Monday, 24 November 2025

II Semiotics Before Space: 2 Phenomenon is Construal

If the universe is intelligible because it is actualised through relational perspective, then every phenomenon is inseparable from the act of construal itself. There is no “unconstrued” reality lurking behind appearances; there is only what becomes intelligible through relational differentiation.

Instances as Cuts

Every object, event, or law is an instance of relational potential, actualised through a perspectival cut. A galaxy is not simply “there” in space; it is made intelligible by the relational distinctions that define it. A particle does not exist independently; it is an actualisation of structured possibilities.

This extends beyond physics: even abstract structures, from mathematics to physical laws, are first-order phenomena of relational construal. They exist because they can be made intelligible within the network of potentials.

Reality Emerges Through Actualisation

Reality is not pre-given; it emerges through the process of actualisation. This is not idealism—the universe is not “in our minds”—but a radical relationality in which intelligibility and existence co-arise. What appears as the “universe” is a field of potentialities shaped by perspectival cuts, made coherent through patterns of differentiation.

Implications for Understanding Spacetime and Matter

  • Spacetime is a phenomenon, not a container.

  • Matter and energy are intelligible only as actualised potentials.

  • Laws of nature are descriptions of relational regularities, not prescriptions imposed upon reality.

In the next post, we will explore spacetime itself as a phenomenon, showing how notions of duration, distance, and temporal ordering emerge from relational actualisation rather than existing independently.

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