Philosophy Isn’t What it Once Was

I studied Western philosophy for a few years as a younger man.  I recall a graduate course on metaphysics, delivered by Henry B. Veatch, one the most widely published and decorated American philosophers of his time. It would be incorrect to call Veath a “showman,” but, trust me, no one fell asleep listening to him speak.

Metaphysics is defined as “the branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space.”  All this sounds fine, until we consider that most of these ideas are now more properly the domain of science.

Yes, Kant told us that space and time are “forms of our intuition,” but in the 21st Century, we’re more answer questions on this subject via references to Einstein or Schoedinger.

Aristotle, on the most important early metaphysicians, explained that “to be is to be a substance,” but nowadays, if we want to understand the fundamental building blocks of the universe, we turn to theoretical physicists.

For better or for worse, the heyday of philosophy seems to be behind us.