PhilPro 2

 

Where to Begin

In a sense we have begun the philosophical project, and that is with the idea of Tradition or Tradere. Now, perhaps it would be wise to begin with the concept of how the ideas enter the human being and come back out in an altered form.

Mechanism of Tradition

It is debated whether the human soul enters the world with some preequipped knowledge or as a blank slate in terms of knowledge. In terms of intellect we know that the human soul is indeed fundamentally intellect and will and that it is enjoined to the human body to form the complete human. For the purposes of this work temporarily, I shall assume the truth of the blank slate. The blank slate is convenient as it posits universal uniformity of the soul. While an innate knowledge will have to answer the following of question of whether all souls are uniform in knowledge or that there is in an inequality of knowledge in the souls at their creation.

Assuming blank slate theory, that means all knowledge of the soul comes from outside. Now since all knowledge comes from outside and ultimately it comes from God, then each soul has no personal material to create knowledge. Instead, the soul receives that knowledge from God indirectly through predecessors, and the soul will transmit that knowledge to their successors and the Tradition is sustained. Yet the Tradition evolves, because each soul with their intellect will process that knowledge with their intellect and then they will transmit the processed or altered knowledge to the next generation. This process of knowledge modification is automatic.

For now, this is all we need to know about the precise mechanism of Tradition, now we can move on to the content of the Tradition, that is the knowledge of Being or Existence.

The Mechanism of this Project

This project is not done in a highly structured or systematic manner. Rather it is done more spontaneously, whatever idea was granted by God in any given point of time is what is written immediately. As such, the writings are divided into these notes in the Philosophy Project folder. When we get stuck, we may read over prior writings and perhaps we may derive new ideas from there. As such, the project can keep moving as there is always a new writing. Eventually I hope for structure and system to emerge by itself from these spontaneous acts of writing while being guided by the Holy Spirit.

The Thing and the Existence

For I have heard of St Thomas Aquinas somewhere saying that being is “that which is”. Therefore, Being is precisely a “thing” which “exists”. Now this leads to the precise question of what is the distinction between thing and existence. Of course, we’re starting off fresh from the abyssal void of unknowing, so the Thomistic distinction is simply a stepping stone to move forward towards deeper understanding. It is to be understood that there will be great trouble over the language and the semantics. So if this system is to be brought outside, there will be great work in finding the parallels of language. Now we must treat of the thing and the existence separately.

The Thing or the Object

When we conceive of the thing or the object, what is it? In past writings I so easily write off the thing as being a “unit of existence” yet this assumes that all things exist and that all things are part of existence. We know by the concept of “non-existent things” that there are things which indeed do not exist and so they are outside of existence. This is a severe problem when considering that the thing which is totally outside of existence cannot even be placed in the mind. So we consider that there might be something like possible existence. Everything has possible existence, but not everything has actual existence.

The Thing or the Object Part 2

The concept of the thing or the object is difficult to define for it is one of the most fundamental concepts in all of philosophy, and this system recognizes that. The object is also the most transcendent concept, as it is possible to speak of an object which defies all created concepts, an object which is so isolated and unknown that the only feature of the object that we can speak of is that it is isolated and unknown. As the category of object is all-encompassing, then there is no object which does not fall into the category of object. For anything which can be spoken of, and even those which cannot be spoken of due to the limitations of our language, is an object.

The definition of an object goes beyond even that of existence. For while existence still has potential of non-existence, that is some sort of duality, the object is beyond all duality, it is wholly One and United. The reality of object is that which is totally unattainable because it even goes beyond existence and as such it goes beyond God, for God is Existence. Yet would it not be heretical to say that there is something more fundamental, something more foundational, than God Himself? We do not know, yet in this system there is no heresy, only truths and falsehood.

It may very well be that God is simply that object of high that He is so unimaginable that there are levels of His Being which we perceive. There is this level of Being of God, which we can speak of with definite language, and there is that level of Being which goes beyond all language other than the language of negation. I digress, we shall return to the concept of object at once. The object in itself cannot be defined in itself, but it must be defined in relationship to all other objects which we perceive.

Yet this is true of all other objects other than that One Object, let us say a dog. Do we ever comprehend what a dog is? No we do not, we instead comprehend a dog by that which composes it. We define a dog as things which composes and constitutes a dog. It has 4 legs, it is an animal, it is a mammal, it has fur, it is the species of Canis lupus familiaris, and so on. So in general, an object is comprehended by relationships of properties. These properties are further comprehended by their relationships until one reaches the fundamental property, the simple property, and so on.

Let us take the mathematical concept of 4. What is 4? What does 4 mean? 4 is an object which reflects the cardinality or the amount or the measure of distinction of all groups of objects which do possess the number of 4. Yet then again, even the simple object of 4 is defined and understood by the examples of 4. As such, no object is understood by itself, but it is understood by other objects and relationships with those other objects. This means that the object which is isolated cannot be comprehended.

Yet to say something hints at a possible level of comprehension. So even the isolated object can be known by the lack of relations it has with our world and the rest of reality. The problem is, the isolated object is a truly impossible object for it negates sound reason about the world. For all objects are bound under the single comprehensible category of reality, and so anything within reality do possess relations to each other by virtue of their relationship to the Category of Reality, which we also know as the Category of Object.

To say that there is an isolated object is to say that there is a whole other Reality or Category, which cannot be united at all with our Category. Yet as long as we define the Category of Object as that Category which includes all other categories, then we have to say that all objects are related to each other by the virtue of the Categorical Union. The problem with the Category of Object is that because it is the Union of all dualities and opposites and contraries, then you can encounter 2 objects radically different but they are united by the concept of Object, that is the Category of All.

It is possible to accept that it is impossible to define the Category of Object, such that the Object is in itself undefined. It is important to distinguish between the Object being defined but that definition is unattainable and that there is absolutely no definition at all to the Object. Now this is problematic as that which exists must have an identity and therefore a definition. And we cannot say that the Object is that which exists as we have defined that existence is distinct from the object itself.

Even that which has no identity is indeed identified as the lack of an identity. So that which has no identity actually has an identity, it is simply that the identity is empty.

The Object Part 3

Let us attempt to make this a bit more organized and structured. St Thomas Aquinas defined being as “That which is” aka an Object in Existence. Yet what is the Object and what is Existence? In the previous section we have defined the following, that the Object is beyond existence, that the object’s identity is empty, and the object is not anything in particular. As opposed to existence, the object is without negation as the object is the category of all.

The Other Approach

For there is no real other approach in philosophy. What God meant by the other approach is the evidential approach. That we observe from the particular realities and ascend to the abstract and general realities instead of attacking the general reality immediately.

Pluralism or Monism

Is the world composed of a single substance which replicates itself over and over again, or is it composed of truly distinct substances? Yet if the world is composed truly distinct substances or truly distinct principles, then we cannot possibly relate with those distinct substances or principles. As such we obtain a clear principle:

Completely distinct principles and substances cannot interact and relate with each other.

The principles and substances which can relate with each other must be united by a unifying principle or substance.

Therefore, even if pluralism is true, we can never know about it. Pluralism is impossible to prove. However, even if we define that pluralism is true monism or at least categorical monism will always be true. How is this so? It is because even if 2 realities which cannot interact at all exist, then there is always a possible statement which includes the 2 realities. The statement that “There are 2 realities.” Is true and possibly made. As such, there is always a category which includes all other categories of realities. This Supreme Category proves that monism is undeniably true even if only at a categorical level.

Substantial Monism or Substantial Pluralism

So we have proven that monism is true categorically. Now we must discern whether in terms of substance, that is to say the object which makes up everything at a fundamental level, is one or is many.

Principles

1.     The Category of Object is all-encompassing

2.     There is no object which lies outside of the Category of Object

3.     Any member of the category of object is understood by relationships of other objects or with other objects.

4.     A category is founded on a common substance

Questions

1.     Are all substances derived from one single substance?

Monosubstance

If there are many substances, then it cannot be denied that there is one supreme substance which we all call God. However, we cannot say that every substance is derived from the substance of God as it would imply that every substance is substantially just God. This is pantheism and thus is heretical. So it seems perfect monosubstance cannot be correct. For if there is only one substance, then the result is the Trinity and only the Trinity. So there must be more than one substance which composes reality.

Polysubstance

For one substance cannot turn into many substances. As such, singularity cannot give birth to multiplicity and only multiplicity can give birth to multiplicity. That is why the Most Holy Trinity exists, it is the only possible relationship which the Single Substance can have. However, that which is multiple is inferior to the Singular. Yet there is a way to convert the Single Substance into multiple beings. That is by division.

 

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