In the previous post, we explored time as a relational horizon: perspectival, system-relative, and emergent from successive instantiations. Here, we turn to space — not as a passive container, but as a relational phenomenon, arising through the act of construal.
Space as Relational Trace
Space is a pattern of relational distinctions. It does not exist independently “out there”; it emerges from the system’s act of distinguishing one phenomenon from another. Distance, orientation, and separation are measures of potential interactions actualised within a system. Space is the relational trace of these differences, a phenomenon created by the very act of perspectival instantiation.
Consider an ant navigating a leaf. The leaf’s surface, the crevices, the veins, and the positions of other ants are all “spatial” only because the ant’s system construes them relationally. The contours and pathways emerge in relation to the ant’s potential interactions — without that construal, the leaf is simply a continuum of matter. Space is perspectival, contingent, and contextual.
Emergent Spatial Configurations
Each system produces its own spatial configuration. A flock of birds forms shapes in the sky that exist only in the relational field defined by the flock’s interactions. A city’s layout, a neuron’s dendritic arbor, a molecule in a fluid — each instantiates a distinct spatial structure emergent from relational patterns. Space is thus not universal; it is system-relative, co-actualised with the events and processes unfolding within the system.
Interrelation with Time
Space and time co-emerge. Every relational cut produces both a temporal horizon and a spatial configuration. Moving through space is inseparable from moving through time, and vice versa, not because of an external clock or grid, but because both dimensions arise together through system actualisation. The trajectory of a phenomenon is a co-actualisation of spatial and temporal distinctions, and any attempt to treat them independently flattens the richness of relational emergence.
Implications for Meaning and Interaction
Understanding space as emergent reshapes how we conceive of interactions. Relationships, influence, and proximity are not fixed measures; they are enacted within relational fields. Distance becomes a function of potential interaction, orientation a reflection of systemic perspective, and spatial patterns a record of ongoing relational dynamics. Meaning, in this sense, is inseparable from the spatial-temporal emergence of phenomena.
Next in the series: The Interdependence of Time and Space — we will examine how spatial and temporal dimensions are inseparable in relational ontology, and explore the consequences for simultaneity, sequence, and relational dynamics.