Philosophy Now Forum

are another name for "metaphysics". You'll never catch Noam Chomsky doing "metaphysics".

Metaphysics is just an attempt to make sense of the universe.

No need to panic.

We all do metaphysics. You cannot say metaphysics without contributing to the notion.
Chomsky does metaphysics. When he talks about "adjectives", as he will, he is making a metaphysical statement that you can condense a set of words into a concept.
Adjectives, nouns, verbs, and adverbs, as well as "The nominative", "subject" and so on are all metphsycal abstrations by which we hope to breakdown and categories our languages.

Taking a quote at random.

“Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.”
― Noam Chomsky

Littered with metaphysics

Gary Childress wrote: ↑Sat Mar 09, 2024 5:57 pm are another name for "metaphysics". You'll never catch Noam Chomsky doing "metaphysics".

Well, I gotta agree with Sculptor. People often consider metaphysics to be some kind of spiritual speculation or some thing that a scientist, for example, or secular rational person would never engage in. But physicalism and naturalism, as a couple of examples, are metaphysical positions. People have metaphysical positions on determinism/free will, reality vs. appearance, the mind body distinction (if there is one), cosmology, the fundamental make up of the universe, and even positions on considered scientific and secular, if they weigh in on such things are positions in metaphysics.

Iwannaplato wrote: ↑Sat Mar 09, 2024 7:57 pm

Gary Childress wrote: ↑Sat Mar 09, 2024 5:57 pm are another name for "metaphysics". You'll never catch Noam Chomsky doing "metaphysics".

Well, I gotta agree with Sculptor. People often consider metaphysics to be some kind of spiritual speculation or some thing that a scientist, for example, or secular rational person would never engage in. But physicalism and naturalism, as a couple of examples, are metaphysical positions. People have metaphysical positions on determinism/free will, reality vs. appearance, the mind body distinction (if there is one), cosmology, the fundamental make up of the universe, and even positions on considered scientific and secular, if they weigh in on such things are positions in metaphysics.

Fair enough. Physicalism and naturalism, if they are to be seen as "metaphysical" positions seem truer and less prejudiced to me than what AJ is advocating.

Gary Childress wrote: ↑Sat Mar 09, 2024 8:01 pm Fair enough. Physicalism and naturalism, if they are to be seen as "metaphysical" positions seem truer and less prejudiced to me than what AJ is advocating.

What's his metaphysics - if you can quickly sum it up. I have exchanged some posts with him but didn't run across direct metaphysics. Implicit, yes. But then that's impossible to avoid.

if you say you are doing metaphysics more than once, you are lying...

once you meet physics, you have met them

-Imp

The word 'metaphysics' like the words 'love', 'mind', 'soul', 'spirit', 'argue', 'philosophy', among many other words can have as many different meanings/definitions as there are people who can have meaning/definition or used in so many different ways, and even in completely opposite ways, that just using those words, without providing one's own personal definition/meaning for those words can leave the readers/hearers completely bamboozled or confused. Not that any of 'them' would admit to being so. They will usually just present their own personal views or beliefs, solely from their own perspective, definitions and meanings, for the words they use. Again, without providing their own personal definitions/meanings for the words they then use.

As can be seen very clearly above here.

All these people are talking 'past each other', without ever actually stopping to even just try to understand 'the other'.

For example, if I was to ask, 'What does the word 'metaphysical' mean or refer to, to each of you here?'

There would be as many individual different meanings, or references to as many individual different things, as there are individuals who respond.

This applies to countless other words as well.

And, these people, back when this was being written, wondered why they were still searching for 'answers'.