Christian Thomas Kohl The Metaphysical Foundations of Buddhism and Modern Science

its superior dominance within the focal region. Also we are puzzled how
to express exactly the existence of these physical things at any definite
moment of time. For at every instantaneous point-event, within or
without the focal region, the modification to be ascribed to this thing is
antecedent to, or successive to, the corresponding modification
introduced by that thing at another point-event. Thus if we endeavor to
conceive a complete instance of existence of the physical thing in
question, we cannot confine ourselves to one part of space or to one
moment of time. The physical thing is a certain coordination of spaces
and times and conditions in those spaces at times, this coordination
illustrating one exemplification of a certain general rule, expressible in
terms of mathematical relations. Here we have returned to a
fundamental Platonic doctrine.
Again, with the denial of simple location we must admit that within any
region of space-time the innumerable multitude of these physical things
are in a sense superposed. Thus the physical fact at each region of
space-time is a composition of what the physical entities throughout the
Universe mean for that region. But a complete existence is not a
composition of mathematical formulae, mere formulae. It is a concrete
composition of things illustrating formulae. There is an interweaving of
qualitative and quantitative elements. For example, when a living body
assimilates food, the fact cannot be merely that one mathematical
formula assimilates another mathematical formula. The fact cannot be