Metaphysics is far
from having disappeared, despite the innumerable announcements of his death.
Perhaps it is in the background and distant from fashions, especially those
that advocate that we live in a post-metaphysical time. Against postmodernity,
it persists; it is even discovered that many of the philosophical turns that
seek to leave it behind are based on its reaffirmation, on an underlying
movement that is generally intended to be hidden. Where does this condition
come from, which forces one to return again and again to perform a metaphysical
gesture? What are the grounds and reasons for their presence? Why do we find in
the currents that most strongly reject it a metaphysical nucleus that animates
and sustains them?
The theoretical
production in this field is certainly far from being comparable to other areas
of philosophy; for example, compared to the proliferation of ontologies;
However, the bibliography on metaphysics remains updated, with new approaches,
developments and challenges, even without taking into account those studies
that have this orientation, without making it explicit.
(Bliss & Miller, 2021) (Marmodoro & Mayr,
2019) (Miller, 2022) (Thomasson, 2025)
The imperialist
attitude of erasing metaphysics based on a conceptualization that is,
precisely, metaphysical, is at the base of the main currents that postulate its
overcoming. These philosophical approaches carry out a double conceptual
movement; On the one hand, they reduce an entire field of long duration and
extension to a single component, which becomes omniexplanatory. Once this extreme
and absolute reduction has been made, a new privileged origin is postulated,
from which all reality is reconstructed. Of course, it is an origin that bases
itself from nothing or, in other cases, that claims to be completely
groundless.
Heidegger, probably
the initiator of this current in the twentieth century, reduces 25 centuries of
Western philosophy and thought to a single fact, which would be the cause of
all the evils and misunderstandings of the world. Denying the immense richness
and variety of Western philosophy, the forgetfulness of being becomes the
metaphysical core that has to be denied and overcome. For his part, Derrida,
following this trail, locates in the denunciation of onto-theo-teleology the
possibility of thinking, placing in place of this metaphysical principle the
deconstruction based on differentialism. It postulates the non-existence of a
beginning that refers to a privileged being or entity, and considers that, in
the absence of an origin, we have before us a trace of itself, a trace of the
trace. Thus, Derrida seeks to erase the deep debates that are contained in that
onto-theo-teleology that, if we look at it closely, refuses to lose the
multiplicity that makes it up. (Heidegger, 2014) (Derrida, 1971)(Gersh,
Neoplatonism After Derrida: Parallelograms, 2006)
These imperialist
orientations that invade philosophy also penetrate other areas. In the case of
Jean-Luc Marion, the gesture of absolute reduction becomes the apophatic
perspective, which denies any positive approach by means of reason to God and
to transcendent phenomena. God, following certain Neoplatonic currents, is
located outside of being; it cannot be said that it exists or that it does not
exist, because it is an absolute exteriority. Of course, it is not an atheistic
position, but the reintroduction of divinity into the human sphere, by the
exclusive way of experience. The risks of irrationalism are not without being
present in these orientations. (Marion, 2010)
Finally, I refer to
decolonial thought, part of cultural studies, which incorporates in its theory
this first absolute and negative gesture: the exclusion of everything that
comes from Europe and the West. Regardless of their differences or their
history, all Western thought is denied because it is considered Eurocentric.
From this radical division arises decolonial metaphysics with a pure origin,
which, by the mere fact of being located outside Europe, puts within its reach
the truth of the world and the overcoming of the epistemic and epistemological
limits of Eurocentrism. The negative consequences of this approach have not
only had repercussions on the understanding of reality, but also lead to
political and ideological disarmament. (Mignolo, 2003)
Let us now see, in a
synthetic way, the reasons why metaphysics is still present and, moreover, it
is indispensable for an adequate development of all philosophy and, of course,
for an adequate understanding of reality. Let us begin with the philosophical
problems that require a metaphysical approach for their correct treatment.
The treatment of
time, with debates about its existence and the relationship between persistence
and flow, as well as questions of the ontological status of the past, present
and future; the function of reason in the face of the rise of irrationalism,
together with the qualification of the type of rationality that should be
defended; the debate on essence, beyond substantialist interpretations and
their capacity to explain, phenomena, which are presented in the duality
between essence and manifestation; the elucidation of relations, which can be
considered as the only ones that really exist or, on the contrary, only as part
of a larger ontological framework; finally, the revival of mereology that
accounts for the relationships between the whole and the parts, and the way in
which they structure reality. Of course, this is only part of the problems that
contemporary metaphysics deals with. (, 2021) (Erice Sebares,
2020)(Glazier, 2022)(Heil, 2021)(Wallace, 2023)
Science and
technology make up knowledge and practices without which the world, as we know
it, could not exist; for this reason, the confusion between the critique of the
capitalist hijacking of science and the adoption of romantic or irrational
positions that lead to the denial of its rationality must be avoided. Now,
science by no means exhausts the entire sphere of knowledge or provides
complete explanations of the world. Moreover, each science leaves unresolved
fundamental questions that it cannot explain, in addition to producing a series
of questions that require a metaphysical debate to resolve them. (Morganti,
2024)
For this reason,
there are a series of metaphysical approaches to the sciences, from the debate
around material objects to the discussion of abstract objects, going through
the philosophical questions raised by chemistry or biology. One of the most
fertile terrains for metaphysical debates is contemporary physics, due to the
discussions provoked in the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, which
are fundamentally counterintuitive and question the image we have about
reality. (Sattig, 2021) (Liggins, 2024) (Seifert, 2023) (Torza, 2023)(Ney,
2021)
Alain Aspect, Nobel
Prize winner of the year 2022, in his book If Einstein had known, by
reconstructing Einstein's debate, which considered that quantum mechanics is
incomplete and that it needs to be complemented by other variables, clearly
shows the need for metaphysics, which begins where science runs into the limits
of the understanding of reality and cannot provide us with an adequate image of
reality and of the world in which we live. The experiments carried out by
Aspect demonstrated, with a high degree of certainty, the violation of Bell's
equalities and, therefore, the existence of quantum entanglement; that is, the
entangled particles are connected in such a way that any change in one
immediately affects the other, without fully understanding why this happens.
Alain Aspect points
out two major metaphysical problems that run through quantum mechanics:
nonlocality and the physical character of the wave function.
Einstein sometimes
uses the expression "spooky action at a distance" to describe such a
possibility, which is unacceptable to the father of relativity. However, today
we must consider it; this is what is called "quantum nonlocality".
(Aspect, 2025, p. 315)
We are faced with a
reality governed by the theory of relativity that states that nothing can
travel faster than the speed of light; or, on the contrary, there are non-local
phenomena that question this statement and prove instantaneous action at a
distance.
The other equally
profound metaphysical debate is in the character assigned to the wave function,
which is the one that describes quantum phenomena. It can be argued, following
the Copenhagen interpretation, that it is a mere calculation and that the
question of whether it is real or not is unimportant, insofar as it works
perfectly; or, as an alternative presented by Aspect, the wave function does
indeed exist.
My point of view is
different because I give a certain physical reality to the wave function,
precisely because it allows us to predict the results of the measurements and
that is what I expect from physical reality... (Aspect, 2025, p. 317)
The problems that
humanity faces, far from being resolved, have worsened. From the metaphysical
perspective, at least three relevant questions emerge from the current
situation: first, the fate of humanity as a species, the possibility that it is
no longer remote, but current, of its disappearance due to wars, hunger, the
climate crisis, the devastation caused by ultra-right governments as the last
weapon of capitalism.
Second, the even
more challenging issue of the relationship between human beings and nature,
which is now broken and that there is no meeting point and resolution, in such
a way that harmony is achieved between the two, an appropriate coexistence that
allows saving nature and guaranteeing a dignified life for people.
It is not enough to
vindicate localisms and fragmentary options; even worse, of relativism. The
question of universals is once again placed at the center of philosophical
reflection; and, in the first place, of the future of life and of all humanity
on Earth. We have to think as a planet, because the answers will only be valid
if the answers are global. There are no valid and viable solutions in the
medium and long term that are only local.
Third, the questions
of identity that have acquired an increasingly great importance and that are
expressed in a particularly conflictive way in the explosion of heterosexuality
as the dominant paradigm and in the emergence of the most diverse ways of
experiencing gender. Thus, the transgender person not only has relevance to his
own field but also metaphysically crosses the social order, becoming the Trans*
operator who questions the status quo of society as a whole. (Shumener, 2022)
Metaphysics is far
from exhausted in the themes indicated. On an even deeper layer it deals with
Good, Truth and Beauty, and with luck in contemporary societies. Victor Cousin,
following Plato, postulates the unity of these three great guiding principles
of all human action. Beauty has ceased to be a common good and a right of
all peoples and individuals; it has become a luxury object that only a minority
can access. A good part of contemporary art is locked in its narcissism, where
the aesthetics of the work of art depend exclusively on the subjectivity of the
artist and the commercial circuits. (Cousin, 1847)
The Truth is,
without a doubt, the most attacked of all. As they say in this post-truth era,
she is the one who matters the least. The political effectiveness of the
discourse, the irresponsibility of affirming anything without scientific
support on social networks, the proliferation of right-wing and ultra-right
prophets turning the hands of the clock backwards are considered sufficient.
What can be said of
Good when evil triumphs worldwide? The interests of capital are imposed
throughout the world, leaving no room for safety, by the hand of authoritarian
governments. Wars kill innocents on a daily basis; people's rights are trampled
on without consideration; Large masses are considered enemies to be eliminated,
such as migrants and Palestinians. The triumphs achieved are shattered and we
return to an era of darkness and repression.
For this reason, the
unity of Good, Truth and Beauty continues to be the task of humanity's present,
the one that challenges us and summons us.
So, the urgency of
writing new ones is clear Prolegomena to any future metaphysics that will
be able to present itself as science (Kant, 1959), which clearly indicates
that these crucial metaphysical issues do not constitute a wrong tendency of
reason and that, contrary to what Kant considers, they have to do directly with
the empirical and with the daily life of peoples and individuals. It is not
possible to throw out of metaphysics and, consequently, from reason, the
metaphysical principles that make us what we are: Good, Truth and Beauty.
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