Energy and Possibility

A standard conception of energy encompasses the capacity to do work, to transfer heat, or to radiate. Here, I propose a fundamental meaning for this conception in terms of the capacity to transform objective possibilities into fact. After situating this concept within fragments of a proposed new paradigm which explicitly recognizes objective possibilities and is therefore called modal, I demonstrate how energy in each of the standard capacities can be understood in accordance with the proposed conception. A key mathematical tool is what I call the bimodal field, a set of numbers constructed out of the real field which permits a direct mathematical representation of the distinction between mere possibilities and facts.