I don’t think most people bother reflecting on their ontological commitments. They are taken for granted like the piped water and public education. This is what I was born into, and since everyone else is running on the same plane of knowledge, I’ll go along for the ride.
Life is certainly simpler that way. There’s a lot of ground to cover if one were to try to get down to the very building blocks of the better life. To explain why things are done when and for whom. Dr. Arthur Holmes does a good job of giving you a tour of the history of philosophical thought, if you have the time and inclination to follow along.
In this clip he’s talking about contribution from Pythagorus and Heraclitus. Both were interested in the dual nature of things. Both worked with the concept of change through time. Heraclitus is most noted for having pointed out that one never steps in the same river twice. By the time you dip your toe back below the cool substance, the water that was there will have washed down stream replaced by a fresh liquid.
But first, Dr. Holmes tells us that both thinkers were interested in the thought that all things have two sides, each of which is equally important. There is a double aspect to all things depending on the view from which you gaze.
For instance, a sound barrier wall is erected along side a highway- hurray! The neighboring homeowners view it as a benefit as the roar from the freeway is muted to a background buzz. The shop owner, however, is penalized as the thousands of eyes that used to see Tip Top Auto Body as they drove to up and back can no longer be reminded of its presence hidden behind the wall of timbers. The same wall provides to one group a benefit and to another a penalty.
As the two aspects of things cause some to seek one solution and others to seek another, there is change. Which brings us back to Pythagorus, the mathematician, and Heraclitus who insisted there are two aspects to everything. On the one hand everything seems to be in the process of change, on the other hand there is order. When a road is enlarged, a large group of commuters benefit. But the homes along the road endure more noise. A large group benefits; a smaller group internalizes an expense. One road. Two perspectives.
Dr Holmes explains these two pre-Socratic thinkers were confident that despite the fluidity in the system, despite the ongoing change, nature seeks out an order. In a reaction to the noise, a wall is built. And on it goes. Two perspectives, a change, and a return to order.
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