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 in-sight into what the modeled world is like at its most basic level. The issues involve key concepts (e.g., relationship, action, exist-ence, 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 thinging machine (thimac). A thimac is an all-inclusive whole of five actions: create, process, release, transfer, and re-ceive. 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 in-dependent 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 gener-ating thimacs.