no such thing

So, for a long time, one of my deepest metaphysical assumptions was basically the idea that there are individual things (particulars) that have certain characteristics and aspects (properties) attached to them. Add on to that that I'm a materialist, in that I think there's really only one kind of stuff (physical, as opposed to mental or spiritual).

Basically, what it boils down to is that I held that the standard model of physics has it right; there are certain root particles that have mass and volume and those particles make up the universe.

It also plays into my religious beliefs. Generally, I hold that there has only ever been and will only ever be one "miracle" (miraculous happenings being those produced by a supernatural entity in defiance of physical laws) and that "miracle" is the fact that there is a universe at all. There's stuff--it's a miracle!

But I was recently describing a book I'm reading to a friend (it's kind of about quantum computing and information theory) and I made the comment that, in one way of thinking, there is no such thing as stuff. And it made sense. And it shifted my world-view in a relatively big way.

It's no big surprise, I'm sure, especially to those who actually know what quantum physics is really about. The line between matter and energy, between force and object, has always been a tenuous one. It's just easy to think of and describe certain actions as the result of objects sometimes, but in reality the "mass" is only a measurement of the effect of one force on another, and the same could be said about volume. For a portion of space to be "taken up" is simply for some irresistible force to prevent any other force from acting upon the space cordoned off by it. I mean, seriously...an electron is not like a baseball. If you cut it "in half", there's not some kind of stuff inside, is there? Can we really maintain that kind of outlook all the way down into the infinitesimal depths of physics?

And if what we think of as objects are really just complex interactions of energy according to the rules that govern physical forces, then where are the particulars? Where is the substratum that binds the properties to it, when all that exist are the rules and equations? There can be no strata; there can be no bare particulars.

So, now, I guess, I no longer buy into that school of substance theory, and by rejecting it I in essence reject my materialism as well. There are only the rules and the forces they govern. It doesn't matter what kind of stuff there is; there is no such thing as stuff!

I don't mind the following consequence, but this has now left me without an "-ism" in this regard. I'm no longer what I would call a materialist, but I'm not so sure I qualify as an idealist either (one who holds that only mental/spiritual things exist). It's as though I'm rejecting the concept of material things and holding on the the idea of material interactions.

I'll have to do more research, I guess; there has to be some substance theorists out there who hold forth that all that can truly be said to exist is causal interaction, right?

Also, there two additional things, now that the philosophy is over:

• It's stormy right now, and watching the lightning from a 10th story window with an unobstructed view to the west is cool.


• "He could sell Rogaine (R) to a Wookie"