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Question: My b/f says that metaphysics is currently out of fashion in many intellectual quarters, is it true!?
I hope that doesn't mean 'Discredited' because metaphysics is my favourite branch of philosophy investigating as it does, principles of reality transcending those of any particular science!. Cosmology and ontology explain the ultimate nature of being and the world!. Objecthood being my current fascination within the discipline!.Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
out of fashion - no
how can systems intuited from the ontological understandings fostered presently by the vast scientific expansion in universal understanding be out of fashion!? - that's like saying having an infrastructure is a bit out of fashion for a society these days nothing is as mindburningly interesting as the nature of reality!.

discredited - no - you can't discredit a fluid system! you might be able to discredit a specific metaphysics but not discredit the subject of metaphysics broadside!.

science is still trying to map the territory from the other side to get this playground of the mind that philosopy marked out 4000 years ago!.

other answer quoted:
" It's true that you can't extract meaningful answers out of metaphysics that would relate to day-to-day human activity!."

my response:
absolutely untrue - my metaphysical understanding ( MOQ) has direct relevance to my actions!. in rare situations i rely ONLY on it to guide my understanding !.It makes me act in better way - how is that not "meaningful" if you are looking at a pattern that runs through everything how can that not help with everything!?

Objecthood - i see which playgound you are in but have never heard that word before - i am as convinced as any other idea by the MOQ's understanding that dynamic qualty is what both casues evolution and is the event which creates subject and object

"quality is not just the result of a collision between the object and the subject - the very existence of the subject and object is deduced from the quality event The quality event is the cause of the subjects and objects which are than mistakenly presumed to be the casue of the quality!.!.it is not subordinate to them!.!.!. they are subordinate to it!."

Brains are for burning holes in!. Always want to know more!.

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For some it is out of fashion!. But, what does it actually mean for something to be "out of fashion"!? Probably that it is not being used much anymore!. But, the fact that something isn't used much doesn't discredit the value of that thing!. If somebody devoted all their time to one particular subject of study, it wouldn't follow that the remaining subjects no longer receiving any attention would be "discredited"!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

It's not really a modern thing - Kant advocated a much reduced role for metaphysics, and he got that from Hume, who was much more insistent on the uselessness of metaphysics!. Modern/contemporary analytical philosophy largely continued this trend!. Logical positivism is an obvious example, but that's not very popular any more, though its descendants take a similar stance on this issue!. Wittgenstein is another obvious example - "whereof one cannot speak, one ought to remain silent!."

So yeah, it's definitely less 'fashionable' than it used to be, but I think that's the wrong way to look at it!. You should probably be asking why this is case, and if it's legitimate to say so!. Just because you like metaphysics is not a reason to delude yourself or ignore the objections to it!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I believe that it is out of fashion not out of disrespect but out of a lack of interest!. metaphysics is one of those branches of philosophy that you can not get any meaningful answers from (as far as i know) so many people stopped bothering to look!. It is however still an interesting area to explore as there are many interesting concepts (just no progress can be made on them)Www@QuestionHome@Com

It's true that you can't extract meaningful answers out of metaphysics that would relate to day-to-day human activity!. But since when has philosophy been done for such a narrow purpose!? Philosophy exists simply for it's own sake, and metaphysics is still a worthwhile intellectual pursuit in its own right!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I'm not sure what intellectual quarters are (schools!?), but in the grand scheme, it's far from out of fashion!. Every newcomer to philosophy has to deal with metaphysics at some point!. Case in point: like 90% of the questions in this category are metaphysical!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

And why should you care if it's out of fashion!?

James Joyce isn't exactly a popular writer either among my fellow adolescent males, but that doesn't stop me!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

he's full of crap!. i've never heard that before!. its just a branch of philosophy, and is just as alive as any other!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

If your b/f (groan) asked you to jump off a cliff, would you!?Www@QuestionHome@Com