Sunday, January 14, 2018

REALITY: A PROCESS
[On Process Philosophy]
By: Atty. Mark Gil J. Ramolete, MA, LLM


            Reality is referred to as a fact of existence. This fact of existence from the perspective of process philosophy is nonetheless processual in nature. Nature likewise is characterized to be processual. Every forms of life and every facet of human life and existence are processual in nature.

            To drive the point further, consider the pictures below. The first picture depicts the “seed germination process[1]” while the second illustration portrays the different “stages in human development[2]”.  The third picture, on the other hand, shows the “periods of human life span[3]” while the fourth picture makes an illustration on “human development[4]” which involves growth and decline that could either be characterized to be positive or negative.




           
    
From the examples and illustrations made above, what do we mean when we speak of a process? By the word process, we mean to a series of events, occasions, steps or actions taken or formed through the progression of time in order to attain a certain goal or end.   Human life is caught in a cycle of birth-growth-decay (and rebirth if one believes in reincarnation). Put it this way as to the process of reincarnation: no one lives the earth and no one dies, that is, one way or another, all are but transformed.

To echo what was mentioned earlier, nature is a process. This is the most fundamental principle that one has to keep in mind whenever one is engaged in the study of process philosophy or process metaphysics. With this fundamental principle at hand, nature being a process is characterized by temporality, historicity, change, passage and novelty. These are among the most fundamental characterization to be reckoned with in our understanding of the world.  
Previously, we mentioned that process refers to series of events, occasions, steps or actions taken or formed through the progression of time in order to attain a certain goal or end. Time in the context of this discussion is neither independent nor separated of its existential content (spatio or space). Temporality and its changes are “perpetually perishing” coupled by the “perpetual emergence” in the “concrescence, coalescence or consolidation of new real.” This point referred to has its origin in the Heraclitian view that “all things flow.” Such is a rejection of the Parmenidean or Atomistic view that nature consists in the changeable interrelations among stable, unchangeable, fixed units of existence.

Process philosophy gives emphasis on change as well as development in all of its aspects over fixity and persistence. Consider the table[5] below which shows a point of comparison between substance philosophy and process philosophy.

Substance Philosophy

Process Philosophy
Discrete individuality

Interactive relatedness
Separateness

Wholeness (totality)
Condition (fixity of nature)

Activity (self-development)
Uniformity of nature

Innovation/novelty
Unity of being (individualized specificity)

Unity of law (functional typology)
Descriptive fixity

Productive energy, drive, etc.
Classificatory stability

Fluidity and evanescence
Passivity (being acted upon)
Activity (agency)

Furthermore, looking at the thematic nature of the operations at hand is one of the most significant ways of classifying process and to further understanding on the said topic. Classifying process based on the following kinds enumerated here though do not exhaust the subject, these “kinds of processes”[6] could one way or another further our understanding of the subject matter being discussed:
A.    Physical causality (in relation to physical changes)
B.     Purposive/teleological (in relation to achieving deliberate objectives)
C.     Cognitive/epistemic (in relation to intellectual problem solving__e.g. programming ourselves for solving a certain sort of problem)
D.    Communicative (in relation to transmitting information)

The 1st, 2nd and 3rd illustrations depicted previously would point primarily to physical causality. The three illustrations primarily point to physical causality inasmuch as these illustrations portrayed physical changes through time. The 4rth illustration, on the other hand, points primarily to communicative process. This is in consideration to the reason as to why such was made which transmit information to the reader on the nature of human development similar to the process of writing this paper in order to transmit information to the reader on the subject matter of process.

To conclude this discussion, to speak of reality as a process being a fact of existence would point to a series of events, occasions, steps or actions taken or formed through the progression of time in order to attain a certain goal or end.







[5][5] Nicholas Rescher, Process Metaphysics (An Introduction to Process Philosophy), USA: State University of New York Press, 1996, p. 35. [hereinafter shall be referred to as process metaphysics]
[6] Process Metaphysics, p. 42.

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