Why do I talk of the ‘behaviour’ of the world or the universe?

Thesis: If the universe is one, the description of distinct parts or entities within that oneness is subject to conditions that allow such a distinction. The word ‘behaviour’ will stand for what things do in order for them to be some entity. This will form the basis of their description and conceptualization. However, this is done on the supposition that their existence as separate entities is, for our purposes, purely conceptual. The question as to whether such entities “actually exist as such” is a waste of time and trivial. It is enough for its behaviour to allow us to identify it as an entity for our purposes. We may allow distinction within the behaviour of the universe because the behaviour of the universe is consistent (in that an occurrence will repeat itself under identical circumstances) and sometimes stable (in that some behaviour forms enduring and stable relations so that we may identify reasonably stable entities such as tables and chairs, apples and pears and things that persist in their being over time) We may allow separateness in so far that some things or entities move relative to other things or entities, but we may not assume that things are separable from the universe itself.

As to the relationship between the words ‘world’ and ‘universe’ I am not completely consistent. Please do not pin me down on this. ‘World’ tends to stand for my conception of the totality of things and universe tends to stand for an objectified totality of things. But for the sake of liveliness I may sometime use them interchangeably in which case I tend to speak of my universe or the world. But there may be exceptions.

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