If time is not a container, the next question arises immediately:
what is change?
Within the classical picture, change is understood as:
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an intrinsic object,
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persisting through time,
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acquiring and losing properties.
Change is therefore conceived as variation in properties of something that remains fundamentally the same.
But this model depends on two assumptions already rejected:
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that objects have intrinsic properties, and
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that time is an independent background in which those properties vary.
If both assumptions are removed, we must rethink change from the ground up.
1. Change Does Not Require Intrinsic Substances
The standard picture assumes:
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something must persist in order for change to occur.
But persistence need not mean intrinsic identity.
Within a relational ontology, stability is not grounded in substance.
It is grounded in structured patterns of relation.
Change, then, does not require intrinsic objects.
It requires structured determination.
2. Change as Relational Reconfiguration
If reality consists of structured potentials actualised within construal, then change can be understood as:
a transformation in relational configuration.
This means:
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not the alteration of a self-contained object,
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but the reorganisation of determinate relations within a structure.
What persists is not an intrinsic core.
What persists is structural continuity.
What changes is relational patterning.
3. Identity as Stability of Structure
Under this framework, identity is no longer intrinsic sameness.
Identity is:
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the continuity of a structured configuration,
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across successive actualisations.
This avoids the need for a metaphysical substratum.
An entity remains identifiable because the relational structure that defines it remains stable.
When that structure reorganises beyond a threshold, we speak of change.
4. No Underlying Substance Is Required
Classical metaphysics introduces substance to explain:
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how something can change without becoming something entirely different.
But if identity is structural, substance becomes unnecessary.
There is no need to posit:
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a hidden core,
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an unchanging bearer of properties,
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or an intrinsic substrate.
Stability and change are both explained structurally.
5. Change and Constraint
Change is not arbitrary flux.
It occurs within constraint.
Within any structured potential:
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not all reconfigurations are possible,
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and actualisations are limited by relational conditions.
Change is therefore:
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constrained transformation.
This preserves the intelligibility of physical processes without invoking intrinsic objects.
6. Physics Already Operates Structurally
Physical theories do not track intrinsic substances.
They describe:
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state transitions,
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dynamical equations,
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relational variables,
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and structural transformations.
The mathematical form of physical theory is fundamentally relational.
This suggests that the ontology of change need not invoke intrinsic objects at all.
7. Reframing the Question
Instead of asking:
What intrinsic object changes over time?
We ask:
How does structured determination transform within constraint?
This reframing eliminates the need for both:
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independent time,
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and intrinsic substance.
Change becomes a feature of relational actualisation.
Conclusion
Change does not require:
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intrinsic objects,
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nor a temporal container.
Change is:
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reconfiguration within structured potential,
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governed by constraint,
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articulated through relational determination.
What remains stable is structure.
What varies is its actualised configuration.
In the next part, we will examine how actualisation itself operates once time and intrinsic objects are no longer assumed. 🔒🔥
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