The Science and Ethics ofMattering(LaCienciaylatica

delaMateria)
Matterandmeaningarenotseparateelements.Theyareinextricablyfusedtogether,
andnoevent,nomatterhowenergetic,cantearthemasunder.Evenatoms,whose
veryname,u'tOJ.1ocr(atomos), means"indivisible"or"uncuttable,"canbebroken
apart.Butmatterandmeaningcannotbedissociated,not bychemicalprocessing,or
centrifuge,ornuclearblast. Matteringissimultaneouslyamatterofsubstanceand
significance, most evidently perhaps when it is the nature ofmatter that is in
question, when the smallest parts ofmatter are found to be capable ofexploding
deeplyentrenchedideasandlargecities.Perhapsthisiswhycontemporaryphysics
makes the ines capable entanglement ofmatters ofbeing, knowing, and doing,
ofontology,epistemology,andethics,offactandvalue,sotangible,sopoignant.