The Presence of Scientific Structure
Structure runs through philosophy, theory, and method and may guide poetic form.
Scientific structure concerns relationships: recurrence, branching, interaction, invariance, and change under specified conditions. These relationships run through the three dimensions of presence. A philosophical question may expose a limit; a theory specifies a dependence; a method organizes inquiry.
When such a relationship guides rhythm, stanza order, line length, sound, or spacing, it gains formal expression. A cycle may suggest a refrain, an echo a delayed return, and a numerical sequence a pattern of growth.
Structure is not a separate fourth dimension alongside philosophy, theory, and method. Nor does it provide a finished poem. Familiar forms and formal invention remain available; language, feeling, circumstance, and literary memory guide the choice.
Web reading edition adapted from Part I, section 2.5, of the revised English manuscript of Schrödinger’s Cat.