Metaphysics 101

I love studying philosophy and I always thought that relating what I'm learning to various subjects was a skill of mine, but lately I've been running into some trouble. Maybe it's grad school? Sometimes I feel like when I spend most of my time thinking about a particular subject matter, it's not as fun to talk about it with others. This changes now because Chris the scientist wants to learn something about philosophy. I admire both his desire and the effort that he has already put into doing so, I thought I should get out of my slump and try to teach him something. Conversations are tricky though. My thoughts are scattered and he's new to a lot of this stuff. So here we are...

I hope to be writing a series of blogs on an introduction to metaphysics. These entries will certainly be influenced by the metaphysics class I took last semester, so much of the credit goes A.P.

Alright, here we go!

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What is metaphysics?

When one first considers the question "what is metaphysics", the most common response would be that it is a philosophy that seeks to find the truth about the being of entities - or more simply, what "is". Even Plato way back when believed that that the main condition of being is characterized is characterized by a feeling of wonder. He asserted that we cannot talk thinkingly about being unless we first discover that everything has a particular mode of being. The "essence" of a thing tells me about it's way of existing. All that talk of Plato makes me think we should do a brief history of metaphysics... and we're off!

Parmenides: the only thing we can say about the cosmos is that it is. Under that there are many definitions of being, but if you talk about being you are talking about everything.

Heraclitus: What is the nature of the movement of the universe?

Aristotle: (interpreting) Parmenides on the being of beings. Different forms of being.

Plato: being in a certain way according to a certain what. But being is not the start or the end, rather it is the "The Good", which is beyond being. 

Augustine: relies heavily on Aristotle. Faith in search of understanding.

Anselm - faith in search of self-understanding.

 

Then the moderns!

Hobbes -> Kan -> Hegel -> Scattering of philosophy -> Nietzsche: Western philosophy shows itself to be a nihilism.

Phew. Please google each for more information.  

* A note on being.*

Let's leave no stone unturned. When we talk about "being" we are talking about the verb "to be" - or the being of beings. Many people choose to capitalize the word Being in order to denote the prior, I will not. You'll get the hang of it! Phenomenology, as it is related to metaphysics, is a guide to help people experience what there really is.... before science. ;)

BEING -> exists

                  what is "x"? ousia-essentia  (we use "what" because philosophy wants to be universal  but 

                  the universal is empty. Let's not go down this path!)

EXISTENCE -> being -> esse -> to be

                       -> a being -> ens entia -> being(s)

OBJECT -> A thing that has to show its possibilities. Knowledge can be the truth of a thing, but there 

                    is no-thing itself beyond my abstraction.

Metaphysics is a controversal subject! Many philosopher's (and folks in general) laugh it off because they think it concerns itself with non-empirical pursuits and is thus worthless. Not so, my friend! Let's consider two characteristics of a metaphysics that is done well: opening up yourself towards your own affectedness and asking "what is the meaning of my dealing with ___." The term "metaphysics" what's given by the latter editors of Aristotle, based on the idea that the physical world is always moving and changing. Whereas, "meta-physics" is then representative of a more fundamental notion of being. "Meta" also contains within it a reflective sense. Back then it was seen as the highest form of philosophy (not so anymore!) because it was thought to pre-suppose all other disciplines. 

So what do we do when we talk about being? Is being a univocal term that always says the same thing and if no, what is the particularity of being? These are the big questions of metaphysics: being as present, as multiple, and as one. Being is that which makes it possible that things are. In this strange way, being i almost nothing because it applies to every possible being. Although, being does not necessarily imply existence. 

The only truth is that it is! Being include all the differences. Everything is itself and it is different and so everything is the same in so far that is is - that's essence. Everything is different from what is - that's existence. A being is a being because being makes it being being.

So when thinking about being, experience is much richer than what we can find in a lab. 

Let's end the segment with the suggestion that the word metaphysics means nothing. We're here to talk about being. Let's do it. 

Homework:

• Leave any questions you have in the comments below to be answered by me.
• Right a brief paragraph (or more) trying to summarize the project of metaphysics in your own words.

Re-writing Dread as the Revelation of Being and Nothingness

Dread or anxiety is a fundamental characteristic of the experience of being human. It is the revelation of both being and nothingness. In being we are always at the edge of nothingness, which is that which cannot be experienced (perhaps nothingness can illicite feelings within us, yet we cannot interact with it in a similar fashion to that which has ontological status). Dread arises from a being that is so intertwined with nothingness. Death or the nothing, is part of our being and it is this potential for non-being that allows us to be. Yet, because of the presentness of death we are unable to become the totality of our being and so we comport ourselves towards the not-yet of death in dread. All of our life projects loose meaning because we can never see the conclusion of them. Even more so, we cannot see the conclusion of our being since we cannot actually experience our own death.

Still, it seems that in nothingness we can find hope even despite the dread of non-being. Perhaps it is a common feature of the “not”, that allows for a multiplicity of possibilities. In dread one is engaged in a concern for oneself due to an awareness of their mortality. According to Heidegger it is this feeling of dread that allows for us to exist more authentically because prior to this moment we interacted with the world with a certain "everydayness" or rather a passivity that is almost habitual. If we take Heidegger's idea of the “everydayness” of being that precludes dread, then up until this point of dread we are supposedly in a state of passivity. Yet, dread very closely attaches us to our existence in an inward way, since in dread our whole being is attuned to non-being.Yet, is it possible to conceive of a moment of re-orientation from being of the self towards others driven by a dread of non-being? Let's consider an ontology that finds its basis in non-being. Could non-being become the figure of the other for instance, thus making dread the the pre-condition to be able to receive other people? Dread then re-orients a wholly self-focused attitude towards others in a moment of hope for the potentiality that is possessed within what isn't.

I believe that this is a general experience of being human. At some point we all recognize that our existence is finite and we also have thoughts regarding the impossibility of our existence. It's impossible to face the nothing because its ever-presentness is at the same time veiled with each passing moment and so we dread the “not”. However, it seems that in a recognition of non-being we are more fully. I think that the re-orientation of the “not” towards the similar mysteriousness of others allows for the possibility of being with others. A hope, which provides meaning to a scenario that could otherwise seem meaningless.