Esoteric Anthropology

* Article: Esoteric Anthropology. By S.R. Isenberg.

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Discussion

The genealogy of the modern philosophical condition

Michel Bauwens, 2004:

IN a first step, only matter is recognized (materialism), but it can be known only by our mind, which gives rise to positivism (only observable facts are valid knowledge) and even scientism (only science can disclose facts). In a second step, it is recognized that mind cannot simply know the world, it has its own rules, and these need to be disclosed by hermeneutics. But the materialist position remains.

The recognition that the brutal world of nature, marked by death, cannot be understood, gives rise to the existential dread of nihilism. It is also denied that one can make impersonal moral judgments, they are 'always already' resulting from prior conditional worldviews. Thus, we can ony have 'conversations', says Rorty, but the good news is that we can have many (since there is not one reality), though they are subject to rules of communication.

Thus, a 'post-philosopher's' role can only be to edify conversations, and they have to avoid 'having a view on views'.

More information

* Richard Rorty: Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature.

An 'incisive account of the historical development of positivism". For Rorty himself, all knowledge is interpretation, not a mirror of nature. "Knowledge is language, and language is a social affair".