Peter Simons
Metaphysics in the Community:
Reaching Out to the Parts of Being
Aristotle’s original determination of metaphysics as the science of being qua being, distinct from those special sciences that cut off parts of being, was modified by Wolff and subsequent philosophers including Husserl and Williams to allow ontology or general metaphysics to inform various high-level applications to other disciplines as special metaphysics, or as I prefer to say, systematics. The go-anywhere concepts of ontology go to specific areas to conceptually tidy, organise and allow us also to learn from them. Alongside the most frequently addressed disciplines of physics, mathematics, biology, psychology and linguistics, there is scope for taking the metaphysical toolkit to more out of the way zones of application. The talk will illustrate applications I have made or been involved in such as physical geography, library science, music, manufacturing engineering, metrology, and enterprise design, and mention related work by others. Lessons will be drawn from such work in the community for the role and nature of metaphysics.
**Click here to listen to the talk**
