"The Original Platform of System Philosophy"

Main Contents of

SYSTEM PHILOSOPHY ABOUT UNIVERSE

PART 1
THE ULTIMATE QUESTION SCIENCE.

[Apart from studying the physical things through experimental methods, science asks the ultimate question: what is the origin of the universe? ]

Let us introduce a few basic concepts as below:

  • What is Universe? We use the word ‘thing’ to refer to anything which is assumed to have existence.  Then universe is the totality of all things, which can be defined in anyway. It is important to state here that the so-called things can be divided into two classes – visible things and invisible things.
    We have five sense organs namely, eye, ear, tongue, nose and skin. The class of visible things consist of all things, which appear to exist on the basis of sensory evidences of human beings, including mechanical devises and reflective thinking also. Proton, electron, water, air and so on belong to the class of visible things. All life-related and mental activities such as the emotions, ideas, dream and colours can be treated as visible since it is known through our sensory evidences or reflective thinking.
    When we think about the class of invisible things, firstly we consider the supernatural things or events like God, souls, angel, heaven and hell. Though life-related as well as mental activities or events are visible as said above, there is no evidence about the existence of life and mind as such. So, life and mind are invisible things.

  • What is nature? In simple terms, the nature is the universe minus the supernatural entities. That is, the nature ( natural world) does not include the supernatural entities like God, souls and angels. The first classification of things included in the natural world is into inanimate things and living beings. If we consider only the body of a living being, without taking into account the aspect of life, then it is also an inanimate thing made of matter.

  • Matter and Energy: The stuff or building material of every inanimate thing is a substance called matter. Next important concept is energy or force, which is normally defined as the ability to do work. A stone can be moved, only if sufficient energy is applied on it. Energy is not a thing like air, water or table. But energy is a measurement of activity of a thing. There are different forms of energy like light rays, chemical energy, mechanical energy, etc. responsible for different kinds of motions or activities of things.

  • Physical world means the totality of inanimate things made of matter and energy. All inanimate things, including the bodies of living beings, are treated as physical things. Basic unit of concrete things of physical world is atom. The constituents of atom — that is, subatomic entities — are made of matter and energy.

Science is defined as the experimental study of physical things, made of matter and energy, with regard to its properties and cause-effect relations.

It can be observed that living beings, especially human beings, have life and mind in addition to physical bodies. Nevertheless, the project of science is to translate the nonphysical properties of life and mind into physical activities of body.

It can be admitted that the meaning of science has evolved across the periods of history. Science has acquired the physical sense in the western countries exclusively after 15th century.

Science deals with the measurable relation between things in order to answer the HOW question. Example: How does water is produced? On the other hand, science is incapable of addressing the “WHY” question, which concerns the purpose of the phenomenon under study. Why do hydrogen and oxygen combine to produce water with new properties? Religion and philosophy are the main areas of knowledge pertaining to the “WHY” question. For example, religion explains in a dogmatic way as following: “God created the physical laws, including the astronomical laws pertaining to the motion of stars and planets. The formation of water is by the WILL OF GOD”.

WE can say, using scientific knowledge, that the universe has undergone EVOLUTION through three stages. First is the origin of Physical World starting about 1370 crores years ago. Secondly, Biological World started about 350 crores years ago. The third stage is the emergence of human beings with mature level of mind around one lakh years ago.

Considering the evolution of universe, science want to explain the ULTIMATE QUESTION: what is the origin of universe? But in this enquiry, science focusses only on the physical world. In this situation, science is a partial description of universe only, since the scientific laws cannot explain the origin of life and mind in the biological world.

It may be emphasized that the other kinds of human knowledge such as history, art, literature and religious faith belong to the class of non-science; it includes palmistry, astrology, telepathy, clairvoyance, occult and horoscope also.

Considering the wide range of knowledge, what is the criterion to treat scientific knowledge as valid? This leads us to the deeper question about the nature of scientific knowledge specifically as well as the nature of other kinds of knowledge generally.

PART 2
HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW?

[ The simple kind of knowledge is a proposition. By combining propositions in particular ways, we get the statements of deduction, induction and cause–effect relations. What are its features?]

Our mind produces emotions, feelings and ideas continuously. Ideas are normally expressed in various kinds of sentences. Out of the population of sentences, one special group is called propositions, with the following two essential characteristics:

  • A proposition asserts, on the basis of evidences, the existence of certain object or event in this universe.
  • The information contained in a proposition may be true or false.

Based on these features, the simple definition of knowledge is given as following: Knowledge is a true proposition. However, it may be stated that proper evidence may not make a proposition as true. Then we have to deliberate about the way to judge a proposition as true or false.

It is possible to construct higher levels of knowledge by combining suitable propositions using two methods called Deduction and Deduction.

Deduction is an intellectual and logical way of thinking in terms of abstract concepts, which are the fundamental concepts related to the phenomenon. It includes mainly the definition of matter, energy, space and time as well as some related principles or laws already known. Induction is the process of making logical inferences on the basis of repeated experience of sensory organs, namely eye, ear, tongue, nose and skin. Direct perception is the simplest form of induction. “This pen has length of four inches” is an example.

Here we are interested in the complex level of knowledge, called cause-effect relations, constructed by combining various propositions of Deduction and Deduction in specific order. Various areas of knowledge like science, religion, art, history, literature and philosophy mainly consist of cause-effect relations.

WHAT IS THE STRUCTURE OF A CAUSE-EFFECT RELATION?

Now we can state that a cause-effect relation is formed by combining the methods of deduction and induction as per the following five stages.

  • Theory – (Ty)
  • Hypothesis –  (H)
  • Deductive conclusion – (D)
  • Testing  (T)
  • Inductive inference. – (I)

Here deduction consists of the three stages denoted by Ty, H and D. The next set of two stages denoted by T and I belong to the induction process. In this way, the cause-effect relation is formulated in the fifth stage, in the form of an “inference”. We propose to denote the five stages of Ty, H, D, T and I together — it is conveniently expressed as TyHDTI Scheme.

There are various forms of inferences under different areas of knowledge such as science, religion and art. But they differ mainly in the case of theory and experimental testing – this issue will be elucidated in due course. The diversity of these subjects has unity, since all are following the same knowledge scheme.

The above five stages of cause-effect relation would distil down to a complex definition of knowledge so as to unify various subjects of study. It is innovatively stated as following:

Knowledge is a true inference of cause-effect relation obtained by TyHDTI scheme.

We can now state that the notion of cause-effect relations, introduced above, is the key yardstick for dividing the range of human knowledge into various subjects. Interestingly, the complex definition of knowledge would include direct perception also.

It may be reiterated that a particular subject deals with a unique set of cause-effect relations, together with the properties of concerned phenomena. In this way, the set of cause-effect relations of physics is conspicuously different from that of chemistry, biology, religion or another subject.

We need certain techniques for analyzing and synthesizing the inferences of cause-effect relations under the spectrum of subjects like science, religion and art; the subject called philosophy is developed for that purpose. It is obviously important to have some basic ideas about the salient features of philosophy – it is given in the next note.

PART 3
WHY DO WE HAVE TO KNOW PHILOSOPHY?

[We have to know philosophy mainly because it enquires about the validity of our knowledge regarding invisible entities. What are the branches of philosophy?]

A thing is treated as visible, if we can know it using any one or more of our five sense organs (eye, nose, ear, tongue and skin). All the visible things are normally studied in science. On the other hand, life, mind, consciousness, mathematical equations and models are invisible entities per se. Matter as the stuff of concrete things, is also invisible. It may be emphasized here that the subject of philosophy pertains to the study of unobservable entities exclusively. This serves as the answer to the vital question: What is the use of philosophy? Additionally, here the difference between philosophy and science is implied.

Further, the list of unobservable entities can be extended to the supernatural entities such as God, gods, soul, evil, heaven and hell coming under religion. Of course, philosophy is patently concerned with such religious concepts also.

The definition of philosophy, adopted here is on the basis of the distinction between reality and phenomenon. An object is called a phenomenon, if its formation is accounted in terms of pre-existing objects. The technical meaning of phenomenon is: if object B is caused by pre-existing object A, then B is treated as a phenomenon. When we consider the causes of phenomena in a sequence towards the direction of past, we can reach at the notion of original cause. Then reality is defined as the original cause of all phenomena taken as a whole. Accordingly, we can hold that reality is self- caused, permanent and infinite. There are various descriptions of reality such as the ultimate reality, ultimate truth and the real being.

As per the foregoing, the primary aim of philosophy is to get logical answers to the following ultimate questions:

  1. What is the original cause of observable things of the universe?
  2. What is the criterion of validity and truth pertaining to different kinds of knowledge like philosophy, science, religion, art and literature? How do we know what we know?
  3. How can we explain the abstract concepts like matter, energy, space, time, life, mind, consciousness, God and soul?

In this situation, philosophy is defined innovatively as the subject for analyzing and synthesizing the spectrum of subjects, including mainly science, religion, art, history and literature. The subject of philosophy can be broadly divided into two branches, namely, epistemology (theory of knowledge) and ontology.

The particular aim of epistemology amounts to determining the validity of different types of propositions and its higher combinations, especially the inferences of cause-effect relations. For unifying two different objects called table and chair, we must use a higher principle namely ‘furniture’. Similarly, epistemology utilizes certain unifying concepts for comparing the various inferences coming under different fields of knowledge. These concepts are introduced here in the form of four parts of theory of knowledge: Methodology, Source of knowledge (philosophy of mind) , Justification and Truth.

These four parts pertain to a single inference or cause-effect relation. There is an organic link between the various propositions used in the TyHDTI scheme. The specific aim of methodology is to deliberate about the relative importance of deductive propositions (Ty, H and D) and Inductive propositions (T and I) in the process of formulating the cause-effect relations. In this situation, meaning of source is ‘philosophy of mind’ pertaining to the generation of knowledge; it explains the concerned faculties of our knowing mind.

The concept called justification is meant to show that entities assumed in the theory (Ty) have actual existence. But existence is a philosophical question and it is the most troubling part of epistemology. The issue of truth requires a comprehensive understanding of various subjects.

The second branch of philosophy is ‘ontology’. The literal meaning of ‘ontology’ is science of being, based on the Greek roots. Here ‘being’ means the original stuff, which forms the final unity of diverse phenomena; we call it the reality or original cause. In simple way, the aim of ontology is to propose the theory of reality for integrating the diverse forms of phenomena.

A worldview contains the essential ideas of all theories having family resemblance. There are four kinds of four worldviews used for classifying the range of theories into the largest groups. Based on these four worldviews, philosophers have proposed four respective theories of reality, which would form the subject of ontology.

The four world views and the corresponding theories of reality are shown below:

  • Organic Worldview     —  Idealism
  • Spiritual Process Worldview – Mysticism
  • Mechanistic Worldview       – Materialism
  • Physical Process Worldview — Physical Process Reality

In order to understand the diverse streams of philosophical thought, it is necessary to describe the key ideas of four worldviews. It serves as the suitable framework and guide to deliberate about the various conceptions of reality. Here we have to define the distinction between content view and process view.

Under content view, we treat the thing as a substance or being which exists statically with or without component parts. The terms like matter, electron, table, horse, mind, life, God and consciousness are defined through content view. On the other hand, process view considers the aspects of change of the thing. The term process means activity. That is, change or activity is caused by a set of circumstances or factors, collectively called context. Accordingly, process view about a thing consists of the descriptions of the related context causing change. The thing itself is not considered for study.

It may be added that, Organic Worldview ( Idealism) and Mechanistic Worldview ( Materialism) are in content view. On the other hand, Spiritual Process Worldview (Mysticism ) and Physical Process Worldview (Physical Process Reality ) are in process view.

PART 4
PHILOSOPHY OF CLASSICAL PHYSICS

[ Classical physics deals with the first level of physical world including all things around us such as the substances and astronomical bodies.]

The discoveries of physics would form the basis of other scientific subjects like chemistry, biology and psychology. As such, physics can be treated as the basic science. Accordingly, when we want to study the fundamental aspects of science, we must concentrate upon the features of physics.

The history of Classical physics starts with the epoch of Renaissance happened in Europe in fifteenth century. Its first stage is the discovery of Copernicus (1473-1543) that earth and other planets revolve around the sun. Thus, Ptolemy’s geocentric theory was rejected and the new heliocentric theory gained prominence. Galileo (1564-1642), Kepler (1571-1630) and Isaac Newton (1642-1727) used physical variables like place, time, distance and speed to formulate laws regarding the movement of planets and physical things. It was Galileo, using his newly invented telescope, who articulated for the first time that science has a distinct methodology based on the physical approach of study.

The defining basic assumption of classical physics was that the physical things are made of atoms, which are minute and indivisible particles of matter. In other words, matter is a homogeneous substance and its unit is atom. The essential property of matter is extension or mass. There are various kinds of atoms differing in size. Energy is required for the motion of atoms and higher order substances and also for chemical reactions. Another important assumption was that mater and energy are mutually independent entities, which constitute physical world. Obviously, the notion of time comes from change or motion, and hence from energy.

The scientists of classical period accepted the view that the world moves due to definite physical laws and hence it is like a machine. The method of classical physics is  to  combine  mathematical  concepts  and  sensory observations to formulate the mechanical laws pertaining to nature. This mechanistic view reached its zenith when Isaac Newton discovered the laws of motion and law of gravity. In twentieth century, the principles of quantum theory were discovered regarding the constituents of matter. It is the beginning of quantum physics to be explained later.

We may emphasize that philosophy of classical science is the same as the epistemology, which has four stages called methodology, source, justification and truth.

As mentioned earlier, the methodology has five pars namely, theory, hypothesis, deductive conclusion, testing and inductive inference. 

Since classical physics followed the mechanistic worldview, its basic theory is about the physical world as a machine made of atoms. The main  theory is atomic theory giving the properties of atoms and molecules of water. It includes relevant and important concepts like space, time, temperature and pressure.

Next is the stage of hypothesis. It is clear that the unobservable entities like atoms assumed in the theory cannot be subjected to experimental study. By hypothesis we mean a set of assumptions adopted for a particular experiment and these are formed by expressing all concerned theoretical entities in observational terms. To cite an example, the concept of mass denotes the material stuff of atoms which is unobservable. Hence mass cannot be brought within the experimental scheme. In this situation, mass is measured using the notion of weight, which is an observational concept related to the gravity of earth.

Using the premise of theory and the facts of hypothesis, it is possible to derive a conclusion. In this context, the deductive conclusion is alternately called testable statement, which is usually expressed as an equation. 

Next step is to verify the deductive conclusion using experimental method. Accordingly, the main functions in the testing stage are designing and conducting the experiments repeatedly and collection of data. Such sample data are subjected to analysis using statistical techniques. If experimental data confirms the truth of the deductive equation then it is accepted.

The scientist has to generalize that equation to all places and times by specifying the experimental conditions – this is the process of inductive inference.  Accordingly, the proved equation is said to have universal validity. In this way, it becomes a scientific law pertaining to the population of instances of the phenomenon.

Justification problem: do atoms exist?

By justification we mean the set of arguments to show the existence of theoretical entities like matter, energy and physical laws. The classical scientists adopted the theory of justification called naïve realism. It says that we can adopt the view that a thing has existence, if we obtain evidences about it. Now we may examine the critical philosophy of Immanuel Kant (1724- 1804) as following. Pure matter or atom is a predicate, which is a noun defined in terms of specific set of properties. Pen, chair, house, etc. are also predicates. Accordingly, the name of a particular atom, say hydrogen, is a predicate that is the abbreviation of a set of sensible properties like weight and volume. The most famous argument of Kant is that predicate is a phenomenal knowledge and it does not imply existence. In this context, Kant wrote the famous statement: existence is not a real predicate. We do not include ‘existence’ in the set of properties used for defining the thing. Here, we must recall the distinction between reality and phenomenon.

Consider a simple example: the window of my room has a special form of glass, through which I am observing a cat standing in the courtyard. But when I go outside the room and watch the animal, I realise that it is a dog actually. Cat does not exist. Here we can say in ordinary way that dog is a reality while cat is a phenomenon or appearance.

Now our most important revelation: We can say, on the basis of Kant’s principle, that matter and energy are two different predicates, which are phenomenally treated as separate and independent objects. But matter and energy do not exist as two separate things. That is, there is no philosophical justification to the separate view of matter and energy. If we treat pen as made exclusively of matter, the pen does not have existence.

We understand the phenomenal aspects of macro world using the separate notions of atom and energy. But physics cannot go beyond phenomenal knowledge to talk anything about reality. As a result, the reality of universe cannot be known through classical physics. In other words, the justification problem cannot be solved in classical physics.

PART 5
QUANTUM PHYSICS AND COSMOLOGY

[ Quantum physics regarding the layers of components of atom would draw a complicated picture about the early stages of physical world.]

The basic unit of three-dimensional physical world is atom. In the early decades of 20th century, it was discovered that atom is divisible into various components. This led to the development of quantum physics, with two stages — quantum mechanics, quantum field theory. Subsequently, the question about the origin of universe was studied by a new subject called quantum cosmology.

Rejecting the postulates of classical physics, Quantum mechanics focusses on the physical laws of first layer of constituents of atom as shown below:

  1. Four subatomic particles, namely proton, neutron, electron and neutrino.
  2. Four basic forces, namely gravitational force, electromagnetic force, strong nuclear force and weak nuclear force. The electromagnetic, strong nuclear and weak nuclear forces together may be called as standard forces.

Laws of four subatomic particles and four basic forces would explain the macro aspects of visible world consisting of atoms, molecules, higher substances, astronomical bodies and various forms of energy.

In the case of subatomic particles and forces, every material particle as well as energy quantum have the dual aspects of particle property and wave property. This phenomenon is called particle-wave duality and it drastically changes the concepts of matter and energy. Consider the example of an electron. We see the particle property of electrons in the picture tube of a television set. But in some other experiments, electron appears as energy radiation which is represented by a mathematical wave function. Hence, electron has particle (matter) property in some experiments while it has wave (energy) property in other experiments. In this situation, the word electron does not represent a specific particle; instead it denotes a packet of energy.

The laws of quantum mechanics are capable of explaining specific visible phenomena such as chemical reactions, electricity, heat, light, radioactivity, gravity, electronics and atom bomb. But quantum mechanics could not explain the relation between subatomic particles and basic forces. Hence, in the recent seven decades, the analysis of subatomic phenomena advanced to a deeper layer as elaborated below.

The main aim of quantum field theory is to discover the second layer subatomic phenomena, which are the components of the above said first layer entities. Hugely expensive laboratories called as particle accelerators, the biggest and most important among them being the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), were set up for experiments. The experiments of LHC revealed that the ultimate particles of the second layer subatomic phenomena can be neatly arranged in a scheme called the standard model. The most simple and elegant form of Standard Model shows the arrangement of 18 elementary particles – six quarks, six leptons and six bosons. In this way, the analysis of the components of atom has reached the final point.

Quantum Cosmology

As per the dictionary meaning, cosmology is the study of the origin and development of the entire universe. There are two contrasting ways for cosmology – religious and scientific. The religious cosmology envisages that God is the creator of universe – for example, the book of genesis of Bible describes this view.

In contrast, scientific cosmology is based the doctrine of materialism asserting that matter is the original stuff in this universe. But physical world, the totality of physical things, is assumed to have a finite origin. Hence, it is the task of scientific cosmology to investigate into the origin of matter. Hereafter, in this book we reserve the word ‘cosmology’ to refer to scientific cosmology only.

Then the logic of cosmology is that the issue of the origin of physical world can be solved by analyzing the components of atoms. Here the adopted principle is: The more basic is a component, the earlier it came into existence. That is, components originated in the order of more elementary ones in the reverse direction of time. This is similar to the fact that the components of a car were made first before assembling the car itself.

There are two most important theories of cosmology, namely Big Bang Cosmology and Quantum Cosmology, which were developed on the basis of theoretical physics and astronomical science of 20th century.

In a nut shell, Big Bang Cosmology holds that the universe originated from a singularity point through a sudden explosion. Big Bang happened about13.70 billion years ago. This theory is not valid because there is no answer to the question: What did exist before Big Bang? That is, the cause of the explosion is a mystery. We may confidently say that the idea of explosion pertaining to Big Bang theory is a myth.

Obviously, Big Bang cosmology has failed in answering the most important cosmological questions. In this situation, it is necessary to consider the wonderful developments in quantum cosmology, which is based on quantum physics. We may tentatively assume the meaning of ‘quantum’ as “extremely small size”. The fascinating theory of quantum cosmology is expected to offer more convincing explanations about the origin and growth of universe.

Quantum cosmology proposes five cosmological stages which are arranged in the following historical sequence from past to present.

Stage 1 – The Stage before Big Bang (before time 0)

Stage 2 – Quantum Gravity (interval from 0 to 10-35 second after Big Bang)

Stage 3 – Inflation (10-35 second after Big Bang), which is the stage of grand unified theory (GUT)

Stage 4 –  Symmetry Breaking (10-35 to 10-4 second after Big Bang)

Stage 5 – Higgs Mechanism and production of particles of Standard Model (10-4 to 1 second after Big Bang)

The above five stages in quantum cosmology can be explained using the analogy of birth of a baby. We can treat the stage before time 0 as similar to the parents. Big bang is similar to the formation of embryo from the union of parents, at time zero. The stages 2, 3 and 4 together is similar to the growth of embryo. Then origin of physical world is in stage 5, when the fundamental particles of Standard Model began to emerge; it is similar to the birth of baby.

The ancestral stage before Big Bang consists of very large number of sub-universes, which are alternatively called as pocket universes. The total landscape of such pocket universes is named as multiverse. According to Membrane Theory, the pocket universes are made of membranes with ten dimensions of spacetime. There are innumerable pocket universes, which have different layers of existence depending on the hidden dimensions and various types of compactification. The term compactification is defined as the process of hiding certain number of higher dimensions so as to result in a simpler universe. In this way, it is proposed that there existed a past universe, which served as the parents of our present universe. Further, there is practical evidence for the existence of dark matter and dark energy in the past universe.

In this manner, we live in a universe with three dimensions of space; the extra six dimensions are hidden. Thus, we get a new meaning to the phrase Big Bang – it is the beginning of compactification for the emergence of our universe.

Symmetry Breaking happened during 10-35 second to 10-4 second. Subsequently, the mysterious process called Higgs mechanism came into effect, whereby the fundamental particles got various amounts of mass (including zero mass). This led to the formation of standard model particles during 0.0001 to 1 second after Big Bang, as envisaged in quantum field theory. The period from 1 second to 10 second witnessed the formation of the four subatomic particles and four basic forces – this is the realm of quantum mechanics. This brief note about the layers of micro world pertaining to the components of atom may be concluded now.

PART 6
FAILURE OF PHYSICS

[The components of atom cannot be classified into two separate types called matter and energy. So the origin of universe remains beyond the purview of physics.]

In last century, quantum physics was developed to solve the drawbacks of classical physics. Its first stage was quantum mechanics, based on the particle-wave duality of the first layer subatomic phenomena. Then the components of atom are not separate entities absolutely. In this situation, the names of objects belonging to subatomic world do not have representational property. For example, we do not hold that the word electron represents a specific particle. Considering this fact, the cause-effect relations between subatomic phenomena are treated as activities (processes), without considering the issue of existence of things. It requires a new approach for scientific method in successive stages.

Here, we may assert that the fundamental particles belonging to the standard model cannot be proved to exist.

Our conclusion is as following: in the case of four subatomic particles and four basic forces as well as the set of standard model particles, scientists assume two categories namely matter and energy. Then these categories do not exist by virtue of the critical principle of Immanuel Kant mentioned above. Hence the problem of existence of matter, energy and physical world has deepened. We may emphasize the fallacy of the assumption about the separate existence of two categories namely matter and energy.

However, scientists hold that if the theoretical entities – mainly standard model particles — are assumed to exist, then it will serve as the proper justification for scientific laws about subatomic world and macro world. This doctrine is conveniently called as scientific realism; but it serves only the practical purpose of scientists.

The scientific realism about the multitude of standard model particles as well as about the infinitely large number of membranes and pocket universes in the multiverse scenario uphold pluralism. Hence the cosmological theory cannot be a vision of reality because reality is to be an unifying concept refuting pluralism. Moreover, cosmologists avoid talking about consciousness, which accounts for the nonphysical aspects of creativity, purpose and freedom in the universe. In short, the scientific cosmology does not answer the weighty questions about the original cause.

It is now clear that the failure of cosmology is inherently due to the adoption of process view, which cannot deal with existence. We can now summarily hold that cosmology has failed in its primary objective regarding the origin of universe.

PART 7
INTRODUCING SYSTEM PHILOSOPHY

[ The philosophical notion of system would explain the existence of the interconnection between the opposites called matter and energy]

For developing a theory about the origin physical world, we can suggest a suitable approach based on the particle-wave (matter-energy) duality pertaining to quantum physics. Every subatomic entity has this kind of duality. Then it can be argued that the parental universe — that is, the reality or original cause — is the union of matter and energy. In order to explain the existence of this composite reality, we have to propose the system philosophy as explained below.

It is our age-old practice to say that the three-dimensional concrete things are exclusively made of matter in the form of atoms; it causes many confusions that must be cleared in due course. The discoveries of quantum physics and cosmology would imply that we cannot say whether the components of atom exist separately, in various layers. The ultimate constituents of matter and energy, which are opposites per se, cannot be known. It may be reiterated that the uniquely important hurdle in this context is to explain the particle-wave duality prevailing in all layers of physical world, especially in the subatomic layer. This duality demonstrates the interconnection between the opposites called matter and energy as a fundamental fact. Our analysis in the previous chapter has shown that the process approach cannot show the existence of interconnection.

What is the solution of this conundrum? The ordinary notion that there are separate things contradicts the idea of interconnected things mentioned above. As we can intuitively anticipate, the only way out is to show that matter and energy are interconnected from static (content) perspective. But we need a new philosophy to envisage static interconnectedness. It aims to establish that opposite entities are actually related mutually.

The fundamental tenet of System Philosophy is the axiomatic definition of system as a productive structure composed of opposite entities. The salient features of system are given below:

** The opposite components of a system are similar to the X axis and Y axis pertaining to the coordinate model of analytical geometry. Here X and Y have dialectical and productive relation similar to the inputs of a factory – it is the essential aspect of system. The opposites X and Y are not independent entities. Instead, X and Y are opposites having complementary character. We cannot define one entity without considering its opposite entity. Accordingly, it is postulated that a system is a whole of opposites and that only system has existence. Since system or factory has existence, its output also can be said to have existence. **

Note that the outputs produced by the X and Y coordinates are denoted by separate curved lines, technically known as isoquants, in first and third quadrants.  So, the set of isoquants in a quadrant displays the hierarchy of layers of outputs. System philosophy adopts content or static view and treats the universe as a system of matter and consciousness, where these constituents are in dialectical and productive relation. Things exist by the union of opposites. It is asserted that science is the study of universe by reducing it to physical terms. In the ensuing paragraphs, we would apply the notion of system for solving the outstanding issues of philosophy of science.

Three types of existence

Before taking up the problem of justification, it is necessary to elucidate the notion of existence. People are perplexed by the following two questions: What is the meaning of the word existence? How do we know that various things exist? To put it simply, existence means be present as a part of this universe. But how can we know that fact? The following paragraphs would introduce three kinds of existence — practical existence, phenomenal existence and real existence.

The phrase ‘practical existence’ would refer to the existence of visible things like atom, pen, house, earth, etc. Note that the classical science deals with practical existence only. But our philosophical analysis would suggest that the visible thing like pen does not have existence if matter and energy are treated as separate and independent.

Next there is the problem of existence of invisible things of subatomic world. Our solution to the justification problem of quantum physics is to assert that every subatomic entity is a system of matter and energy. And, these systems have phenomenal existence within the frame work called TyHDTI scheme of scientific knowledge. Since atom is a system of matter and energy, the visible things like pen, house, earth etc, are also systems with phenomenal existence.

Thirdly we reiterate that a real thing is self-caused, infinite and permanent. For convenience, we use the word reality to refer to the original cause of universe. We can assert that only reality has real existence. The theoretical entities of religion such as God, soul and heaven do not have real existence. Our intellectual faculties would fail in showing the existence of metaphysical and religious entities.

System Justification — Existence of Physical World

In order to tide over the said problem of justification, we have to resort to System Philosophy and its interpretation of particle-wave duality of subatomic phenomena. Though matter and energy do not have existence when considered separately, the matter-energy system has existence in a phenomenal or scientific manner. Moreover, we can show that all things of universe are produced by the productive relation between matter and energy. Hence the phenomenal existence of physical world as matter-energy system is the justification for the scientific knowledge. This implies that physical laws have justification. The phenomenal existence of matter-energy system is a rational and axiomatic principle, without involving the problem of realism.

It is now clear that System Philosophy can be applied to articulate the epistemology of all levels of physical science namely classical science, quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. The resulting treatise is named as System Philosophy of Science, which can be elaborated to include the theory of knowledge under biological sciences and social sciences also.

Main Cosmological Puzzles Solved

  • Origin of Physical World?

As mentioned earlier, we can say that the physical world came into existence when the fundamental particles of Standard Model began to emerge – it happened at 0.0004 second after the big bang, which is represented by the point 0. Subsequently, all subatomic particles and forces, as well as atoms and higher substances of visible physical world are formed. In other words, the basic layer of physical world is the stage of production of standard model particles.

As per the method of physics, the universe is finite; it has beginning under the yardstick of time. In this context, we can state that the latest discoveries of quantum cosmology are the mysterious phenomena such as multiverse, membranes and strings, which are completely mathematical models having ten dimensions of spacetime. As such, these mysterious entities of quantum cosmology cannot be admitted to exist. It boils down to the dilemma that the elementary components of atom do not exist if we treat matter and energy as separate entities. In this situation, scientists have miserably failed in explaining how matter originated.

As a way out of this conundrum, we can postulate that physical world, which is the total set of various physical things, exists because every physical thing is a system of matter and energy. Then a new system-theory about the origin of physical world, from scientific perspective, can be advanced as following.

  • Some cosmologists have speculated about pocket universes in tune with the multiverse scenario. Hereafter, the term past universe refers strictly to the particular pocket universe (with ten dimensions) that causes the origin of our universe having four dimensions of spacetime. We can safely avoid the notions of multiverse and membranes for our exposition.
  • The past universe (parental universe) has existence as a system of dark matter and dark energy, which are denoted by DM and DE respectively. DM and DE are opposites; DM has the property of extension while DE has the exclusive property of energy and motion. DM is taken as the X- axis and DE is the Y-axis.
  • New Meaning of Big Bang:– it is the beginning of compactification for the emergence of our universe. We innovatively adopt the notion of negative time to denote the existence of the past universe in the third quadrant of X-Y model. Time runs from minus infinity to plus infinity.

Then Big Bang is the point of origin (x = 0, y = 0) of the system model. About 13.70 billion years have elapsed in the period from big bang to the present.

  • Take the analogy of birth of a baby. Big bang is similar to the formation of embryo from the union of parents, at time zero. The period from 0 to 0.0004 second is similar to the period of growth of embryo. Then origin or birth of physical world happened when the fundamental particles of Standard Model began to emerge at 0.0004 second.
  • The process of compactification happens at the point of origin throughout the history of present universe; it accounts for the increase of matter from zero to 1050 tons existing at present. It is estimated that present universe has grown to 4%, while size of past universe now is 96% (with DM= 23% and DE= 73%).
  • Additionally, the Big Bang is similar to the stage of seed, while past universe (DM-DE system) serves as the land. This analogy helps us to answer the question as to what existed before the Big Bang.
  • The foregoing X-Y coordinate system is called the System Model of Cosmology according to the content view; then the point (0,0) is the singularity point of Big Bang. It shows the origin of our physical world from parental world.

  • Meaning of Particle-wave Duality

In the visible world of classical physics, we can divide visible physical things into two separate groups of matter and energy. In contrast, subatomic entities have the wonderful property of particle-wave duality. Every subatomic entity possesses the properties of both particle and wave in appropriate and separate experiments. For example, an entity called electron is not a particle or wave absolutely. In certain experimental situation, electron behaves like a particle; in another experimental setting it appears as wave. Similarly, the energy called light has wave-property and particle-property in separate situations. This duality is a puzzling aspect to scientists. How can something be X and not-X?

Now we can solve this puzzle using System Model of Cosmology. The true meaning of particle-wave duality is given as following: A particular subatomic entity is represented by the point (x, y) in the X-Y coordinate diagram. When the subatomic entity is viewed as matter, it has inherent energy. This principle implies that every subatomic entity exists as a whole of material aspect and wave/energy aspect.

Thus, we reach at the solution of the puzzle about the definition of matter and energy: The separate notions of matter and energy are valid only in the context of classical science and practical life. In subatomic world, we can find only systems of matter and energy.

  • Solving the Puzzle of Time

In his theory, Einstein maintained that space and time are really existing entities, but showed that these are interdependent and relative. This discovery has many strange implications, which contradict our notion of ordinary time. Consequently, the question about the definition of time became very perplexing as a puzzle. Based on the topics covered in the previous chapters, we can solve the puzzle of time as below. Einstein wrongly regarded space and time as really existing things and then developed the mathematical tools to describe its interdependence. This is mathematical formalism. Here we can say that Einstein has fallen into a sort of conceptual fallacy or illusion. He did not realize that the theoretical interdependence of the concepts of space and time is primarily due the inter-dependence of matter and energy, as we explained above.

As a practical solution to the time-puzzle, we may state that separate notions of space and time are valid only in the context of classical physics. It may be added that the universe has many levels, having separate sets of laws. It is a layered universe. Meaning of a concept depends on the context or level. In this situation, the meaning of time may undergo change in different layers of physical world. But the mathematical equations of events of subatomic world, like time dilation, should not subvert the original meaning of ‘time’ pertaining to the visible world.

  • True meaning of E = mc2

The conversion of matter into energy and vice versa must be interpreted in an ingenious manner as following. Consider two particles A and B, where particle B has higher mass and energy as compared to A. When particle B is converted into particle A through radioactive decay, there is a certain loss of mass; simultaneously the energy equivalent is released. Here scientists popularly interpret that certain amount of mass is converted to energy.

The point to be stressed here is that the conversion of matter into energy must be interpreted using the system model of different kinds of subatomic particles.

  • Theory of everything

The phrase Theory of Everything (TOE) refers to the unification of gravity (general theory of relativity) and standard forces coming under quantum mechanics. But, the efforts of world’s greatest physicists of last century for this unification have not succeeded. Now we can solve this puzzle using the System Model of Cosmology developed above. Accordingly, physical world is an X-Y coordinate system; then the point (0,0) is the singularity point of Big Bang. Each force has the components of matter and energy, by virtue of particle-wave duality. There is a separate isoquant (graph) for each force. This implies that the X-Y model provides the unification of different forces. Then gravity (general theory of relativity) and quantum mechanics (theory of standard forces) stand unified.

PART 8
DISCOVERY OF SYSTEM REALITY

[System model of reality is based on the logical argument that reality or ORIGINAL CAUSE is the original cause of all hierarchical phenomena, taking into account the aspects of inanimate world, life and mind.]

The distinction between reality and phenomenon has been introduced earlier. An object is called a phenomenon, if its formation is accounted by a pre-existing object. Accordingly, all physical and nonphysical things of this universe are phenomena since there is an infinite network of cause-effect relations.

When we consider the causes of phenomena in a sequence towards the direction of past, we can reach at the notion of original cause. Then reality is defined as the original cause of all phenomena taken as a whole. It is an abstract or limiting concept similar to the notion of infinity. We can reasonably hold that reality is self-caused, permanent and infinite. There are various descriptions of reality such as the ultimate reality, ultimate truth and the real being. We cannot describe reality by using the things of phenomenal world. Reality is beyond phenomena. Accordingly, we make ideas about reality in an abstract manner, using our deductive logic. This is the reason for the difficulty with the concept of reality. Ontology is the branch of philosophy, dealing with the aspects of reality and its existence.

Further, the knowledge about reality is a controversial field due to the different worldviews adopted by philosophers. They deliberated about the two forms — matter and consciousness — of reality adopting content view and process view separately. This resulted in the four different theories of reality

– Idealism, Materialism, Mysticism and Physical process reality. These are briefly defined below.

Idealism : It holds that the reality is consciousness, which is also expressed variously as mind, idea, form and God depending on the contexts. This is in accordance with content view of knowledge. It may be reiterated that idealism has evolved into the religious philosophy of theism.

Materialism : It holds that the reality is matter, which is a space-filling substance. Matter is said to be the stuff or building-material of visible things of this universe. Here we adopt content view of knowledge and it pertains to mechanistic worldview of classical science.

Mysticism is the spiritual process view of reality, treating consciousness as an activity. Here consciousness is alternatively called as absolute mind or immanent God. It holds that the mental process dominates over material processes of the universe.

Physical process reality is based on the material processes of quantum physics. The mental activities of living beings are presumed to be the by-product of physical processes of body. This is obviously materialism under process view.

System model of reality

Since process view is concerned exclusively with change and activity, we can rule out Mysticism and Physical Process Reality from the discussion about reality. Here we have to emphasize the fact that existence can be conceived only using content view of knowledge. Consequently, it is appropriate to focus on the drawbacks of Idealism and Materialism for solving the issue of reality.

System model of reality is based on the logical argument that reality is the original cause of all hierarchical phenomena, taking into account the aspects of inanimate world, life and mind. Accordingly, we want to synthesize the competing theories of reality – idealism and materialism.

In the following paragraphs, we will make use of the philosophical definition of system introduced earlier in the context of science. The term system denotes a productive structure formed by opposite entities. The X- axis and Y-axis pertaining to analytical geometry are used to represent the opposite forces of productive structure, which is similar to a factory. The production function model of system can be applied to both phenomenon and reality depending on the context.

Three Levels of Natural Systems : As the first stage, we have to apply the notion of system to the three levels of nature – inanimate world, biological world and mental world. For this integrative treatment, the System Philosophy pertaining to science, life, evolution and human mind, as presented in previous chapters, would be made use of.

As per the foregoing, it is clear that the universe or nature exists as a system with three levels of natural systems. This perspective would enable us to develop the system model of reality. For this purpose, we may rename matter as body and treat consciousness in the real sense. Thus, we get the definition: Ultimate Reality or paramporul is the system of opposite forces called Body and Consciousness. Representing Body by X-axis and Consciousness by Y-axis, we can illustrate the production of inanimate world, biological world and mental world – it is called the System Model of Reality. Alternatively, we may call the diagram as System Model of Nature or Picture of Ultimate Reality also. The X-Y system model is a theory presented in content view; it is verified using the evidences about natural systems. That is, the truth of the model is ascertained by empirical evidences about the hierarchy of things in the cosmos. We know that the fundamental constituents of phenomenal universe are matter and consciousness, since they manifest in the hierarchical levels observed.

We have now reached the final stage of our philosophical search; it is the vision about the ultimate reality, which is axiomatically defined as the first cause of all phenomena as a whole. The oriental term paramporul can also be used for denoting the ultimate reality. This ontological principle necessarily expresses the synthesis of the three levels of phenomena in nature namely inanimate world, biological world and mental world.

PART 9
RELIGION AND SCIENCE

[Treating religion as a social system, System Philosophy answers the age-old question: does god exist? Further it solves the science-religion conflict.]

Religion is a complex phenomenon in the form of a social system. Most forms of religion would hold the fundamental belief that God exists as the original cause of all-natural phenomena. Moreover, there are many other supernatural beings such as gods, souls and evils which have cooperating or conflicting relationship with God for controlling the affairs of natural world.

Here we may propose the division of human mind into two main faculties or departments, namely intellectual mind and mystic mind. The former pertains to philosophy and science. On the other hand, mystic mind produces the knowledge under religion and art respectively.

We may now state that philosophy of religion is the same as the epistemology – method, source, justification and truth – dealing with the knowledge of a particular religion. It aims to show the unifying aspects of the various theological principles of all divisions or sects of that religion. Then the main issue of philosopher is how to justify theology and other fundamental beliefs. Undoubtedly the central question in philosophy of religion is: Does God exist?

The key problem to be encountered in philosophy of religion is the dual conceptions of God as transcendent being and immanent force. Theologies subscribing to these opposite notions about God are conventionally called theism and mysticism respectively. Majority of religions in the world are theist religions, following the theology of theism. Mysticism does not promote any organizational structure of religion. So, there are only very few religions adopting the theology of mysticism – main example is Buddhism. But within most of the theist religions there are cults practicing the spiritual methods of mysticism.

Let us concentrate on the epistemology of theism, because it is in content view. Since Mysticism is under process view, it does not address the question about the existence of God.

The traditional philosophy of theism has been developed on the basis of Plato’s idealist philosophy of mind. Plato argued that abstract ideas of religion are generated by the process of intuition, which is the highest level of the faculty of reason. On the other hand, Plato dismissed empirical propositions about worship as forms of imagination. Consequently, no philosophical discussion is done hitherto about the empirical aspect of religious knowledge.

The Failure of Theism

There are two varieties of the doctrine of theism: The first is called monotheism holding that God is a single and infinite being. Judaism, Roman Catholic Christianity and Islam are the main monotheist religions. In contrast, the second category is polytheism which considers a set of separate gods having diverse attributes. Hinduism is the proper example of religions following polytheism. For this article, we do not consider the distinction between monotheism and polytheism; so we adopt the common term ‘theism’.

Our present discussion about the core issues of theism is in the context of Christianity. It may be reiterated that such issues have developed as a legacy of Plato’s idealist philosophy about mind and knowledge. Under theist theology, the attributes of God are expressed in metaphorical and analogical way so as to strengthen the relation between worshippers and divine being. Most importantly, it assumes that God has certain attributes such as person, perfection and omnipotence. Further, God is the creator of all things in the world. Hence God is transcendent to the world.

What are the reasons to believe that God exists with the above attributes? Many theologians in the long history of theism have advanced logical answers to this vexing question. But from the concerned literature, we see that the most famous are the objective proofs or arguments for the existence of God proposed by St. Anselm (1033-1109) and St. Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274), who are two Great theologians of Roman Catholic Church. These arguments are respectively known as ontological argument, cosmological argument and design argument. By conducting a critical review, it can be shown below that these arguments have failed in answering the crucial question about the existence of God.

  • The arguments accept the view that a thing has existence if it is defined through abstract concepts; that is, existence is a property or predicate of the concerned thing. We can call this view as metaphysical realism, which was originally adopted by Plato in his theory of forms. Treating existence as a predicate is the expression of realism. When God is defined as the supremely perfect being, existence is regarded as an essential attribute of God.
  • Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) in Critique of Pure Reason has refuted the realism of earlier philosophers. According to him, existence is not a real predicate. It means that we cannot include ‘existence’ among the set of properties used to define a thing. Existence must be established through empirical evidence. We do not get empirical evidence about infinite things, most specifically about God. Since there is no objective method to verify the proposition that God exists as the most powerful being, we can conclude that God does not exist as per intellectual perspective.
  • God’s perfection and omnipotence do not agree with the observed defects and shortcomings in certain cases of human individuals as well as other living beings. Can we say that the perfect God has created deadly viruses so as to kill millions of human beings? This question comes under a greater issue called the problem of evil, which is a very serious challenge to the notion of infinitely perfect God.

We may clarify that the existence and attributes of God are theoretical assumptions conceived by the mystic mind of believer. It cannot be subjected to intellectual criticism. Hence the existence of God must be understood in mystical manner. Ontological argument is fallacious, because it erroneously treats the mystic facts about God as scientific or intellectual facts. Alternatively, it is imperative to give metaphorical and mystical meaning to the existence of God.

System Philosophy of Religion

It is an important insight of System Philosophy of religion that the methodological stages — Ty, H, D, T and I respectively — of religious knowledge are produced by our religious (mystic) mind. The theory (Ty) is composed of two sets of assumptions, named as primary theory and secondary theory. Primary theory consists of the abstract ideas about the social structure of religion as well as activities of worship. Definitions of religious groups, festivals and articles used in worship as well as the roles like priests, laity, and saints are to be included in this theory. Of course, such propositions are in third-person perspective (TPP).

Secondary theory contains the metaphysical entities of theology such as God, soul, sin, Evil, heaven, hell and saints. The supernatural beings or events assumed in secondary theory are conceived subjectively in first-person perspective (FPP) of mystical or religious mind.

Does God Exist?

Now we want to develop the theory of justification of religious propositions. The pivotal problem here is the issue of existence of God. Our arguments are based on two key ideas:

  • Existence of God is a mystical idea – it is not a factual proposition.
  • Religion has existence as a social system.

A religion exists scientifically in the form of X-Y coordinate system. The mystical faculty of human mind has the dual purposes of self-interest (SEI) and society-interest (SOI), which together serve like a manufacturing process to produce religion as a system. We may add that a religion has positive and negative parts, representing respectively the goodness and evil associated with religious activities.

TyHDTI scheme is applied in order to formulate religious proposition of cause-effect. Theist beliefs like God exists, Evil exists, God is love, heaven and hell exist, God saved me from the accident and so on are such inferences.

Let us consider the analogy of a particular character of a novel or cinema. This character is produced by the mystic mind of the author; as such it does not have existence. The character is a form of idea; it is not a part of this concrete universe. In other words, the character is not an ontological thing. We may add that the propositions about characters of novel or cinema are justified by the existence of Art as a social system. Now we can use this analogy in order to elucidate the cognitive status of theoretical entities of religion. Accordingly, we now conclude that religious propositions or beliefs are justified by the existence of Religion as a social system. Mystical and theological concepts — mainly God, Evil, soul, heaven and hell – are proposed and taught by religious leaders.

We can hold that the concepts of God and Evil must account for the opposite aspects of good and bad experienced in the world from mystical perspective. Further, the world has the duality of material and mental aspects. Hence, both God and Evil are composed of matter and mind; it agrees with the good and bad parts of the X-Y model.

The system model, showing God and Evil as opposite religious realities, solves the traditional problem of evil. We have many instances where good and pious persons are killed in accidents or natural disasters. In order to explain mystically the numerous types of evils in the world, it is necessary to treat such events as the actions of Evil. We should accept that God is the source of all good aspects exclusively; God is not responsible for any evil event. This is the solution to the problem of evil through mystical logic.

Do we have soul?

The theory of justification of religious propositions, as presented above, is valid in the case of inferences about soul also. When you are participating in religious activities, you would adopt religious point of view so as to believe in the existence of soul with good and bad properties. This belief is justified by the existence of religion as a social system. But scientifically we can assert that human being is a combination of three principal parts namely body, life and mind. Finally, it is reiterated that metaphysical concepts like God, soul, Evil, heaven, etc are required to get mystical experience and to formulate knowledge pertaining to religious system.

Science–religion Synthesis

For our analysis, science-religion conflict is defined as the divergence between science and religion with regard to the basic ideas or theories about the fundamental aspects of nature such as origin of universe, life, mind and evolution. With the growth of science, the influence of Church got weakened in western societies. This resulted in the spread of atheism, which is the idea that God does not exist.

As a response, Roman Catholic Church professed the approach of linking science and religion by independence thesis (double-truth theory). Then the world of matter is the subject of science, while religion claimed the exclusive right to speculate about God, mind and the inner self. For example, Pope Pius XII declared in 1951 that the scientific theory of Big Bang is in conformity with the biblical belief in ex nihilo creation by God. Further, human body evolved taking its origin from pre-existing living matter, but the spiritual soul is immediately created by God. But the approach of Church is not applicable to quantum physics as well as biological science. Independence thesis (double-truth theory) stands now refuted.

For refuting the independence thesis of Roman Catholic Church, we have to consider the system view pertaining to the propositions of science and religion. The different faculties are inter-related subsystems. They have to be in harmony for our mental health. In this way, we can say that the faculties are to be in harmonious relation. Though their respective theories and methods are in two classes, a well-trained person can be enlightened by both.

As per the foregoing, science and religion are two parallel systems of knowledge following the TyHDTI scheme. But the different faculties of human cognitive mind are unified by the tenets of System Philosophy, and it provides the unification of science and religion.

More specifically, we must treat the two propositions — P1 ( This universe has originated by multiverse and Big Bang ) and P2 ( This universe has originated by the creation of God) – without implying any hostility or inconsistency. Here we can use the analogy of two windows of my room, where one is fitted with green glass while the other is fitted with blue glass. I can see and get two different views about external objects in green and blue colors; but both are enjoyable.

Since the two propositions P1 and P2 have difference in meaning and purposes, both are acceptable recognizing the plurality of visions. Science is a practical and objective knowledge, whereas religion is a subjective experience. They are complementary like two sides of a coin. If you ignore one kind of knowledge and embrace the other exclusively, you will not have a sound personality.

This is a layered view of universe or knowledge. Since science and religion have separate TyHDTI schemes, the corresponding theories stand apart; they cannot be related or merged. It is not proper to insert religious or metaphysical concepts in the theories of science including cosmology.