This is the 8th instalment in our series The Return of Metaphysics, in partnership with the Essentia Foundation.
Read the previous articles of The Return of Metaphysics series.
What defined much of 20th-century philosophy was an attempt to overcome metaphysics and replace it with science. But those attempts failed. From the Logical Positivists and Wittgenstein to Derrida and Heidegger, metaphysics found its way back into the very theories that were trying to get rid of it. But even if metaphysics is inescapable, we cannot simply return to speculative theorising about the ultimate nature of reality. Instead, we need to recognise that all theories have limits and are merely attempts to find better ways to navigate our way in the world, not to discover “the mind of God”, argues Hilary Lawson.
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