“Objects are not given; they are gathered.”
Everyday realism assumes that objects exist independently. Chairs are chairs whether we notice them. Stones remain stones even if no one touches them. Objects are the fundamental units of reality; relations are secondary, contingent, perhaps derivative.
Relational ontology reverses this priority. If relation is fundamental, the object cannot be presumed to exist prior to the network of interactions that give it form, shape, and meaning.
1. Objects as Stabilised Nodes
An object is no longer a self-subsisting unit. It is a stabilised node in a field of relations. What we call a “thing” is a momentary convergence of relational patterns — a node that persists because relations repeatedly actualise it in recognisable form.
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A chair is not intrinsically “chair-ness.”
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It is an ongoing articulation of constraints: material, spatial, functional, perceptual, social.
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Remove these stabilising relations, and the “object” loses its coherence.
Objects are thus emergent, not foundational. They are effects of relational consistency, not pre-existing substrates.
2. Properties as Articulation, Not Possession
If objects emerge from relations, their properties cannot exist independently. Hardness, colour, weight, or shape are articulated in context, not possessed as inherent attributes.
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Hardness is the experience of resistance within a relational frame.
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Colour is the patterning of light, perception, and context.
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Weight is the relational effect of mass interacting with a gravitational field and an agent attempting to lift it.
Properties are activated relationally, not discovered as intrinsic facts. To speak of “inherent properties” is to confuse consequence with foundation.
3. Boundaries as Functional, Not Absolute
Everyday realism treats objects as bounded, separable, and clearly delimited. But relational ontology reveals boundaries as functional constructs, stabilised by interactions rather than metaphysical necessity.
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The edge of a river is defined by flow, sediment, and perception.
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The skin of an organism is maintained by ongoing physiological and environmental relations.
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Boundaries exist because relations hold them in place. Remove the relational scaffolding, and boundaries blur.
Objects are not isolated monads. They are persistent relational gatherings, sustained by a network of interactions, potentialities, and repeated actualisations.
4. The Reversal of Metaphysical Priority
The decisive move is this:
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Everyday realism: Things exist → Then they relate
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Relational ontology: Relation exists → Things emerge
This is not a semantic trick. It is a conceptual necessity. Once relation is primary, everything that once seemed “self-evident” about objects — independence, intrinsic properties, fixed boundaries — becomes a consequence, not a given.
Objects are no longer the bedrock. They are the surface effect of a deeper relational topology.
Aphorism:“Things are not first. Relation is. What we call objects are merely the shadows of connection.”
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