Published In
Open Philosophy
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-26-2024
Subjects
System theory
Abstract
Graham Harman writes that the “basic dualism in the world lies…between things in their intimate reality and things as confronted by other things.” However, dualism implies irreconcilable difference; what Harman points to is better expressed as a dyad, where the two components imply one another and interact. This article shows that systems theory has long asserted the fundamental character of Harman’s dyad, expressing it as the union of internal structure and external function, which correspond exactly to what Levi Bryant, characterizing Harman’s views, refers to as the intra-ontic and the inter-ontic, respectively. After interpreting Harman’s dyad in terms of the ontology of systems theory, the article illustrates his dyad with a variety of examples, including conceptions about truth, ethics, value, and intelligence. The structure–function dyad is a spatial conception of a system as an object. It is usefully augmented with a temporal dimension, expressed in a third component or with an additional orthogonal dyad. Adding a temporal dyad to the structure–function dyad joins the idea of an event and/or process to the idea of an object.
Rights
© 2024 the author(s), published by De Gruyter This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1515/opphil-2024-0028
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/42486
Citation Details
Zwick, M. (2024). The Basic Dualism in the World: Object-Oriented Ontology and Systems Theory. Open Philosophy, 7(1).