Metaphysical Approach Research Articles

Технологический и религиозный субъект мировоззрения

In the context of the modern ideological affirmation of the church in the Russian society, the supernatural origin of a religious subject is highlighted, from which all the diversity of the world is derived. Such a metaphysical approach to interpreting a religious subject seems to the author methodologically incorrect and impoverishes the research field. In the framework of the comparative approach, the article discusses the value orientations of the technological (scientific) and religious subjects. The author demonstrates the worldview proximity of these subjectivities and considers new ways of conceptualizing a religious subject. The author’s contribution to the study of the typology of religious and technological subjects is the search for new methodological approaches that could become a means of rethinking the established practices of historical writings of a religious subject, both at the level of new subject areas and at the level of the axiomatics of cultural and historical research. For the author, religion is close to science, especially in the early stages of its development. Religion, like science, does not intend to put up with the proposed historical and social conditions of the established world order, but wants to form them on its own terms. Both a religious subject and a scientist, developing a new revolutionary direction, want one thing – to actively change the world, to rule in it according their own rules. The triumph of religious and technological actors is considered in the study as “the invasion of new actors”, as a result of the painstaking work to create their own networks. This allows us to unite the inventors of the modern era and, for example, the first Christians. It allows you to connect the worlds of a scientific laboratory and a religious community that actively recruit their supporters. Such an understanding of the religious subject can become a means of rethinking the established idealistic practices of its representation, as well as the ideas of the ‘immanent development of religion’. The present paper attempts to expand the interpretation of the religious subject, to question its metaphysical totality and universality, and to create a new research field for the future research.

A művészet nyelvének születése : Művészet- és nyelvelméleti megközelítés

Language is not merely a vehicle for communicating thoughts. Indeed, it has always been an art medium in itself; mimesis: a form of social, creative activity, bringing joy to those who use it. Art and language are also intertwined on a variety of other planes. The concept underlying the connection between the two is no longer visible. It has been hidden by the passing of time, but deduction may shed light on it. Artistic and linguistic activities represent man’s most characteristic attribute, making us who we are. In a structural, functional, and metaphysical approach to art and language one can presume a close ontological (or anthropological) link between the two. The following phenomena all merit particular attention in the parallel evolution of art and language: ancient, undifferentiated forms of awareness, syncretism, ancient folklore, and basic forms, in which abstraction may already be observed. Art and language rely on the transfer of meaning, that is, the transfer of the meaning of concrete, specific signs to other referents by way of abstraction. The original syncretism is moved by fundamental processes and instinctive connections, such as rhythm, repetition, indexicality and iconicity. Language comprises movement, tune, song, and image. Isomorphy facilitates interoperability between phenomena, resulting in a cultural evolution based on biological evolution, involving accelerations and leaps, as in the process of evolution. Abstraction enables man to exercise dual encoding and create secondary modelling systems, generating an endless series of new forms of awareness.

The Ineffability of Induction

AbstractMy first goal is to motivate a distinctively metaphysical approach to the problem of induction. I argue that there is a precise sense in which the only way that orthodox Humean and non‐Humean views can justify induction is by appealing to extremely strong and unmotivated probabilistic biases. My second goal is to sketch what such a metaphysical approach could possibly look like. After sketching such an approach, I consider a toy case that illustrates the way in which such a metaphysics can help us make progress on the problem of induction.

The self and its causal powers between metaphysics and science

According to the thesis of powerism, our world is pervaded by causal powers which are metaphysically basic. The aim of this paper is to defend the existence of the self, defined as a substantial entity, and its mental powers. This claim, which may seem a bold one, should not be deemed as inconsistent with scientific evidence. In fact, this approach does not ignore empirical knowledge, but is not bound only to it in order to understand entities, properties, and the relationship between them. Aristotelian powerism may show that the self, as the subject of one’s mental acts, is a substance that has an essential nature. Firstly, we shall analyze the immediate evidence we have in support of the existence of the self as a substantial entity. We will show that the self is a substance because it possesses an essential character, i.e. an individual essence. We will take into account the Aristotelian perspective of substance, trying to show how the presence of a necessary property that makes every subject identical to itself and the phenomenal features of one’s private experience point to the existence of a substantial entity that corresponds to the self. Secondly, we will try to justify the adoption of a metaphysical theory of causation based on powers, analyzing it in comparison with the main competing theories, namely hypotheticalism and nomism. Then, we shall proceed to show the causal properties of the substance in question, namely the mental powers. In fact, thirdly, we will embrace the thesis of powerism by defending the existence of a set of mental powers that should be attributed to the self. We will describe the main features of mental powers and we will show that they are conceivable as the pure intentional acts we perform by directing an intentional state towards an intentional object. In this way we show how a classic problem of philosophy of mind, relevant to science as well, can be addressed in an original way by a metaphysical approach involving powers.

The Polis-Nation Conceptual Dualism from the Metaphysical Perspective of Jose Ortega Y Gasset

If the social, cultural and mythical-religious universe of Ancient Greece revolved around the notion and reality referred to by the term Polis, then it can be said, in the opinion of Jose Ortega Y Gasset, that the dynamics and convulsive formation of modern European civilization revolved around the concept of Nation. However, can we talk about the possibility of a Nation of the ancient Greeks? And, is the idea of a construction, in fact, of a modern-based re-construction of Polis founded? Ortega Y Gasset attempted a metaphysical approach to the conceptual resorts underlying the two existential paradigms.

Философия как наука о бытии как сознании (Г. В. Ф. Гегель)

The article considers interpretation of philosophy as science of consciousness in Hegel’s metaphysics. In this connection, the paper discusses the problem of the scientific status of philosophy. It is shown that Hegel’s metaphysical approach to philosophical science is associated with the metaphysical conception, which considers existence as consciousness. The key principles determining understanding of philosophy as science of consciousness are revealed. The conducted analysis shows that absolute knowledge principle forms the basis of Hegel’s theoretical studies on the notion of science and plays a key role in constituting a human being as an absolute subject of his actions.

“A Thought to Donne Was an Experience”: Adorno's Dialectics and Metaphysical Love Poetry

. T. S. Eliot succinctly concludes that “a thought to Donne was an experience.” This statement is paradoxical in nature as a metaphysical thought is expressed through a secular experience. Metaphysical thinking characterizes Donne's poetry as metaphysics is to define an abstract idea through empirical entities, and, as Eliot notes, Donne is good at turning a thought into an experience and giving an illustration or elaboration of a metaphysical idea. For Adorno, “metaphysics, because it attempts to regard the Ideas as something linked to the empirical world but endangered by advancing secularization, was itself threatened from the first in its own development.” As metaphysics purports to grasp what is essential, this purpose is simultaneously questioned and counteracted by its own movement. Nonetheless, the controversy in this movement happens to define the possibility of metaphysics—that is, its possibility lies in its difficulty and impossibility of self-definition. This essay aims to discuss how Donne presents love in his love poems as he relates love to concrete particulars and secular experiences in a metaphysical approach. At the end, in Donne's love poems, love as an abstract idea deconstructs itself in its definition as it is no longer pure or abstract. Nonetheless, love's engagement with objects and subjects in a social context shows how far Donne's presentation of love reaches what it is not (or its opposite) and the empirical world, and thus reveals how much Donne's understanding of love might speak of the truth of love in the world.

Ницше и деконструкция идентичности: «свободный дух» в интеркультурных сообществах

The author of the article considers Nietzsche’s idea of ​​deconstruction of identity resulted from his criticism of the metaphysical concept of the subject and shows that this idea determined the specifics of Nietzsche’s philosophical position. It is stressed that Nietzsche examined the “constructive” function of such concepts as “personality”, “will”, and “action” because he was seriously concerned about the future of these terms in a civil democratic society. Nietzsche believed that the great task of “I” consisted in building social relations on the new foundations discovered due to the practice of “reappraisal of all values” and criticism of the traditional metaphysical approach to subjectivity. Among the traditional values ​​subject to reappraisal there are an uncritical view of culture, religion and history, as well as such political values as those of the nation and borders. According to Nietz­sche, “strong” people face the task of developing the principle of a new reality, taking into account the new values. This reality is described as one of many possible interpretations of the future, because it depends on a perspective that is regarded as “dominant” in relation to both the past and the present, and presupposes free and creative human activity. From this point of view, the culture, coming into contact with other cultures, can integrate with them precisely due to the greater self-con­fidence achieved as a result of its historical development; moreover, this self-con­fidence makes it possible for a culture to manage its “self-overcoming”. The author concludes that it is important to read Nietzsche from an intercultural perspective and that Nietzsche’s ideas are a “sketch” of the philosophy of the future.

The Rise, Fall, and Afterlife of Learning Styles: An Essay on Megarianism and Emancipation in Educational Potentiality

The status of learning styles theory in educational studies is uncertain as we inhabit the liminal phase between the theory’s death as proclaimed by educational psychologists who avow to have disproven it and whatever afterlife will follow. At this moment, with both past and future in view, that we have an opportunity to reflect on the foundational assumptions of the theory. Engaging in the growing community of Agambenian philosophy of education and the ongoing dialogue around educational potentiality, this article approaches learning styles theory as a paradigm of educational Megarianism. In this frame, the error of the learning styles theorists was not in the construction of a particular typology, but in the metaphysical approach to pedagogy. The reflection upon learning styles as paradigm also contributes a paradigmatic case of educational Megarianism to the discussion of potentiality in Agambenian philosophy of education.

Gogacz – Judycki. Two concepts of the individuality of a human person

The aim of the article is presentation of two concepts of human individuality which have arisen in modern Polish philosophy of Mieczysław Gogacz and Stanisław Judycki. It is an attempt to look at the problem from two different philosophical perspectives: Thomistic metaphysics and phenomenological epistemology. Metaphysical approach is searching for an answer to the question about human individuality in their ontic structure, whereas phenomenological approach focuses on the analysis of a direct experience. As reason of individuality, Gogacz indicates potential intellect (passive) subjected in a substantial form (soul). Judycki maintains that this reason is the concept of God, according to whom He creates a soul of every human being as radically different from all other human souls, unique. Presented theories develop from a different way of understanding a human being. Gogacz’s theory has a substantial character, refers to the concept of a human of Aristotle, Boethius and St. Thomas Aquinas. Judycki’s concept is a relational approach, modified by elements of substantialist philosophy. He refers to relational approach of Plato, Saint Augustine and Descartes as well as substantialist theories of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas. Thomistic and phenomenological approaches to individuality introduce fundamentally different and essential substance to philosophy concerning human beings.

Сравнительный художественно-смысловой анализ русских и английских поговорок и пословиц

The authors of the article present a brief comparative semantic analysis to define the similarities and differences between Russian and English proverbs and sayings, studying not only their semantic meaning, but also literary perception and understanding. The authors emphasize the subjectivity of perception and pay attention to the individual association of images common to two different cultures. The originality of this work is not only in the comparative assessment of Russian and English proverbs and sayings, but also in the definition of similarities and differences in the perception of the worldview of the two cultures, in an attempt to understand the reasons for this difference, as well as the causes and consequences of different approaches to the understanding of life facts. The authors point out the connection of the unknown with the already known, and this unknown is precisely a metaphysical approach to the already known stylistic techniques. A classification of folk sayings is built on the specific examples and the hypothesis about interaction of the national mentality and cultural-historical development is put forward. The authors emphasize that proverbs and sayings are not only a cultural achievement, but also a means of comparative cultural and linguistic analysis.

Hegel on the Productivity of Action: Metaphysical Questions, Non-Metaphysical Answers, and Metaphysical Answers

AbstractCharles Taylor claims that not only Kant, but also successors of Kant such as Fichte and Hegel, advocate a primitive concept of action, namely, a basic, irreducible, indispensable concept allegedly essential to our self-understanding. This paper shows how philosophers like Robert Brandom agree with Taylor explicitly with regard to Hegel, and attribute to him transcendental non-metaphysical arguments in support of such a concept. It then proceeds to challenge this attribution (both of the concept and the type of argument), offering a brief presentation of an alternative non-transcendental metaphysical approach to the Hegelian idea of giving actuality to a concept (or end) through a productive activity.

Metaphysical Approach to Lalon’s Song

The objective of this paper is to find out the trends and tendencies of metaphysical endeavor in Lalon’s song. Lalon shah popularly known as Lalon Fakir (1774-1890), was a Bengali mystic folk poet and singer as well as philosopher and humanist. Most of his songs were composed in orally and sung at the time of travelling. His songs dealt with the themes of love, religion, caste, faith, soul, god, death etc which can be viewed from the metaphysical point of view. The way he dealt his various issues in his songs demands our special concentration to investigate how ornamentally his songs were composed using metaphysical conceit, incongruous imagery, complexity and subtlety of thought, frequent use of paradox, and often by deliberate harshness or rigidity of expression. So, this study will try to shed lights on the theme, philosophy and style of Lalon’s song through the metaphysical perspective.

A metaphysical approach to holobiont individuality: Holobionts as emergent individuals

Holobionts are symbiotic assemblages composed by a host plus its microbiome. The status of holobionts as individuals has recently been a subject of continuous controversy, which has given rise to two main positions: on the one hand, holobiont advocates argue that holobionts are biological individuals; on the other, holobiont detractors argue that they are just mere chimeras or ecological communities, but not individuals. Both parties in the dispute develop their arguments from the framework of the philosophy of biology, in terms of what it takes for a “conglomerate” to be considered an interesting individual from a biological point of view. However, the debates about holobiont individuality have important ontological implications that have remained vaguely explored from a metaphysical framework. The purpose of this paper is to cover that gap by presenting a metaphysical approach to holobionts individuality. Drawing upon a conception of natural selection that puts the focus on the transgenerational recurrence of the traits and that supports the thesis that holobionts are units of selection, we argue that holobionts bear emergent traits and exert downward powers over the entities that compose them. In this vein, we argue, a reasonable argument can be made for conceiving holobionts as emergent biological individuals.

Reality in-itself and the Ground of Causality

AbstractThis article presents a metaphysical approach to the interpretation of the role of things-in-themselves in Kant’s theoretical philosophy. This focuses upon identifying their transcendental function as the grounding of appearances. It is interpreted as defining the relation of appearing as the grounding of empirical causality. This leads to a type of dual-aspect account that is given further support through a detailed examination of two sections of Kant’s firstCritique. This shows the need to embed this dual-aspect account within a two-perspective framework. The resulting picture is contrasted with the main rival theories and objections are addressed.

МАТЕМАТИЧЕСКИЙ ХАРАКТЕР НЬЮТОНИАНСКОЙ ФИЗИКИ В КОНТЕНТЕ НОВОЕВРОПЕЙСКОЙ НАУКИ

The article is devoted to interpreting the modern age science as mathesis universalis. To clarify the importance of the intellectual revolution provoked by Newton’s First Law, the author analyses Aristotle’s, Plato’s, Galilei’s and Descartes’s fundamental provisions and tackles the problem of applying Newton’s First Law, considering the fact that it introduces a new conceptual approach, a mathematical one. The paper reveals the mathematical nature of the new European science. The findings indicate that Newton’s revolution in natural science promoted the formation of a new fundamental metaphysical approach, which determined a new attitude towards the matter and the truth.

A Review about Froebel’s Young Children Education Based on the Romanticism

본 연구는 프뢰벨 교육철학의 기초를 이루고 있는 낭만주의적인 관점에서 유아기 인간교육을 형이상학적 접근방법으로 고찰하였다. 프뢰벨은 유아기의 인간을 인간발달의 최초단계인 영아기와 내면적인 것을 외적으로 표현하기 시작하는 유아기로 구분하였다. 또한 프뢰벨은 유아는 태어날 때부터 신에게 받은 무한한 가능성인 ‘신성’을 지닌 존재이며, 선한 본성을 내재한 완전한 인격체이자 끊임없이 발전하는 존재로 유아기의 인간을 이해하였다. 프뢰벨이 제시한 유아기의 인간을 교육하기 위한 방법은 크게 네 가지로 나눌 수 있다. 첫째는 낭만주의적 세계관을 바탕으로 정립된 ‘상징’과 ‘예감’이다. 상징은 유아가 자연현상을 이해하는 열쇠이며, 구체적으로 직관 가능한 것을 뛰어넘는 정신적인 의미를 내포한다. 또한 유아가 상징을 이해하는 것은 예감 능력을 갖고 있기 때문이다. 둘째는 ‘놀이’와 ‘자기활동의 원리’로 프뢰벨은 놀이에 교육철학적 의미를 부여하였으며, 자기활동의 원리는 유아의 자연스러운 자기표현 방식으로서 유아에게서 나타나는 놀이를 중시하는 교육을 가능하게 한다. 셋째, 프뢰벨은 인간 생명의 발전과정이 곧 노작이며, 노작교육이 곧 인간교육이라고 하였 다. 넷째, 프뢰벨은 인간이 고유한 내적 필연성에 따라 발달한다는 발달 순응적 교육을 주장하면서 도, 명령적 교육의 방법이 필요함을 주지하였다. 프뢰벨은 낭만주의 교육철학을 유아교육 실제에 효과적으로 접목시킨 대표적인 유아교육학자이며, 전 세계적인 영향을 현재까지 지속적으로 미치고 있다.This study examines the philosophy of Froebel s philosophy as a metaphysical approach to focus on Froebel s romantic young children human education which is the basis of Froebel s educational philosophy. Froebel distinguished human beings in young children from infancy, which is the initial stage of human development, and young children, which begins to express external things internally. In addition, Froebel understands the human being of young children as being a person with infinite possibility ‘divinity’ that has been given to God since birth and constantly developing into a perfect personality with a good nature. There are four ways to educate the human beings of young children proposed by Froebel. Firstly, there are ‘symbol’ and ‘Ahnung’ based on the romantic world view. Symbols are the key to understanding the natural phenomenon of young children, and they have mental implications beyond specific intuition. Also, it is because the infant has a foreboding ability to understand symbols. Second, ‘play’ and ‘principle of self –activity’ gave the educational philosophical meaning to play, and play was the best expression of young children s inner self expression. The principle of self-activity is a principle that enables education that emphasizes play that appears in young children as a natural way of self-expression of young children. Third, Froebel said that the process of the development of human life is impermanent, and that occupation is human education. Fourth, Froebel argued for a passive education(developmentally adaptive education) that human beings develop according to their inherent inevitability, but at the same time, they recognized that a method of prescriptive education is necessary. Froebel is a representative young children educator who has effectively incorporated the romantic educational philosophy into young children education practice, and continues to have worldwide influence.

Quarks of Consciousness and the Representation of the Rose: Philosophy of Science Meets the Vaiśeṣika-Vaibhāṣika-Vijñaptimātra Dialectic in Vasubandhu’s Viṃśikā

The representation of a rose varies considerably across philosophical, religious, and scientific schools of thought. While many would suggest that a rose exists objectively, as a physical object in geometric space reducible to fundamental particles such as atoms or quarks, others propose that a rose is an emergent whole that exists meaningfully when experienced subjectively for its sweet fragrance and red hue, its soft petals and thorny stem. Some might even maintain that a rose is “consciousness-only,” having no existence apart from conscious perception. Thus, we find a spectrum of realist to idealist perspectives. Even in Dharma studies, with a common basis in Indian thought, the Vaiśeṣikas, Vaibhāṣikas, and the vijnaptimātra doctrine of the Yogācārin-Vijnānavādins entertain diverging perspectives. On one hand, the Vaiśeṣikas, a school of Vedic philosophy, propounded a theory of reality in the form of indivisible, eternal atoms, a metaphysical approach counter to the doctrine of not-self (anātman) in Buddhism. The Vaibhāṣikas, a school of early Buddhist atomism, on the other hand, denied the existence of a true self or eternal soul (ātman) as substratum for reality but maintained their own theory of atomism. For the Vaibhāṣikas, the flow of consciousness may be segmented into discrete moments, yet unlike many of their Buddhist contemporaries from other schools, they asserted that all cognizable phenomena are truly existent insofar as they consist of physically irreducible atoms. Among their objectors were the Yogācārin-Vijnānavādins who proposed the theory of consciousness-only (vijnaptimātra), rejecting the independent existence of indivisible atoms and discrete moments of time. This paper introduces the dialectic that formed between these schools through Vasubandhu’s fourth century C.E. text Twenty Verses on Consciousness-Only (Viṃśikāvijnaptimātratāsiddhi). While the gulf between the realist and idealist positions may seem, at times, irreconcilable, we integrate findings from the field of physics, particularly quantum mechanics (and several philosophical interpretations thereof) within the realm of modern science as a possible bridge between these otherwise seemingly disparate systems of Dharma.

Exponential Atlases: A Metaphysical Approach to the Organizational Rapid Growth

According to Greek mythology, Atlas held up the sky on his shoulders. Nowadays, the term atlas refers to “a book of maps or charts” (1). In this paper, the term is used in both senses. On the one hand, the purpose is to understand the conditions favoring – hold up – the birth and the evolution of exponential organizations. On the other hand, the goal is to draw a concept map that allows us to identify the interactional dynamics among the actors involved in this evaluative process.  In other words, first I'll try to know who “holds up the sky” (static interpretation), and then we will see who “lives in it” (moving interpretation). The idea is that disruptive innovation mediates the relationship between environmental/organizational features (conditions) and exponential growth (phenomenon). So far, little consideration has been given to the favorable conditions that can allow organizations to become exponential. This paper  aims to pave the way for future systematized research on the ExO’s genesis and development.

A Practically Useful Metaphysics of Technology

In the past couple of decades, there has been a tendency to identify the study of artefacts as one of the central subject matters of philosophy of technology. This subject identification relies on a metaphysical distinction between artefacts and non-artefacts, and is supported by the premise that artefacts are philosophically significant in ways that non-artefacts are not. Here it is argued that if we want philosophy of technology to be practically useful, the artefact/non-artefact distinction is a misleading place to start, as this distinction is developed through a metaphysical approach which is of little use for practical decisions and evaluations. Instead, we need to adopt a different metaphysical approach which is practically useful. This alternative approach is called activity realism, as opposed to entity realism in light of which artefacts are defined. Activity realism provides a metaphysical foundation for a practically useful philosophy of technology.