Physics frequently frames reality in dualistic pairs: matter vs. energy, wave vs. particle, local vs. nonlocal. While useful as heuristic distinctions, these dualisms are sometimes treated as ontologically primary, suggesting independent, oppositional substances or processes.
This is the distortion: heuristic contrasts are mistaken for fundamental bifurcations in being.
The Physics Move
Wave–particle duality in quantum mechanics is often presented as a deep metaphysical division.
Matter and energy are treated as separate ontic categories, despite their relational interconvertibility (e.g., E=mc²).
Local vs. nonlocal interactions are sometimes framed as distinct modes of existence rather than relational manifestations.
Why This Overextends Ontology
Dualism misrepresents relational actualisation:
It suggests independent ontic categories where there are only perspectives on relational processes.
It obscures the fluidity and interdependence that underpin phenomena.
It creates conceptual tension and paradoxes (e.g., wave–particle duality) that vanish when viewed relationally.
The distortion lies in reifying contrasts: what are analytic distinctions are read as ontic divisions.
The Relational Reframing
From a relational standpoint:
Wave–particle behaviour, matter–energy, and locality–nonlocality are perspectival manifestations of relational patterns, not independent entities.
Apparent dualities reflect different modes of describing alignment, not separate building blocks of reality.
Recognising dualisms as heuristic, not fundamental, clarifies the relational fabric and dissolves paradoxical tensions.
Thus, dualism is intelligible — but only as a descriptive distinction, not as a primitive feature of being.
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