The Mediation of Being…
Consciousness as the unifying Fabric of Reality
“Metaphysics is the science of reality” …
— Charles Sanders Peirce
“Dasein is a being that does not simply occur among other beings. Rather it is ontically distinguished by the fact that in its being this being is concerned about its very being. Thus it is constitutive of the being of Dasein to have, in its very being, a relation of being to this being” …
— Martin Heidegger
“Metaphysics may be divided into (i) General Metaphysics, or Ontology; (ii) Psychical, or Religious, Metaphysics, concerned chiefly with the questions of (1) God, (2) Freedom, (3) Immortality; and (iii) Physical Metaphysics, which discusses the real nature of time, space, laws of nature, matter, etc. The second and third branches appear at present to look upon one another with supreme contempt” …
— Charles Sanders Peirce
Mediate
/ˈmiːdɪeɪt/
to be in the middle, intercede
acting through, dependent on, or involving an intermediate agency; not direct or immediate
to occupy an intermediate place or position
Being
/ˈbiːɪŋ/
the act of existing ( that is) rather than the potential of existing (refer to Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas)
anything that is in the act of existing both materially and immaterially — it is ontologically fundamental
the fundamental condition that allows things to be ( refer to Heidegger)
Consciousness
/ˈkɒnʃəsnəs/
the state of being aware of and responsive to one’s surroundings
the fact of awareness by the mind of itself and the world
Fabric
/ˈfabrɪk/
the act of constructing
framework; structure
the method of construction
Reality
/rɪˈalɪti/
everything that exists — both materially and immaterially
everything that is Being ( act of existing — things that are) — Being as the ground of all things
everything that is ontologically fundamental
In Emergent Reality — The Metaphysics of Human participation in Reality, the core relationships of the metaphysical**** fabric of Reality were outlined.
*** Note: metaphysics is used in this context as a philosophical term — study of being — science of reality. The article as follows will highlight consciousness as unifying the fabric of reality that includes the metaphysical and physical — a monism.
The Unity of Being that consists of Real Being, Ideal Being and Moral Being (refer to Rosmini).
The relationship between the Conscious Self, Being in the World (refer to Heidegger) and Divine Presence (refer to Thomistic Philosophy — Saint Thomas Aquinas).
The relationship between Being, Knowing and Meaning (refer to the Triadic Categories of Thought — Ontological (Aristotle), Epistemological (Kant) and Semiotic (Peirce)).
The relationship between Life, Truth and Way (refer to John 14:6 — The Bible — Christian Theology).
The Role of Consciousness
So what is the role of consciousness in this representation?
Does consciousness play several fundamental roles in the mediation of being?
The role of unifying real, ideal and moral being into a unity of being to bring a sense of coherence.
The role of human being’s relationship to its being and the capacity for self-reflection (refer to Heinz von Foerster — Second Order Cybernetics — refer to — Reflexivity — refer to Charles Sanders Peirce — Altersense).
The role of human being’s relationship to being in the world ( refer to Heidegger).
Various Philosophers have explored different elements of these roles, which are all anchored in a notion of an Intentional Consciousness (refer to Husserl) where the Conscious Self is not closed but where consciousness is fundamentally relational and interactional (always engaged with the World and the objects therein).
An understanding of consciousness that reflects Human Beings’ participation in Reality.
Human Being’s participation in Being.
The relation of this Being to Being (refer to Heidegger).
Consciousness as the Fabric of Reality that mediates Meaning, Being and Knowing
Does Consciousness represent a fundamental property of Reality?
For example, a unifying fabric of reality that brings an intelligibility to the Universe through the symbiotic relationships in Being between the Being of the Observer (e.g. Man’s conscious-based participation in Reality — Human Being, Meaning, and Knowing) and the Being of the Observed — Ontological fundamentals (i.e. everything that exists — everything that is in the act of Being).
Open-Ended Being**** is actualised into Real Being through Man’s participation in Being — an openness to Being (refer to Heidegger) and perceiving Being before it — the disclosure of Meaning (refer — Peirce Semiotic Triadic) through engagement with Being.
***Note — The pre-actualised state can be thought of as the ontological horizon — where Being is a field of possibilities not yet shaped into definite meaning.
If the metaphysical and physical are part of a monism, consciousness could be described as the self-revealing dynamic of existence and the act of Being.
The way reality knows and expresses itself through both form and experience.
“What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning” …
— Werner Heisenberg
Metaphysical and Physical realms are manifestations of a unified fundamental reality.
An evolving field of interactions where consciousness is a natural unfolding of its self-organising structure (a unifying fabric of reality).
A consciousness that reflects the intrinsic way Reality unfolds, perceives and reflects upon itself.
Consciousness and the Unity of Being
Consciousness as the Unity of Being
- Triadic of Being — The relationship and unity of Rosmini’s Real Being, Ideal Being and Moral Being.
- Human Categories of Thought — Aristotle’s Ontological, Kant’s Epistemological and Peirce’s Semiotic Categories when combined represent a Unity of Being — Triadic Categories of Thought and the integration of different modes of Being — From Being in the World (i.e. Human Being’s entanglement in Being — Unity of Being — Meaning — Abduction) to the point of separation of Human Being (self) from entangled Being (i.e. Separation of Being — Metaphysics (i.e. Human Being bringing to the Mind — Study of Being — Science of Reality) to the point that reflects Human Being’s abstraction to the Human Mind (i.e. Human Being’s Mind — Logic (i.e. Study of Thought) — Deduction).
- Human Triadic of Reason — Aristotle’s Deductive Reason (anchored in Logic — Human Being’s Mind), Bacon’s Inductive Reason (anchored in Philosophical Metaphysics — separation of Human Being from Being) and Peirce’s Abductive Reason (anchored in Peirce’s Triadic Semiotics — Human Being in the World) that when combined represent a Triadic of Reason.
- Antonovsky (1923–1994) — His Sense of Coherence framework explored the human relationship between stress, health and well-being. If a person has a higher sense of coherence, they can then cope better with stress. It consisted of three components — comprehensibility that reflects the perception of stressors in a way such that they make cognitive sense ( i.e. structure, consistency, order, clarity, and predictability), manageability that reflects the belief that one has the resources to control the demands posed by the stressors and meaningfulnessthat reflects the belief that the stressors are worthy of commitment and engagement.
- Henri Bergson (1859–1941) — His élan vital suggests that consciousness is not just an emergent phenomenon but a fundamental force (a common impulse — unified consciousness) driving the integration of material, moral, and intellectual life.
- Peirce (1839–1914) — His semiotic triadic and pragmatic maxim provides a framework for unifying, reconciling and mediating ontology (existence — act of Being) with epistemology (knowing — abstraction to the Human Mind). A process that reflects modes of Being (Peirce’s Categories — firstness, secondness and thirdness) and the interpretation and mediation via semiotic signs.
- Hegel (1770–1831) — His concept of absolute spirit unites reality, morality, and ideality through a self-developing consciousness (i.e. absolute idealism). A teological account of history that reflects this unfolding unity.
- Plotinus ( 204–270 ) — His neoplatonism describes reality as emanating from the One, with the intellect ( nous ) acting as the mediating principle that unifies different modes of Being (distinct hypostases). Consciousness is an active process that holds together material, rational, and spiritual realities.
Consciousness and Self-Reflection
Consciousness and Self-Reflection (Relation to One’s Own Being)
- von Foerster (1911–2002) — His concept of second-order cybernetics extends classical cybernetics by reorientating the focus from observed systems to the role of the observer within the system and how the act of observing & interacting with a system influences its behavior. Von Foerster’s ideas reflect the entanglement of the Observer and Observed in the systems being studied. Hence, reality is co-constructed rather than objectively discovered.
- Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) — His ontological distinction of pour soi (being for itself) and en soi
(being in itself) establishes the inescapable freedom of human consciousness, which, being self-aware and incomplete, must take responsibility for its own existence. - Gabriel Marcel (1889–1973) — He emphasised being as participation, where consciousness is the participation in being of self-exploration and deeper connection with reality.
- Peirce (1839–1914) — His altersense, which is part of his triadic understanding of Human Consciousness (alongside Primisense and Medisense), is a concept anchored in a form of self-reflection — a double consciousness.
- Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) — He viewed self-consciousness as a tension between the finite and the infinite, where humans struggle to reconcile their material existence with their moral and spiritual dimensions. A self-awareness, anxiety, and struggle for authentic human existence.
- Duns Scotus (1265–1308) — His moderate realism, which holds that universals exist but only in individual things and as concepts in the mind, can be viewed as the Self reflecting upon itself because it implies that the intellect, in apprehending universals, is engaging in a self-referential act of cognition.
Consciousness and Being in the World
Consciousness and Being-in-the-World (Relation to the World)
- Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) — His concept of Dasein describes human consciousness as always already engaged in the world (Being in the world), making it a relational structure rather than a detached discrete entity.
- Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908–1961) — His embodied phenomenology argues that consciousness cannot be separated from its bodily and perceptual engagement with the world.
- Husserl (1859–1938) — His concept of intentional consciousness reflects being in the world by emphasising that consciousness is always directed toward something. It is fundamentally relational and interactional (always engaged with the World and the objects therein). This inherent structure of consciousness establishes a fundamental relationship between the subject and the world, rejecting the notion of a self-enclosed mind.
- Peirce (1839–1914) — His semiotic triadic and pragmatic maxim provides a framework for unifying, reconciling and mediating ontology (existence — act of Being) with epistemology (knowing — abstraction to the Human Mind). A process that reflects modes of Being (Peirce’s Categories — firstness, secondness and thirdness) and the interpretation and mediation via semiotic signs. Edmund Husserl (1859–1938) — His phenomenology introduced the idea of intentionality, where consciousness always has a directedness toward the world, unifying subjective and objective experience.
Consciousness and Transcendence
Consciousness and Transcendence (Relation to God — Divine Presence)
- Eric Voegelin (1901–1985) — He developed the idea of metaxy (the in-between), where human consciousness is suspended between immanence and transcendence, always striving toward a higher being.
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955) — He described consciousness as an evolutionary force moving toward the Omega Point, the final unification with the divine.
- Duns Scotus (1265–1308) — His moderate realism, which holds that universals exist but only in individual things and as concepts in the mind, can be viewed as the Self reflecting upon itself because it implies that the intellect, in apprehending universals, is engaging in a self-referential act of cognition. Duns Scotus’s moderate realism reflects the bridge between the Finite (temporal) and the Divine (eternal).
- Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) — He saw human intellect as participating in divine intelligence and a higher order of being.
- Saint Augustine (354–430 ) — His Confessiones describes self-consciousness as a pathway to God, where knowing oneself is deeply connected to knowing the divine (interior intimo meo et superior summo meo).
- Aristotle ( 384–322 BC) — His Four Causes framework provides an understanding of the Natural World through Four Causes. The relationship between Man as the temporal Observer and the observed Natural World. The Four Causes recognise the physical (Material Cause), metaphysical (Formal Cause) and ultimate Divine Order (Final Cause). A framework that also recognises the transformational dynamic process of Being through the actualisation of potential (Efficient Cause).
Consciousness as a Multi-Dimensional Mediator
Consciousness plays a multi-dimensional role in unifying the fabric of reality and reflecting in different ways this Being’s relationships and interactions.
This includes:
- Consciousness as the unifier of different modes of being;
- Consciousness as self-reflection and existential freedom & responsibility (refer Burke — Liberty & Morality and Sartre);
- Consciousness as relational and being in the world (refer — Heidegger & Peirce);
- Consciousness as a bridge between the Finite (temporal) and the Divine (eternal) (refer — Duns Scotus); and
- Consciousness as a recognition of a Divine Order of Being and the relationship between the Contingent Being of Man (Created) and the Necessary Being of God (Creator).
Please read — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn — 1983 Templeton Prize Address [ LINK ]
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