I woke up to a desert wrapped in white. It had snowed all
night and my environment had changed its character. After a long walk with my
dog, I decided to pick up an old book, sit by the fireplace and watch the snow
from the comfort of my chair. My dog immediately found his place next to my
feet and started snoring gently.
The book I picked up is one I have often read. It is
Heisenberg’s Physics and Philosophy, published in London in 1958. I often
gravitate towards physics when order and harmony are on my mind. And watching
the snow cover the brown of the desert seemed a perfect moment for re-reading
this book. Physics and Quantum Mechanics have been of scientific attraction to
me even if I often find myself wondering how the footprints of science and
philosophy intersect.
Every reading is a new discovery. This time a sentence on
page 160 caught my attention. It proposes:
“… But atoms and the elementary particles themselves are not
as real; they form a world of potentialities or possibilities rather than one
of things or facts ... It's a quantitative version of the old concept of
potentia from Aristotle's philosophy.”
Probability, potentiality and Aristotle. I realized that I
did not know enough of the Greek philosopher’s work in this area and wanted to
learn more. The order physics seeks and the harmony philosophy pursues have
often shaped my outlook for the ordinary.
… Well, it seems that Aristotle never used the term
potential, but scholars translated his work by replacing the original terms of
energeia (or entelecheia) and dynamis as actus and potentia. The rationale is
that energia may mean action or determination and not strictly energy. The same
with dynamis which best translates as aptitude to change, hence potentia, which
is the potential for future change or transformation. In contrast actus, in my
understanding, is the actualization process which is all in the moment, in the
present.
Hence the duality of the Aristotle’s philosophy.
In fact dualism is a central philosophical theme from Plato
to Aristotle to Descartes. Good or evil, matter or substance, belief or not. It
is the 0 and 1 in the digital world, and the B&W in photography. Dualism is
relatively easy to understand – I find the challenge in grasping the power of
the transitional phases. Like the tonal range in B&W photography or the
actualization of potential.
But for today, I plan to just think about energia and
dynamis.
December 12, 2015
©Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2015
