse manifestations, the life of human society and, finally, a quite conceivable metasocial form of motion in the shape of extremely intricate connections between various civilisations on a cosmic scale. Every form of motion has its "vehicle"-substratum. Thus elementary particles are the material vehicles of the diverse processes of intermutations. The elements of the atomic nucleus are the material vehicles of the nuclear form of motion, the elements of the atom, of intra-atomic form of motion, the elements of molecules and molecular compounds, of the chemical form of motion, and so on up to the social form of motion, which is the highest of all known forms.

Space and time are universal forms of the existence of matter, the coordination of objects. The universality of these forms lies in the fact that they are forms of existence of all the objects and processes that have ever existed or will exist in the infinite universe. Not only the events of the external world, but also all feelings and thoughts take place in space and time. In the material world everything has extension and duration. Space and time have their peculiarities. Space has three dimensions: length, breadth and height, but time has only one-from the past through the present to the future. It is inevitable, unrepeatable and irreversible.

The idea of absolute space and time corresponded to the physical picture of the world, namely the system of views of matter as a set of atoms separated from each other, possessing immutable volume and inertia (mass), and influencing each other instantaneously either at a distance or through contact. Revision of the physical picture of the world changed the view of space and time.

To sum up, everything in the world is spatial and temporal. Space and time are absolute. But since these are forms of matter in motion, they are not indifferent to their content. When it moves, an object does not leave an empty form behind it, space is not an apartment that can be let out to such a tenant as matter, and time cannot be compared to some monster that gnaws at things and leaves its tooth marks on them. Space and time are conditioned by matter, as a form is conditioned by its content, and every level of the motion of matter possesses its space-time structure. Thus living cells and organisms, in which geometry becomes more complex and the rhythm of time changes, possess special space-time properties. This is biological time. There is also historical time, whose unit may be the replacement of one generation by another, which corresponds to a century. Depending on our practical needs, historical time is counted in centuries and millennia. The reference point may be certain cultural-historical events or even legends.

Required reading:

1. Baker, L.R., 2007, The Metaphysics of Everyday Life: An Essay in Practical Realism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

2. Chalmers, D., Manley, D. and Wasserman, R., 2009, Metametaphysics: New Essays on the Foundations of Ontology, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

3. Hirsch, E., 2005, “Physical-Object Ontology, Verbal Disputes, and Common Sense,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 70: 67–97.

4. Koslicki, K., 2008, The Structure of Objects, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

5. Lowe, E. J., 2006, The Four-Category Ontology: A Metaphysical Foundation for Natural Science, Oxford: The Clarendon Press.

6. Putnam, H., 2004, Ethics Without Ontology, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

7. Schaffer, Jonathan, 2010, Monism: The Priority of the Whole, Philosophical Review, 119. 31-76.

8. Sider, T., 2012, Writing the Book of the World, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Optional reading: