But besides that, what's the point of metaphysics if it doesn't make a difference to what you do? Metaphysics is in the end only a tool for doing ethics. — Banno
Similarly, I feel that my pursuit of abstract ideals resonates with my actual behaviours, and vice versa. — Pantagruel
But besides that, what's the point of metaphysics if it doesn't make a difference to what you do? Metaphysics is in the end only a tool for doing ethics. — Banno
I believe that the rise of the scientific worldview has been, at the same time, the curtailing of the of the metaphysical project. And while I am a respectful student of many sciences, I think we have elevated it too far; that in so doing, something has been lost. Modern physics and cosmology have already run into the wall of dark matter and energy. The paradox of science, that we can learn so much only to discover that we really know so little, suggests to me that the need for a return to the philosophical project is greater than ever. — Pantagruel
One can just as well say that ethics is a tool
for doing metaphysics. — Joshs
Yes. That was the premise of physicist Fritjof Capra's 1982 book, The Turning Point. In which he introduced the concepts of Holism and Systems Theory. He applied those ideas to all phases of modern culture. The name of the book suggests a future "paradigm shift" from narrow Reductive methods to broader Holistic thinking. :smile:Systems-centric is another way to characterize it: holism is one of the key characteristics of complex emergent systems. In this guise, it can form the focus of a legitimate paradigm shift, rather than just being a dirty word. — Pantagruel
I would say metaphysics as an inquiry into fundamental being is in rude health. Especially to the degree that we have developed a mathematical holism which can see into what isn't even in principle "visible". — apokrisis
Metaphysics is more what is the case that what to do about it. — Banno
:chin:Metaphysics is in the end only a tool for doing ethics. — Banno
To paraphrase Leonard Cohen:What isthephilosophical project? — Pantagruel
It has always seemed to me that philosophy is an attempt to make sense of human existence by reflective reasoning deliberately in contrast to non-rational practices (e.g. myth, superstition, intuition, magic, etc). In this Socratic light, my "philosophical project" is to unlearn self-immiserating (i.e. maladaptive) habits of thinking and conduct by striving daily to understand – to reduce "intuitive" (folk, common sense) misunderstandings of – what we do not know about what we think we know (e.g. sciences, histories, technics, arts).There are cracks in things which is how insight gets in.
That looks to be pointing to the overlap between ethics and metaphysics. A rule of thumb: metaphysics is about what is the case, ethics, about what ought be the case. — Banno
Most interesting. — Ms. Marple
Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. — Sherlock Holmes
"Direction" =/= destination (i.e. "finality"). That this sentence ends, for instance, is not the purpose, goal, or meaning of this sentence. Likewise, "the cosmos", my friend, is not an intentional agent with an intrinsic telos (category mistake, no?) but a dissipative mega-structure with a sell-by date.But science just hides finality from view. It is still there in the principle of least action and the second law of thermodynamics. Something has to give the Cosmos its definite direction. — apokrisis
Ain’t logic the foundation of maths? Along with counting? Maths is the logic of relations tied to counting - a general theory about causal theories and a general theory about quantifying variables. It is the holism of the local and global, suitably broken down into a working method — apokrisis
To start, the dialectics inherent in any thesis "X is real": not-X is real ad infinitum.What precisely is the problem with cataphatic metaphysics (x is real)? — Agent Smith
To start, the dialectics inherent in any thesis "X is real": not-X is real ad infinitum. — 180 Proof
"BothAnd", no? — 180 Proof
I do not conceive of "global constraints" as "causal" — 180 Proof
And to be able to think about reality in that fashion surely takes metaphysics to new places. — apokrisis
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