Maudhi’ means a place or space within which something is characterized
or objectified. In Whiteheadean language: Maudhi’ is a
place or space
within which
some potentiality is realized i.e. objectified and no longer a possible
potential instead definite and actual.
There are two kinds of objectifications or Being-ness:
1. ‘Aradh: Needs Maudhi’ or space to objectify within
2. Jauhar: Needs no such space
In more western technical terms Maudi’ can be translated into stratum,
substratum, space, place, field or ether.
Note:
By space or place we mean some Wujud
(Being) that
has spatial attributes e.g. within, above, below, through
and so on.
Edward Nelson
"No physical system of finitely many degrees of freedom is truly
isolated; it is always in interaction with a background field."
Source: Quantum Fluctuations, Princeton Series in Physics.
Potentialities that require a space to become i.e. Aradh, upon
objectification they appear within their corresponding space. Simply by
observing the Maudhi’ (The Space) one can spot them when objectified,
or you might say the ‘Aradh is observable within its Maudhi’.
Potentialities that require no space i.e. Jauhar are not subject to any
observation i.e. unobservable.
‘Aradh is identified by two words:
1. The Given: Meaning a decision was made and the
objectification placed the object within the Maudhi’ (The Background
Space)
2. The Presented: Meaning a presentation was made to
some observer and the objectification was observed as in the form of an
object upon the stage of the Maudhi’
Whitehead
"For realistic thought, the notion of ‘givenness’ carries with it a
reference beyond the mere data in question. It refers to a ‘decision’
whereby what is ‘given’ is separated off from what for that occasion is
‘not given’. The word is used in its root sense of a ‘cutting off’.
(Dara: Cut off and placed within a Maudhi’ (The Background Space)."
The ‘Aradh (The Given) when does not appear within the Maudhi’ (The
Background Space), the background space is observed as being devoid of
the ‘Aradh! And when the ‘Aradh (The Given) is presented within the
background space, then it is observed. Therefore the ‘actuality midst
the potentialities is simulated as such:
Whitehead
“‘Actuality’ is a decision amid ‘potentiality’. The meaning of
‘givenness’ is that what is ‘given’ might not have been ‘given’; and
that what is not ‘given’ might have been ‘given’. “
Coherence
The past Logician Sages used to say:
The definition with What-ness for What-ness!
التعريف بالماهية للماهية
Meaning there has to be an a priori What-ness, as the background
assumption or definition or construct, which would be used to define
some de novo What-ness. We cannot fathom something from nothing:
Whitehead
“‘Coherence’, as here employed, means that the fundamental ideas, in
terms of which the scheme is developed, presuppose each other
so that
in isolation they are meaningless. This requirement does not
mean that
they are defined in terms of each other, it means that what is
indefinable in one such notion cannot be abstracted from its relevance
to the other notions. It is the ideal of speculative philosophy that
its fundamental notions shall not seem capable of abstraction from each
other. In other words, it is presupposed that no entity can be
conceived in complete abstraction from the system of the universe.”
‘Aradh (The Given) deals with nine types of What-ness:
1. Quantitative, the What-ness is measurable within
the background space e.g. length
2. Qualitative, an attribute that can be felt within
the background space e.g. hot
3. Correlation, relational linkage to something else
within the background space e.g. paternity
4. Spatial
5. Temporal
6. Integration, the What-ness is integrated into
something within the background space else e.g. molecule as integration
atoms
7. Possession, something belongs to the What-ness or
it belongs to something else within the background space e.g. the arm
has strength
8. Performance, the What-ness does deeds to others in
within the background space
9. Excitations, the What-ness is acted upon by
another agent within the background space
©
2008-2002, Dara O Shayda