All The Underlying Principles Of Physics That Govern The Behaviour Of Our Universe — Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: xv):

The purpose of this book is to convey to the reader some feeling for what is surely one of the most important and exciting voyages of discovery that humanity has embarked upon. This is the search for the underlying principles that govern the behaviour of our universe. It is a voyage that has lasted for more than two-and-a-half millennia, so it should not surprise us that substantial progress has at last been made. But this journey has proved to be a profoundly difficult one, and real understanding has, for the most part, come but slowly. This inherent difficulty has led us in many false directions; hence we should learn caution. Yet the 20th century has delivered us extraordinary new insights — some so impressive that many scientists of today have voiced the opinion that we may be close to a basic understanding of all the underlying principles of physics.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, 'the behaviour of our universe' is not governed by 'underlying principles'. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, the two differ in terms of order of experience: 'the behaviour of our universe' is first-order meanings (phenomena), whereas 'the underlying principles' are second-order meanings (metaphenomena), which are reconstruals of first-order phenomena. The claim that metaphenomena govern phenomena is the claim that a map governs the territory it represents.

Secondly, to the extent that 'the underlying principles' are the laws of physics, the notion of them governing misconstrues 'law' in the sense of modalisation (probability/usuality) as 'law' in the sense of modulation (obligation/inclination). The laws of physics are probabilistic statements about 'the behaviour of our universe', not obligatory commands that 'the behaviour of our universe' obeys.

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, a scientific understanding is a reconstrual of data (phenomena) as scientific theory (metaphenomena), and a 'real' scientific understanding is one that is consistent with scientific principles and validated by the data.

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, the notion that 'all the underlying principles of physics' are there to be eventually understood betrays a 'transcendent' view of meaning: that meaning transcends semiotic systems. In the opposing 'immanent' view, meaning is solely a property of semiotic systems, such that phenomena (data) are meanings construed of experience, and metaphenomena (scientific theories) are meanings construed of phenomena. Crucially, the findings of Quantum physics validate the 'immanent' view, and invalidate the 'transcendent' view, since they demonstrate, in the words of John Wheeler, that 'no phenomenon is a real phenomenon until it is an observed phenomenon'.

In the 'immanent' view, the history of science is not a progress to a 'real' understanding of pre-existing principles, but the evolution of semiotic systems which adapt to changes in the environment in which they function — both phenomenal (e.g. the data provided by new technologies) and metaphenomenal (e.g. new theories).