User:Dynamictao/The Principle of Oneness

Oneness has many meanings and is represented by various names in many philosophical and religious systems. In Taoism, nature is an order based on Oneness of the myriad things. This is simply stated as "The Dao produced One." In Chapter 1 of the Tao Te Ching, Lao-tzu started with the two opposite objects, as a simple dualism, to describe the reality of nature. Lao-tzu then discussed how we can preserve reality in dualistic thinking. Each description of the reality must be a whole, so all descriptions can represent the Oneness of nature. This is also the concept of Oneness of Parmenides. This is a general philosophical principle: The Principle of Oneness.

In dualism, a reality is expressed in terms of two opposite objects. However, these objects cannot describe a reality as a whole. Therefore, these objects are interconnected. After proper interconnections, the objects will form patterns as the actualities. The objects have the potentiality to form the actuality. These actualities are the realistic representation of the reality in our dualistic world. Each actuality is a whole. In dualism, there are two independent patterns that can represent the reality. The two actualities are simultaneous and equivalent representations of the same reality. The two actualities are closely related; therefore, the reality is not divided. As in ontological dualism, the two representations are simultaneous and equivalent realities. Thus, Oneness is preserved at the actuality level.

Objects are based on senses of the multitudes of things. When objects are used to represent a reality, the objects are potentialities to form the actualities. A reality must be whole so each actuality must include all objects in a pattern that is whole. Each actuality is independent and behave like a monad with qualities specified by Leibniz’s Monadology: eternal, indecomposable, individual, subject to their own laws, un-interacting, and each reflecting the entire universe in a pre-established harmony.

This Principle of Oneness is first identified in the analysis of Tao philosophy, but the principle is general. The concept of Oneness is also the core of the Pre-Socratic philosophy, the Indian philosophy, and the Buddhist philosophy. In Tao philosophy, this principle is implicit in the concept of Te 德. In Indian and Buddhist philosophy, the principle is in the concept of Dharma. The purpose is to preserve Oneness of reality or nature. The same principle is also observed by most modern philosophers and scientific investigations.

A Logic Model
A logic model has been proposed to show how a reality can be logically described with the objects. As shown in Fig.1, in a dualistic system, there are two objects y and w. These two objects interact and mixed to form two actualities, Y and W. The two actualities are the proper representations of the reality denoted as S.



Each actuality is a full representation of the reality. The two actualities are equivalent since they are formed by the same objects, same interactions, and the same principle of interaction.

At the object level, the objects are the potentialities to form the actualities. The interactions are maintained between the objects in order to preserve the wholeness of the actualities. At the actuality level, the results of the interactions form the proper patterns of objects to characterize the reality. The full characteristics of the objects disappear. Due to such interactions, the objects are mixed in the patterns of actualities.

The only condition of the interactions between the objects is that the actualities are stable and independent. The integration process may be shown as Figure 2: In this process, the two objects, y and w, are harmonized to form the “stable” actualities, Y and W. The Integration Process shown in Fig.2 is commonly used in sciences to find stable states from unstable states through interactions. In science, the interaction are assumed between the objects in order to determine the proper final states with a theoretical model. However, in this logic model, the interactions are not known. The only condition is that the actualities must be free and independent, as any reality is. With this condition alone, the interaction model is a standard problem in science and its solution is well-known. The final states Y and W by Equation 1.

Equation 1 shows the patterns of the objects within the actuality. The patterns of actualities Y and W are superposition of the objects. The coefficients (a, b) represent the degree of participation of each object in the patterns; their values are determined by the strength of the interactions.

The Complementarity Patterns
In dualism, each object is a sub-domain and all objects constitute the whole domain of the reality. Nothing else is said about the nature of the objects or their interactions. The only condition is the Principle of Oneness that the actualities must be whole.

Equation 1 shows the general complementarity patterns of reality.

The objects of thought are y and w, but the reality is represented as Y and W. The patterns of Equation 1 may be associated with the familiar Yin and Yang in the Tai-ji Diagram 太極圖 in the Chinese philosophy. Figure 3(a) is the traditional dualistic view, where the two objects are segregated. Figure 3(b) is just a graphic representation of the mathematical relations of Equation 1. The Tai-ji pattern is the most general pattern to represent any reality in dualism.

In Fig.3(b), the two patterns appear at the same time and are equivalent. They represent equally the properties of the same system. They are ontologically equivalent, as in ontological dualism. In this model, a reality can only be represented by patterns of the objects as potentialities. The patterns are organizations of objects in different forms. For example, the patterns may be represented in terms of many “opposite pairs,” such as Wu and Yu, Yin and Yang, Black and White, etc. The resulting pattern is always a complementarity of the opposite pairs. Although the objects are different, the patterns are the same. This universal pattern of complementarity also appear in quantum mechanics in its treatment of particle and wave, as two objects.

This logic model deals with the logical relation between the parts and the whole, i.e., between the many and the one, which is also an ancient unresolved philosophical issue in the West since Aristotle. The relation between the absolute reality and the actualities is “one and many.” But the many actualities are equivalent representations for the same reality. Therefore, the many actualities are not truly many. This is also the view expressed in dialectical monism.

Complementarity is expressed by Hilary Putnam as "If one must use metaphorical language, then let the metaphor be this: the mind and the world jointly make up the mind and the world."

Systems Thinking
In systems thinking, a reality is a complex system that has a set of objects which together form the patterns of organization. Each reality is represented as an organic form or pattern consisting of objects. The patterns can represent the reality of the system. These patterns are the actualities that are similar to the potentiality and actuality of Aristotle. Each actuality is complete and contains the dynamic "energy (interactions)" of the objects; each object represents only a potentiality.

The integration process from objects to actualities is the mechanism to demonstrate the process philosophy where the driving forces are the interactions between the objects. The only purpose for such forces in the model is to preserve the Oneness of the system, as a teleological force.

The fundamental principle for both systems and scientific thinking may be discussed in terms of the Principle of Oneness. This principle ensures that our thinking is kept within the scope of reality. Systems thinking is an alternative way of looking at nature. We may apply systems thinking to interpret the paradoxical words of Lao-tzu.

Category: Logic Category: Chinese philosophy Category: Taoism