Temporal Rate Ontology and Its Competitors: Comparing Non-Geometric Ontological Primitives in Fundamental Physics

This paper develops a comparative, constraint-based analysis of non-geometric ontological primitives in fundamental physics. It introduces Temporal Rate Ontology (TRO), a framework that treats ordered temporal succession as ontologically primitive while interpreting spatial and spacetime geometry as representational structures. The paper diagnoses a recurrent interpretive tendency in foundational physics—the slide from the representational success of geometry to its elevation as an ontological ground—and situates temporal primacy alongside causal, process-based, informational, and event-based alternatives. Rather than arguing for temporal primacy as uniquely correct, the analysis assesses whether it constitutes a minimally committal primitive once geometric fundamentality is rejected. The contribution is explicitly diagnostic and interpretive rather than constructive. It introduces no new dynamics, makes no empirical predictions, and is compatible with the empirical content of existing physical theories.