The generalized principle or system of principles is not a method but a practice that is conducive to discovery—to originality, comprehensiveness and validity of thought

A common idea of reflexivity is that a critical theory or system should satisfy its own criteria. Here, a generalized idea is that of cross-interaction among all elements and levels of discovery-action and knowledge-being—and at any point or occasion that is opportune. Specifically, principles arise in practice and remain or ‘should’ remain open to revaluation in practice—principles are not in another category than practice. The interaction of principles and practice is not merely a suggestive principle and is seen most clearly in Logic

Elaboration and examples

Interaction and interaction of criticism and imagination or construction in thought, action and transformation—e.g. criticism of criticism, criticism and construction rather than an either-or attitude, construction or imagination applied to critical approaches and philosophies, thought and action (experiment.) Interaction of knowledge—e.g. the disciplines—and thought, of principles and applications, of sense and reference or concept and object, of psyche and its elements, of life and ideas, commitment to goals and projects and spontaneity of direction—even dissipation, of seriousness and light, of institution and occasion

Sources of ideas. Construction

Listing possibilities

Literature and conversation, imagination, reflex

Concept formation (similarity and difference)

Logic applied to construction

Construction and criticism

Logic (literature and conversation, imagination, reflex,) and construction applied to Criticism. Construction and criticism may both involve experiment in thought and action

Method

In contrast to ‘principles,’ method establishes validity and has the following components. Method, too, is not in another category than practice. The given character of being and experience. Necessary objects—experience and its forms; existence and nature of all, distinction, part, complement and void: universe or all being, temporal and spatial distinction, part or domain of the universe, complement of a domain relative to the universe and void—the complement of the universe relative to itself. Logical consequences of from the nature of the necessary objects. Normal objects—this cosmological system, forms of experience as objects, the disciplines. Logical consequences from necessary and normal objects, their normal or probable character in this or any given cosmology, their necessary character in some cosmology. For examples see Theory of Being and Human World

Philosophy and metaphysics

The objective of this chapter is to elucidate the nature of philosophy and metaphysics in view of the developments of Foundation. In pursuit of this goal some preliminary reflections on the nature of philosophy will be useful. In view of earlier discussions on elucidating the meaning of some area of human activity such as metaphysics or logic as well as the discussions of meaning itself, it may be anticipated that it will be useful to initially enhance the question ‘What is philosophy?’ by a second question “What is the meaning of the question ‘What is philosophy?’?” This question may take the following form

Approaches to answering the question ‘What is philosophy?’

Philosophy is one of the main actors in the history of thought. In an earlier sense in which all thought lay under the umbrella of philosophy, it is the only actor…

It follows that the question ‘What is philosophy?’ is close in its meaning to the question ‘What is valid thought?’ There is an extended meaning in which the questions ‘What is valid perception?’ and ‘What is significant action?’ may be included

Therefore the question ‘What is philosophy?’ is significant to the human enterprise

Since thought—and action and perception—are the tools of the present endeavor, ‘What is philosophy?’ is important here as well. That is true because the present work contains thought that may be labeled philosophical even if it is philosophy only in the more extended sense of including perception and action

The Greek thinkers saw philosophy in broad terms. Plato was open to the nature of the world. Since the advent of science, various disciplines broke off from philosophy. Philosophy became concerned with thought itself and with those disciplines whose subject matter was itself not as well defined as that of science (appears to be.) In the present time we see the world in what may appear to be more restricted and more precise terms. As a result philosophy has become specialized in its subject and its methods. That is true, at least, of academic philosophy

The foregoing thought begs the question of the true nature of philosophy. Has academic philosophy truly seen into the nature of the disciplines. Thinkers from Hegel to Wittgenstein to Richard Rorty, each in their own rather different ways—there were phases of Wittgenstein’s thought—have seen philosophy as a stylized discipline. Even if the ideas of these thinkers have validity, the ‘true’ validity might be a perspective—a valid area of activity—rather than a prescription or a proscription. What is philosophy?

The question ‘What is philosophy?’ is and has a tradition as a problem in philosophy—just as the question of the nature in science is or may be seen as a question in philosophy. ‘What is science?’ is a question in philosophy because the nature of science is not altogether clear and it is not a question in science because science is not (usually thought to be) its own subject. However, the nature of any discipline may be a topic in philosophy on account of its general nature. The nature of philosophy may be a philosophical issue for the additional reason that the nature of the discipline is not altogether clear (on consensual and conceptual grounds)

What does it mean to ask ‘What is philosophy?’ Any valid discussion of the original question must also take up the meta-question

Asking ‘What is philosophy?’ is important to thought, significant to the content of this narrative, and is also an exercise in meaning

The history of the concerns of philosophy: a first approach to the nature of philosophy

A first approach is to ask what has been done under the label ‘philosophy’ from its beginnings to the present time. This would not be a simple matter of reading through the great works or through histories of philosophy for the available literature is influenced by selection and interpretation. Metaphysics is considered to be a discipline within philosophy. However not all philosophical concerns have the breadth and ultimate interest that has characterized metaphysics. One aspect of a characterization of philosophy is that, at least in its beginnings, it encompassed all academic disciplines; later, in the modern era, the sciences broke away from philosophy. The reasons for these breaks included that the subject matter of the disciplines became definite as the disciplines acquired an empirical base and as the concepts acquired definite character. Thus what is left to philosophy after the separation of the sciences is those disciplines whose empirical foundation is not clearly established and whose concepts remain points of analysis—their character is not seen as definite. The original statement that philosophy once encompassed all academic disciplines is not entirely accurate for mathematics was never considered to be a part of philosophy—western or eastern; and this is evidently because mathematical concepts were already quite definite when philosophical thought emerged while, at least in its axiomatic formulations, the empirical sources of mathematics had become minimally relevant to it. However, in the nineteenth century, when the basis of mathematics drew attention as a result of questions about the nature of fundamental concepts such as number and infinitesimal, the resulting study of the foundations of mathematics, which secured—at least some of—the concepts in question as well defined, had a definite philosophical character. This intersection of philosophy and mathematics occurred because some mathematical concepts were seen as ill defined. Similarly, the remoteness and indefiniteness of the concepts of modern physics have also been the occasion for reflection, for analysis of concepts, that may be seen as philosophical. It is natural though not necessary for an individual, a discipline or a culture to turn to philosophy and philosophical reflection in moments of transition or crisis

The turn from authority to reason—a turn from external ‘reasons’ to intrinsic reasons

Another aspect of philosophy is its turn away from authority and dogma, especially religion, to reflection and then, through sharpening of reflection, to reason. Although Thales 600 B.C. suggestion that the fundamental element of being is water is reflective rather than reasoned, it is a turn away from religion and the hidden world of the spirit for water is very much of this world. The metaphysics of Thales’ may be seen as containing precursors of reason and realism or empiricism—this thought is of course the result of interpretation. Still, the second aspect or characteristic of philosophy is its focus on ideas and concepts and, in relation to method, in its focus on reflection and reason

The modern and recent periods: a brief comment

In the recent period, philosophy continues to work within the course set by the foregoing characters—since there is neither intent nor need to review its history, vast movements from Hellenism, from scholasticism, from the modern and recent eras are passed over. These characters are the focus on general issues of interest, focus in terms of ideas and concepts—especially in those areas of thought where there is no secure empirical base and where concepts and conceptual systems have not acquired definite and systematic character and the use of methods—approaches may be a better term—that emphasize reflection and reason

Analytic philosophy and its perspective. The turn away from systematic philosophy to immediate and concrete concerns. The methods of analysis of meaning and piece-meal focus

In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries most philosophy in the west has been either analytic or continental. Analytic philosophy emerged in Germany and Britain, perhaps as a reaction to the grand metaphysical speculations of absolute idealism, and was made possible by emerging analytic tools in formal and mathematical logic and in the works of thinkers such as Frege, Russell, and Wittgenstein. Wittgenstein’s influence is especially significant today. Wittgenstein’s early work included a systematic construction of a logical analysis of the world and it is inherent to that work that such an analysis should be possible. The terms of Wittgenstein’s early system were linguistic. Later, Wittgenstein rejected his earlier program and came to focus on different ways in which language is used and to work on a variety of issues, many in philosophy of mind, employing as a primary tool the ways in which language is used in commonly talking of the subject of concern—he is thus regarded to have turned away from systematic philosophy. Although analytic philosophy had roots in the continent—in the work in logic, especially that of Frege—it flourished in the English speaking (and Scandinavian) countries, perhaps because of the rejection of idealism and the practical bent that philosophy had taken in the thought of Adam Smith, Jeremy Bentham, and John Stuart Mill. These thoughts are of course somewhat speculative. An outcome is that analytic philosophy tends to focus away from grand and systematic concerns and on immediate and concrete problems by methods that emphasize analysis of terms and may be described as piece-meal

The narrowing of perspective in analytic philosophy. Broad sketch of the reasons for the narrowing. Argument from the principles developed in this narrative against the analytic perspective and its reasons

Analysis is a narrowing of philosophical perspective. Wittgenstein’s views—philosophy as analysis of use, lateral analysis, language games or piece-meal work—have had a further profoundly narrowing effect. Though the narrowing is not universal it is sufficiently wide spread that may be seen as universal in its effect on education and writing in analytic philosophy. The source of the narrowing is the view that certain activities—systematic metaphysics, metaphysics as the study of being and not merely of experience—is not possible. Even if such study were theoretically impossible there might be a place for experiment and imagination—imagine the discoverers of the New World holding back because there is by definition no hard evidence of unknown lands. However, this argument is not necessary although, depending on one’s values it may be seen as a supplement to the main argument which is that in this narrative an ultimate and systematic study of being has been developed in ‘cold logic’

Continental philosophy of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries continued to be concerned with problems of human and universal interest. Its thought remained clear and crisp in the hands of Nietzsche and powerful—if perhaps necessarily less clear—with Heidegger. On account of its scope it is natural that such thought could not attain the apparent precision of analytic thought

In contrast to analytic philosophy, continental philosophy continued, with thinkers such as Husserl and Heidegger, to focus on problems considered important if, perhaps, too difficult for reason to contemplate. Heidegger saw himself as standing in the tradition of Western Philosophy but as a critic of the prevalent habit of substance thinking. In its focus on Being, the present narrative derives some inspiration from Heidegger’s thought—the aspect of focus and the methods are of course significantly different and, as noted earlier, Heidegger retained an aspect of the habit of substance thinking in not explicitly rejecting determinism which has been seen here as the twin of substance metaphysics. Heidegger’s philosophy retained a focus on the human condition—which was, significantly, Heidegger’s route to metaphysics

The thought of Nietzsche, prior to that of Husserl and Heidegger, is a sublime example of focus on human and universal concerns combined with razor sharp wit, criticism, analysis and insight

The focus on the human condition and the use of the human condition as inspiration and as a source of insight characterizes much of recent, i.e. late nineteenth to twenty-first century, continental philosophy—especially existentialism

The mid-nineteenth to present turn of Continental and Post-modern thought away from real concerns and real criticism

Recent turns in continental philosophy may be seen as responses to a variety of nihilisms. One nihilism is the perceived failure of European ideals in the catastrophic wars of the twentieth century and, perhaps, in the loss of empire and the ascent of the New World. Another nihilism is the loss of faith in systematic thought since the breakdown of communism which was supposedly rooted in Marxism. A third nihilism, perhaps shared with analytic thought, is a loss of philosophical nerve under the rise of the institution of science and under the harsh glare of a certain conception of scientific method—the false one in which the programmatic-empirical and therefore materialist-conceptual-experimental-it-must-be-immediately-falsiable approach of science is raised to the status of Method and thought to exclude all else. Finally there is the rise of populist philosophies which, though not intrinsically nihilistic, have negative evaluations of the tradition of philosophy as the philosophy of an oppressor. Although the characterization is not universal and not complete even its applicable range, the philosophy of the continent and related thought elsewhere—especially among its all-too-gleeful-in-their-flee-from-reason-into-unrestrained-flight-of-emtpy-politico-rhetoric sympathizers across the Atlantic, has, as a general characteristic, a move away from both system and reason

The philosophical tradition and Journey in Being

Although it has been suggested that recent western philosophy may be seen as a loss of nerve in the face of a number of influences, both analytic and continental philosophy might respond that their course is a response to the grandiose pretensions of earlier thought. There is truth to that thought. However, failure of systems and failure of political experiment is not failure of system. The inference from systems to system violates the principles of analytic philosophy; it is the failure of nerve in the continent. The truth to the rejection of grandiose pretensions is a caution rather than a prescription. A motive of the Journey has been to experience and know the magnitude of being, to use the power of the imagination of Europe, the precision of analytic thought, to heed but not be governed by the contingent errors—the confusions of systems with system—of the past

Indian philosophy

It would take this story to far away from its path to attempt a proper characterization of Indian philosophy and its various strands. It is also true that I should become more familiar with that philosophy before I attempt to define it

Perhaps one characteristic, general though not universal, of the philosophy of India is its attempt to synthesize magnitude of vision with precision, clarity and grounding of thought

This narrative has gained from an exposure to Indian philosophy

Summary of discussion

In summary, there is no characterization of the practice of philosophy that is universal to all times and places—at least in the thought of the practitioners of those times and places. There has been no discussion of non-western thought but such discussion is not necessary to this negative conclusion. However, the self-evaluation of philosophy has clearly varied from that of, e.g., universal science to a local narrative that has no pretension to reason or universality

The discussion sets the stage for elucidation of the nature of philosophy and metaphysics

Discussion now turns to reflection on the nature of metaphysics and philosophy in light of the present narrative and the foregoing preliminary discussion

The discussion first turns to a new characterization of the metaphysics of immanence that recognizes its ultimate breadth. This permits a characterization of philosophy that has the same breadth but allows specialized studies as well. The firmness of the foundation of metaphysics is carried over to philosophy.

The ultimate nature of the metaphysics of immanence suggests the thought that the question of the nature of philosophy may have some ultimate resolution if perhaps in a broad sketch. Since the metaphysics is critical, it is taken up first. Although the metaphysics has been seen to be ultimate the characterization below is explicitly new even though it is implicit in the development so far. The following characterization of metaphysics sets the stage for setting down a conception of philosophy that is based in the firm foundation of the metaphysics, that has faithfulness to the original tradition, and that has the same breadth and depth as the metaphysics while allowing a vast range of more and less specialized concerns. While the specialist focus of analytic philosophy is rejected its specialist studies are not—these studies and there methods have been influential and very useful in the development of this narrative

Metaphysics

When metaphysics is seen as the study of being-as-such rather than as a metaphysics of experience, it has been challenged with the question of its possibility. The source of this challenge is that there is no possible knowledge of being-in-itself. Various responses to this challenge are possible and these include Kant’s analysis of the world in terms of what structure it must have in order to make experience and its forms possible. In this narrative it has been seen that although there may be no faithful experience of being in all its details, there is experience of certain general contours of being, e.g. the facts of being and of all being and others, and this experience was used as the basis of an ultimate metaphysics of great power and simplicity. The problem of the details—of contextual or contingent affairs—remained and was addressed in Theory of Being. It was found that practical faithfulness obtains in context, that intuition can be extended through humor to cover all being, and less than full faithfulness may be seen equally as limit and opportunity. These words are, of course, a distant view of the powerful and universal perspective of Foundation

In its broad contours, metaphysics may, therefore, be rationally seen as the discipline whose concern is with the outer limits of being; whose method shows how to study those limits—and, of course, that the study is possible; and is revealed as a study of being of ultimate breadth and variety

Philosophy

In consequence, philosophy has no rational requirement to limit itself as laid out in modern academic thought. While metaphysics has concern with the outer limits, philosophy may, in consequence, be recognized as the discipline whose limits are the outer limits of knowing—understanding—and being. In the extension to being, philosophy has the interpretation of action—whether systematic or ad hoc at outset. While it is natural that there will be special foci within philosophy—disciplines whose empirical foundation remains tenuous and whose concepts have not acquired definite character—this restriction should concern the practice but not the concept of philosophy which should continue to encompass method and content of other disciplines and practices

One aspect of recent philosophy is the thought that ‘philosophy cannot inform other disciplines.’ In the present view, no narrow discipline is seen as informing another; rather, there is sharing of information and reasons across boundaries and levels of knowing and being that are intrinsically transactional—and somewhat arbitrary—rather than impermeable boundaries and levels

When every discipline is defined by its practitioners, the sum of all disciplines is likely to contain ‘gaps’ that include (1) spaces in between disciplines, (2) the system of disciplines and its overview defined conceptually instead of by academic division, (3) space for emerging studies. The reality of these gaps may be questioned but the effect is a definite omission from academics and education. One source of such concerns is that it results from forces in the selection of the practitioners. In Britain for example, academic philosophers are largely those who studied classics in the schools and have little exposure to science or even philosophy itself. It is natural, then, for such individuals to have an inward looking specialist view of philosophy. It is now asked, ‘who is the keeper of all knowledge.’ There is bound to be contention regarding the appointment specific group of individuals to the position of ‘keeper.’ Yet, there is a need for the activity. In one view it does not matter what that activity is labeled. However, having it labeled may be conducive to its development

Regardless of whether the activity is done by a scientist, a poet or a philosopher, the Western discipline whose legacy makes it the best ‘container’ for universal thought is (perhaps) philosophy. Even though that suggestion is bound to draw reaction, some of it likely hostile, no reason is seen to retract it

Problems in metaphysics

The original intent of reflection on metaphysics was to provide one framework for the journey. However, the outcome was an original metaphysics. Along the way it became possible to develop powerful approaches in metaphysics. One outcome was the neat, astonishingly brief and succinct, and definitive resolution of a number of classic and new problems in metaphysics

Aims of the chapter on problems in metaphysics

The goals of this chapter are, first, to show that the developments of the narrative contain, simultaneously, the introduction of some new problems of metaphysics and their resolution and, second, to show that essentially all of the main problems from the history of metaphysics have been addressed and given resolution

Some new problems of metaphysics and their resolution

The possibility and construction of a metaphysics of ultimate depth and breadth

The first problem is that of the possibility and construction of a—perhaps the—metaphysics that is ultimate in breadth and depth. The possibility of metaphysics is not a new problem but its enhancement to include its construction and ultimate character are essentially new for, as already noted, while there have been intimations of the metaphysics of immanence in the history of thought, ‘The metaphysics has been brought to an ultimate level—one that has been glimpsed in the history of thought e.g. by Leibniz, Hume and Wittgenstein who saw some aspect of it but provided neither demonstration nor systematic development of a whole system nor development of a system of implications. Some aspects of the system have been imagined in Indian Philosophy, especially in Vedanta, but, here too, what has been seen is similarly though not identically deficient.’ In its development, i.e. in the first versions of the narrative, the metaphysics was thought of as transcending experience, and in recent versions there was a sense of its empirical character

The metaphysics—of immanence—is a real metaphysics that is also of and based in experience

The second problem is that of showing that the metaphysics of immanence is a metaphysics of experience. There is extensive discussion of this issue in the narrative and it is therefore necessary here to make only a brief explanation of the empirical character of the metaphysics. Consider the ‘universe’ which has been conceived in the narrative as all being. Recall the discussion of the meaning of the phrase ‘Mt. Everest exists.’ It means that there is a concept of ‘Mt. Everest’ that corresponds—intentionally—to an actual object ‘Mt. Everest.’ It was observed, however, that the correspondence of some particular version of the concept—e.g. the shape of the mountain or its constitution in terms of rocks and ice or in terms of atoms—may be practically adequate for some purpose but cannot be, or is at least not normally known to be, perfectly faithful. However, perfect faithfulness is what is required for the concept ‘Mt. Everest’ to be part of a metaphysics. The same problem arises in the case of elementary objects such as an electron. An objection now arises to the metaphysics of immanence as a metaphysics of experience—that it is a valid metaphysics is otherwise demonstrated and is not in question in the immediate discussion. The objection is that if the concepts of elementary things are not given to be faithful to their objects, then, since the universe is compounded of all objects, how, since in the compounding the lacks of faithfulness are compounded, can the concept of the universe be faithful to the object universe? Putting the question in that way suggests its immediate answer—if ‘universe’ refers to universe-in-all-its-details then there is indeed a compounding of lack of faithfulness of the elements; however, if universe refers to universe-in-its-oneness there is no compounding of the lacks of faithfulness of the concepts of the elementary objects. There is an empirical sense of the universe-in-its-oneness that is suppressed by the exquisite but, relative to the object in question, distracting detail. I.e., in the concept of the universe as the universe-in-its-oneness, the lacks of faithfulness of the concepts of the elementary objects—may be said to—cancel one another

The thought that there is a universal divide between noumenon and phenomenon, between metaphysics of being and metaphysics of experience, is based in a mistaken characterization of experience

The mistaken thought that there cannot be experience of all being has just been seen as an impediment to seeing the empirical character of the metaphysics of immanence. A related impediment is the mistaken thought that knowing must invariably be incremental, that it should radiate out from a center in this world

It is emphasized that there is no claim that all experience of phenomena is faithful to noumena but that (1) there are absolute objects, the void, the universe and so on for which the faithfulness of the phenomenon is given and (2) there is a detailed analysis of the case for other objects given in Objects that need not be repeated here except to say that Objectivity is possible for a far wider class of objects than hitherto regarded as possible

Development of a method adequate to metaphysics of immanence and its application

A third problem is that of the development of a method adequate to development of the metaphysics of immanence and its application to, first, elaboration of the metaphysics as in Logic and meaning, Mind, and Cosmology; second, to the theory of objects, i.e. to elucidating the duality of concepts and objects, i.e., to bringing a metaphysic of practical experience into the fold of the metaphysics of immanence; and, third, to the immediate or Human World. The method has been discussed extensively in the divisions Theory of Being and Human World, and in the chapter Principles of thought and action

Some problems and resolutions on the boundary between classical metaphysics and metaphysics of immanence

Another problem conceived and resolved is the twin problem of substance and determinism. This problem, fully conceived only in the present version of the narrative, recognizes, with Heidegger, that western metaphysics has suffered for 2000 years under the shadow of substance thinking, but that substance and determinism are duals and to fully eradicate—the habit of—substance thought, determinism must also be abandoned. The resolution of the problem and related problems such as the possibility of structure from—indeterminism is accomplished in the narrative and is not repeated here. From this problem and its resolution flow the problems and resolutions of the fundamental problems of metaphysics—the fundamental problem of metaphysics—why there is something rather than nothing, the meaning and nature of the real and of mind—and matter—and consciousness, the mind-body problem and the problem of mental causation, the questions of the nature of philosophy and the nature of metaphysics (recall that at the outer boundaries of philosophy and metaphysics are identical,) the problem of foundations—whether there is a non-relativist foundation without substance (such a foundation has here been shown,) the problem of variety and its resolution in the idea of Logic as the one law of the universe, the problem of the relative natures of particulars and universals such as properties and of particular versus abstract objects such as universals and values (there is a practical distinction but a real and uniform framework may and has been developed in which any distinction is artificial,) the problems of the distinctions between the contingent and the necessary and of the empirical and the analytic (whose resolutions are tentatively similar to the resolution for particulars and universals,) the problem of the nature of human being and society—whether we are isolated and marginal and limited accidents (we are not at all so but in the Theory of being, this derives from there continuity with the variety of being—especially beings on earth—and not from any uniqueness or superiority although the human mode of appreciation that may have positive and neurotic expression and is manifest e.g. in art and literature appears to be distinct though without any meaning to any suggestion of superiority,) the problems of the status of traditional religious and mythic cosmologies, the problems of identity and of the relation of Atman and Brahman (here shown logically to be identical in the global perspective)…

Problems in metaphysics from antiquity to the present time . Resolutions

Included are classical, scholastic, modern and recent issues in metaphysics and Indian metaphysics. The purpose to the following catalog of problems is to show that the problems from the history of metaphysics have received either trivialization or solution in this narrative—the reader may wish to review the relevant portions of the narrative; and some of the more specialized concerns may require, for completeness, in the present version of the narrative, that the reader work out the details. Mention of types of metaphysical theory is included to display—so that the reader who has become acquainted with Theory of Being can see—the ‘placement’ or ‘context’ of the types within the Theory of Being. Mention of argument in metaphysics brings out the contributions of ‘method’ from the present narrative

Classical metaphysics

Since the problems are resolved in the narrative, there is no need to repeat the resolutions

Being, substance, space, time, nature of metaphysics, forms, categories, atomism, change and constancy

Scholastic metaphysics

Universals and particulars, free will, existence and nature of God, soul and body

Modern metaphysics

Nature of the Real; mind and matter; identity, substance, ontology; identity over time, personal identity; causation and laws; probabilistic causation; laws of nature; Matter, space and time; objects as substances vs. mere bundles of properties; conception of spirit; nature and existence of the external world, what is Real—reality of material things, organizing principles of nature

Recent metaphysics

Modality and counterfactuals; causation, regularity and counterfactuals; identity and necessity, Kripke—identity statements are necessary but knowable only a posteriori. Being as journey or becoming; becoming as being

Indian metaphysics

There are points of contact between Indian thought and the Theory of Being. As a whole, Indian Philosophy recognizes the greatness of being (Brahman, the Real) and identity of the self (Atman, soul) with it; it stresses the immediate in karma (work) and moksa (salvation;) these ideas focus on what may be important to the Individual and to transformation; in ‘A History of Transformation’ below there is consideration of some schools of Indian thought that focus on these concerns

Types of metaphysical theory

The present section has the intent to show the relations of metaphysics of immanence to some classical types of metaphysics

Platonism

Relationship between the ideal and the immediate

Aristotelianism

Metaphysics is immanent

Thomism

Reflection on everyday things and the everyday world reveals it as pointing beyond itself to God as its sustaining cause

Cartesianism

The main problem of Descartes was the divide between the determinate world of matter then being revealed by science and the world of mind that was free of material constraint… that were brought together by Design as the sign of God

Idealism and materialism

Idealism and materialism are two modern responses to the problem of Cartesianism

Argument in Metaphysics

Metaphysics as an a priori science… and as an empirical science; metaphysical arguments—logical Form of metaphysical arguments; transcendental arguments—typical form and an example: q = knowledge is possible only if p = the world is according to the forms of intuition and q therefore p

Further issues and problems of metaphysics addressed and resolved in this narrative

The following list makes explicit the contribution of the present narrative to resolution of the problems

Metaphysics

The (seamless and integral) nature of Being and knowledge (objects.) The ‘fundamental problem’ of metaphysics, i.e. why absence of being must result in being (‘Why there is something rather than nothing!’)

Identity

The nature and destiny of the Individual (in the Theory of Identity;) and the identity of the individual and all being

Mind, and matter and the problem of substance

The Mind-Matter problem i.e. that there is (after fundamentals have been addressed) no mind-matter problem; and, more generally, the problem of substance i.e. that there are no ultimate substances. The problem of substance (detail)—there are no ultimate (deterministic) uniform and unchanging substances; there is, at root, only the (indeterministic) Void (absence of being) whose uniformity and constancy or otherwise are not defined into but derived from its constitution (concept)

The void may be seen as the source of All Being; the concept of the void founds explanation of all being that terminates without regress, eliminates substance, and permits non relativist philosophy without substance

Philosophy of mind

Some problems of intentionality and mental causation—discussed under Mind

Attitude and action

Identification and resolution of the conceptually illicit but practically useful distinction between experience on the one hand and attitude and action on the other

The nature of consciousness and experience

The meaning and nature of the Real

See Objects

Ethics, metaphysics and knowledge

The nature of Ethics and its relation to Metaphysics. The necessity of Metaphysics on Ethical grounds (rejection of Metaphysics on Ethical grounds is also conceivable; however, the argument here is for necessity. Further, a rejection of metaphysics on purely ethical grounds would miss the essence of the argument as an inclusive rather than an exclusive one.) The Real nature of Ethical concerns i.e. that issues of freedom are not peripheral but central to being (whose constitution may be seen as freedom in interaction with necessity.) That the concepts of Knowledge and Ethics (Morals) are not distinct—that knowledge is other than usually conceived or that it is of lesser value than usually thought (though not devoid of value altogether—its value would retain its practical but not its fundamental aspect)

The nature of human being and society

See Human world

A system of human knowledge

The discoveries in metaphysics of this essay make possible the following system that corresponds approximately to the system of modern academic disciplines. The system is an adaptation, in light of Theory of being, of the outline of the fifteenth edition of Encyclopedia Britannica

The intent is to reveal how the Theory of being and related topics make the enhancements possible and to allow the reader to see how the system may fit rationally and systematically within the framework of the present narrative

A. Symbols and Knowledge

0a. Symbols and signs; semiotics—the study of signs and sign behavior. Symbolic Systems including language, logic, and mathematics. 0b. The Humanities and Philosophy; Study of Science and History

B. The Universe

1a. Metaphysics and general cosmology, nature and varieties of Being, which includes Logic, Value or ethics and aesthetics, epistemology; nature and varieties of Knowledge, where, note, Belief is fundamental and the varieties of belief include Faith as (primarily) Belief-Action, Knowledge as Belief-Justification; 1b. Physical science, nature, behavior of energy and varieties of force and material object including physics, physical cosmology, and chemistry; 2. Geology; 3. Biology, life—its nature and variety and origins of life and variety; Medicine; 4. Mind as the study of psyche in its integration and its ‘functions;’ nature of mind; 5. Society, nature, institutions (groups) and change… and aspects including culture (institution of knowledge,) economics, political science and philosophy (and Law;) and 6. History

C. Artifact

7. Art, nature and varieties of (literature, music, painting…;) 8. Technology (elements: energy, tools and machines… and fields: agriculture, transportation, information, earth and space exploration…; Engineering; and 9. Faith, literal and nature and varieties of non literal meaning and non meaning functions; religion, its nature and varieties: the religions of the world throughout history