Taking the Measure of Metaphysics

Taking the Measure of Metaphysics

Audio recording of a lecture given by tutor Jim Carey on April 24, 2026 as part of the Dean’s Lecture & Concert Series. The Dean’s Office has provided this description of the event: “According to Aristotle, there is a science (epistēmē) that considers being as being, or that which is insofar as it is. This science later came to be known as ‘metaphysics,’ a word that Aristotle himself does not use but which came into use a few centuries after he died and has been with us ever since. Metaphysics does not consider that which is in terms of its particular features, as do other sciences such as astronomy, chemistry, biology, and psychology. The concern of metaphysics is broader than that of physics. Physics limits itself to the study of perceivable beings, to bodies that are in motion or capable of being put into motion. Though metaphysics does not limit itself this way, it does not adopt as a premise that there is something outside the domain of physics. Instead, it begins by considering the very things that physics considers, but in a different way. Whether, starting from such a basis, metaphysics can demonstrate the existence of something ‘beyond’ nature, and, if so, what pertains to its essence, is a controversial question. The various answers to this question constitute the history of metaphysics, or discourse about being, from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages and into Modernity. In my talk I will highlight and attempt an assessment of what I consider to be the most consequential events in this history, which culminates, after a fashion, in Heidegger’s claim that not only is discourse about being historical, but being itself is historical."

Santa Fe, NM

2026-04-24

Meem Library has been given permission to make this item available online.

sound

mp3

English

SF_CareyJ_Taking_the_Measure_of_Metaphysics_2026-04-24

M4A

01:06:11