The Evolution of Modern Metaphysics: Making Sense of Things

The Evolution of Modern Metaphysics
Making Sense of Things

This book is concerned with the history of metaphysics since Descartes. Taking as its definition of metaphysics ‘the most general attempt to make sense of things’, it charts the evolution of this enterprise through various competing conceptions of its possibility, scope, and limits. The book is divided into three parts, dealing respectively with the early modern period, the late modern period in the analytic tradition, and the late modern period in various non-analytic traditions. In its unusually wide range, A. W. Moore’s study refutes the still prevalent cliché that there is some unbridgeable gulf between analytic philosophy and philosophy of other kinds. It also advances its own distinctive and compelling conception of what metaphysics is and why it matters. Moore explores how metaphysics can help us to cope with continually changing demands on our humanity by making sense of things in ways that are radically new.

A. W. Moore is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford and Tutorial Fellow of St Hugh’s College, Oxford. He is the author of three previous books:
The Infinite
(1990);
Points of View
(1997); and
Noble in Reason, Infinite in Faculty: Themes and Variations in Kant’s Moral and Religious Philosophy
(2003). He is also the editor or co-editor of several anthologies, and his articles and reviews have appeared in numerous other scholarly publications.

The Evolution of Modern Philosophy

General Editors

Paul Guyer andGary Hatfield

(University of Pennsylvania)

Published Books in the Series

Roberto Torretti
:
The Philosophy of Physics

David Depew
and
Marjorie Greene
:
The Philosophy of Biology

Charles Taliaferro
:
Evidence and Faith

Michael Losonsky
:
Linguistic Turns in Modern Philosophy

W. D. Hart
:
The Evolution of Logic

Forthcoming

Paul Guyer
:
Aesthetics

Stephen Darwall
:
Ethics

William Ewald
and
Michael J. Hallett
:
The Philosophy of Mathematics

Why has philosophy evolved in the way that it has? How have its subdisciplines developed, and what impact has this development exerted on the way that the subject is now practiced? Each volume of
The Evolution of Modern Philosophy
will focus on a particular subdiscipline of philosophy and examine how it has evolved into the subject as we now understand it. The volumes will be written from the perspective of a current practitioner in contemporary philosophy whose point of departure will be the question: How did we get from there to here? Cumulatively, the series will constitute a library of modern conceptions of philosophy and will reveal how philosophy does not in fact comprise a set of timeless questions but has rather been shaped by broader intellectual and scientific developments to produce particular fields of inquiry addressing particular issues.

The Evolution of Modern Metaphysics
 Making Sense of Things 

A. W. Moore

University of Oxford

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

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© A. W. Moore 2012

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2012

Printed in the United States of America

A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data

Moore, A. W., 1956–

The evolution of modern metaphysics : making sense

of things / A.W. Moore

p. cm. – (The evolution of modern philosophy)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-521-85111-4 (hardback) – ISBN 978-0-521-61655-3 (pbk.)

1. Metaphysics – History. 2. Philosophy, Modern. I. Title.

BD111.M66 2011

110.9′03 – dc23 2011023535

ISBN 978-0-521-85111-4 Hardback

ISBN 978-0-521-61655-3 Paperback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

In memory of Bernard Williams

(1929–2003)

‘William! you’ve been playing that dreadful game again,’ said Mrs Brown despairingly.

William, his suit covered with dust, his tie under one ear, his face begrimed and his knees cut, looked at her in righteous indignation.

‘I haven’t. I haven’t done anything what you said I’d not to. It was “Lions an’ Tamers” what you said I’d not to play. Well, I’ve not played “Lions an’ Tamers”, not since you said I’d not to. I wouldn’t do it – not if thousands of people asked me to, not when you said I’d not to. I –’

Mrs Brown interrupted him.

‘Well, what have you been playing at?’ she said wearily.

‘It was “Tigers an’ Tamers”,’ said William. ‘It’s a different game altogether. In “Lions an’ Tamers” half of you is lions an’ the other half tamers, and the tamers try to tame the lions an’ the lions try not to be tamed. That’s “Lions an’ Tamers”. It’s all there is to it. It’s quite a little game.’

‘What do you do in “Tigers and Tamers”?’ said Mrs Brown suspiciously.

‘Well –’

William considered deeply.

‘Well,’ he repeated lamely, ‘in “Tigers an’ Tamers” half of you is tigers – you see – and the other half –’

‘It’s exactly the same thing, William,’ said Mrs Brown with sudden spirit.

‘I don’t see how you can call it the same thing,’ said William doggedly. ‘You can’t call a lion a tiger, can you? It jus’ isn’t one. They’re in quite different cages in the Zoo. “Tigers an’ Tamers” can’t be ’zactly the same as “Lions an’ Tamers”.’

‘Well, then,’ said Mrs Brown firmly, ‘you’re never to play “Tigers and Tamers” either…’

(Richmal Crompton, Just William, pp. 134–135)

Contents

Preface

Introduction

   
1. The Definition of Metaphysics

   
2. ‘The Most General …’

   
3. ‘… Attempt …’

   
4. ‘… to Make Sense of Things’

   
5. Metaphysics and Self-Conscious Reflection

   
6. Three Questions

      
(a) The Transcendence Question

      
(b) The Novelty Question

      
(c) The Creativity Question

      
(d) The Significance of the Three Questions

   
7. The Importance of Metaphysics

   
8. Prospectus

Part One The Early Modern Period

1. Descartes: Metaphysics in the Service of Science

   
1. Introduction

   
2. The Nature of the Project: Metaphysics as Providing Science with Foundations

   
3. The Execution of the Project

   
4. The Shape of Descartes’ System. Its Epistemology

   
5. Analogues of Descartes’ Argument for the Existence of God in Contemporary Analytic Philosophy

   
6. ‘The Disenchantment of the World’

2. Spinoza: Metaphysics in the Service of Ethics

   
1. Introduction

   
2. Substance

   
3. Nature, Human Nature, and the Model of Human Nature

   
4. Making Sense of Things as an Ethical Achievement

   
5. The Three Kinds of Knowledge

   
6. Metaphysical Knowledge as Knowledge of the Second Kind

3. Leibniz: Metaphysics in the Service of Theodicy

   
1. The Apotheosis of Making Sense of Things

   
2. The Problem of Theodicy

   
3. Leibniz’ System

   
4. Leibniz’ Various Modal Distinctions

   
5. Leibniz’ Solution to the Problem of Theodicy. Its Unsatisfactoriness

4. Hume: Metaphysics Committed to the Flames?

   
1. Empiricism and Scepticism in Hume

   
2. The Semantic Element in Hume’s Empiricism and the Epistemic Element in Hume’s Empiricism

   
3. Relations of Ideas and Matters of Fact

   
4. Metaphysics as an Experimental Science of Human Nature

   
5. Metaphysics as More Than an Experimental Science of Human Nature

   
Appendix: Scepticism About Human Reasoning