InPresence 0043: Metaphysics

InPresence host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in “parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). For many years he served as president of the non-profit Intuition Network, an organization dedicated to creating a world in which all people were supported and encouraged in developing inner intuitive abilities.

Here he points out that the term “metaphysics” has both a popular and an academic, philosophical meaning — and that there is some overlap. One can think of metaphysics as a branch of ontology — the inquiry into what is ultimately real. The logical positivists believed that metaphysics is nonsensical; however this view is on the wane. Sorokin, in sociology, holds that metaphysics serves as a glue to hold cultural eras together. Pragmatists examine whether different metaphysical views have practical consequences.

(Recorded on March 25, 2018)

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