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Ontological Perspectives in the Philosophy of Physics
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Ontological Perspectives in the Philosophy of Physics

A special issue of Philosophies (ISSN 2409-9287).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (11 May 2026) | Viewed by 5253

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Favio Cala Vitery

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Natural Sciences and Engineering, Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Bogota 111711, Colombia
Interests: spacetime metaphysics; quantum mechanics interpretation; epistemology of simulation in social sciences

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite submissions to this Special Issue devoted to the tripoint of the conceptual history of physics, the foundations of physics, and the philosophy of physics, with a deliberate emphasis on ontological questions. Our aim is to balance historically informed analysis with contemporary foundational debates, and to show how the evolution of core concepts continues to shape what we understand the physical world to be.

We particularly welcome contributions that probe the ontological commitments of the following major frameworks and research programs: prospects for unification across fundamental theories; the metaphysics of spacetime in general relativity (substantivalism, relationalism, and background independence); interpretations of quantum mechanics and their ontic claims (e.g., wave function realism, collapse and no-collapse views, and ψ-ontology–ψ-epistemology debates recast in ontological terms); the status of entities such as fields, particles, events, and processes; and accounts of emergence and temporal asymmetry in statistical mechanics and cosmology, including the arrow of time and coarse-graining. Historical–conceptual studies that illuminate how these ideas arose, shifted, and stabilized are especially encouraged, provided they connect directly to live ontological questions in contemporary physics.

This Special Issue will primarily consider research articles and critical review papers. We are interested in work that integrates historical scholarship with clear philosophical analysis and, where appropriate, formal or conceptual tools drawn from physics. Case studies that clarify conceptual change, comparative analyses across theoretical programs, and synoptic essays that take stock of current options all fall within the scope of this Special Issue. Our goal is to develop a coherent collection that advances ontological understanding while remaining grounded in the conceptual history that gave these debates their shape.

Dr. Favio Cala Vitery
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Philosophies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • conceptual history of physics
  • foundations of physics
  • ontology
  • unification
  • spacetime metaphysics
  • quantum mechanics interpretations
  • emergence
  • arrow of time
  • symmetry and gauge invariance
  • entropy and coarse-graining

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 446 KB  
Article
Irreversibility by Singular Limits: An Ontological Account of Turbulent Dissipation (Euler, Onsager, and the Defect Measure)
by Waleed Mouhali
Philosophies 2026, 11(2), 29; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies11020029 - 28 Feb 2026
Viewed by 782
Abstract
We argue that turbulent irreversibility is best explained as an asymptotic feature of a singular inviscid limit—a reclassification of admissible entities and balances at ν→0—rather than as a mere residual effect of molecular viscosity. Tracing a conceptual line from Euler [...] Read more.
We argue that turbulent irreversibility is best explained as an asymptotic feature of a singular inviscid limit—a reclassification of admissible entities and balances at ν→0—rather than as a mere residual effect of molecular viscosity. Tracing a conceptual line from Euler and Kármán–Howarth to Onsager, Duchon–Robert, Kato/Prandtl, and modern convex integration results, we show that the limit theory reclassifies the admissible entities: from smooth Euler fields (energy conserving) to rough weak solutions equipped with a positive defect measure in the energy balance. The constant inter-scale process (energy flux) observed at high-Reynolds number therefore persists at ν=0 as a structural feature of the limit ontology. We articulate three selection principles—the local energy inequality, the exact third-order law, and scale-locality—as ontological constraints that reconcile mathematical non-uniqueness with physical uniqueness. A brief conceptual history clarifies how the arrow of time in turbulence emerged through successive shifts of entities and invariants, and a comparison with other singular limit explanations (Boltzmannian irreversibility, shocks, renormalization) situates the account within general foundations of physics. Methodologically, we recast LES/closures as asymptotic mediators validated by flux plateaus and viscosity-free diagnostics, not microscopic subgrid fidelity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ontological Perspectives in the Philosophy of Physics)
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23 pages, 3898 KB  
Article
Light, Ontology, and Analogy: A Non-Concordist Reading of Qur’an 24:35 in Dialogue with Philosophy and Physics
by Adil Guler
Philosophies 2026, 11(1), 15; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies11010015 - 31 Jan 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1307
Abstract
This article develops a structural–analogical framework to investigate conceptual resonances between Qur’an 24:35—the Verse of Light—and contemporary relational models in physics, while maintaining firm epistemic boundaries between theology, philosophy, and empirical science. The Qur’anic metaphors of niche, glass, tree, oil, and layered light [...] Read more.
This article develops a structural–analogical framework to investigate conceptual resonances between Qur’an 24:35—the Verse of Light—and contemporary relational models in physics, while maintaining firm epistemic boundaries between theology, philosophy, and empirical science. The Qur’anic metaphors of niche, glass, tree, oil, and layered light depict a graded ontology of manifestation in which being unfolds through ordered relations grounded in a transcendent divine command (amr). By contrast, modern physics—as represented by quantum field theory, loop quantum gravity, and cosmological models—operates entirely within immanent causality, conceiving spacetime and matter as relational, dynamic, and structurally emergent. Despite their distinct registers, both discourses converge structurally around a shared grammar of potentiality, relation, and manifestation. Drawing on classical Islamic metaphysics—especially al-Ghazālī’s Mishkāt al-Anwār—alongside contemporary relational ontologies in physics (Smolin, Rovelli, Markopoulou), the article argues that “real time” functions as an ontological choice that conditions intelligibility, agency, and novelty. The Qur’anic notion of nūr is interpreted not as physical luminosity but as the metaphysical ground of determinability, while the quantum vacuum is treated as a field of latent potential—without suggesting empirical equivalence. Rather than concordism, the comparison highlights a structural resonance (used here as a heuristic notion indicating pattern-level affinity rather than equivalence, correspondence, or empirical verification): both traditions affirm that reality is neither static nor substance-based, but arises through dynamic relational processes grounded—whether transcendently or immanently—in principled order. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ontological Perspectives in the Philosophy of Physics)
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16 pages, 952 KB  
Article
Entropy and Moral Order: Qur’ānic Reflections on Irreversibility, Agency, and Divine Justice in Dialog with Science and Theology
by Adil Guler
Philosophies 2026, 11(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies11010008 - 13 Jan 2026
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1836
Abstract
This article reconceptualizes entropy not as a metaphysical substance but as a structural constraint that shapes the formation, energetic cost, and durability of records. It links the coarse-grained—and typically irreversible—flow of time to questions of moral responsibility and divine justice. Drawing on the [...] Read more.
This article reconceptualizes entropy not as a metaphysical substance but as a structural constraint that shapes the formation, energetic cost, and durability of records. It links the coarse-grained—and typically irreversible—flow of time to questions of moral responsibility and divine justice. Drawing on the second law of thermodynamics, information theory, and contemporary cosmology, it advances an analogical and operational framework in which actions are accountable in an analogical sense insofar as they leave energetically costly traces that resist erasure. Within a Qur’ānic metaphysical horizon, concepts such as kitāb (Book), ṣaḥīfa (Record), and tawba (Repentance) function as structural counterparts to informational inscription and revision, without reducing theological meaning to physical process. In contrast to Kantian ethics, which grounds moral law in rational autonomy, the Qurʾān situates responsibility within the irreversible structure of time. Understood in this way, entropy is not a threat to coherence but a condition for accountability. By placing the Qurʾānic vision in dialog with modern science and theology, the article contributes to broader discussions on justice, agency, and the metaphysics of time within the science–religion discourse. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ontological Perspectives in the Philosophy of Physics)
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