Metaphysics Today: A Modern Perspective

Dear Colleagues,

We invite you to participate in a Special Issue of the above-mentioned title in order to shed a new light on a classical topic in philosophy.

The philosophical field of metaphysics is one that has suffered willful ignorance during the last decades, mainly due to a fashionable but mostly fruitless attempt to formalize philosophical thinking that is primarily steered by the influence of equally fashionable analytical philosophy, which is chiefly put forward in Anglo-Saxon countries. Consequently, recent enterprises toward comprehensively grasping this topic, although sufficiently commendable in their own right, have remained somewhat unsatisfactorily after all. One example is the otherwise respectable 2012 book by A.W. Moore. (The Evolution of Modern Metaphysics: Making Sense of Things. Cambridge University Press.)

From today’s perspective, we would like to shed some more light on this classical field of philosophy. The idea is to recollect the original principles of metaphysical thinking by taking into account what modern insight has taught us about the foundation of the world. Moreover, the relationship between philosophy and the sciences should be illuminated once again. This is not only because the latter originated from the same roots as the former. Equally important is the fact that, recently, philosophy and the sciences have converged more and more, if the fundamental concepts are being concerned. We are thus pleased to invite you to take part in this enterprise with a contribution of your own.

Hence, this Special Issue aims to assemble recent results of research concerning metaphysical implications of our day’s knowledge in scientific terms. One topic could be the clarification of what is called “ontological difference” and its consequence for the gain of knowledge. Another topic could be the meaning of foundations or the search for an adequate language in order to deal with a region of the world within which classical categories (such as space, time, and matter) lose their common validity.

Both original articles and reviews are welcome. We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Rainer E. Zimmermann
Guest Editor

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• metaphysics
• foundations
• ultimate knowledge