A Rational Cosmology: The Ubiquitous Quality of Matter

Essay XIII

This is Essay XIII of Mr. Stolyarov's series, "A Rational Cosmology," which seeks to present objective, absolute, rationally grounded views of terms such as universe, matter, volume, space, time, motion, sound, light, forces, fields, and even the higher-order concepts of life, consciousness, and volition. See the index of all the essays in "A Rational Cosmology" here.

Space-as-relationship is not a single relationship. Rather, it is a threefold relationship, describable by three parameters, known as dimensions. This is primarily deduced not from the nature of the relationship "space," but from the nature of all entities as such.

Here we find the need to define several qualities which must be possessed, in some quantity, by any entity. We shall call these the ubiquitous qualities of entities.

Matter- Matter is otherwise known as the constituent quality of entities. Matter is, simply, that, which entities are made of, and without which they cannot have any other qualities.

It is not the province of ontology or cosmology to describe what the fundamental "building blocks of matter" (i.e. the entities that would represent Democritus's concept of "atomos") are. The specific-observational sciences must discover whether such fundamental building blocks exist, how many types of them there are, what they look like, and how they behave. Cosmology has only to point out that matter exists, and exists as a quality of every entity.

It may be asked here, "What, then, are such things as freedom, beauty, and peace, which are not in themselves composed of matter?" But these are not things as such! They are not entities, but rather relationships between entities that are composed of matter.

Freedom cannot exist without the individual who is free, and the individual is a material entity. Beauty, whether it be in a painting or a piece of music, cannot exist without the material canvas that holds the painting, nor without the instruments which emit the music. Peace cannot exist except among material individuals who decide not to relate to each other in a certain aggressive manner.