Alyssa Gaither

Signature Assignment

1). The ontology that appears to make the most sense to me is strangely substance monism by

Spinoza. The first reason is that is it appeared to have the least amount of problems compared to

other ontologies as seen through cross examination. The majority of the other ontologies have

parts as problematic that substance monism does not, in trade for easier problems to solve.

Similarly, science continues to point to such a theory being the case for all of reality. To start big

and move to the smaller, all things that we can observe in this world is composed of compounds

of some kind. Those compounds are simply a combination of atoms that have a motion that is an

“entity of the imagination,” as Leibniz puts similar movement between connected things like a

pair of diamonds. Atoms have been found to be composed of protons, neutrons, and electrons

which themselves have been found to be composed quarks, leptons, gauge bosons, and scalar

bosons. Currently, as we have stagnated, we can determine that all the 118 elements and

countless compounds are really composed of hundreds of variations of these 4 standard

elementary particles. Additionally, Spinoza explained there would be an infinite number of

dimensions, and math can work with up to 10 as used consistently in string theory. As for the

idea of multiverses, in which an infinite amount of different possibilities exist, background

radiation from an attempt to view how the big bang may have occurred gives rise that this could

be potentially true.

2). However, though this has the least amount of problems, someone like an Aristotelian

substance pluralist would be quick to question the validity of substance monism. If all substances

are one, then logically we should be able to record and observe what the soul looks like and

where the soul is, however we have yet to record where the soul truly resides. Additionally, since
everything is the same, then logically, cats and dogs should be capable of speech as we are, since

they are not like the wall, and they do react around other animals of some kinds and show some

signs of intelligence when responding to their name and certain trained commands, however they

are not capable of the kind of communication that humans are capable of. Continuing, if there are

multiple dimensions of space, then there should be some way for us to sense them, as we can

currently sense up to four separate dimensions in space and time. What stops the human mind

from understanding these supposed other 6 dimensions that exist within string theory, if that is

just a part of our universe alone? Additionally, the determinism created in substance monism

would reasonably raise the question of if we truly are the two attributes of thought and extension,

as Leibniz and Descartes pushed for physics to be the principle of movement in the body.

Finally, if God has an infinite amount and infinite kinds of attributes, then why are we not

different substances than God is, seeing as we do not have infinite attributes?

3). To begin, it solves the mind-body interaction problem as a single substance, then they can

interact with itself. Being incapable of recording what the soul looks like or where it is may be

simply a problem of technology not advanced enough to record where the soul is, seeing as

technology’s advancements are helping humanity to identify a lot of reality that we were

incapable of identifying before. As for why cats and dogs are incapable of the complex speech

that we are capable of, Hobbes put it best as we are only different from animals in speech,

otherwise put as “we are different in degree, not in kind.” For sensing the other dimensions that

exist in our world, it is like how a blind person goes through life. They know that there are these

concepts called ‘colors’ and there are such things as ‘shapes’ that they have a vague impression

of, but otherwise, being left all alone, that blind person would never be able to see around them.

We are the blind person who cannot sense the next dimensions, using math to know they exist
though we can’t yet see. As for questioning if we even are the two attributes of extension and

mind, Leibniz answered that as our free will is determined, but it’s determined in our nature,

meaning that the extended portion of ourselves follows the determined nature of our mind. We

also are not separate substances from God as we each are instead a different mode of God with

no individuality aside from the mode we currently occupy. To be a separate substance, we must

“have nothing in common with one another,” Spinoza declares, and God’s infinite attributes

mean everything has something in common with God, and we are different “state[s] of a

substance” as Spinoza put it.

Works Cited

“Multiverse.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Apr. 2019, https://

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse#cite_note-1

“Standard Model.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Apr. 2019,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Model

“What Is a Dimension?” Curious About Astronomy: What Is a Dimension?,

www.web.archive.org/web/20140111191053/http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?numb
er=4