Complementarity of Process and Substance

Hartmann Roemer

Published 2006-02-21Version 1

Process Philosophy endeavours to replace the classical ontology of substances by a process ontology centered on notions of changes and transitions. We argue, that the substantial and processual approach are mutually complementary. Here, complementarity is to be understood in the sense of a "Generalized Quantum Theory", which is not restricted to physical phenomena. From this point of view, restricting oneself to either substance or process ontology would be as ill-advised as exclusively relying on position or momentum observables in physics. A new view on Zeno's paradox lends itself. The meaning of an "internal energy observable", complementary to inner time, and its relationship to "akategorial states" of the human mind will also be discussed.