A Relational Metaphysic
C. S. Peirce's indictment that "the chief cause of [metaphysics'] backward condition is that its leading professors have been theo (Collected Papers 6:3) falls heavily at my door. For it logians" was out of reflection upon religious experience and its me
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STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION volume 4
1. FREUND, ELSE-RAHEL. Franz Rosenzweig's Philosophy of Exis-
tence: An Analysis of The Star of Redemption. 1979. ISBN 902472091 5. 2. OLSON, ALAN M. Transcendence and Hermeneutics: An Inter-
pretation of the Philosophy of Karl Jaspers. 1979. ISBN 902472092 3. 3.
The Philosophy of Buddhism: A "Totalistic" Synthesis. 1980. ISBN 90 247 2224 1. VERDU, ALFONSO.
A RELATIONAL METAPHYSIC by
HAROLD H. OLIVER Boston University
•
1981
MAR TINUS NIJHOFF PUBLISHERS THE HAGUE/BOSTON/LONDON
Distributors: for the United States and Canada Kluwer Boston, Inc. 190 Old Derby Street Hingham, MA 02043 USA
for all other countries Kluwer Academic Publishers Group Distribution Center P.O. Box 322 3300 AH Dordrecht The Netherlands
This volume is listed in the Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
ISBN-13: 978-94-009-8252-9 DOl: 10.1007/978-94-009-8250-5
e-ISBN-I3: 978-94-009-8250-5
Copyright © 1981 by Martinus Niihoff Publishers, The Hague. Sojicover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1981 All rights reserved. No part of this pUblication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, Martinus Niihoff Publishers P.O; Box 566,2501 CN The Hague, The Netherlands.
To Martha and our Daphne Ann
CONTENTS
Preface
xi
Introduction
PART ONE: A NEW PARADIGM IN PHYSICS AND METAPHYSICS
7
INTRODUCTION TO PART ONE
I.
THE SUBJECT-OBJECT PARADIGM AND ITS DEBT TO CLASSICAL PHYSICS
11
A. Newton versus Leibniz: Physics and Philosophy in the Seventeenth Century 11 1. Newton's "Laws" 11 2. Absolute Time and Space 14 3. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz 18 B. Kant's Critical Philosophy and Its Roots in Physics 24 1. Kant's Pre-critical Philosophy 28 2. Kant's Critical Philosophy 30 C. The Newtonian Era in Science and Philosophy 38
II. THE EMERGENCE OF A RELATIONAL PARADIGM IN MODERN 40
PHYSICS AND PHILOSOPHY
A. The Collapse of the Newtonian World and Its Paradigm 40 B. The Emergence of a Relational Paradigm 43 1. In Modern Physics 43 a. Special and General Relativity 43 b. Quantum Theory 46 2. In Modern Metaphysics 58 a. Alfred North Whitehead: His Physics and Metaphysics i. The Mathematical-Physical Foundations 59
59
viii
A RELATIONAL METAPHYSIC
ii. Whitehead's Metaphysical Vision 68 b. Systems Philosophy 75 i. General Systems Theory: von Bertalanffy ii. A Systems Metaphysic: Laszlo 79 (a) Fundamentals 79 (b) Universe as Systems Matrix 90
76
CONCLUSION TO PART ONE
95
PART TWO: FOUNDATIONS OF A RELATIONAL METAPHYSIC INTRODUCTION TO PART Two
99
III. A RELATIONAL AxIOM: THE DOCTRINE OF UNIVERSAL INTERNALITY
101
A. The Modern Debate on Internal versus External Relations 102 1. F .H. Bradley: "All Relations Are Internal" 102 2. Bertrand Russell: "All Relations Are External" 105 3. G.E. Moore: "Some Relations Are Internal, Some External" 109 4. An Interlude: A.C. Ewing 112 B. Contemporary Options 114 1. Charles Hartshorne:
