Metaphysical Doctrine Research Articles

The Puzzle of Dion and Theon Solved

Dion is a human person, Lefty is his left foot, and Theon is Lefty-Complement, a proper part of Dion. Lefty is annihilated and Dion survives left-footless. After Lefty’s annihilation Theon, if he survives, occupies the same region as Dion. I suggest that this scenario be understood as a fusion case in which Dion and Theon, initially overlapping but distinct, are identical after Lefty’s annihilation and propose an account of proper names that allows us to say that Dion and Theon have ‘become identical’ without commitment to occasional identity or other controversial metaphysical doctrines. The proposed solution employs the semantics developed by Wolfgang Schwarz to address the ‘paradox of occasional identity’, posed by puzzle cases of fission, to deal with the problem of Dion and Theon, a body-minus puzzle.

Psychophysical neutrality and its descendants: a brief primer for dual-aspect monism

A key ingredient of the metaphysical doctrine of dual-aspect monism is a psychophysically neutral domain, of which mental and physical aspects arise as epistemic descendants that manifest themselves by decomposition. This primer first introduces some elementary notions to define the basic concepts needed to understand the approach, such as those of states, state spaces, observables, partitions and correlations. Using these notions, the concepts of decomposition and manifestation are explained, and a differentiated view of the mereological distinction of wholes and parts is outlined. Next, a number of historical and contemporary accounts of psychophysical neutrality with philosophical (Plato, Spinoza, Schelling, Kant), scientific (Bohm, Pauli, Jung, Connes, Gibson), and artistic (sculpture, music) flavor are given as illustrative examples. Finally, correlations between the psychophysically neutral, the mental, and the physical domain of reality are discussed, in which these correlations are substantiated by meaning.

The psychopathology of metaphysics: Depersonalization and the problem of reality

AbstractAccording to a common philosophical intuition, the deep nature of things is hidden from us, and the world as we know it through perception and science is, just like a dream, shadows, or a computer simulation, somehow shallow and lacking in reality. This “intuition of unreality” clashes with a strong, but perhaps more naive, intuition to the effect that the world as we know it seems perfectly real. Shadows, dreams, or informational structures appear too unreal to be identical to the world as we know it! This clash between the two intuitions forms the basis of the “problem of reality.” In the late nineteenth century psychiatrists encountered patients they referred to as “metaphysician doubters” who constantly questioned the reality of the world. This essay draws on studies of these patients in order to reject, and indeed diagnose, the intuition of unreality and recent metaphysical doctrines drawing on it, such as structuralism, digitalism, and virtual realism.

Poetic Imitation: The Argument of Republic 10

Abstract The paper offers a new reading of the argument against poetry in Plato’s Republic 10. I argue that Socrates’ corruption charges rely on the tripartite theory of the soul, and that metaphysical doctrines play a role only in the first charge, which demonstrates that the poets are not qualified to teach by reducing tragic poetry to mimetic skill. This accusation clears the way for two corruption charges: the strengthening of appetite, and the softening of spirit (i.e., ‘the greatest charge’). The former focuses on the dangerous association between the poets and the largest appetitive class in the city (hoi polloi), while the latter focuses on the corruption of the educated elite (hoi epieikeis).

A new grounding problem for presentism

The presentist — if she wants her thesis to be consistent with venerable logical–semantic principles, namely, bivalence and excluded middle — must provide a convincing answer to the grounding problem. Given the idea — already present in classical antiquity — that truth supervenes on being, the grounding problem is used by the eternalist to accuse the presentist of not being in a position to offer an adequate ground for truths that concern the past or future. To address this problem, many thinkers evoke metaphysical doctrines regarding abstract object — a truth about Socrates does not include Socrates himself but only his essence or haecceity. Others seek present grounds for future or past truths — nomic presentism — while still others deny the semantic traditions in question or deny that truth supervenes on being. In this article, I present a new grounding problem to the presentist. Under the assumption that time is infinite, I claim that the presentist does not have at her disposal the foundations for truths that concern infinitely distant objects in the future. Moreover, I present a similar argument to refute 'temporalism', the thesis that at least some truths are temporally indexed. To conclude the argumentative phase, I evaluate the traditional presentist perspective that was advanced in some of the above responses to the typical versions of the problem. The objective is to show that the usual answers cannot address the new grounding problem. Accordingly, I conclude that eternalism is better positioned to provide a ground for some truths if time is infinite.

Plato’s legacy: alive and well

Abstract In this essay, we outline the central thesis of our recent book: A Platonic Theory of Moral Education: Cultivating Virtue in Contemporary Democratic Classrooms. We argue that the ethical, epistemological, political, and metaphysical doctrines typically attributed to Plato are not doctrines Plato holds, or at least are not doctrines that he holds in the way he is interpreted to have done. We claim that if we understand Plato’s relationship to these supposed doctrines better, we would discover that Plato’s views are not wildly implausible or ill-suited for contemporary democracies and the schooling they provide for their children. Rather, they are plausible and well-suited to contemporary democratic education. This essay briefly outlines some of our reasons for holding this position.

The doctrine of participation in Augustine'stotus Christusecclesiology

AbstractAugustine's understanding of the church as part of thetotus Christus– the ‘whole Christ’ – has become an important resource in contemporary theology, offering a robust vision of the church's union with God. Yet a key critique maintains that it threatens to elide the distinction between the perfected Christ and the created church. This article addresses this issue by asking how thetotus Christusdoctrine relates to the doctrine of participation. For Augustine, participation is a metaphysical category that expresses the creature's dependent, non-divine status, its essential being out of nothing. Thetotus Christusdoctrine is most explicitly an exegetical, not metaphysical doctrine. Nevertheless, by putting these two facets of Augustine's thought together, we can see the way in which they mutually reinforce the view that the astonishing claims of unity in thetotus Christusare structured by a larger theological grammar that distinguishes God and creature.

Is Ibn al-‘Arabī a Feminist?

Muhyiddīn Ibn al-‘Arabī is a very significant figure from 7th/13th-century Andalusia who made a paradigm shift in Sufism. He constructed a metaphysical doctrine and wrote about many issues including femininity and gender. His thoughts about the metaphysical state of women and femininity caused his approach to be interpreted as a source for Islamic feminism. He advocates for spiritual equality between men and women because of sharing “humanity” and asserts that women can attain the highest level of sainthood (qutbiyya). For his views on women’s imamate, testimony, and veiling, he is portrayed as a pro-woman thinker by some contemporary scholars. On the other hand, calling a great master “feminist” or at least “pro-feminist” is unacceptable for orthodox Muslims because of the pejorative connotations of feminism in mainstream Islamic thought. By explaining feminism through main feminist texts, and critically analyzing Ibn al-‘Arabī’s approach to gender through his works and books about gender issues in his philosophy, this paper attempts to introduce Ibn al-‘Arabī to gender scholars and feminism to Islamic scholars, and discuss his approach to women and gender.

Понятие “новое религиозное сознание” как политическое действие: к вопросу о влиянии идей Д. С. Мережковского на развитие философии Н. А. Бердяева

The paper “The Concept of New Religious Consciousness as a Political Act: Remarks on the Influence of D. Merezhkovsky’s Ideas on the Elaboration of N. Berdyaev's Philosophy” claims to identify the influence of Merezhkovsky’s teaching on the development of Berdyaev’s philosophy using the methodology of intellectual history and the history of concepts. The author shows the discrepancies in current Berdyaev studies analyzing the place of concepts taken by Berdyaev from Merezhkovsky’s ‘new religious consciousness’ (criticism of ascetic Christianity, the idea of ‘the third testament’ and others) in Berdyaev’s philosophy. While some researchers interpret these concepts as just metaphors, others understand them as fundamental for Berdyaev’s thought. According to the author, this problem turns connected with the insufficiency of the methodology used by scholars, which does not allow to draw a consistent connection between the context and the internal logic of philosophical thought. The author argues that this problem can be solved with using the methodology of intellectual history, which considers philosophical texts to be actions (Skinner) and analyzes terms as dynamic, redefined concepts, for the content of which a political struggle is being waged (Lübbe). Outlining the intellectual history of the ‘new religious consciousness’, the author shows how this expression introduced in Merezhkovsky’s L. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky becomes a concept redefined in discussions and used in a polemical way. Berdyaev played an important role in this conversion, developing the ‘new religious consciousness’ as a consistent doctrine. Approaching Merezhkovsky’s group, Berdyaev understands the ‘new religious consciousness’ as connected with Merezhkovsky’s ideas, but redefines its metaphysical content, linking it with spiritualistic personalism. Merezhkovsky responds Berdyaev by agreeing to recognize him as the main philosophical theorist of the ‘new religious consciousness’ if Berdyaev joins Merezhkovsky’s religious and political project. Although Berdyaev distances himself from religious and political practices of the Merezhkovsky family, he nevertheless continues to use the expression ‘new religious consciousness’ while claiming his teaching to be the genuine ‘new religious consciousness’. In The Meaning of a Creative Act (1916) Berdyaev formulates a complete metaphysical doctrine based on the intuitions expressed in an earlier polemic. The book publication was unequivocally perceived by Merezhkovsky's circle as Berdyaev’s claim to redefine the ‘new religious consciousness’. The author concludes that it is precisely this approach, considering the ‘new religious consciousness’ as a political concept, that allows to consistently trace the influence of this concept on the internal logic of Berdyaev’s philosophy.

The Last Word on Emergence

The metaphysical doctrine of emergence continues to exert a powerful pull on philosophers and metaphysically inclined scientists. This paper focuses on a recent account of emergence advanced by Jessica Wilson in Metaphysical Emergence, but the discussion has the broader aim of making explicit some of the underlying themes that inspire thoughts of emergence generally. These prove to be, not merely optional, but largely lacking in merit.

Exploring the Metaphysics of Hegel's Racism: The Teleology of the ‘Concept’ and the Taxonomy of Races

AbstractThis article interprets Hegel's hierarchical theory of race as an application of his general views about the metaphysics of classification and explanation. We begin by offering a reconstruction of Hegel's hierarchical theory of race based on the critical edition of relevant lecture transcripts: we argue that Hegel's position on race is appropriately classified as racist, that it postulates innate mental deficits of some races, and that it turns racism from an anthropological into a metaphysical doctrine by claiming that the division of humankind into races (at least in the Old World) is not a brute fact, but follows a ‘higher necessity’. We then summarize our interpretation of the relevant metaphysical background to this theory. On our reading, Hegel postulates an essentialist form of explanation that explains given kinds as stages in a teleological, non-temporal process through which the nature of a superordinate kind is realized. We argue that Hegel's views about a hierarchical and necessary division of humankind into races are an application of this model to the case of human diversity, motivated by explanatory considerations and subject to confirmation bias. By way of conclusion, we address two possible attempts to ‘save’ Hegelian philosophy from its racist baggage.

The Creator/Creature Distinction in Debates over Models of God

In contemporary theology, one can find an array of models of God to choose from. There are various types of arguments that one can put forth in order to reject one model, or to defend another model. In this paper, I wish to examine one popular type of argument. This argument typically says that one should reject a model of God that blurs the creator/creature distinction. The problem with this kind of argument is that it usually begs the question by presupposing one’s own model of God in the creator/creature distinction. In other words, the argument basically boils down to, ‘I reject your model of God because it is not my preferred model of God.’ On many other occasions, the arguments beg the question by confusing additional metaphysical doctrines with the concepts of creator and creature. In this paper, I shall examine several different versions of the creator/creature distinction argument in an effort to find a version that is not question begging. I shall begin with articulating what I take to be the basics of a Christian understanding of the creator/creature distinction. Then, I shall consider several recent attempts from classical theists to argue that a rival model of God violates the creator/creature distinction. In each case, I shall find the arguments wanting. First, I shall examine James E. Dolezal’s attempt to argue that non-classical models of God violate the creator/creature distinction. I will argue that Dolezal’s attempt is question begging because it sneaks in his own model of God and several questionable metaphysical assumptions into the concepts of creator and creature, and thus goes beyond the basic creator/creature distinction without justification. Second, I shall examine a recent attempt by Kevin J. Vanhoozer to argue that Thomas J. Oord’s panentheistic model of God violates the creator/creature distinction. I will argue that Vanhoozer’s attempt suffers from several conceptual errors.

“In the Mountain Forest I Lose My Self”: The Experience of No-Self in Wang Wei's Short Landscape Poems

Abstract This article discusses the dialectics of subject and object in Wang Wei's short landscape poems from the perspective of Buddhist metaphysics. First, the article traces Wang's Buddhist connections and surveys the Buddhist concepts, ideas, and practices of which Wang himself explicitly wrote in his essays and poems. Then it uses these ideas to analyze poems from his “Wang Stream Collection” (Wangchuan ji). The conjunctive theme of this article is the underlying emptiness of all existing phenomena, one of the main metaphysical doctrines of Mahayana philosophy and a recurrent motif in Wang's poetry. The author demonstrates that, when seen from the standpoint of emptiness, the relation of the perceiver and the perceived in Wang's short nature poems proves to be more sophisticated than usually thought. Because both the human agent and the natural objects around him are intrinsically empty, they are interrelated and interdependent in the act of perception at the deepest and the most subtle ontological level.

Sleeping soul: A concept representation of metaphysical anthropology of the funeral traditions of Torajan people

The funeral tradition of the Torajan people is one of the most recognised funeral traditions in the world, a part of Indonesia’s rich indigenous knowledge. However, this particular tradition has been in decline over time because of the alienation caused by the spreading of Christianity. This research aimed to reinterpret metaphysical anthropology of the funeral tradition of the Torajan people using the concept of the sleeping soul from the narration of Jesus in Mark 5:35–42 and Daniel 12:1–3. The research used a qualitative approach with theological and ethnographic research types. The results of this study reveal that the concept of the sleeping soul in the biblical view can reinterpret metaphysical anthropology in the funeral tradition of the Torajan people as follows: (1) souls are eternal in the process of death, (2) souls of the deceased are helpless and (3) the sleeping soul is an eschatological hope for Christianity and Torajan people.Contribution: The aim of this research is to find a Christian metaphysical anthropology doctrine that is cordial to the funeral tradition of the Torajan people. The relationship between the two is that they have the same way of appreciating human existence metaphysically. This finding contributes to Christianity in the preservation of Torajan culture.

Metaphysical Doctrines of the Anlo of Ghana and Process Philosophy

Abstract Concepts of mutual interdependence, process, creative advance, and God occupy key areas in the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. Process metaphysics lays emphasis on a naturalism of rigorous rational and empirical methodology with far-reaching implications. Process thinkers have compared Whiteheadian thought to Buddhism, Christianity, and many other religions. However, African religious beliefs have yet to be considered in this area of study. Based on the gap in the literature, this article attempts to reconcile such seemingly different spheres. First, I offer an account of Whitehead's process metaphysics regarding the concepts mentioned above. Second, I argue that nonconventional sources of African philosophy offer conceptual understandings of philosophies of African groups and their place in the metaphysical debate. Third, I discuss these key areas of process thought in Anlo traditional pragmatic philosophy. I illustrate their like-mindedness with process metaphysics through language, religious rites, and historical accounts. I conclude that, although process philosophy overlaps in prominent areas with Anlo belief systems, questions regarding the causal nature of God distinguish the Anlo conception of divinity from that of process philosophy.

Integrasi Islam dan Sains Model Tasawuf

This study is intended to examine the integration of Islam and science with the Sufi model. The Sufi tradition contains a large number of cosmological and metaphysical doctrines explained by a Sufi master and an Irfani expert. Sufism includes methods of spiritual perception that deal with almost all different psychic faculties on action, love, and intellectual levels. The study method used is qualitative with library research. Religion and science cannot be separated from the point of view of Sufism, there are many things that can be used as lessons from science, even more so from Sufism. The science of Sufism is no longer an era that is always denied and debated. Therefore, it is time for us to take what is good in Sufism and discard what is not in accordance with sharia. On the other hand, let the Sufis continue to improve ukhuwah Islamiyah and be open (inclusive), and not closed (exclusive) as if the truth only belongs to them.

Integrasi Islam dan Sains Model Tasawuf

This study is intended to examine the integration of Islam and science with the Sufi model. The Sufi tradition contains a large number of cosmological and metaphysical doctrines explained by a Sufi master and an Irfani expert. Sufism includes methods of spiritual perception that deal with almost all different psychic faculties on action, love, and intellectual levels. The study method used is qualitative with library research. Religion and science cannot be separated from the point of view of Sufism, there are many things that can be used as lessons from science, even more so from Sufism. The science of Sufism is no longer an era that is always denied and debated. Therefore, it is time for us to take what is good in Sufism and discard what is not in accordance with sharia. On the other hand, let the Sufis continue to improve ukhuwah Islamiyah and be open (inclusive), and not closed (exclusive) as if the truth only belongs to them.

Engineering existence?

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the connection between two recent trends in philosophy: higher-orderism and conceptual engineering. Higher-orderists use higher-order quantifiers (in particular quantifiers binding variables that occupy the syntactic positions of predicates) to express certain key metaphysical doctrines, such as the claim that there are properties. I argue that, on a natural construal, the higher-orderist approach involves an engineering project concerning, among others, the concept of existence. I distinguish between a modest construal of this project, on which it aims at engineering higher-order analogues of the familiar notion of first-order existence, and an ambitious construal, on which it additionally aims at engineering a broadened notion of existence that subsumes first-order and higher-order existence. After identifying a substantial problem for the ambitious project, I investigate a possible response which is based on adopting a cumulative type theory as the background higher-order logic. While effective against the problem at hand, this strategy turns out to undermine a major reason to embrace higher-orderism in the first place, namely the idea that higher-orderism dissolves a range of otherwise intractable debates in metaphysics. Higher-orderists are therefore best advised to pursue their engineering project on the modest variant and against the background of standard type theory.

Безосновность как конститутивная проблема «большой науки»

The article deals with the problem of the groundlessness of modern scientific knowledge. This problem is investigated in a broad historical and philosophical context: starting from the transcendentalist philosophy of I. Kant, which establishes a fixed boundary between the cognizable object and the cognizing subject, then through the absolute idealism of G. Hegel dialectically removing the line between the finite forms of human thinking and the infinite being of the absolute spirit, and up to the phenomenology of E. Husserl, looking for a solid support of rational knowledge in the a priori structures of human consciousness. The authors also pay attention to other philosophical attempts to solve the problem of the foundation of knowledge. The authors refer to the ontological epistemologies developed by M. Heidegger and S.L. Frank. The researchers emphasize that the principle of transrational unity of opposites developed by Frank allows him to overcome the long-standing epistemological dualism of intuitively irrational and rational principles and not detract from the importance of private scientific knowledge. The article reflects the authors' opinion, that the combination of holistic and personalistic methodological approaches opens up a theoretical possibility not to dissolve a free and creative human personality in the whole being. Raising the question of the correlation of scientific knowledge and religious-metaphysical experience, the only one capable of giving science a solid foundation, the authors turn to the project of "sacred" science by R. Guenon, in which science finds its grounds in a metaphysical doctrine containing absolute intuitively comprehended principles. The concept of "spiritual science" by Guenon is compared with the concept of "living experience" of cognition, developed in the space of the Russian religious-metaphysical paradigm. The essential difference between the two concepts is seen in the interpretation of intellectual intuition. As evidence of the deep crisis of the modern scientific paradigm, which has lost its religious and metaphysical basis, the authors turn to the meta-scientific discourse of modern Western scientists, which is a kind of hybrid of science and theology. It is concluded that nothing else can save the scientific mind from groundlessness, but faith in the revealed Truth, which is not justified by reason.

Peirce and Archaeology: Recent Approaches

The philosophy of Charles S. Peirce, and in particular his theory of signs (semiotic), has seen increasing interest within archaeological theory over the past 20 years. This article reviews Peirce's most influential ideas within archaeology, directs readers to where in Peirce's voluminous works they can find these ideas, and discusses how each of them has been applied by archaeologists to a variety of different research topics. In addition to the semiotic, these ideas include Peirce's metaphysical doctrine of synechism; his methodological pragmatism; abductive logic; and the phenomenological concepts of firstness, secondness, and thirdness. Finally, I discuss two research areas—materiality and paleolithic archaeology—in which a combination of Peirce's ideas has led to important new insights.