Neoplatonic Henology and the Overcoming of Metaphysics

The discussion of Reiner Schürmann’s article on neoplatonic henology in Plotinus, Eckhart, and Heidegger begins at 30:07. The first half hour is a discussion of Tim’s work on improving interactions between venomous snakes and human beings.

The conversation begins with Tim recounting his recent work in India, where he has been engaged in projects addressing the pervasive issue of snakebites. He explains the challenges of understanding and mitigating the issue, touching on topics such as venom variability, regional antivenom production, and the behavioral ecology of snakes.

The discussion then transitions into philosophy, with a focus on Reiner Schürmann's essay, "Neoplatonic Henology as an Overcoming of Metaphysics." We delve into Schürmann’s critique of traditional Western metaphysics and his embrace of the historical and cultural situatedness of philosophical inquiry. Philosophy has an epochal nature, such that in some sense philosophy just is the history of philosophy.

We consider the dangers of reifying metaphors and the risks of projecting static hierarchies onto dynamically nested systems. We discuss Heidegger’s Nazi affiliations, grappling with how a thinker so attuned to the subtleties of Being could fall prey to such a violent ideological fixation.

We advocate for a process-oriented approach that embraces groundlessness as a source of creativity and renewal, rather than as a cause for nihilistic despair.

"Radicalizing analogy means moving beyond resemblance to operation—to active participation in the process itself. This is not about static structures mirroring each other but about sharing in the active principle of becoming." -Tim

"The no-thingness of the ground is not a void; it’s a pure activity. It’s a precondition for the formation of determinate objects—a groundless ground." -Tim

"Philosophy is the history of philosophy. Science is the history of science. And the history of ideas is really an evolution of consciousness, where the very perceptual Gestalt changes—not just the concepts, but the way phenomena themselves appear transforms over the course of history." -Matt

"There is a way in which the groundlessness of the soul mirrors the anarchic creativity of the divine—not as a fixed structure but as a shared openness to becoming." -Matt

"The way up and the way down are the same. There’s a strange indecipherability between the One and matter, where the highest and lowest coincide in a way that questions the idea of linear hierarchy." -Matt

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