As the synthesis of Modal Realism and Neutral Monism, Modal Monism is an ontic descriptor of the fundamental ontology of Ontic Modalism or OM that argues that Possibility simpliciter is the radically neutral and ultimate ground of Existence simpliciter and that all beings are singular binding Possibilities of existence, each of them defined by their incompossible thisness of haecceity.
The modal evolution from Possibilities to actualities that may become internally disclosed as realities obtains through the actualization and realization of discrete, relationally conditioned potentials that are entailed within the radical boundaries of singular binding Possibilities qua entities. The singular binding Possibility of the entity drives its own evolution via its intrinsic teleological compulsion to express each and every potential that it entails. This is, fundamentally and ultimately, what a singular binding Possibility is: an intrinsically focused drive to express any and all potentials from its own absolutely unique nexus of preconditional potentials radically entailed of that absolutely distinct Possibility simpliciter.
If all beings are singular Possibilities of existence, then their physically actualized and phenomenally realized expressions are qualitatively homogenous with our internally realized conscious impressions of them in virtue of their fundamentally neutral unities of possibility. The phenomenal expressions of physically actualized beings in the world, and our realized conscious impressions of them, are necessarily coherent, intelligible, and unified in virtue of their respective singular binding Possibilities of haecceity drawing them forth into actuality within the world and the reality that we experience.
“Beyond Infinite existence and the Totality of the world dwells the responsive sensibility of Possibility.”
— Brian Scott Archibald, The Madd Philosopher, Himself.
As such, OM resolves many problems in philosophy and science through validating the necessary unity of singular Possibilities grounding all physiophenomenal expression and conscious impression of beings in the world. Moreover, OM offers sound philosophical grounding for the new Science of Consciousness we so fervently seek.
Musings on Ontic Modalism
The Possibility of Consciousness
and the Consciousness of Possibility
Consciousness remains a mystery, physics remains incomplete, and science requires a paradigmatic revolution to sufficiently explain how consciousness manifests within the world in the first place or at all. But science’s unrelenting concentration upon only that which is manifest will never yield this explanation because the very possibility of consciousness—moreover, the possibility of existence itself—begins prior to what is manifested within the actualized world and realized experience. Rather, it emerges from the radically preconditional realm of existentially exhaustive Possibility simpliciter. In disclosing the singular grounding Possibility of there being possibilities at all as the basis of all beings, we reveal a fundamental ontology of Being, potentiality, actuality, reality, sensibility, responsiveness, local causality, and teleological effectuality that explains the intrinsic unity and implicit qualities of entities in their myriad modalities of existence and expression, including emergent phenomenal and intentional consciousness. Thus, Possibility is the Being of beings that makes the reality of consciousness and the actuality of the world viable, unified, and existent simpliciter. Commencing our inquiries from within the fundamental ontology of Ontic Modalism (OM), in performing an ontological analysis of one of the leading scientific theories of consciousness known as Integrated Information Theory or IIT, we reveal crucial solutions […]
The Cruciality of Consciousness
I do not believe that I am a disembodied spirit, somehow magically tied to this body. What I do believe is that this existence, in and of itself, along with our innate power of reason, will provide all that we need to learn about our world, who we are, our role in it, and how it is that we have come to be consciously aware of it at all. Consciousness is our foundation. Consciousness is our raison d’etre. Consciousness is where we live, our ‘wheelhouse’. It is consciousness that gives us our world. Understanding consciousness is crucial to our understanding…everything.
(Re)Introducing Neutral Monism
Neutral monism is the position that everything that exists is all of a single ontologically fundamental type. There is just one fundamental type of thing in all existence; and that thing either includes the mental and the physical at its foundational level. This neutral strategy strives to avoid the pitfalls of substance dualism, while allowing for the manifest facticity of mental and physical entities, states, types, and kinds.