1 Relational Networks: Structure through Interaction
Modern neuroscience reveals the brain not as a collection of isolated modules but as a dynamic relational network, where structure and function emerge through interaction. Neural connectivity, plasticity, and signalling patterns are not static; they are continuously shaped by experience, context, and the interplay of multiple systems.
From a relational ontology perspective, this is profoundly anticipatory. Neural networks do not carry intrinsic, pre-determined functions. Instead, they actualise potentials through relational cuts: patterns of interaction that define nodes, pathways, and functional alignments within a broader field of possibilities. Each firing, each pathway, exists only in the context of the network as a whole, and in relation to the organism’s ongoing engagement with its environment.
This relational perspective aligns with echoes we have already traced in myth, philosophy, and physics. Just as symbolic narratives instantiate collective possibilities, and quantum events emerge through relational alignment, the brain stages biological actualisations of relational potential. Its structure is contingent, its function emergent, and its coherence distributed across interacting neural groups.
Neuroscience, read relationally, thus shows that cognition, perception, and behaviour are not properties of isolated units. They are enacted phenomena — contingent, contextually actualised, and dynamically co-constituted. Reality, at the neural level, is a network of relations, a living web in which the actual emerges continuously through interaction.
2 Contingency, Degeneracy, and Potentiality
A hallmark of neural organisation is degeneracy: multiple, structurally distinct circuits can realise the same function. Coupled with plasticity, this ensures that neural outcomes are contingent, flexible, and context-dependent. There is no fixed mapping between structure and behaviour; each actualisation is a relational event, contingent on the network’s current state and prior history.
From a relational ontology perspective, this underscores a core principle: potentialities are staged, not predetermined. Like myths enacting symbolic possibilities, or quantum events actualised through relational alignment, neural systems instantiate outcomes within a field of possibilities. Degeneracy and contingency make the system resilient, adaptable, and responsive.
This also highlights the co-constitutive nature of neural function. Different pathways do not merely substitute for one another; they shape, enable, and constrain one another’s activity. The system is a web of potentialities, where every actualisation is a cut — a relational alignment within the network that both emerges from and informs future patterns.
Neuroscience thus reveals reality at the neural level as profoundly relational: identity, function, and behaviour are contingent, perspectival, and distributed. Degeneracy and contingency are not imperfections; they are the very means by which the brain actualises potential across a relationally structured field, echoing the same relational principles evident in myth, philosophy, and physics.
3 Reflexivity and Reentrant Loops
A defining feature of neural organisation is reentrant signalling: continuous, bidirectional loops connecting distributed neural groups. These loops are not merely feedback mechanisms; they are dynamic, reflexive alignments that coordinate activity across the brain, enabling coherence, integration, and adaptive function.
From a relational ontology perspective, reentrant loops exemplify reflexive co-constitution. Each neural group’s activity is meaningful only in relation to the activity of others. Identity, function, and outcome are distributed phenomena, emerging from relational interactions rather than residing within isolated units.
This mirrors relational patterns observed in other domains. Just as myths stage symbolic possibilities against a collective horizon, and quantum phenomena actualise only through relational alignment, reentrant loops show that neural function is contingent, context-dependent, and relationally enacted. Local activity shapes global patterns, and global constraints influence local dynamics — a continuous, reciprocal orchestration of potentialities.
Neuroscience, read relationally, thus demonstrates that the brain is not a mechanistic assembly of modules but a reflexive relational cosmos. Neural processes are active, participatory, and relationally constituted; each moment of actualisation is a cut within a field of co-constituted possibilities, echoing the same ontological principles found in symbolic, conceptual, and physical domains.
4 Experience as Relational Construal
Neuroscience increasingly reveals that experience is not a passive reception of stimuli, but an active, relational construction. Perception, cognition, and action emerge through the interaction of neural networks, the body, and the environment. Each moment of experience is actualised relationally, contingent on prior history, current state, and ongoing interaction.
From a relational ontology perspective, this positions experience as a construal rather than a property of isolated neurons or brain regions. Reality, as lived and perceived, emerges from the dynamic alignment of multiple potentials within distributed networks. Just as myths enact possibilities for collective alignment, and quantum phenomena actualise contingent outcomes through relational cuts, neural systems instantiate lived reality through continuous relational phasing.
Degeneracy, plasticity, and reentry ensure that no two experiences are ever identical. Each neural actualisation is a relational event, simultaneously shaped by prior constraints and open to novel possibilities. Cognition and perception are thus contingent, perspectival, and co-constituted, revealing the brain as an embodied relational field.
Reading neuroscience relationally, we see that the brain stages experience as a participatory experiment in relational potential. Identity, meaning, and action are not fixed; they are emergent phenomena, continuously actualised through the interplay of neural, bodily, and environmental relations.
Coda: Neuroscience as Relational Experiment
Across modern neuroscience, the brain emerges as a dynamic, relationally structured system. Neural networks, reentrant loops, plasticity, and degeneracy are not mere mechanisms; they are expressions of relational actualisation. Each moment of neural activity is a cut within a field of co-constituted possibilities, actualising potentialities through interaction, alignment, and reflexive feedback.
Experience, perception, and action do not reside in isolated neurones or modules. They are contingent, perspectival, and emergent, arising from the relational interplay of distributed neural groups, the body, and environment. The brain, in effect, stages reality as a participatory relational experiment, echoing patterns we have traced in myth, philosophy, and physics.
Reading neuroscience relationally transforms our understanding of mind and embodiment. It is not a mechanistic catalogue of functions, nor a search for fixed modules; it is a science of relational emergence, where cognition, action, and experience are continually staged, tested, and actualised within networks of potential.
In this light, neuroscience provides a living, biological counterpart to the relational principles seen in symbolic, conceptual, and physical domains: reality unfolds through relational cuts, reflexive alignment, and contingent phasing, whether in neural activity, symbolic systems, conceptual thought, or the cosmos itself.
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