Triadic Realism & Triadic Onto-Epistemology
Trichotomy of Trichotomies Principle of Consciousness (TOTPOC)
Sungchul Ji, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Cell Biology
Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy
Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ.
date: 21 June 2025
tags: Triadic Realism, Irreducible Triadic Relation, Consciousness, Epistemology, Peirce, Faggin, Geometry of Reality
“The most robust truths are those discovered three times over by three different minds.”
— A modern paraphrase inspired by Whewell & Peirce (Ji & ChatGPT, 2025)
Much of modern thought still pivots on monism (one substance) or dualism (mind vs. matter). Yet the deepest convergences of science, philosophy, and phenomenology are triadic. This post argues that the Irreducible Triadic Relation (ITR) is more than an ontological principle of what there is; it is simultaneously an epistemological principle of how we know. I call this unified stance Triadic Realism (being-in-threes) and Triadic Onto-Epistemology (knowing-through-threes).
1 The Irreducible Triadic Relation (ITR)
First formulated in Peircean semiotics and generalized in The Cell Language Theory in 2018 [1], an ITR consists of three mutually entailing nodes that cannot be reduced to dyads without loss of explanatory power. Classic examples are given below:
“In Table 1, ITR is present in each row, with the unexpected (6/21/2025/1)
consequence that each column alone is incomplete, making
the three columns together as a closed explanatory circuit.”
For convenience, we may refer to this finding as the Trichotomy of Trichotomies Principle of Consciousness (TOTPOC).
2 From Dyadic Consilience to Triple Consilience
E.O. Wilson revived consilience as the “jumping together” of two disciplines [6]. But when three independent frameworks converge on homologous triads (e.g., Table 1 above), we obtain Triple Consilience — a triangulated confirmation that is:
Statistically rare (low probability of accidental match)
Structurally profound (shared deep grammar)
Epistemically robust (multiple independent validations)
I abbreviate the paradigmatic case as the PFG Triad:
P = Peircean Semiotics [2]
F = Faggian Phenomenology [3]
G = Geometry of Reality [4]
Each is itself an ITR. Their mutual resonance forms a Triad of Triads (referred to as TOTPOC above) — the very heart of Triadic Realism.
3 Triadic Realism: Ontology in Threes
Triadic Realism posits that being is fundamentally triadic:
Firstness (Existence-in-itself) [2]
Secondness (Relation or Interaction)
Thirdness (Mediation or Law)
These Peircean categories [2] permeate physics (field–particle–observer), biology (genome–proteome–phenome), and cosmology (multiverse–universe–observer). Reality is not substance alone but relational process — a dance of three roles that endlessly re-instantiate the ITR [1].
4 Triadic Onto-Epistemology: Knowing in Threes
If reality is triadic, knowledge of reality must mirror that triadicity. In practice, any act of cognition involves:
Thus the ITR is self-reflexive: our very attempt to know presupposes the same triad that constitutes what is known. Ontology and epistemology collapse into a single onto-epistemic loop.
5 Merleau-Ponty and the PSG Archetype
Generalizing further, we obtain the PSG Type:
Phenomenology – Semiotics – Geometry
Maurice Merleau-Ponty grounds the phenomenological pole by showing that perception is already meaning (the chiasm of subject and object). Peirce supplies the semiotic mediation, while GOR offers the geometric-structural-energetic skeleton. Together they enact Triadic Onto-Epistemology.
6 Implications
Consciousness studies: Avoid false binaries (panpsychism vs. emergentism). Embrace triadic architectures that integrate field, inner, and outer awareness.
Science methodology: Seek triple consilience rather than mere replication. Findings that emerge independently in three domains warrant heightened credence.
Philosophy of science: Replace the correspondence theory of truth (dyadic) with a triadic coherence theory: truth is the structural fit among experience, symbol, and form.
7 Toward a Triadic Research Program
Catalog existing triple consilience tokens across disciplines (physics, biology, philosophy, theology, AI).
Model commutative triangles explicitly, testing for ITR completeness.
Apply triadic design principles to AI, education, and systems theory.
8 Conclusion
Both what exists and how we know it appear to be organized around the Irreducible Triadic Relation. Triadic Realism locates triads at the core of ontology; Triadic Onto-Epistemology shows that our cognition itself is triadic. When three independent minds (or disciplines) converge on the same triadic structure , we glimpse a deeper architecture of reality — one where truth comes in threes, as exemplified by TOTPOC (see Section 1).
References
Ji, S. (2018). The Universality of the Irreducible Triadic Relation. In The Cell Language Theory: Connecting Mind and Matter (pp. 377-393). World Scientific.
Peirce, C. S. Primary texts and Collected Papers.
Valentinuzzi, T. (2025). Federico Faggin’s Philosophy on Consciousness.
Ji, S. (2025). From Silicon to Spirit: Mapping Federico Faggin’s Consciousness onto the Geometry of Reality.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1945). Phenomenology of Perception.
Wilson, E. O. (1998). Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge.