In Limitation Philosophy a theory of Plenary Emergent Wholeness is set forth as the infinite, eternal and plenary cause behind all the various forms of temporal causation in the physical universe. The following excerpts describe elemental function emerging from atomic structure and movement. This particle level emergence is the source of all emergence, so causation is attributed solely to the process of the particle level operating in the universe of physical matter. Thus the plenary universal process of particle matter is the cause of all things. This makes sense because this process encompasses all things. The Emergence of each elements function is prenominal.
Excerpts from: The Logic of Limitless by Anaxagoras Pen
Parties of the Dialog: Socrates, Alcibiades and Eleazar
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The Cause of the Various Forms of Temporal Causation
Eleazar says, “that is exactly what we are doing. Customary thinking takes structure, movement and function for granted. These foundational realities become underlying assumptions whose roles we feel no need to explain. They get left out of the calculations of customary thinking. The foundational role these abstract realities play is ignored, and this makes a fundamental understanding of the universe impossible. Conventional thinking lacks solid foundations. Treating structure, movement and function as underlying assumptions is a huge philosophical mistake.”
Alcibiades says, “perception hides reality but we see what the herd cannot. We use our minds to overcome delusions and understand the realities hidden by perception.”
Eleazar says, “but this time the misconception is in our minds, not in sense perception. The hinderance lies in the practical way humans use causation in our lives and reasonings. We are correct to look for explanation in causation but our practical conception of causation blinds us to the foundational realities accurate cosmology requires. Causation in our practical minds is local and temporal, and because of this we only look for causes that originate at places and times.”
“Complicating things further is the heuristic tendency of limited personality to simplify. While knowing temporal causation is distributed over a range of contributing causes we look for one cause, or single out a primary cause. Like any heuristic this behavior is often beneficial. It solves the problem of the moment which is why we deploy it. However, every heuristic behavior generates error. The one cause we heuristically assign is never the actual true cause in the complete sense of that word no matter how many present difficulties it helps us solve.”
“The purpose of heuristic behaviors is to enable us to solve our momentary problems in a timely manner so we can get by in life. Heuristics do not provide complete answers to any of the problems they enable us to live with, and their unavoidable generation of errors make them unsuitable for understanding the universe. As philosophers we need a deeper understanding of causation. One that explains the origin of the causes that the ordinary heuristic conception of causation pays attention to.”
Infinite and Eternal Causation is Plenary
“Real universal causation is not local and temporal. The cause of all reality does not operate the same way as the local and temporal causation operating within it. The nature of all things has a universal cause that drives the coming to be and passing away of local and temporal things.”
“In the infinite and eternal universe causation is everywhere and continuous. Causation is a universe wide process that never had a beginning and will never have an end. To formulate a true explanation for the overall nature of things we need to stop looking for a first cause. Instead, we look for a universal cause. A cause that is infinite and eternal. A cause that pervades the infinite universe and operates in eternal time. A cause that is the root of all local and temporal causation.”
Socrates says, “A theory of origins without a beginning. Isn’t that a contradiction in terms?”
Eleazar ignores the question and continues his explanation.
Structure, Movement and Function
“Let’s begin with structure. Where does structure in the physical universe of matter come from? What causes all the very natural examples of structure we see all around us? These questions present a conundrum even when asked from an infinite and eternal perspective. When I first realized that a form of universal causation must exist, the only answers I could form were fine examples of special pleading about the Limitless Deity being the infinite and eternal cause. True in a vague way, I characterize this as special pleading because it provides no empirical explanation of how an infinite and eternal causation plays out operationally in the real world of things.”
“I knew some form of universal causation existed, but I was not able to understand it, then I met Leucippus and learned about elemental atoms. I am deeply indebted to Leucippus for a great many things. He brought the universe to life. He showed me that the building blocks of matter are not the dead bricks of human constructions, but whole living things made up of parts that are ever in motion. Leucippus showed me how structure, movement and function operating at the elemental level are the foundation of life itself. By showing how every particle operates he opened the door to a practical understanding of universal causation.”
“Structure in physical matter begins with atoms. All atoms consist of ingredients drawn from the same larder of sub-atomic particles. All atoms share a distinct type of framework, an atomic structure. All atoms have movement of their component parts within this structure. The thing that makes an atom of one element distinct from atoms of other elements is the function that emerges from the structural parts in motion.”
“Consider it from an operational perspective, an atom of one element has the distinct set of ingredients for that element, which means its structure is slightly different from the structure of the atoms of other elements. Because each element has a distinct composition and framework, all the atoms of a distinct element share a pattern of inner movement that is distinct from atoms of other elements. From each elements distinct framework and inner movement a distinct elemental function emerges. Function, the crucial feature of every atom, emerges from movement within the individual atom’s physical being. Each atom is an ongoing operation of moving parts, with function emerging from the atoms operation.”
“In this living universe whole things are greater than the sum of their parts and with atoms the greater than sum thing is each atoms elemental function. Emergent Wholeness is a living principle wherein the very matter things consist of is itself purposeful at the particle level. A form of thriving operating at the elemental level pervades the entire universe making the universe itself a living thing. Emergent Wholeness is the life principle and it operates within physical matter at the elemental level. Function and, by extension, purpose are products of Emergent Wholeness. From the particle level on up we live in a purposeful universe.”
“At the elemental level each atom’s function is to be the element it is, and every atom has movement within its structure. Thus, every single building block of physical reality is a prototypical instance of structure, movement and function. The compounds formed by the bonding of atoms are structured by the elemental atoms they consist of. So, simple compounds get their structure from their atoms as does every physical thing in the universe no matter how complex its composition may be. Physical things come to be by the processes of combining atoms and pass away in decaying processes that enable recombination. So, structure in the physical universe is the result of process not intention.”
“The entire universe of things is one vast ongoing process wherein things within it come to be by various combining processes, these things exist for a time and then they pass away in processes of decay. Thus, far beyond the limits of our perception, the entire universe itself is structured as one whole thing, a living thing, continuously undergoing changes throughout the processes of its being, like a living body.”
“At the particle level elemental function emerges and gives each atom its purpose. Each atom has a single purpose, which is to be the element it is. Purposeful being is the greater than sum result of Emergent Wholeness at the particle level. Translated upwards the greater than sum result of Emergent Wholeness eternally operating in the entire universe is the Purposeful Being of Deity.”
Some dialog not immediately relevant to this post is omitted here.
Emergent Wholeness and Living Things
Eleazar says, “In the world of things, structure and function translate upwards. Things get their structure from the atoms they consist of, but a things function is not the sum of the atoms it consists of, instead its function is to be the thing it is. Emergent Wholeness is now seen in the things function, to be the whole thing it is. It is the nature of every greater than the sum of its parts thing to function as the thing it is. Function on this level emerges from the collective particle movement within the structures of all its atoms. So the single function of being a thing emerges from all the distinct instances of particle movement within all of its atomic structures. Being is not some sort of random accident. It is the result of the processes I am calling Emergent Wholeness operating at the particle level enabling whole things to come to be and function as the things they are. All being is embodied being, be it inert or living.
Alcibiades asks, “what is it that makes one thing living and another thing inert? What causes life?”
Eleazar says, “life is caused by the same operations that form inert things, the combination of its physical atoms into functional being, but in living things function in the form of a purposeful homeostatic personality emerges and operates processes that maintain the life of the organism.”
“Atomic structure and particle level movement make us reconsider the word thriving and to what things it applies. Particle movement drives the continuous operations going on in the matter a thing consists of. So, beneath the appearances of perception inert things thrive. The inert things being emerges from the collective function of all its atoms and in this way it purposefully thrives as the thing it is. At the particle level an imperceptible thriving underlies the nature of inert things as well as the living.”
“Living beings are collections of atoms from whose collective structure and movement a purposeful homeostatic personality emerges. An instance of homeostatic personality emerges as function from the collective movement within the physical beings atomic structure. An instance of homeostatic personality is a real abstract thing but the visual meaning of the word emerge must be avoided here because all personality is embodied. In one very limited sense an instance of personality is an autonomous thing, but operationally it is intertwined with the living things physical being. Personality as a real abstract thing is coincident with the collection of atoms it emerges from, and its emergence is an ongoing process. Life is a process, born of function, thriving and purpose operating at the particle level. Life is an operation of Emergent Wholeness that happens when the collective function of a physical thing animates it with homeostatic personality.
“In very simple organisms this personality is entirely homeostatic and one must strain to see the rudiments of personality in its operation but they are there. We don’t give an individual pond slime cell a name and keep it as a pet but the living purposes that keep it alive are organized according to the life principle of mind, heart and will personality structure.”
“Personality is the fourth foundational reality. Rocks do not have a homeostatic personality but the lichens growing on them do.”