Object-Oriented Ontology 5. LR Bryant 1.

 The Democracy of Objects- LR Bryant. 2011. Open Humanities Press.

Click on the Figure

Mosquito and me, a car and the carton imagined cat (Tom), Marxism as an ideology and God equally exist. They share one thing equally, existence. God does not exist more truly than me, a book on my table is not less real than a mosquito flying around a lamp, and a mere idea or an image in my mind is not less real than the moon. All objects exist on the same ontological footing. However, that does not mean they have equal "power." I, a human object, can easily get rid of a mosquito, whereas - with the advanced medicine - it cannot do the same for me. If you believe in that, then you espouse the philosophy of flat ontology.  

Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) is to a wide extent flat ontology. 

Flat ontology implies that there is no entity that is more real than others; hence, there is no God, there is no entity that transcends the other entities/objects (otherwise, this entity will be more real than the rest). Moreover, there is no world.  If there is a world, then this world would be the condition for other objects to exist; in this case, the world would be the most real ever. Since objects exist at the same level of the being, then they are similar at the essence; i.e., there is no object that is essentially different from others: the division of subject-object is rejected in OOO. Human beings are not subjects, which are distinct from all other objects by their self-awareness, by epistemology. No. Humans and cars are both objects, and the difference between them is the difference between two objects: A car relates itself to other objects by its qualities (move, transport, burn fuel, etc.), and humans relate themselves to other objects by their own qualities (knowledge). Knowledge and burning fuel are two ways for objects to meet other objects. I know you, I know the sky, I know how to walk; a car moves, a car burns fuels, etc. These actions are the same in terms of their existence. Only objects are what exists; no subjects. 

No Transcending Entity; No World; No Subject-Object Division 

Only Objects Exist

Pendulum

To explain Bryant's theory, I will explain an example given by him: Pendulum. The pendulum is a symbol of Object, any object. This Pendulum-object is always split: On the one hand, the Pendulum is a thing-in-itself, a real thing that does not need to appear, does not need to swing, does not need to be known, and does not need to be related to any other objects to exist. It exists by and for itself even without the need to manifest in the world. Indeed, this Pendulum is always withdrawing from the world, from itself as a manifestation, to be very much itself, to be unseen, to be un-manifestable. The Pendulum as an object-in-itself, as a real object, is a small ball and a string. These ball and string are its endo-relations; they are its system. The Pendulum is a system of a deep structure, of endo-relations: ball and string. The ball can fall down and the string can be cut. This does not matter, the Pendulum will continue to be the Pendulum as long as another ball can be linked to its string or a new string can be fixed to its ball. For a system, the endo-relations are what matters not the parts. The parts are substitutable. The endo-relations are not. Your body always loses and earns new cells, but it continues to be your body. The US can have some citizens plotting against it, but it is still the US of these citizens even when many of them die, others are born, and many abandon their American nationality. A ball can betray the Pendulum; nevertheless, it continues to be the Pendulum since the relation between the ball and the string is maintained. The object as the real object, the Pendulum-in-itself, is what is called substance. The substance cannot contact with other real objects or objects-in-themselves. The Pendulum cannot meet, interact with other objects such as a table. Why? Because the Pendulum-in-itself is always withdrawing to the endo-relations where no other object can enter. 

On the second hand, the Pendulum swings, its ball occupies many positions, it interacts with the air, it meets the gravity, and it can be hit by a human hand and stops: The Pandelium manifests, or it acts in its local manifestation. The Pendulum can appear, act itself, act its substance through its exo-relations (relations with other objects, such as gravity). It translates its substance into qualities: Each possible position of its all is a symbol of a possible or potential quality that the Pendulum can do, can act, can manifest as it responds to other objects (through its exo-relations). When qualities are produced by the Pendulum, then it transforms from being only real (a thing-in-itself) to be real and actual. 

Thus,

Any object is a split-object: 

1. real object, a system of endo-relations, a real object that withdraws from the world and from itself, a substance.
2. actual object, a local manifestation, a potential action that it produces in and according to its exo-relations with other objects. 

Needless to say, an object can be real without being actual. That is why Bryant accepts the idea of potentiality. I will explain more his theory by using another example from his book: Mug.
 

I have a mug on my table. The mug is an object. It is a split-object. On the one hand, it is the mug-in-itself, the substance mug that no other object can enter into its endo-relations. The mug appears, acts, manifests on my table by releasing a few of its qualities: it blues (more precisely than saying it is blue, we need to say it blues or it is bluing) when it enters an exo-relation with the sunlight. Its endo-relations allow it to respond to the sunlight, so it blues (is bluing), and it allows it or it endows it with the potentiality of redding (coloring itself with red) when it enters another exo-relation with red light. There are unlimited potentialities that the mug can do, can actualize according to its exo-relations. However, it cannot actualize all of these potential manifestations (or qualities) at once. It cannot blue and red and black at the same time. The Pendulum cannot put its ball in the whole potential points that it can occupy at once. This is impossible. Hence, the endo-relations of a substance allude to more power than the manifestation of that substance because the endo-relations are multiple; the object as real, in-itself, is multiple, not simple. That is why it can manifest in infinite ways. In addition to that, the mug cannot enter an exo-relation with a mosquito; a mosquito flying above it does not help the mug to show any potentiality of its qualities. 

Thus,

An object is an engine of difference (because as it acts in its local manifestation, it generates differences with other objects in their manifestation), and an object is a generative mechanism and is power. It manifests, it acts. It withdraws and it differentiates itself from others. 

The Whole-Parts Problem

Are the ball and the string parts of the whole Pendulum? No. According to the OOO, the ball and the string are objects and they exist independently from the Pendulum. Is not the ball able to betray the string and run away? It is an object. 

The ball, the string, the Pendulum do not exist in the world; they exist in each other. They produce what we see as the world, which is nothing by their actual or local manifestations. The ball manifests in the Pendulum and the Pendulum manifests in an environment that it creates (ability to swing) and in exo-relations with other produced environments, such as the gravity that is a manifestation of the Eath-object. 

The World does not exist; it is nothing more than the manifestation and exo-relations of objects.