Obviously Real: An Existential Canon

For anyone who accepts the premise that reality exists.

Methodological Preface

The Canon begins from a minimal and unavoidable commitment: reality exists. To deny this is already to presuppose it, since even the claim “reality is not real” requires the reality of the claim itself. From this ground, further commitments follow deductively. If one grants P0, the subsequent premises (P1–P4) cannot be denied without contradiction. If one refuses P0, engagement itself collapses into incoherence, leaving no meaningful critique.

The Canon is not presented as an empirical hypothesis but as a deductive articulation of the necessary conditions for coherent discourse. Its definitions discipline language around unavoidable features of existence. These terms—Ground, Logic, Mind, Matter, Order, Telos—are not speculative constructs but the minimal categories within which any intelligible account of reality must operate.

Definitions

Ground: The necessary foundation of reality that cannot coherently be denied or transcended. Not a being within reality, but the reference point for all fundamental characteristics of existence.
Logic: The inviolable principles of coherence (identity, non-contradiction, relational consistency) that structure reality itself, not merely human perception of it. To deny logic is already to rely upon it.
Mind: The fundamental recognitive principle that holds logical relations together as coherent order. Mind operates at every scale through recognition, organization, and iteration, achieving variable degrees of local concentration.
Matter: The instantiated and localized aspects of reality’s relational structure. Matter can be transformed and re-ordered but not created or eliminated ex nihilo.
Order: The actualized coherence of logical relations through mind's recognitive activity. To exist in order is to exist as recognizable structure rather than arbitrary chaos.
Telos: The inherent directional orientation of mind's recognitive activity. As mind recognizes and organizes relational patterns, it necessarily operates through selective iteration toward coherent rather than chaotic outcomes.

The Canon

Premises (P) — Irreducible Foundations

P0. Reality Exists

To deny reality is to presuppose it. Existence is the unavoidable ground of any coherent discourse.

P1. Logic is Fundamental

If reality exists, it exists in accordance with logical structure. The principles of identity, non-contradiction, and relational consistency are not optional rules but the constitutive framework of being. Should logic fail anywhere in principle, it fails everywhere, dissolving reality into incoherence.

P2. Order Flows from Logic

Because logic is fundamental, reality necessarily instantiates order. Logical relations require relata in determinate arrangement. To exist is to exist in a structured way.

P3. Mind and Matter are Co-Fundamental

Logical structure does not remain a mere abstraction; it must be both instantiated (matter) and recognized (mind). Matter provides determinate relations, but without mind there is no actualization of logic as order. Mind and matter are thus co-fundamental poles of structured existence.

P4. Teleology is Intrinsic to Order

Ordered structures are inherently directional. Where multiple coherent outcomes are possible, actualization requires orientation and prioritization. Directionality is therefore teleological by definition.