Metaphysics: What does it serve?

@Whoever,

Whoever;36188 wrote:

I think metaphysics is the road to truth.

Truth is a very "final" assessment about a human inquiry.

Can you name an example of some final "truth" we now hold by virtue of a metaphysical process? I can't think of such a final truth at all (whether from metaphysics or not).

So is this truth at the end of your road something achievable, or is it an aspiration?

I think that the metaphysical process is what matters to humanity, not the actual solution to any metaphysical problem.

There is no truth at the end of a metaphysical road -- none; but going down that road gives people hope of truth. Why hope? Because using reason as our tool gives us ownership, i.e. it empowers. Using our senses gives the universe ownership.

And that's fine -- but we should remember that metaphysics is a human art and it lives and dies with the strengths, weaknesses, and expectations of the humans who engage in it. Whereas science may be bent and twisted, but in the end the raw data are still there whether a human mind is involved or not. There's more security in what we see and hear -- and thus a step closer to truth.

@Deftil,

Deftil wrote:

... I think it's great to think about just about anything, reality and the nature of it included, but when philosophers of the past have discussed metaphysics, it seems they've often been claiming to have certainty about things that they simply cannot know.

I think I'd have to echo this concern; well stated. Although I'd go as far as to add, "... wanna-be meta-physicians of the present as well".

To dream is blissful; along with wonder, hope and postulations of what "might be". But the propensity metaphysics has for taking otherwise sane folk, and preventing them from mentally "keeping their feet on the ground" worries me at times. There is an inherent danger to straying too far off the bounds of our physical/corporeal existence. While I'd readily admit the Dreamer in us all; "distractions" which shift focus off where we are and what we're doing seems a bit problematic.

Thanks

@Deftil,

Deftl - I know just what you mean. But I've come to around to view that it is possible to infer the nature of reality and it's basis in metaphysics. We can know, for example, that all positive metaphysical positions are logically indefensible. The problem is only that metaphysicians are usually reluctant to admit that it is possible to reach this conclusion, and even if they do reach it they think it is the end of philosophy. I seem to have developed a better opinion of metaphysics than most metaphysicians.

To do metaphysics we must keep our feet on the ground, but I would have thought thatwhere we are and what we're doing is what metaphysics is trying to discover.

@zefloid13,

Well...in theory they may be right possibly...though really what could have come about without it? Surely not quantum physics. With metaphysics so we see the doors of science opening, it is not simply a "study of the occult" because it still allows those searching within it to open their mind and explore.

With the new advances the came from metaphysics their is a current study going on that is actually determining the validity of life after death (spoken in such lamence terms) taking place in many US and UK hospitals, the "out of body experience" is being studied. Now...as far as this goes possibly it may be pointless to sit examining reality as we perceive it because it really does not dictate or change any reality, however it may change how we view reality. Each person has the power of mind to exam an event and predict their minds response to it. An event is simply an event and no more, because of predetermined experiences and common idiosyncrasies we, in our minds, oftentimes consider an event immediately bad or good. Really though past all this is the power to change the way the mind perceives those events which can lead to better control over the mind and body. If we change the mindset towards events that we would naturally determine with a negative response rather than a positive response then we begin to see the important rule that comes from metaphysics and determining reality. It may not be the initial use the the study though just as strongly directed towards its power.

@Aedes,

Aedes, sorry, I missed your post first time around.

Aedes wrote:

Truth is a very "final" assessment about a human inquiry.

Can you name an example of some final "truth" we now hold by virtue of a metaphysical process? I can't think of such a final truth at all (whether from metaphysics or not).

Sure. We discover that all positive metaphysical positions are absurd. Or, as Kant puts it, all selective conclusions about the world as a whole are undecidable. It follows that the universe must be described in a metaphysically neutral theory, as it is in mysticism.

Quote:

I think that the metaphysical process is what matters to humanity, not the actual solution to any metaphysical problem.

Not in my case. I want answers, not endless work.

Quote:

There is no truth at the end of a metaphysical road -- none;

Can you prove this?

Quote:

...we should remember that metaphysics is a human art and it lives and dies with the strengths, weaknesses, and expectations of the humans who engage in it. Whereas science may be bent and twisted, but in the end the raw data are still there whether a human mind is involved or not. There's more security in what we see and hear -- and thus a step closer to truth.

I'm afraid I cannot discover any boundary between physics and metaphysics that is not arbitrary.

@Aedes,

[quote=Aedes]Truth is a very "final" assessment about a human inquiry.[/quote]

Aedes wrote:

Can you name an example of some final "truth" we now hold by virtue of a metaphysical process? I can't think of such a final truth at all (whether from metaphysics or not).

There is no truth at the end of a metaphysical road -- none; but going down that road gives people hope of truth.

I don't want to criticize you although I just wanted to point out how harmful an opinion spoken as the truth can be. That is your theory, in actuality many find truths in life, whether the only truth is simply that everything is endlessly changing, that in itself is a truth. (I Ching)

Now...that does take into consideration my personal beliefs as a practicing Buddhist, although I feel through the time and consideration I have given to nearly every religion out there...and through my loss of faith in another religion, that my personal philosophy has some substance to it. Losing one faith and regaining a completely new one...contrary to all of my friends and families beliefs, though discovering in purity of mind the everlasting truths behind it. This is what I call the truth, and what nearly a quarter of the population on Earth (22% practicing Buddhists today) have as well discovered to be the truth.

[quote=Aedes]And that's fine -- but we should remember that metaphysics is a human art and it lives and dies with the strengths, weaknesses, and expectations of the humans who engage in it. [/quote]

In the end, as I always must say, we can only search so far and then let life go free to be itself. Life is short and at some point we must simply accept our existence and love life. Use what we have found, take control of our own minds, and just use it to make life the best that we can, living purely and freely.

Amanda Wohlfarth

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Metaphysics: What does it serve?

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