From: Scott R (jse885@spinn.net)
Date: Sun Aug 17 2003 - 04:39:59 BST
Matt,
[Matt:]> Wim wanted metaphysics to simply mean "one's deepest beliefs" which
is basically what Joe, DMB, and Michael would like metaphysics to mean. I
don't want metaphysics to mean that because there is something about what
philosophers have traditionally thought about their deepest beliefs that I
think is extraneous cargo that can be purged. This superfluous cargo has
traditionally been called "metaphysics." Michael is right that metaphysics
asks the question, "What is real?" That is the no-no question that
pragmatists like John Dewey, William James, Richard Rorty, and Donald
Davidson want to get rid of. But that question has nothing to do with
metaphysics being "one's deepest beliefs" or "system of belief". To
conflate the two is to make the mistake that Plato made.
[rest snipped, but a good post, thank you, even if partially wrong-headed
:-)]
I tried to get past this with my distinction between expressed metaphysics
and underlying metaphysics, but it didn't get very far. But nevermind.
I too am suspicious of the question "what is real". But I am also suspicious
of Dewey's, Rorty's, and Davidson's motives (James I think escapes this
criticism). That is, these guys are materialists, and *therefore* reject
appearance/reality distinctions and metaphysics, since materialism is
basically the position that only appearances are real. (Of course, as
pragmatists, they wouldn't say that, but that does seem to underlie their
thinking.)
As I've said before, the "2000 years with nothing to show" argument doesn't
wash. The "answer" (mysticism, to be brief) has been around all that time
(and is a part of the philosophical tradition, though in the West, not
dominant), but most people can't hear it, or aren't ready for it. And of
course a materialist rejects this answer for dogmatic reasons.
Thus this misrepresentation:
" Plato's answer was that all of reality we experience via our senses _is_ a
dream, a massive hallucination, but we do have the tools to reach reality,
so don't worry too much. Just wait for the smart people to tell you what
reality is. "
Reality can be (and has been) reached, but it is not something that can be
told. What can be told is what we need to change in ourselves in the way of
beliefs, morals, attitudes, etc., that keeps us not only from reaching
reality, but even keeps us from being aware of our lack. That is what this
philosophical tradition tries to correct..
- Scott
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