The Concept of Matrix: A Metaphysical Enquiry

Abstract

Trying to find the right title for a paper on the matrix I had recently begun writing, suddenly it seemed of the essence to decide whether to refer to `the matrix' or `matrix'. Why this should make all the difference I could not at first understand. By the end of the paper I felt sure that this was not a problem of obsessionality but concerned a metaphysical proposition which had been thrown up, apparently inadvertently, by a small linguistic pointer. My final choice of title ('Matrix, Mind and Matter' [Powell, 19911) was sufficiently ambiguous to allow me to complete the paper I had in mind but since a novel train of thought had been set in motion with this `accident' of syntax, I decided that an attempt to follow it through would have the merit of consistency, even if its construction was rough hewn. What little I know about syntax I owe to school, when I gave no thought to why or how the rules came to be made. Now, thirty years on, I dare to play a bit with the rules and put forward an idea, which follows.