08 July 2009

Metaphysical Questions: can we do away with them?

Given that one of the purposes of Post Modern Philosophy (PoMo) is to eliminate the need for metaphysical questions and adhere to some sort of "language game", tossed out by Wittgenstein and furthered by Rorty, the obvious question has to be then, is it possible to remove metaphysical questions?

Rorty of course, in his "don't want to get trapped in an argument I can't win" style, has relegated metaphysics to some sort of "private language". With PoMo relying upon empirical language and such, what is the place for theories? Are these not metaphysical questions with an official stamp?

For me, Voltaire may have actually had a quite apt knowledge of human spirit when he stated that if "god did not exist, man would create one". It seems to me, that metaphysical questions are a driving force in humanitas.

While I believe that one day Science will be able to map every part of the brain (consciousness, ...), there will still be the question of whether it is truly correct.

So I have to ask then, is it feasible at all to think it is possible to abandon metaphysical questions???

1 comment:

  1. ah but remember Heidegger, after spending most of his career trying to overcome metaphysics, eventually realised 'we must cease all overcoming, and let metaphysics be'. Metaphysics has determined a part of who we are... western thinking is infested with it. Trying to overcome it simply traps us in the same logic (e.g Nietzsche). We must accept that it is a part of us throughly, and then we will begin to surpass its limitations. Eventually, and only then, will we authentically encounter the why question - 'why are there beings at all, and why not rather nothing?'.

    ReplyDelete