Re: MD When is a metaphysics not a metaphysics?

From: Wim Nusselder (wim.nusselder@antenna.nl)
Date: Thu Nov 20 2003 - 07:03:42 GMT

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    Dear Matt K.,

    You wrote 19 Nov 2003 17:13:10 -0600:
    'If everything is real, then the metaphysical question "What is real?" (one
    of those questions I listed long ago as Wim remembered) is reduced, not to
    absurdity, but to triviality. Debate about reality, pragmatists say, then
    ceases to be metaphysical and become other things, like politics and
    literary criticism (which, as you say, are debates about high and low
    quality).'

    THE questions as you originally phrased them, in your "little Intro to
    Philosophology" of 31/5/01 11:21 -0700 were:
    "There are three branches of philosophology: epistemology, metaphysics, and
    axiology.
    Epistemology deals with the 'How do I know something?' questions.
    Metaphysics deals with the 'What is reality?' questions.
    Axiology is a little known word that formalises the question of 'What has
    value?'."

    I have rephrased them, most recently in my "Economics of want and greed"
    posts (see www.antenna.nl/wim.nusselder/schrijfsels/economics.htm , also
    linked through www.moq.org now):
    'That is, if metaphysics is understood to mean our answers to three
    questions:
    1) How can we know? (epistemology)
    2) What can we know? (ontology)
    3) How can we know what we should do? (meta-ethics)
    My answers are:
    1) We can only know by experience.
    2) Only Quality or value can be known experientially.
    3) We can only know what we should do by attaching differential meaning to
    alternative actions.'

    Are these trivial, too??

    By the way, even the question "What is real?" is not trivial BEFORE you have
    answered it with 'everything is'. Asking that question CAN be important to
    distinguish oneself from Platonists and other villains. Once it is answered
    (along with the other metaphysical questions) debates about relative quality
    are of course much more important.

    With friendly greetings,

    Wim

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