ABSTRACT
The ontology of natural necessity is defined in the following propositions: the objective world is comprised of intrinsically powerful and liable entities. An entity’s essential constitution or natural kind is the structure of components giving rise to its distinctive powers and liabilities. The action and reaction of entities is manifest in open systems of cause and effect. If systems can be open, then the universe we happen to inhabit must be a complex of heterogeneous structures. It cannot be a single, all-embracing substance.
