[lit-ideas] Re: Aid Sought: Was ist metaphysic?
- From: "Walter C. Okshevsky" <wokshevs@xxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:38:30 -0230
The word "ought" marks it as a prescriptive claim. It's not so much that they
need to be not to do so - only that the justifiability of their claims needs to
be translated into public discourse, terms of "public reason" (Kant). Surely
there's nothing epistemically or morally suspect about that in a democracy por
for a Kantian conception of moral justifiability. (I.e., if your religion finds
lesbian relations or masturbation or contraception to be an abomination and your
kid's sex and health class presents these as an alternative lifestyle or
permissible practices, we need to respect "public reason" here. Park your
religion at the school door or send your kid to a religious school.
Walter O
P.S. When Martin Luther King Jr says that we are all God's creatures, I think I
know what he means, though I'd still like some articulation. When The
Ayatollah of Iran says that, I'm quick to ... no, not reach for my gun ... but
ask for a translation into public speech/reason to see if a "fusion of
horizons" is posible here.
Quoting Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>:
> Is the claim that: "public speech/reason" (Rawls) or
> "discourse" / "argumentation (Habermas) ought not to include metaphysical
> commitments and arguments (either of a religious or secular sort) in support
> of
> policies and actions since these are not universalizable." prescriptive or
> descriptive ? It seems to be formulated in a prescriptive form (ought) which
> probably implies that there are at least some (perhaps many) people who still
> invoke "metaphysical commitments and arguments (either of a religious or
> secular sort) in support of policies and actions" and need to be told not to
> do so. The claim that we actually live in a post-metaphysical world is
> suspect then.
>
>
> O.K.
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Walter C. Okshevsky <wokshevs@xxxxxx>
> To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; Donal McEvoy <donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 12, 2013 9:01 PM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Aid Sought: Was ist metaphysic?
>
> Donal,
>
> I take it you understand what is meant by the claim that we live in a
> post-metaphysical world, as argued for by such Kantian Constructivists as
> John
> Rawls, Christine Korsgaard, Juergen Habermas and Thomas Scanlon, amongst
> others. As I see it, it is the claim that "public speech/reason" (Rawls) or
> "discourse" / "argumentation (Habermas) ought not to include metaphysical
> commitments and arguments (either of a religious or secular sort) in support
> of
> policies and actions since these are not universalizable. The father of such
> a
> claim I believe is Kant: his prioritization of moral law over conceptions of
> the good/authentic life, and the differentiation of "public reason" from
> "private reason." Why is this "ludicrous?" JL, looks like we may need some
> etymology on this term.
>
> Living quite comfortably in a post-metaphysical world,
>
> Walter O
>
>
> Quoting Donal McEvoy <donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx>:
>
> > Perhaps it best to start by explaining what metaphysics is not. Here a
> useful
> > answer is that science is not metaphysics, where by science we mean those
> > claims that are 'testable by observation' in some way.
> >
> > This means that metaphysics may be taken broadly as that field that
> concerns
> > claims that are not 'testable by observation' in the way scientific claims
> > are.
> >
> > After that there are various ways of dividing up that broad field and
> various
> > questions that arises as to the status and methods of any investigation
> into
> > claims that are not 'testable by observation'.
> >
> >
> > Donal
> > Who finds the idea that "we live in a post-metaphysical world" as ludicrous
> > as the claim we have reached "The End of History"
> > London
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: Walter C. Okshevsky <wokshevs@xxxxxx>
> > To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Sent: Tuesday, 26 February 2013, 7:51
> > Subject: [lit-ideas] Aid Sought: Was ist metaphysic?
> >
> > Our Philosophy department's colloquium series of lectures this term is
> themed
> > "What is metaphysics?" (In honour of the late James Bradley who lived for
> the
> > promotion of speculative metaphysics and the trashing of Okshevsky's
> > Habermasian views.) I have been asked to give a talk and I couldn't resist
> > the
> > title "Why we live in a post-metaphysical world." Alas, now I have to make
> > good
> > on my boldness and insolence. Does anyone out there know what "metaphysics"
> > is
> > about and why the ilk of Rawls and Habermas wish to ignore it?
> >
> > Stunned in Newfoundland,
> >
> > Walter O
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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>
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