The Voiding of Being: The Doing and Undoing of Metaphysics in Modernity (Studies in Philosophy and the History of Philosophy)

In contemporary philosophy the status, indeed the very viability of metaphysics is a much contested issue. The reflections offered here ex plore diverse aspects of this contested status and offer a defense of meta physics. In other works, perhaps most fully in Being and the Between, William Desmond has tried to develop what he calls a metaxological metaphysics in response to different skeptical, if not hostile approach es to metaphysics quite common in our time. The Voiding of Being com plements the systematic dimensions of this metaxological metaphys ics outlined in Being and the Between. It presents a set of studies which amplify important themes in the unfolding of modern metaphysics, in relation to major earlier and contemporary thinkers, while adding nu ance to what is involved in the more systematic articulation of a metax ological metaphysics. There is what the author calls a voiding of being in modernity, expressed in diverse developments of thought. "The Voiding of Being," might seems to conjure up negative associations but the aim of the thoughts gathered here is not at all negative. While attempting to understand the voiding of being in modern thought, our appreciation of the promise of metaphysical thinking can also be renewed and indeed extended-extended beyond skepticism and hostility to metaphysics. Desmond engages many interlocutors along the way, from the long tra dition, such as Heraclitus, Aquinas and Hegel, as well as more contem porary thinkers like Heidegger and Marion. As the book's subtitle sug gests, it is concerned with the continued doing of metaphysics and not only the contemporary undoing of it. In contemporary philosophy the status, indeed the very viability of metaphysics is a much contested issue. The reflections offered here explore diverse aspects of this contested status and offer a defense of metaphysics. In other works, perhaps most fully in Being and the Between, William Desmond has tried to develop what he calls a metaxological metaphysics in response to different skeptical, if not hostile approaches to metaphysics quite common in our time. The Voiding of Being complements the systematic dimensions of this metaxological metaphysics outlined in Being and the Between. It presents a set of studies which amplify important themes in the unfolding of modern metaphysics, in relation to major earlier and contemporary thinkers, while adding nuance to what is involved in the more systematic articulation of a metaxological metaphysics. There is what the author calls a voiding of being in modernity, expressed in diverse developments of thought. “The Voiding of Being,” might seems to conjure up too negative associations but the aim of the thoughts gathered here is not at all negative. While attempting to understand the voiding of being in modern thought, our appreciation of the promise of metaphysical thinking can also be renewed and indeed extended – extended beyond skepticism and hostility to metaphysics. Desmond engages many interlocutors along the way, from the long tradition, such as Heraclitus, Aquinas and Hegel, as well as more contemporary thinkers like Heidegger and Marion. As the book's subtitle suggests, it is concerned with the continued doing of metaphysics and not only the contemporary undoing of it. Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1. The Voiding of Being: On the Doing and Undoing of Metaphysics in Modernity 2. Analogy and the Fate of Reason 3. The Dearth of Astonishment: On Curiosity, Scientism, and Thinking as Negativity 4. Are We All Scholastics Now? On Analytic, Dialectical, and Transdialectical Thinking 5. Between System and Poetics: On the Practices of Philosophy 6. Saturated Phenomena and the Hyperboles of Being: On Marion’s Postmetaphysical Thought 7. Being True to Mystery and Metaxological Metaphysics 8. Flux-Gibberish: For and against Heraclitus Selected Bibliography Index "The author amplifies important themes in the unfolding of modern metaphysics, exploring diverse aspects of current skepticism and offering a defense in terms of his metaxological metaphysics. Along the way he engages both the long tradition and more modern writers, such as Heidegger and Marion"-- Provided by publisher