Metaphysical System Research Articles

A Metaphysical Analysis of Chemical Change: Toward a Reconciliation of Whiteheadian Process Metaphysics and Aristotelian-Scholastic Substance Metaphysics

Abstract Can a bridge be constructed between Whiteheadian process metaphysics and Aristotelian-Scholastic substance metaphysics? I ask this question in the context of physical change, using the chemical transformation of molecules as the quintessential exemplar. While both metaphysical systems describe nature as dynamical and relational, each sees change differently: for process metaphysics, change is constitutive of all actualities, while for substance metaphysics, change is secondary and something that happens to actualities. My analysis concludes that these two systems of thought have fundamental metaphysical differences that do not permit a reconciliation. Rather than reconciliation, what might be possible is the development of a new way to speak about the actualities of world, not as substances or processes but a way that subsumes both.

Влияние спекулятивной философии И. Канта на становление и концептуализацию онтологической школы Московской духовной академии

The article delves into the analysis of philosophical reception of Kantian ideas by representatives of the onto-logical school of the Moscow Theological Academy F.A. Golubinsky and V.D. Kudryavtsev-Platonov. I. Kant’s critical philosophy aroused genuine interest among professors of theological academies, since Kantian tran-scendentalism was a method rather than a competing system of philosophical metaphysics, nevertheless, at-tempts to combine the achievements of Kantian thought and theistic attitudes revealed obvious contradictions between the constants of the two systems. The influence of Kant’s critical thought on the philosophical tradition of the Moscow Theological Academy is assessed by researchers in a mixed way: they note the doctrinal ap-proach in criticizing Kantian positions, as well as the eclectic nature of academic concepts, in which thinkers tried to strike a balance between the rigor of Kantian discourse and the postulates of Orthodox Christian theism. Meanwhile, the critical assessment of the ideas and concepts of Kantian philosophy, the reinterpretation of its terms did not lead academic thinkers beyond its basic principles. The author notes the systemic nature of the influence, which consists in the branching of the method and structure of I. Kant’s speculative thought in the philosophical constructions of the ontological school.

Philosophical Interpretation of “God Is Dead”: Retreat, Disruption, and Judgment

Nietzsche’s declaration of “God is dead” signifies not only the collapse of classical metaphysical systems in philosophy but also shifts in the psychological structure of individuals and society after the secularization of Christianity. A philosophical reading is crucial to understanding its whole process and real-world ramifications. We first delineate the fundamental meanings and historical context of the term “God” or “Absolute” and expound upon the mechanisms of spiritual functioning under it, highlighting the significance of God, or the Absolute, as the highest object of spiritual operation. Next, we analyze the death of God, i.e., the retreat of the Absolute, in the realms of reason and faith, exploring its causes and repercussions, particularly the disruption of the operation of the spirit. Then, building upon this analysis, we conclude that the metaphysical life supported by Kant and Hegel faces failure in the present age, because the Absolute has ceased to be the foundation. The roots of spiritual operation are no longer secure; the return to the Absolute points to emptiness, and exit without return creates disruptive division between subject and substance, essence and phenomenon, reason and reality. Meanwhile, the departure of God and the development of capitalism are intertwined, calling for a resurgence in the form of secularization, heralding a renewed human judgment of God.

STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF THE CAUSATIVE-HOLISTIC MODEL OF HEALTH

Within this study, the necessity of a causative-holistic approach to health, viewed through philosophical and spiritual contexts, is substantiated. The author focuses on the structural analysis of the health model, based on the conducted research on the understanding of the phenomenon of health by ancient philosophers, medieval thinkers, and contemporary scientists. The article acknowledges the importance of spirituality in health and defines it as a causal factor that sets parameters for the development of physical health. The research offers a detailed description of the structure of holistic health, which includes unity, duality, and trinity, forming the foundation on the tripartite model “spirit-soul-body,” which has shaped the understanding of holistic health since medieval times and remains unchanged. Based on the metaphysical system proposed by the German mystic Jacob Böhme, the author substantiates the septenary structure of the spirit, reflecting in the septenary manifestation of the human being, and should have its analogy in the physical body and social dimension of the human being. A decenary model of health is also proven, appearing in the connection of the septenary «earthly human» with the triple metasystem complex, reflecting the spiritual aspect of holistic human. This decenary model forms a new causative-holistic view on human health and can be the basis for changing the medical paradigm, which should be based on primary spiritual factors of health for the preservation and improvement of both physical health and the health of the metasystem complex human-collective-society-planet.

Virtualistic Transcendentalism as a Concept of Systematic Critical Metaphysics. The Pentalogy of Valentin Kanawrow

Valentin Kanawrow develops his system of critical metaphysics across five systematically linked monographs. The core of this pentalogy is the original concept of virtualistic transcendentalism. Kanawrow creates a new metaphysical system as a continuation and reorganization of Kant’s transcendental philosophy. The virtual is the domain of the pure a priori form of thought, which, however, must reach and realize experience in its regions. This transition from a priori to a posteriori is mediated by transcendental schematism – an entirely new theory developed by Valentin Kanawrow. In its descent to experience, the transcendental schema devirtualizes itself and deduces the phenomena as formats of the true ontologizations of the given in experience. Transcendental phenomena result in plural regional critical ontologies, such as special metaphysical domains. The large-scale system of critical metaphysics of Valentin Kanawrow ends with a transcendental anthropology demonstratively developed on the conducted Analytics of the transcendental phenomena constituting the lifeworld of human being.

The concept of immortality and the transformation of the idea of enlightenment: I. Kant and J. M. E. McTaggart

The article examines the constellation of the interpretation of the concept of immortality in the corpora of ideas of I. Kant and J. E. McTaggart in conjunction with modern trends in the transformation of the idea of Enlightenment. The correctness of the applications of the constellation method in relation to the work of I. Kant and J. E. McTaggart is substantiated. The traditional idea of the work of the English philosopher as meaningfully belonging to the Hegelian tradition is problematized, and the formal nature of this affiliation is indicated. The possibility of a constellational examination of the closeness of the understanding of the idea of immortality and its meaning within the framework of a whole metaphysical system in the context of the philosopher's understanding of time and space in I. Kant and J. E. McTaggart is indicated. The importance of the manifested interpretation of the constellational consideration of the idea of immortality for understanding the content of modern transformations of Enlightenment ideas and responding to the challenges of the latest formats of rebellion against reason is outlined.

仁體的顯現與證成 -以陳來 『仁學本體論』 為中心-

Ren, as the core concept of Confucianism, is equivalent to Confucianism itself. It first appeared as a moral concept in Confucianism, but through the discussions of Confucian scholars through the ages, it has become a basic category with rich connotations that can be used to refer to the nature of human beings, moral norms, moral behaviors, and spiritual realm. On the basis of the work of constructing the ontology of modern Confucianism, Mr. Chen Lai, in his book The Ontology of Ren, reconstructed and interpreted the Ren theory of Confucian scholars through the ages. He developed the ontological and cosmological connotations of Ren from Ren of one and Ren of endless live, and regarded Ren as the cosmic essence, so that Renti was gradually revealed and finally proved. This theoretical innovation thoroughly philosophizes the Confucian idea of Ren and constructs a metaphysical system of it, which truly transcends the philosophical construction work of modern Neo-Confucianism, thus becoming a landmark achievement in the contemporary interpretation of Confucianism and the philosophical construction of contemporary China.

Scheler on the Concept of Productive Imagination in His Phenomenology and Metaphysics

Abstract The paper is a critical analysis of Max Scheler’s concept of productive phantasy as it functions in two ways that the author finds philosophically interesting. First, it examines critically Scheler’s attempt to overturn the basis for the claims of David Hume that there is no genuine productive phantasy, and that all phantasy is reproductive where it is at all legitimate. Scheler responds with a theory of perception through which he attempts to demonstrate that productive phantasy is an essential component of all perceptual acts. Second, it examines Scheler’s development of the theory of productive phantasy in his late efforts in metaphysics and aesthetics. Here he claims that productive phantasy functions in the Ground of Being in the process of world-creation, with humankind as its helpmate. The result is a genetic phenomenology exhibiting the ways in which the mind comes to constitute a coherent world. The author agrees with Scheler that productive phantasy is indeed essential for the constitution of the everyday world and for the works of art that illuminate that world, but contrary to Scheler, the author argues that Scheler’s claims about the function of the term are incoherent, and it therefore cannot serve as one of the foundations of his “possibly true” metaphysical system.

Genius Malignus oder Verantwortung: Descartes und die Konspirologie

This paper aims at developing an understanding of conspirational thinking as a means for dealing with epistemic and practical insecurity. This strategy of coping with insecurity results in the construction of a metaphysical system, which is centered around the idea of a nearly omnipotent conspirator. The paper argues that there is a relatedness between the Cartesian cogito and conspirational thinking. The latter can be conceived of as an aberration from the philosophical search for a fundamentum inconcussum. After the relevance of the thought of Descartes for the current theorizing on conspirational thinking is explained with reference to its historical context in the first part of the paper, the second part shows that the motive for conspirational thinking lies in the repudiation of responsibility in the face of an often overwhelming perception of insecurity. The third part of the paper reflects on possibilities for the weakening of this ethical motive for conspirational thinking building on the Cartesian concept of generosity.

Persian Idiom, Ottoman Meanings: Introducing Kemālpaşazāde’s Nigāristān

Although Kemālpaşazāde (875–940/1468–1534) is recently being rediscovered for his works on lexicography and orthodox Sunnism in its Ottoman iteration, the strictly ‘literary’ output of the early modern polymath has not yet received its due attention. This paper seeks to introduce his literary masterpiece, the Persian language Nigāristān, composed only months before the demise of the şeyḫülislām, and situate his text in relation to Saʿdī’s Gulistān and the Bahāristān of his Timurid contemporary ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī. I first seek to problematise ‘dislocative nationalistic’ discourse that writes-off Kemālpaşazāde’s and similar works on the basis of a perceived lack of stylistic originality. I then investigate Kemālpaşazāde’s choice of naming the text, and what this may tell us about China’s vogue in his time, his metaphysical system, and ideas inherited from Jāmī’s legacy on ‘literary millennialism.’ Then, building on the intertextual analyses of Paul Losensky, Benedek Péri and Murat Umut İnan on appraising Persianate texts through an ‘emulatory’ (rather than ‘imatatory’) lens, I demonstrate how Kemālpaşazāde’s reworking of narratives from the ‘canon’ of Persian writing both complicates and enriches the originals, in addition to reflecting his own erudition in the elsine-i ỿelāỿe, all whilst being imbued with contemporary Ottoman meanings.

Aquinas on The Distinction Between Esse and Esse: How the Name ‘Esse’ Can Signify Essence

AbstractIn a number of texts throughout his career, Thomas Aquinas identifies different senses of the term ‘esse’. Most notably, he notes that according to one sense, the term signifies the act of existence (actus essendi), which he famously holds is really distinct from essence in all beings other than God. Perhaps surprisingly, he also notes on a number of occasions that according to another sense, the term ‘esse’ can signify that very principle that he says is distinct from the act of existence, namely, essence. In light of Aquinas's semantic theory, this paper investigates how he coherently holds within his metaphysical system that this term ‘esse’ can signify in different ways both essence and the act of existence. More broadly, what it shows is how, for Aquinas, the metaphysician can look to the modes of signification (modi significandi) of terms and as well as their modes of predication (modi praedicandi) to draw careful conclusions about the modes of existence (modi essendi) of real beings. These considerations reveal that in Aquinas's view, although the grammarian and logician in their way are also concerned with these semantic modes, it is not their job to employ them to discern the various senses of the term ‘being’ or the fundamental modes of being. In the end, this is a task for the metaphysician.

Sismondi's principles of liberty and economic progress

AbstractThe Swiss‐born liberal thinker Jean‐Charles‐Léonard Simonde de Sismondi (1773–1842) rejected metaphysical systems of thought in favour of historical and social analysis. However, in his mature writings, he offered an organising, although a never explicit, set of principles guiding his political and economic disquisitions. I identify Sismondi's essential principles of social study, namely, the effect of political organisation on the character of the people, the need for a ‘national reason’, along with the weight of tradition over individual representation. Subordinate principles of liberty are examined, such as respect for minorities, freedom of public debate, and engagement in local affairs. I argue that, when the political idea of a slowly matured national reason guiding the constitutional progress of liberty is applied to a rapidly changing economic domain, tension is created within Sismondi's understanding of social sciences.

Two Faces of the Hindu Great Goddess

The paper presents the multifaceted identity of the Hindu goddess Mahādevī, the dynamic feminine absolute of the religious tradition Śāktism, whose philosophical foundations have shaken several assumptions of established religious and social norms. Śāktism remains an integral part of the philosophical-religious landscape of the complex totality of Hinduism, while also stretching beyond narrow religious contexts and critically examines normative patterns of patriarchal social reality. In the first chapter, the paper outlines the origins of the formation of the goddess cult, from the earliest period of Indian civilization to the Purāṇas, and then introduces the key ideas of the goddess myth in the Devīmāhātmya, where, for the first time in the spiritual history of India, a goddess is defined as the Supreme Reality, who reconciles all opposites within herself. The interpretation of the most significant segments of the goddess myth is built on the basis of an analysis of the changes in metaphysics, specifically the transition from the pre-Tantric dualistic metaphysical system to the non-dualistic one in Tantra. This is followed by an outline of the two branches of Śāktism that were formed out of the two seemingly incompatible poles of the identity of the Supreme Goddess: on the one hand, as a benevolent mother and obedient wife, and on the other as a fierce, ruthless and independent female, which is discussed in more detail in the last chapter through a case study of two goddesses, Lakṣmī and Kālī.

The Systematic Unity of the Theoretical and Axiotic in Salomon Maimon’s Late Philosophy

By a close reading of Salomon Maimon’s 1794 Essay on a New Logic or Theory of Thinking, this article shows, first, how Maimon radically criticized his previous metaphysical systems while painstakingly reestablishing Kantian transcendental philosophy on a theory of reflexive cognition. Second, it shows how he employed this theory to ground innovative accounts of both formal and transcendental logic, including a reformulation of Kant’s schematism. Third, it shows how he employed it to ground his axiotic philosophy. Specifically, he argued that his reflexive theory of cognition constituted the necessary condition for the theories of Kantian morality, natural rights, works of art, and finally for a metaphysics according to which God creates the world ex nihilo. Maimon’s achievement is impressive and unique. It is a theory of the systematic unity of theoretical and axiotic philosophy that rivals other Enlightenment systems and, if anything, anticipates later works of Hans Wagner and Werner Flach.

“We shall remove the Sun”: Henry More’s Neoplatonic adaptation of Jacob Böhme’s philosophy

ABSTRACT This article presents a detailed analysis of how the Cambridge Platonist Henry More (1614–1687) adapted the philosophy of the German mystic Jacob Böhme (1575–1624). For More, Böhme’s errors can be amended only by intervening radically in his philosophical system, discussing not what Böhme said, but what he should have said. In particular, the essay studies how and why More, in Censura, altered a scheme used by Böhme in his Clavis to explain visually the core of his philosophical insight. It claims that this intervention, which consists mainly in moving the position of the Sun in the scheme, turns Böhme’s circular metaphysical system, in which the Sun, or fire, was the fulcrum of a perpetual movement, into a Neoplatonic system of emanation. In so doing, More fashions himself as a “Böhme redivivus”, showing to his readers that the only way of making sense of Böhme is to read him in Neoplatonic terms. The removal of the Sun from its original place in the scheme thus exemplifies More’s unease with Böhme’s conception of the Sun as fully embedded in the dynamic interplay of light and darkness, and shows that More’s interpretation of Böhme involves a full operation of rewriting.

Dao as a Unified Composition or Plurality: A Nihilism Perspective

This article departs from a mereological conceptualization of the Daoist metaphysical system in the Daodejing 道德經. I discuss what parthood status applies to dao 道. Whereas it is quite intuitive that you 有—the region of concrete objects—has parthood relationships and compositions (entities made from parts), the other, undifferentiated region, dao, poses a considerable problem. This problem can be characterized in the following way: (a) dao cannot be characterized as a particular composition, which entails that it does not include parts. However, (b) dao underpins compositions in you, which entails that it contains compositions or at least parts that make compositions in you. This generates a problem of how compositions are possible with an undifferentiated ontological foundation. I focus on one possible approach to this problem––mereological nihilism, according to which no composition is possible. Assuming nihilism entails dao composed of mereological simples––fundamental entities, which are not parts.

Le système du monde de Michel Tournier

In 1946, with “L’Impersonnalisme”, Tournier claimed to have written a philosophical “system of the world”. Even though he soon converted from philosophy to literature, all his future writings seem to have defended the same conception of philosophy: it is the construction of a systematic metaphysics of the experience, altogether describing and justifying the world. The present paper examines this conception in The Wind Spirit, “L’Impersonnalisme” and Friday.

Truth and Justice in Spinoza’s Theological–Political Treatise and the Ethics

Spinoza’s philosophy argues for the freedom of individuals as singular beings in the state. This freedom is not perfect yet immanent. Freedom—according to the Ethics—is a consequence of true knowledge and virtue, which must be able to develop and can only be realised gradually. The state and the laws establish the framework that makes this freedom possible. Freedom and true knowledge are basic concepts of the metaphysical system. Justice, however, appears as a legal and political concept in Spinoza’s thought, which the philosopher did not discuss in depth. Nevertheless, the concept of justice has a specific significance in the philosophical context in which it occurs in the TTP—especially in the wisdom of King Solomon—and in the Ethics. Justice, on the one hand, strengthens harmony, security, and freedom. On the other hand, the freedom to philosophise forms a condition for justice to develop according to reason. The knowledge that justice has a importance in Spinoza’s thought is consistent with the complexity of his philosophy and makes its understanding more complete.

Review: Vital Voids: Cavities and Holes in Mesoamerican Material Culture, by Andrew Finegold

Book Review| April 01 2023 Review: Vital Voids: Cavities and Holes in Mesoamerican Material Culture, by Andrew Finegold Vital Voids: Cavities and Holes in Mesoamerican Material Culture, by Andrew Finegold. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2021. 165 pages. Hardcover $60.00. Jillian Mollenhauer Jillian Mollenhauer Metropolitan State University of Denver Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture (2023) 5 (2): 147–148. https://doi.org/10.1525/lavc.2023.5.2.147 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Jillian Mollenhauer; Review: Vital Voids: Cavities and Holes in Mesoamerican Material Culture, by Andrew Finegold. Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture 1 April 2023; 5 (2): 147–148. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/lavc.2023.5.2.147 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentLatin American and Latinx Visual Culture Search In 1958, Yves Klein’s exhibition La spécialisation de la sensibilité à l'état matière première en sensibilité picturale stabilisée, Le Vide (The Specialization of Sensibility in the Raw Material State of Stabilized Pictorial Sensibility, The Void) firmly embedded artistic notions of the void within a specifically Western, modernist framework of absence and the immaterial. Klein’s exhibition can be situated as part of a continuum of formal experimentation in the twentieth century that was preceded by the pictorial holes of Rauschenberg's “blank” white canvases and Erased de Kooning Drawing (1953), and later succeeded by numerous examples of individual works and entire exhibitions evoking empty space or palpable absence. Within this field of what might be considered the “aesthetics of absence,” Andrew Finegold’s Vital Voids stands as an important counterpoint, highlighting an aesthetic and metaphysical system that positions the void as a space of creation, fecundity, and transformation. Books about Indigenous aesthetics in... You do not currently have access to this content.

The Metaphysical Analysis of the Chinese Taoism of Immortality: Case Study on Continuity and Changes of Ancient Excavated Jade Artifacts

Taoist philosophy and metaphysics show an important role in ancient and modern Chinese society with its thinking about the value and meaning of life and has become an important resource for both traditional Chinese philosophy and modern. This article discusses the concept of immortality in Taoism from the point of view of metaphysics. The goal was to metaphysically analyze the symbolism of the immortality of jade artifacts found during archaeological excavations. The object of the study is the Taoist symbolism of the immortality of ancient jade artifacts, the subject is the continuity of Taoist symbols. The article is intended to expand knowledge in this direction. The author gives an idea of the metaphysical system of jade culture, at the same time considering Taoism from the point of view of metaphysics, as well as religion and an indispensable attribute of everyday life. Based on the analysis of 20 jade artifacts, the main characteristics of the symbols of Taoist immortality were revealed. The author comes to the conclusion that the theme of Taoist immortality, expressed in jade artifacts, accompanied the evolutionary process of inheritance, continuation, change and universal life and in a certain way influenced it. In different historical periods, people understand the Taoist thought of immortality in different ways, use different practices in different ways, regulate jade mining, so in different historical periods for Taoism, jade culture is a different form, reflecting the aesthetics of the characteristics of the ancient Chinese era and the pursuit of eternal thought and continuation of Taoism. The conclusions are discussed in three aspects: 1) the embodiment of the metaphysical worldview system of Taoism using the theme of "eternal life" and "immortality" in popular culture; 2) the embodiment of the metaphysical system of the ideology of jade culture; 3) takes into account the analysis of the continuation and change of the process of mutual integration of Taoist and jade culture. Thus, from the perspective of man and soul, the universality of the continuation of Taoism in jade can be clarified in order to fill the academic gap in this field.