Metascience, 2023

Review article of James Poskett's book, Horizons

Metaphysical poetry was a literary movement which took place from around 1600 to 1650. Shakespeare was one of the main influence of these artists. It was not a school : they did not define themselves as metaphysical poets. There are common points between them, but they do not claim to be part of one single school. There is also no definitive list of metaphysical poets, but one is always present : John Donne. Metaphysical poetry is therefore a blurry term designating an heterogeneous class of artists, which sometimes only applies to a certain part of an artist's corpus of works.

This article is concerned with the question of the proper place of substantial general metaphysics in aesthetics and the philosophy of art. For reasons articulated in writings from the 1950s, analytic aesthetics denies that there is any relation of dependence and regards the intrusion of metaphysics into reflection on art as not merely superfluous but also methodologically inappropriate. Against this I argue (1) that analytic aesthetics in its circumscription of the bounds of the discipline is not metaphysically neutral, (2) that it is vulnerable to the challenge of scientific naturalism, and (3) that a case for the necessity of metaphysics in aesthetics and the philosophy of art can be made on the grounds of the constitutive opacity of art and the aesthetic from the standpoint of ordinary consciousness. The analytic reception of Kant's aesthetic theory, I argue, supports this conclusion.

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2018

Meta-metaphysics concerns the nature and methodology of metaphysics and metaphysical inquiry. The emergence of meta-metaphysics as a systematic area of study is relatively recent, going back to the late 1990s. But the issues pursued in meta-metaphysics are certainly not novel: an age old question about the nature of metaphysics is whether it is possible to obtain knowledge about metaphysical matters in the first place, and if it is, how this knowledge is obtained.

Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 2009

Many critiques against metaphysics have much to do with its method or object. For example, Hume, Kant, and some members of the Vienna Circle all argue against metaphysics as a science from an anthropological or epistemological perspective. Their arguments are primarily against the possibility of metaphysics as a science, as a human endeavor. Is human reason capable of grasping and expressing metaphysical truths? Although it is well beyond the scope of this paper to provide a complete answer to any of these criticisms, I believe that an adequate understanding of the object and method of metaphysics are an important first step. In this paper I will argue that analogy is central to understanding metaphysics--both in providing a unity to its object as well as being integral to the method of metaphysical inquiry.

This paper would like to elucidate on the contemporary perspective of metaphysics, by tracing its etymological foundation in the ancient period. It primarily focuses on the metaphysics of: Universals, Space, Change, Causality, Reality and Appearance, Mind-Body Relation, Freedom, Modality, and Necessary Being.

Zagadnienia Naukoznawstwa, 2017

Metamimesis, etymologically, is a combination of the Greek prefix "meta" and mimeisthai, which was in use prior to the emergence of the Platonic tradition (Koller 1954). In the following work I argue that the methodological and technical aspect of classical category, mimesis, has been changing during the development of art and human thinking throughout the cultural history and philosophy. 2 This work discusses hypotheses concerning functional and interdisciplinary, and potentiality of meaning of the category of metamimesis, especially: contemplative meaning (as the classical-philosophical) and – the original – performative meaning (according to A. Artaud: as a non-discursive and non-mendacious reality). The main part of the paper applies the category of metamimesis to interpret selected artistic practices, in particular the artistic performance of Iron Ship and Xavier le Roy's Low pieces. Thus, it discloses the vast potentiality of the act of performance as a process involving contemplative and performative dimensions of human being – all participants of this process. The discussion concerns also the question about the limits of human thinking and ultimately the possible existence of a transcendental awareness. The article is an introduction to the study of potentiality of the category " metamimesis " .

A loose but somewhat canonized group of very influential seventeenth century, Jacobean poets are often labeled as metaphysical poets -the "metaphysical" comes as a moniker meant to not just describe the theory behind their poetic style but, also, what features their poetry shared at the forefront of that stylistic genre. But, this moniker is an unfortunate misnomer having been popularized chiefly by the eighteenth century literary critic Samuel Johnson. Though Johnson's term "metaphysical" carries the pejorative weight of antipathy, if not downright cynicism, the term was later developed by T. S. Eliot as a term of endearment and nostalgia in the wake of Modernism. In either case, "metaphysical" is meant to describe a poetic style of a group of poets, but does so in a way that does more disservice than good, since metaphysical poetry should be considered as more "ontological" than "metaphysical." I do so, first and foremost, in order to make a careful distinction between "metaphysical" and "ontological." This distinction is critical to understanding the parameters of describing metaphysical poets, since, in my view, any metaphysical approach goes beyond the "metaphysical" and ventures into the "ontological." Secondly, carefully distinguishing "metaphysical" from "ontological" is the key to conceptualizing the so-called metaphysical approach as one that is chiefly concerned with hermeneutics, or interpretation -making the metaphysical into the ontological is not focused exclusively on defining the "metaphysical," but, instead, defining the "metaphysical" through the use of decidedly "ontological" definitions.