For much of physics, spacetime has served as the ultimate framework: the stage on which events unfold, objects move, and fields extend. Whether as the flat background of Newtonian mechanics, the curved geometry of general relativity, or the coordinate scaffolding of quantum field theory, spacetime is usually taken as given.
But a relational ontology does not permit such background assumptions.
If there are no entities moving in space, no events occurring at times, and no substratum beneath relation — then space and time cannot be primitive. They must be emergent from relational dynamics.
This is not a new idea in physics — many quantum gravity approaches seek to “derive” spacetime from more fundamental structures. But often they do so using frameworks that still assume spacetime-like features (causal orderings, local interactions, etc.).
The relational ontology proposed here takes a more radical step: there is no spacetime apart from the pattern of constraint in the field of potential.
1. Space as Differentiated Potential
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Space is commonly thought of as an arena with extension and dimensionality,
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In relational terms, this collapses: there are no extended entities, no distance apart from contrast,
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Instead:
Space is the differentiation of potential — the way relational possibilities become distinguishable.
There are no “locations” but nodes of coherence. No “distance” but degrees of mutual constraint.
2. Time as Ordered Actualisation
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Time is usually taken as a parameter along which states evolve — a measure of duration, sequence, and causation,
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But if there are no states, no evolution, no underlying clock — then time too must be reconceived,
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In a relational field:
Time is the ordering of transformations — the pattern by which potential is punctuated into actualisation.
There is no external timeline. Only internal rhythm.
3. Spacetime as Emergent Constraint
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General relativity teaches us that spacetime is not fixed — it bends and stretches in response to mass-energy,
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But even this model treats spacetime as a geometric field defined on a manifold,
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The relational step is to say:
Spacetime is not a substance, nor a geometry, but a systemic pattern of constraint — the coherence condition of a transforming field.
It arises where and when the field supports coherent actualisation across coordinated differentiations.
4. No Substrate, No Metric
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Traditional physics assumes a metric: a way to measure length, angle, duration,
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But all such measures are defined within a spacetime model — circular if spacetime itself is in question,
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From a relational view:
All metrics are derived from relational structure — they are not prior to the field but emergent within it.
A distance is a difference that matters; a duration is a separation of transformations under constraint.
5. The Illusion of Continuity
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Spacetime is usually treated as continuous — infinitely divisible and smooth,
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But quantum theory suggests discreteness; and various approaches to quantum gravity posit spacetime “atoms” or graphs,
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The relational shift avoids this binary:
Continuity and discreteness are both aspects of constraint: what appears as smooth is a region of high coherence; what appears discrete is a break in relational compatibility.
Spacetime is not made of points or pixels — it is pattern, not substance.
Relational Definition
We might say:
Spacetime is the emergent topology of relational constraint that makes ordered actualisation possible.
It is not a thing things happen in — it is the form coherence takes when a field constrains itself.
Closing
To reimagine spacetime is to undo perhaps the deepest reification in physics. Not to deny space and time, but to see them as phenomena of relational tension. They are not the backdrop to reality. They are the pattern of its becoming.
In such a view, the so-called fabric of spacetime is not stretched by matter, but formed in the act of coherence. Space does not contain; time does not pass. What is called spacetime is the internal logic of relational transformation.
In the next post, we’ll consider symmetry — often treated as a formal constraint on physical laws — and ask how it functions when the system is itself nothing but relation.
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