Yet Another Metaphysical Exploration
WARNING on second reading there are many misleading typos I have not corrected yet in the piece...
The following is an attempt to explore metaphysical ideas I have had before such as in write up called âThe Will for Togethernessâ using different terminology and premises. This is an exploration so only take the explanation as seriously as it is persuasive:
Reality is the internally differentiated, that is to say it is more or less than itself through its own power. All that is, is through the power of the worldâs own self differentiation which from the perspective of the one is the infinite excess, as to be less than reality is to introduce the oblivion of zero as a non-differentiation. The reason for this is, as Hegel has demonstrated, being that absolute nothingness is one in identity and vanishes into absolute (pre-quantitative) oneness or being. Thus, to become nothing does not make reality more or less than itself. Hegel would say that this oneness can be escaped through thinking through and reifying the contradiction that this oneness perpetuates, however this ontologically presupposes the agency of a meta conscious subject to give the simplicity its timeless unfolding in the system of reflection externally. Thus, for simplicity to unfold it already requires an excess of being to give its inner energy to actualize its differentiation from a standpoint (which we later find in Hegelâs logic will also be a quantitative energy), but Hegelâs excess presupposes the rational trajectory of this excess and thus simply reifies the already given human subject without explaining how it emerges from a more primal force. Hegelâs excess is thus an overly complicated reiteration of theology and the reason of God (which in a certain sense Hegel himself does not deny).
In contrast to Hegel who starts from the oblivion of the one which gains its power of differentiation through reason, we will say differentiation is the one as the fact of the one being more or less than itself through itself as that fact of itself. For Hegel determinacy is a faculty of metaphysical reality that allows it to internally differentiate through speculation, in contrast to determinacy being the power of reality as in Hegel, determinacy for us will be a mere surface effect of the more primal pre-rational power of indeterminate more or lessness. Or rather onenessâs own difference from oneness is what the one is, and determinacy is an effect of the one simply being as it is rather than through some transcendent power. Hegel claims to perform a similar gesture, but he implants in the one instead of difference reason as contradiction and thus merely produces intelligibility from the ground up from intelligibilityâs own reflection on itself as logically legislation.
For us the one is more or less than itself, but not in any specific or reasoned way (besides the fact it is this mere capacity and nothing else), so the immediacy of the one is simply to be more than itself for no other reason than without this more it would not be at all. The one is at first then pure moreness, a boundless excess on oneness, whatever is more than one is, and it is through the same differentiation that the world universally is and nothing else, (as to say it is anything else would be to presuppose another power than this). The one is immediately infinite or more through the very same differentiation that the world tautologically is. However, these quanta which are all in a line and surpassing the one are still the oneâs own self differentiation of more or less, thus, to be in any stable point of moreness would have another moreness above the quanta that the moreness must immediately become as reality at this point is nothing but moreness. Since time does not exist yet, this would occur an infinite number of times immediately and every more than one would immediately vanish into a single absolute allness of more than one with without any particular one to be more than.
However, this absolute allness is thus the immanent power to be more or less, or simply different. The one has already cast from itself the oblivion of zero as all quanta would disappear into the nothing which comes from nothing, however absolute moreness of reality has found itself collapsing into absolute equality as well through realityâs sheer immanence and identity as every quantum which is more must become more than itself which without time means all quanta become the maximum quantum immediately. As the nothing does not actually exist in the immanence of the more than one since the more than one is immanence and the bare minimum for immanence is to not be nothing, then the maximum moreness that reality becomes immediately is all reality is. But the paradox of this is that moreness by being infinitely more than itself has become more than nothing (literally) which means it simply the one again. Because reality is nothing but the power of quantitative differentiation of the one within its own power, the more than ones of the one in order to be the differentiation of quantity it actually is would have to through the power of the all become less than the all, but more than nothing. This in the surface effect of a primitive determinacy that emerged rather from the power of quantityâs complete indeterminacy. As reality as difference from the one is the production of differentiated quantity through its own power, and this power is immediate and precedes time as a differentiation of moments, we find that the world in its immediacy is a plethora of quantities that are less than maximum quantity yet more than having no quantity at all. But these quantities are in essence this quantity of less than all through their own power, as reality has but one power which is the power of the oneâs own quantitative differentiation.
These quanta are thus actively cancelling their own increase into each other and preserving their level or quantity. However, this quantity that every quantum immediately is would then become an identity, a oneness with itself that is not differentiated. The quanta would also all be differentiating from the same quanta of the all with their own power which means whatever differentiates these quanta from each other cannot be their relation to the all as it an identical relation as all quanta are equally a cancelling of the all but rather their relationship to each other. A quantum then preserves its amount through its relationship with other quanta immediately. These quanta are in a sense immediately nothing but their relationship with all other quanta that is different from the relationship every other quantum has with every other quantum.
What however differentiates the relationship between these quanta is they reciprocally determine their relationship to each other immediately (as time has not yet been established)? If all reality is a single system of immanent quantitative relation, then it seems that from a certain perspective this is simply a single infinitely complex quantum without differentiation rather than a differentiation in quantity. All quanta would have an equal relation to the system as a whole which in a sense makes them an equal quantum of the same relation The solution to this which produces a quantitative differentiation is that what distinguishes a quantum is in fact its degree of relation to the system as a whole, which is not reversible between every other quantum. That is a quantum that relates to some quantum that is not the same way the quantum they relate to relate to them. This is a perspectival relationship of quanta where one perspective cannot be exchanged with another despite them being bound together. Thus, every quantum is immediately a perspective on other quanta that is different from every other quantum. What is quantified thus among every quantum is the amount a perspective effects the whole of reality in relation to every other perspective without either perspective collapsing into one another.
What quanta then does every quantum have a perspective on? Is it every other quantum at once? This would seem to equalize the perspectiveâs power and thus beg the question of how perspectives could differentiate if the only thing that generates them is a difference in quantity. What quantity would be different if they all had a perspective on reality on the same level then? Their difference would just be a brute fact. No, the perspective every quantum takes must be non-exhaustive of reality, and it is this perspectival rank that differentiates every perspective from one another. But then if this differentiation of perspective is happening immediately, and is not a perspective on all of reality; then what is bringing any given quantum into having a perspective on any other set of quanta than another given that this perspective precedes time?
I argue that it is the degree of quantitative affinity a perspective has toward another quantum. If a perspectival quantum had no affinity for any other quantum then there would be no uniting of any perspective into presence by its own power since every quantum would have an equal claim to the quantumâs perspective and thus what would generate the relationship of the quantum to other quanta would be the other quanta, but this is true of every quantum so there would be endless deferral to an affinity without an origin. If by contrast the origin is immanent to every quantum, for in fact a quantum differentiates its quantity of affinity to other quanta through its own power. But then how does a quantum determine its level of affinity given its finite perspective? If a quantum can only have a perspective on reality that is limited, then how can it come to access other quanta to determine its affinity with them? Well one must remember that this delimitation of quanta is an internal cancelling of the all which is in fact the allâs very power of quantitative differentiation, and this is happening before time. So, in a certain sense all quanta have access to every other quanta immanently as all are rooted in the being of the allâs moreness, but this internal cancelling of every quantum that give it quantitative differentiation would also be the power to in a sense remember the quanta of its highest affinity and forget the quanta of its lowest affinity.
The cancelling from the perspective of the all is a withdraw of universality, but from the perspective of the quantum a deep increase in particularity. We find through the differentiation of the quantity of the all from a universal quantity down to its maximum decrease every quantum gains in turn an increase of quantity of a particular kind. This kind of maximumly increased affinity is only found through a degree of forgetting of every other quantum of lower affinity. This pre-temporal memory of a maximum desire or affinity found through exchange of infinite (or greater) forgetting that characterizes every quantumâs decent from the all gives already the value-ladenness of all reality. Every quantum, as that which immediately has a perspective upon it is only so through maximum desire, maximum affinity withdrawn from totality; in other words, reality is intrinsically absolute particular love: a desire for anotherâs existence to a maximum degree to be given and received in presence.
However, this love is not homogenous as it can only emerge from the displacement of quanta from universality, meaning more or less that there is no intrinsic rule that keeps a quantum with an affinity of maximum degree for one quantum that in itself has a different quantum as the quantum it has a maximum affinity for. In fact since for any quanta to be made present in the first place at least one quantum needs to be forgotten so as to give the perspective presenting the quantum the quantitative differentiation reality actually is its being, then it is metaphysically impossible for every quantum to have the same highest affinity quantum be brought into presence at once meaning there will inevitably be a quantum which brings into its perspective another quantum which has forgotten it simultaneously to it remembering said other quantum. I argue this is where time itself emerges as an after effect of the differentiation of love and desire, where a quantum will have to displace itself from one state of presencing certain quanta to presencing different quanta into its perspective across non-simultaneous moments that maintain in one moment a forgetting and the other a remembering of a quantum for which the desires creates friction.
The maintaining of a perspective across succeeding moments for a quantum, is the final quantitative determination of the quantum and it is also the power of a quantum to affect other quanta as every presencing for one quantum must be negotiated with the presencing of the other quanta insides its current perspective as they while reciprocally so are co-determinate in each otherâs perspectives. Movement is the way in which quanta proceed from moment to moment. To move a quantum must forget certain quanta and remember others, what will determine the quanta remembered or forgotten in each quantumâs perspective would naturally be the quantitative degree of love or affinity itself. That is a quantum naturally seeks to increase into its perspective the quantum it desires more into its presencing by its own power which acts on perceived quanta to bring them closer into its presencing. If the quantum desired in this way desires the quantum desiring it in kind there will be a clean forward movement from one presence to another, however if the desired quantum desires a different quantum to a higher level and this other quantum is within the perspective of the quantum desiring it then this will cause one (of many) instance of friction within the first desiring quantumâs movement. For now, I will leave it up to your imagination or thought what kind of frictions arise in the movement of conflicting desires between quanta. These frictions are the emergence or ontological suffering into reality as the effect of the tension of loveâs absolute particularity between said particular loving quanta.
We could expand the scope of this metaphysical exploration of differentiation further, but for now I feel we have left at a satisfactory point that generated many familiar aspects of both reality and subjectivity without presupposing subjectivity (at least in a completed rational form), but instead merely capacity of more or lessnessâs immanent differentiation within itself.
Source on Hegel claims about being and nothingness: Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (2010). Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences in Basic Outline: Part 1, Science of Logic. Cambridge Hegel Translations. Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 58. ISBN 978-0-521-82914-4. OCLC 651153726.