"Staircase" and "Crystal": A Comparative Analysis of the Processual Ontologies of Samuel Alexander and Gilbert Simondon

The relevance of this study is determined by the growing interest of contemporary philosophy in non-substantial and dynamic models of reality, which is expressed in the so-called "processual turn." In conditions where classical substantialist ontologies show limitations in describing the complexity of becoming and emergence in natural, social, and cognitive systems, returning to systematic processual metaphysics of the past century becomes an urgent task for intellectual work. The novelty of the article lies in the first large-scale comparative analysis of two fundamental yet rarely compared projects of processual ontology, presented in the works of British philosopher Samuel Alexander and French thinker Gilbert Simondon. The study posits the thesis that these systems, represented by the metaphors of "ladder" and "crystal," offer not competing but mutually complementary models of understanding becoming, operating on different scales. The methodological foundation of the research is built on a synthesis of comparative analysis aimed at identifying structural analogies and fundamental discrepancies, and conceptual reconstruction, which allows for the explication of the internal logic of each ontology. A genetic approach is applied to understand the emergence of ideas in the context of the intellectual traditions of British neorealism and post-Hegelian French philosophy. A problem-oriented analysis allows for a focus on key points of comparison, such as the nature of novelty, the character of causality, and the relationship between levels of reality, while a hermeneutic approach ensures an authentic reading of the original texts. Methodological pluralism serves the goal of constructing a holistic model that demonstrates the heuristic potential of bridging such different philosophical systems. As a result of the study, it is shown that Alexander's processual ontology, conceptualized as a "ladder of emergence," represents a macrocosmic, hierarchical, and teleologically tinted model, where the new arises as a result of leaps between qualitatively different levels of being—from space-time to consciousness and the Divine. In turn, Simondon's ontology, described as "crystallization of individuation," presents itself as a microcosmic, immanent, and transductive model, focusing on local processes of individuation from the pre-individual field. The article argues that it is precisely these differences in scale, logic of the process, and role of the environment that make these systems complementary. Ultimately, the proposed synthesis paves the way for constructing a more multi-level and flexible processual metaphysics.