Philosophy

» pink101 - Questions

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I really appreciate these two latest articles. Thanks.
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In the last one you write, "If humanity is self-creating (as existentialism suggests) or if metaphysics is based on language (as Wittgenstein suggests), then metaphysics is more of a psychological or anthropological point than a philosophical one."
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Would you please expand a little on this statement?
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"Thus philosophy lost one if its big three areas, a loss that is still not fully comprehended by much of the community. We aren't yet sure what lasting effect this might have on philosophy.
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How does religion play into this loss? Is it also losing a counter part in its areas of interest?
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-- posted by pink101

» RLSharp - Questions

In response to Questions posted by pink101:

Pink 101 Wrote: "In the last one you write, "If humanity is self-creating (as existentialism suggests) or if metaphysics is based on language (as Wittgenstein suggests), then metaphysics is more of a psychological or anthropological point than a philosophical one."

Metaphysics is usually about what comes BEFORE human beings. In other words, it looks at the foundations of the world, what allows us to be the way we are, for example. But if metaphysics is just a human creation, i.e. if there is no "before us" to discover, then the project of metaphysics is pointless. Metaphysics would then just be an exploration of how we approach the world. There would be nothing objective or universal about it. Without objectivity, it's not clear what role metaphysics would have, except as an explanation of how different people think.

This is related to religion in an interesting way. Religion traditionally relies on metaphysics. You might say religion is a metaphysical position. Many of the anti-metaphysical people (e.g. Nietzsche) are also anti-religion. The crossover between philosophy and religion is strongest in metaphysics, since God is a metaphysical entity. Is that what you were asking?

-- posted by RLSharp

» pink101 - Questions

In response to Questions posted by RLSharp:
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Yes, it is.
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Does this loss of metaphysics for philosophy point to further deterioration in any of the schools involved?
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-- posted by pink101