What's new in the Way of Being—Summary. The metaphysics is not unfamiliar but the demonstration is new (though widely thought impossible). The method of demonstration is new and this results in confidence; and in a method that is able to develop a framework for consequences which include the method itself, metaphysics, cosmology, and the way. Further detail on the following are in The Way of Being and other essays.

The method. The method begins with analysis of the question of foundations, i.e. the quesion of how metaphysics can be secure. There are two problems--(1) distortion seems to be present in all knowledge and (2) any foundation, e.g. materialism and idealism, is itself unfounded. These are resolved by appeal to the idea of Being (emphasized by Aristotle and Heidegger) and abstraction as direct rather than remote. Careful analysis of Being leads to the further foundational concepts, all defined and not identical to received definition, of metaphysics as knowledge of the real, experience, difference-sameness as immanent in Being (precursors to and inclusive of spacetime-substance), universe, void, possibility (and necessity), logic (with science, mathematics, practice, and reason). This is the foundation of the method in experience and the world.

Metaphysics. The possibility of demonstrated rather than merely hypothetical metaphysics is shown by constructing a metaphysics I call the perfect metaphysics. The following are some of the shown aspects or consequences. (1) The perfect metaphysics is an ultimate metaphysics—ultimate in showing the universe as ultimate and in its capture of that universe; its construction restores an older meaning of metaphysics as knowledge of the real and shows the possibility of metaphysics. (2) A form of the principle of sufficient reason but with necessity as its base rather than Leibniz’ base in common causation. (3) Resolution of what has been called the fundamental question of metaphysics (Martin Heidegger)—Why there is Being at all, i.e. why there is “something rather than nothing”. (4) A theory of abstract and concrete objects as lying on a continuum but, generally, with conceptual vs perceptual grounding respectively; which resolves the nature of the abstract—provided a concept is consistent it is realized somewhere in the universe.

Tradition. Tradition is defined as the (at least) pragmatically valid knowledge from all cultures including the modern academic disciplines. The pragmatic validity of tradition is justified and shown as perfect complement to the abstract side of the metaphysics. The abstract illuminates and guides the pragmatic; the pragmatic illustrates and is perfect instrument toward the ideal shown in the abstract. Together, the two—the abstract and the pragmatic sides—constitute the perfect metaphysics.

Cosmology. (1) Some general consequences are on the home page. See The View from the Way of Being for some general consequences. (2) All consistent forms are realized. However cosmology is far greater than modern physical cosmology. (3) Most analytic philosophers, scientists, and many lay persons as of 2019 accept modern physical cosmology as cosmology (a significant change since the 1960’s). (4) Tradition, however, via some of its ‘mechanisms’, e.g. the dynamical theories of physics and the self adaptation of ecological systems via Darwin’s indeterminist-determinist model of variation and selection, necessarily generalize to form models of form and formation that, although they are not universal, are mechanisms that probably obtain). (5) Spacetime is not “original” it may be seen as emergent and immanent with Being (“matter”) rather than as an eternal, external, given framework for Being. It emerges from a precursor—difference and sameness within experience—Being which, in turn, emerges from the void (which too may be seen as emergent from any being)

Science. Science is pragmatic-empirical. It is not universal or near universal thus far—its theories are models for the empirical region, projection to the trans-empirical is unwarranted, essentially speculative, and counter-scientific. The mechanisms above suggest models for origins of the cosmos and its laws (these ideas are not new). From the demonstration The Way of Being of the universe as having origin in the void (in one intepretation), we may infer models for the origins of quantum-general-relativistic-worlds (the conclusions are necessary in some worlds; however application to this world is speculative and details remain to be developed).

Being and human destiny—The Way of Being. From the home page “This is the one and greatest possible universe—an eternal process of limitless variety, peaks, and dissolutions; grounded in the immediate. All beings-identities merge as that process; death is real but not absolute. There are feasible paths to the ultimate for individuals and civilizations. There is an imperative to be on the way. The Way shows how to develop paths and presents flexible and adaptable path templates.” As noted, this is demonstrated and not merely speculative. The nature of the greatest possible universe, the nature of identity and the how of merging, the feasibility of paths, the imperative, the means of path development, are all new and manifest in the essays and The Way of Being.

A system of knowledge based in the metaphysics—a system of human knowledge, reason, practice, and action (opens in a new tab)—derived from the perfect metaphysics (includes tradition). This is crucial for without a metaphysics, questions of the nature and validity of knowledge, as well as many other questions, remain open. And if there is a metaphysics, the validity of the answers to those questions is limited, at least, by the validity of the metaphysics. But there is invariably a metaphysics, only it is often tacit. Thus in the modern world, secular thought that tends to eschew metaphysics often tacitly assumes a metaphysics that is some mix of (hard headed) common sense, pragmatiism, and a world view defined, not by what science allows, but by what current science sees.