Ontological Evasions in Physics, Part 8 Dark Matter and Dark Energy: The Convenient Invisibility of the Unseen Majority

Cosmology confronts us with a stark mismatch between observation and theory. Galaxies rotate too quickly, the universe’s expansion accelerates, and visible matter accounts for only a fraction of cosmic mass-energy. To reconcile these anomalies, physics posits dark matter and dark energy: unseen substances that make up roughly 95% of the universe.

At first glance, this is an empirical success: equations are balanced, predictions match large-scale structure, and anomalies are “explained.” Yet these are also classic ontological placeholders—conceptual stand-ins that paper over gaps in understanding without addressing the underlying relational structure.

The evasive manoeuvre

Dark matter and dark energy are defined by what they do, not by what they are. They are inferred from their effects, yet their ontological status remains mysterious. Instead of reconceiving gravity, inertia, or large-scale relational dynamics, physics posits invisible substances to absorb inconsistency.

This manoeuvre preserves the formal apparatus of cosmology while evading the deeper question: how does relational actualisation operate at cosmic scales? The universe is not fully understood; it is “patched” with placeholders.

The ontological cost

By relying on dark matter and dark energy as explanatory crutches, physics suspends the need for relational coherence. Most of the cosmos becomes an unknowable reservoir: mass-energy that acts but cannot be directly individuated, related, or construed.

Relation is reduced to observable interaction. Possibility and alignment are subordinated to the necessity of filling the gaps in equations. Actuality is incomplete: the universe is mostly ghostly, inferred rather than relationally grounded.

The epistemic collapse

If 95% of reality is unknown in principle, then predictive and explanatory power is undermined. Models are constrained by observation, yet most of what matters remains invisible. Explanations risk becoming tautological: “We cannot see it, but it must exist to make the equations work.” Science teeters between empirical rigor and speculative bookkeeping.

The theological return

Once more, what appears as scientific problem-solving echoes theological structures. Dark matter and dark energy function as invisible agents ensuring cosmic order. They guarantee consistency where relational understanding is incomplete, much like a divine hand maintaining harmony in a partially inscrutable cosmos.

A relational reframing

From a relational perspective, the anomalies motivating dark matter and dark energy may signal a misapprehension of large-scale relational dynamics, not the existence of hidden substances. Gravitation, inertia, and cosmological expansion are emergent phenomena arising from collective alignment across scales.

In this view, the unseen majority is not literally invisible matter, but a domain of relational constraints and interactions yet fully mapped. Actualisation is not suspended; it is misinterpreted. Possibility and constraint operate relationally, and the cosmos can be intelligible without invisible placeholders.

Conclusion

Dark matter and dark energy are physics’ most conspicuous ontological placeholders: solutions that maintain equations while evading relational understanding. A relational reframing restores coherence and intelligibility, emphasising that cosmic structure emerges from actualised relations, not from unseen entities conjured to fill gaps.