When Realism Floats Free
In the preceding posts, we have traced a path through contemporary physics: from theories that generate possible instances without phenomena, to quantum mechanics’ disciplined exception, to the graded distinction between constructs arising from phenomenal instability and theoretical discomfort, and finally to the rise of mathematics as surrogate intuition. In this final post, we confront the ultimate consequence of this trajectory: the disappearance of the perspectival cut that links theory to actuality.
When the cut is absent, realism floats free. Possibility masquerades as existence, expectation masquerades as ontological warrant, and mathematical coherence masquerades as reality itself. Without a disciplined cut, the stratification of system, possible instance, and phenomenon collapses silently, leaving theory untethered from experience.
The Drift of Ontology
The drift is subtle and cumulative. It begins with the success of mathematics in quantum mechanics, extends through its role as surrogate intuition, and is reinforced by the rhetorical flattening of anomalies and theoretical constructs. Each step alone may appear innocuous; taken together, they produce a field in which internal coherence increasingly substitutes for phenomenal actualisation.
This drift is not an error in calculation or imagination. It is a failure of relational discipline: the failure to maintain the perspectival cut that ensures theoretical constructs remain answerable to first-order meaning.
Restoring the Cut
A relational ontology does not deny the value of mathematics, theory, or speculative ambition. Instead, it provides a simple but rigorous principle: a system, no matter how elegant, is ontologically undetermined until it is actualised through a phenomenal cut.
System: the structured space of potential.
Possible instance: configurations within that space.
Phenomenal cut: the perspectival shift that actualises first-order meaning.
Maintaining this discipline restores ontological clarity. Constructs arising from phenomenal instability retain their pressure toward reality. Constructs arising from theoretical discomfort remain precisely what they are: possibilities, not guarantees.
The Payoff of Relational Discipline
The insight of the series is modest but powerful. It is not that contemporary physics is misguided; it is that the epistemic culture has lost a layer of ontological attentiveness. By attending to the cut, we can:
Preserve the richness of theoretical possibility.
Honour the demands of actual phenomena.
Distinguish clearly between possibility and actuality, expectation and ontological warrant.
This is not a retreat from ambition. It is a framework that allows speculation to flourish without losing touch with reality.
Conclusion
From theory without phenomena to the missing cut, we have traced a subtle but decisive trajectory in modern physics. Quantum mechanics provided an exception; mathematics provided a surrogate intuition; graded warrant exposed the difference between phenomena-driven constructs and theory-driven constructs. Now, relational ontology restores the missing cut, reminding us that even the most elegant mathematics is answerable only when linked to actualisation.
By preserving this stratification, physics can continue to explore the frontiers of possibility while remaining disciplined in its claims about what exists. The beauty of the universe, after all, is in both the possible and the actual—and in the careful cut that separates them.
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