Tagged: metaphysics

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Basic Notions of Metaphysics: Univocal Concept of Being

In this episode of our ongoing series "Basic Notions of Metaphysics", we talk about univocal concept of being as explicated by John Duns Scotus. It is hard to overestimate the influence of the idea that being is an univocal concept, that is: the simple, indivisible and, above all, indifferent notion present in all other concepts - from the spec of dust to God Himself. We argue that univocity represents the point of departure from traditional metaphysics towards modernity and postmodernity; whereas, traditionally, being was understood as reality or act/ἐνέργειᾰ, with univocity it becomes a concept and hence opens the horizon of modern metaphysics with its conceptual systems and reliance on subjectivity. Naturally, we on KT have few objections about that.

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Basic Notions of Metaphysics: Analogia Entis

In this episode of our regular podcast Basic Notions of Metaphysics we provide an account on principle of analogy - a veritable sacred bond of the universe, according to Medieval scientia transcendens. We follow the genesis of this genuinely Christian transformation of the principle already partly known in the ancient world, its relevance in the context of the problem of mediation between equivocal and univocal predication of being, its roots in the doctrine of transcendentals and, ultimately, its nature as the form of the revelation of the presence of God in His creatures.

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KT Answers: What is Ontology?

In this episode of our regular Q&A podcast we answer the seemingly simple question, what is ontology? We delineate three thinkers and three notions of the primary philosophical science, out of which only one qualifies as ontology. Those thinkers are Christian Wolff, Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas, whereas Wolff is the one who, in 18th Century, introduced ontology as a discipline in the "system of philosophical sciences". We proceed to demonstrate that ontology, as modern invention, is a far cry from what Aristotle and Aquinas considered inquiry into "being qua being" to be. Off course, there are number of random digressions into all kinds of related subjects, from traditional notion of genera/species relation, nature of ens universalis, Kant's blending of metaphysics with Wolffian system and more.

A Party for Scorpions 6

Miscellanea: Of Freaks and Posthumans

Posthumanism is an ontology waiting for its metaphysics. While we, still human, wait until posthumans finally come to meet their shadow, why not enrich our understanding of the posthuman, not by reading or thinking, but by leisurely browsing through pictures?

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Kant and the Problem of Posthumanism: An Outline, pt. I

When talking about posthumanism and its intellectual dependencies the philosophical groundwork that made it possible often tends to be neglected. In this series we'll provide an incentive to reflect upon these presuppositions by outlining the implications present in the work of premiere philosopher of modernity, Immanuel Kant, that opened up the intellectual horizon for posthumanism. In the first part we focus on Kant's groundbreaking intuitions about the nature of consciousness and its constitutive role at the heart of reality itself as both irrevocable departure from pre-modern intellectuality and necessary condition for assumptions of contemporary posthumanism. We do this by giving a broad outline of Kant's arguments from the central part of his Critique of Pure Reason - "the transcendental deduction of the categories of pure reason". In the second part we'll sketch how posthumanists rely on Kantian understanding of subject/object split for building their utopian quasi metaphysics.

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An Interview on Alexander Dugin

I join J.G. Michael of Parallax Views for an Interview on Alexander Dugin's Foundations of Geopolitics. We discuss Dugin's core ideas in the light of Russian invasion of Ukraine, aggressive Russian messianic politics, the role of space in Dugin's geopolitical eschatology as constant in Russian history of foreign conquest, the notion of Russian universalism, Martin Heidegger and much more.

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Basic Notions of Metaphysics: Nature

Our regular podcast spreading dark medieval lore, formerly known as wisdom, across the interwebs is back: in this episode of Basic Notions of Metaphysics we analyze classical Aristotle's notion of nature. As definition goes like this: "Nature is intrinsic principle of movement", we talk about what it means for something to be "intrinsic", "principle" and in "movement". We advertise one thing, provide you with three things and charge you with no-thing. Only on KT.

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What Is Not Metaphysics?

We usually point out how modern philosophy tends to invert traditional philosophical questions. So why not do it the other way around? In this podcast we examine the supposedly fundamental metaphysical question, as proposed by Martin Heidegger in his 1929 Freiburg lecture "Was ist Metaphysik?" and come to conclusion that it is not as "fundamental" as it seems.

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Let’s Brutalize an -ism: Socialism

A lot of buzzwords floating through communication channels from academia to caffeteria seem to rather obscure than reveal their correct meaning. One of those words is "socialism", quite popular and prevalent -ism both to be praised and reviled, depending on which side of popular political debates one takes. But what is the reality behind the -ism? In this podcast we inquire about precisely this: what were and, we would argue, still are the basic outlines of socialism as a quite well defined form of modern metaphysics, something most of its proponents and enemies rarely recognize let alone understand.