Metaphysics versus Scientism

Introduction

This is a volume about the intersection of justice and metaphysics. Metaphysics (in this case) is the argument that reality extends beyond matter and energy.¹ Justice is about the organization of society and human relations.² My central argument is that the Enlightenment presupposes a coherent universe (cosmos) derived from the nature of reality itself. From reality follows ultimate justice – a modern, classless society (completely free of ethnic and gender biases). This thesis is based on three (inter-related) metaphysical philosophies – 1.) panpsychism, 2.) “God,” and 3.) the Absolute. Panpsychism is a theory of physics; “God” is a moral and political philosophy (not theology); the Absolute – for purposes of this discussion – is a philosophy of history (Chapter 1).

I engage the prime (secular) competitor of metaphysics – scientism (a.k.a., physicalism, analytic philosophy).³ Scientism denies the existence of anything outside of matter and energy (material realism) (Chapter 3).

The scientific revolution has fundamentally changed the world. Science and technology have revolutionized civilization on a global scale. The scientific revolution, ironically, has dramatically set back philosophy. The astounding success of this revolution has prompted the belief in scientism.⁴ In this monograph I treat scientism as a type of religion (dogma). The argument that scientism is dogma, arrogant, vicious (or other pejoratives) is not new.⁵ To label scientism a religion is also not new.⁶ Religion I submit is not necessarily a bad thing. My view is that deism is a philosophically defensible stance. In contradistinction, theocracy is a toxic form of religion. Thus, scientism is a kind of theocracy – insofar as specific politically deleterious claims can be deduced from it (dictatorship), and other salutary ones are rejected (justice). Georg Hegel’s (1770–1831) (continental) philosophical understanding of reality subsumes science (Chapter 2). One result is a liberating politics (i.e., universal justice).

The power of Hegel’s ideation is precisely that his theories of the mind, metaphysics, and politics are intimately intertwined. The mind, metaphysics, and politics are all constitutive of the Whole – further, the whole operates dialectically.⁷ Therefore, metaphysics, the mind, and politics operate dialectically. While metaphysics certainly pre-dates the human mind and its politics, it’s still the case that humans through science, technology, social organization, etc. have created throughout history new values (politics) – thereby affecting the Whole (a.k.a., the Absolute). The laws of physics (panpsychism), and “God” inform the human mind via what can be understood as the pre-theoretical. More precisely, these factors foreground (or frame) the ontology of human existence (history) (Chapter 4).

Hegel is the philosopher of the Enlightenment and of science. Hegel being the philosopher of science may strike analytic philosophers as surprising. They consider themselves as adjunct to scientists,⁸ and reject (even mock) Hegel as mystical – certainly outside of science.⁹ Hegel philosophically grounds the Enlightenment, whereas the “science” of analytic philosophers (scientism) results in the anti-Enlightenment (genetic political reasoning) (Chapter 5). Karl Marx (1818–1883) provides a materialist understanding of the forward movement of history (the Enlightenment). Marx placed class conflict at the center of politics/history. The Star Wars series Andor (2022–2025) brings class exploitation/repression to the franchise (Chapter 6). The Star Trek franchise, I have argued through several volumes, extends Hegel and Marx into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.¹⁰ At the heart of Hegel, Marx, and Star Trek is the science of justice.