Metaphysics of Thinging Machines Modeling

This paper develops metaphysics of conceptual modeling based on thinging machine (TM). Conceptual modeling is used to design systems to build a high-level representation of a targeted domain in reality. Metaphysics is about the fundamental structure of such a reality, with the ultimate goal of gaining insight into what the modeled world is like at its most basic level. The issues involve key concepts (e.g., relationship, action, existence, event, and time) central to conceptual modeling that require clarification. According to some researchers, science does not sacrifice any integrity on the altar of metaphysical thinking, which serves as an aid in the quest for understanding. The TM modeling develops a high-level diagrammatic representation of a targeted reality that involves two modes of being: dynamic existence and static subsistence. The model’s fundamental ontological unit is called _thi_nging _mac_hine (_thimac_). A thimac is an all-inclusive whole of five _actions_: create, process, release, transfer, and receive. Thimacs have these five capacities that undergo change when they are in the dynamic state. The two modes of TM are (1) subsistence, which includes static templates of thimacs, called _regions_, and (2) existence, which is populated with _events_. An event is constituted from a region, temporality, and a container of existence called _exicon_. TM existence is viewed as a “field” that binds actions and events together. This field is assumed to be independent of regions and time. Existence is not limited to thimacs because _loose actions_ also exist. We claim that existence includes (1) a “pre-big bang” world occupied by loose actions and (2) a “post-big bang” world which is a blend of thimacs (thingness) and loose actions (nothingness). Loose actions are the source of generating thimacs.