A Step “Beyond”: Relation is Fundamental

Abstract

The thesis of universal internality, which functions as an axiom of this relational metaphysic, sets the stage for a wholly adequate answer to the question with which this inquiry began, namely: “What is a Thing?” It should be pointed out, however, that none of the monistic idealists was able to frame an adequate answer in terms of that thesis alone. It was as though the thesis, while intrinsically reasonable, resolved the question of reality by elevating one of the options of classical polar thinking, namely, idealism, to the level of a dogma. Even though the thesis of universal internality is a close approximation to a relational view of reality, those who held it most tenaciously assigned fundamentally to the mental, or rational component of experience.