metaphysics

METAPHYSICS AND MIND

Document status: June 18, 2003

Inactive. Absorbed to Metaphysics

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Metaphysics and Mind

1. Purpose. Metaphysics and Mind [MM] defines the focus… and is my initial choice of title

Metaphysics itself has long held my interest. It is universal thought and being

The idea for MM started as a revision of my essay Problems in the Science and Philosophy of Mind and Consciousness [PM]. For complete understanding it was clear that mind should be considered in its relations to the world. The final content of PM suggested the alternate title Mind and Metaphysics. In fact Mind and Metaphysics is the name of my Windows file directory for PM and background work

An alternative title to the present article is Metaphysics and Being. While “metaphysics” and “the science of being” are often thought of as synonymous, the specific need for a Metaphysics and Being comes from the ongoing work Being and the Elements of Being [BE]. A similar need arises with any fundamental concern or essay… another purpose of this article is to place metaphysics in one location, to avoid repetition

BE is to be the summation, to date, of my philosophical work. Two of its basic issues are: what are the possibilities of being [and knowing] and, of the possibilities, what is accessible to human being. The approach to BE is theoretical and experimental. This suggests a subtitle for MM: Theoretical and Experimental Philosophy

Metaphysics has a history. There are common problems, methods and schools of metaphysics. The idea of metaphysics “the real nature of things”, “the world as a whole” is itself problematic. Ideas such as the following are laced with paradox: the “thing-in-itself” in contrast to appearance, “all the objects of the world”, … There is a history of criticism of metaphysics from Hume and Kant, through the Logical Positivists, Moore and Wittgenstein, to modern religious philosophers. It is a good idea to bring these elements together. The fact of having specific problems to solve will sharpen the analysis

Metaphysics and Mind remains my initial choice for a title. The basic reason follows. What may be known is fundamentally connected with the agency of knowing. There is not only a question of justification of what is known but, prior to that, is the question of the nature of knowledge. Mind enters in a fundamental way - even if it is a temporary construct. Is knowing characterized by a fundamental “Cartesian” divide… or is “mind” fundamentally integrated with the world… and in such a way that justification is not a fundamental concept or concern?

2. Why metaphysics! Intrinsic interest. Interaction with other disciplines and activities. Are the sciences autonomous? Ethics and metaphysics

3. What is metaphysics? A peliminary description: study of the real nature of things[1] - inquiry into what exists, study of ultimate reality and of the world as a whole, and “the science of first principles.” Metaphysics, ontology and cosmology. Binding and identity of metaphysics and epistemology… the nature of knowledge and the possibility of metaphysics. The dual uncertainty of ideas[2] and the triadic uncertainty of opinion[3]

4. How… “methods” in metaphysics. Sense, perception and idea. Facts and theories as data points. Multiple traditions. Disciplines [including sciences] and activities as metaphor. Language, logic, knowledge and their analysis. The possibility of metaphysics and the nature of knowledge are intertwined at the root. Special methods such as Kant’s transcendental method

Argument, assertion, and method in metaphysics

Metaphysics as a science: nature of an a priori science, metaphysics as an a priori science, and metaphysics as an empirical science

Initial metaphysical insights: origin, tests of validity, role of personal or social factors

Metaphysical arguments: logical character of metaphysical statements, logical form of metaphysical arguments

5. Problems and schools of metaphysics

Problems: existence of forms, categories, universals and particulars ; existence of god; the soul, mind, and body; nature and the external world; space and time; and the conception of spirit

Types of metaphysical theory: platonism, aristotelianism, thomism; cartesianism; idealism; materialism

6. Problems of mind

Primary problems concern the nature of mind, the nature of phenomenal experience or consciousness, mind and world. Details are in PM. There is an entire literature. I do not want to incorporate details at this initial stage. I want the issues of mind to flow naturally from or develop naturally in interaction with metaphysics. An initial re-vision of PM is in Philosophical Problems of Mind and Consciousness… this is being reworked and is to be the first source for the interective development

[1] This initial version draws from “Metaphysics” Britannica CD. Version 97. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 1997

[2] In developing knowledge about an aspect of the world that is unclearly known there must be an uncertainty in the object or aspect under study and the concept and other instruments by which it is known. If there is a unclearly known “object” known through a definite concept then there is an indefinite concept that defines the state of knowledge better. Recognition of the dual uncertainty is a fundamental preliminary to clearer understanding. In contrast, regarding the growth of knowledge as “discovery” blocks understanding

[3] An additional uncertainty is introduced when there is a discussion among a number of people or when an individual has multiple approaches