The Unmarked and the Marked: Qualifying Existence with Impredicative Hierarchies

This paper is about models (scientific, psychoanalytic, linguistic, theological or yet otherwise) and about how by ignoring the epistemological and metaphysical implications of the modelling process so ubiquitous in the scientific paradigm of today, we have not only hindered our understanding of phenomena from growing but completely misunderstood the nature of the most fundamental phenomena of being. Notably, the distinction between model and the modelled, or self and the Other is a primordial distinction any model-making edifice has to consider, lest the blowback of negative feedback disentangles the integrity of the model

Deleuzian Vitalism and its Discontents

What I have tried to do with this paper is to present Bergson as Deleuze takes him up as an inspiration. This was done to depict what Deleuze builds on in his philosophy, namely the topic of difference and differentiation. This fed into an examination of Deleuze’s critique of the dialectic as evinced in ‘Nietzsche and Philosophy’. I then sought to present a preliminary response from the dialectician’s camp via an account of Althusser and his concept of 'determination in the last instance' which in my view answers to an extent the charge that Deleuze levels against dialectics (that it is unable to think the singular determinative principle in an encounter or multiplicity). Subsequently I represent Deleuze’s deeper problem that is his critique of representation itself, and specify that his real target in critiquing the dialectic is Hegel. This warrants a brief look at Hegel and the process of negation that his dialectic enters into which is very much what Deleuze wants to distance his art of concept creation from. In what a possible alternative to Hegelian negation may be, I present Bergson’s examination of aesthetic sense or beauty and its suggestiveness as an example. In way of a response I try and show how Hegelian expressive causality as depicted by Althusser is also capable of representing aesthetic and political relations and perhaps in a more determinate manner. I end with presenting Žižek more contemporary critique of Deleuze

Overcoming the Fetishism of Money and Machines through Human Ecology: Building on the Work of Alf Hornborg

To comprehend and work out what is wrong with the existing world order, Alf Hornborg embraced and advanced Karl Marx’s notion of fetishism of commodities, going beyond him by extending the notion of fetishism to machines and showing the role of technology in imposing and entrenching exploitative and ecological destructive social relations on a global scale. This fetishism is manifest in the belief that technological progress is unstoppable, and that it is the solution to all economic, social and political problems. While endorsing and defending Hornborg’s work, I will argue that Hornborg’s contextualist stance of human ecology should incorporate political philosophy, spearheading a challenge to the dominant worldview of the culture of modernity. I will argue that Hornborg’s advances have been facilitated by his point of departure in anthropology, particularly cultural ecology, economic anthropology and ecological anthropology, incorporated into the broader framework of human ecology, recontextualizing knowledge and experience and challenging the blindness to contextual relations characteristic of mainstream modernity. Theoretical work in human ecology, recognizing the distinctiveness of humans while situating humanity within nature, advances a process-relational ontology and worldview that could transform the prevailing culture of modernity, transforming social, economic and political life. To do so, I will argue, it is necessary for human ecology to overcome the opposition between the sciences and humanities and embrace and advance the humanities, most importantly, ethics and political philosophy. Human ecology provides the basis for overcoming the is-ought dichotomy and supporting advances in communitarian ethics and politics. Reviving radical politics, human ecology should then serve as the core of an open, dialogically developing grand narrative upholding the value of life and the conditions for it, working towards a global ecological civilization

Energy as a Primitive Ontology for the Physical World

We reanalyze from a modern perspective the bold idea of G. Helm, W. Ostwald, P. Duhem and others that energy is the fundamental object composing the physical world. We start from a broad perspective reminding the search for a fundamental “substance” from the pre-Socratics to the important debate between Ostwald and Boltzmann about the energy vs. atoms at the end of the 19th century. While atoms were eventually accepted (even by Ostwald himself), the emergence of Quantum Mechanics and Relativity were crucial to suggest that the dismissal of energy in favor of atoms was perhaps premature, and should be revisited. We discuss how the so-called primitive ontology programme can be implemented with energy as the fundamental object, and why fields (and their quanta, particles) should rather be considered as nonfundamental quantities. We sketch some of the difficulties introduced by the attempt to include gravitation in the general scheme

The Waves of Space: A New Model of the Universe, with Space as its Fundamental Substance, Waves not Particles, and New Concepts of Gravity, Universe Expansion, Dark Energy, Mass, Fields, and More

An innovative new “Waves of Space” model is presented, providing more unified and inter-related explanations of phenomena in physics. It might help to bridge gaps between general relativity and quantum mechanics, and to resolve other mysteries. Space, composed of uniform quantized units (“volons”), is proposed as the fundamental substance of the universe, and the medium of waves and fields. That agrees with super-substantivalist philosophy, and provides physical mechanisms that help make that concept feasible. Included are intuitive new conceptions of gravitation (deletion of space units, bringing bodies together, with gravitational potential energy absorbed into spatial pressure), and of the Hubble expansion (accelerating addition of space units, pushing bodies apart). Universe expansion and contraction phases might alternate, a “Big Bang” alternative. Waves and other processes in space produce properties of matter and most energy. “Standard model” particles are actually waves in the medium of space. Most are unsustainable and inconsequential transitional waves. Time is a relationship to repetitive motions in space. Four-dimensional spacetime is geometrically optional and complicates calculations. Space deletion in moving bodies generates the Lorentz transformations. Thermodynamics’ second law is a probability phenomenon, not universal. “Singularities,” dimensionless points, and infinity lack physical reality. Mass can survive matter shrinkage or disintegration. Supporting this model, space has known physical properties and is expanding; particles have wave forms. This alternative to current theories offers causal mechanisms where currently only equations exist. New plausible hypotheses from outsiders have been resisted, but may be needed for physics, and associated philosophy, to progress

Spectrality and the Ontology of Amerindian Myth

This essay embarks upon a conceptual exploration into the intricate relationship between myth and spectrality within the context of Amerindian ontologies, primarily engaging with the theoretical frameworks of Claude Lévi-Strauss's Mythologiques and Hilan Bensusan's recent work on memory assemblages. It posits that myth, far from being a static repository of archaic narratives, functions as a dynamic operator, perpetually entangled with history, filtering and reconfiguring its perturbations to maintain semantic coherence. The inquiry navigates through Bensusan's notions of spectral ultrametaphysics and the logic of addition, hypothesizing an "intercode" that facilitates a translation between the concrete fabric of Indigenous thought and a philosophical discourse attuned to the persistence of the past. This past, it is argued, does not merely recede but rather accretes, returning spectrally to haunt and reconfigure the present. The essay thus seeks to elucidate how the "spirit of myth," characterized by its non-orientable topology and inherent endlessness, resonates with a conception of memory as an additive, generative force. Ultimately, it reconsiders myth not as an explanatory device but as a technology of non-disappearance, an ontological insurgency that proliferates versions and composes worlds through the incessant metamorphosis of forms and relations, thereby challenging Western metaphysical ambitions of fixity and totality. &nbsp

The The Contributions of Modern Capitalism to Modernity: Focus on the Philosophical Perspectives on Societal Development

What is modernity? Here is a question that many social scientists and humanity scholars find fundamentally complicated. In exploring the dynamics of the critiques of modern capitalism, I propose to substantially, systematically address this question. The paper argues that the meaning of modernity is established on the associated insights for its development which the critiques of modern capitalism can supply us with. The critiques of modern capitalism x-ray somewhat the contributions of modern capitalism to modernity. The paper relies on the philosophical methods of analysis and critical hermeneutics to realize its objective which is simply to philosophically demonstrate this connection

Tribute to John Cobb Jr. 1925-2024

This is a tribute to John Cobb Jr. who passed away in December, 2024

Biofield and Electric Body: Bridging Ancient Knowledge and Modern Science, Contextualizing and Demystifying Energy Medicine

The multidimensionality of human beings had been intuited since ancient times and is currently being investigated by modern science, with a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary approach. The novel concept of biofield is gaining popularity, because it encompasses physical and non-physical fields that would regulate the development and functions of biological organisms, explaining many unsolved mysteries of life science. Theoretical models have been formulated to describe these fields and their impact on physical reality: While electromagnetic fields can be experimentally measured and are thus already recognized in mainstream academia, their role in life science seems to be more important than commonly believed. Subtler non-physical fields may also exist and their relation to the physical world should be investigated as well. Within this framework, therapeutic and diagnostic modalities, based on energy, find a new context of existence, because their mechanisms of action and efficacy can be studied scientifically. Understanding the human bioenergetic anatomy, and its interaction with the Earth and cosmic environment, can lead to important advancements in the way we approach healthcare. Extending the materialistic-reductionistic paradigm to a holistic one would provide a more integrated and accurate worldview of science, medicine, and life

Dialectic of Differentiation: Structure, Becoming, Symbol

This work presents a dialectical ontology grounded in the act of differentiation. Being is not posited but unfolds through recursive distinction, where each act generates and transforms the conditions of further differentiation. Forms persist as aspectual configurations of difference. As differentiation recurs, it gives rise to structure, space, time, life, symbol, and society—each as a modulation in a multidimensional aspect-space. The dialectic here is not synthesis but immanent recursion: difference operating on itself. Potentiality is the unformed field enabling this dynamic. Ontology thus arises from within the movement of differentiation itself