Weavings
A Spatial Ontology Beyond Relationism and Substantialism
Keywords:
Object Oriented Ontology, Heidegger, Sartre, Things, Existence, SpatialityAbstract
Contemporary ontology faces a fundamental challenge: how can entities exist in relation to their environments without reducing them to mere relations or isolated substances? This paper develops a spatial ontology that goes beyond the relationism-substantialism debate by examining how entities relate to their surroundings through what I term “spatial weavings.” Drawing on phenomenological analysis and biological examples, I argue that entities exist through dynamic spatial engagements that are neither reducible to network effects nor explicable as interactions between pre-given objects. Using Heidegger’s analysis of spatial existence and Sartre’s inversion of essence and existence, I demonstrate that spatiality is not a container for entities, but the fundamental structure through which entities become what they are. This approach contributes to post-correlationist ontology by grounding ontology in the concrete spatial practices through which entities encounter their environments. The paper concludes by extending this analysis beyond human existence to develop a general theory of spatial being that encompasses biological, technical, and material entities.
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