Context, Hermeneutics, and Ontology in the Experimental Sciences

Abstract

I want to challenge the metaphysics of modern philosophy that is so deeply embedded in our language and culture, particularly when it is presupposed by modern culture’s most successful enterprise, modern science. I will show that everyday culture, artistic presentations, and experimental science give evidence that in practice the metaphysics of modern philosophy is often shunted aside and overcome in favor of a more hermeneutic approach. Among philosophies of a hermeneutic kind one thinks of the works¹ of W. Dilthey, M. Heidegger, H-G. Gadamer, P. Ricoeur, and those influenced by them,² as well as, perhaps, the later E. Husserl. I propose to take Heidegger as the key figure of this group, interpreted where necessary, since natural science is not well represented within this tradition, by works drawn from related sources. It is difficult, and probably rash, to challenge the entrenched establishment of modern philosophy rooted in the grand rational tradition of Greece with the sling-shot of Heidegger & his friends. A futile job? A difficult one. Goliath stands on the high ground of well-established facts, objective theory, logical argument, and awe-inspiring technological control, while David is perceived to be a native of secret and hidden places protected by a shield of myth and nihilism that border on the irrational. Ironically, whatever you may think about myth and nihilism, they are not far from what the general educated public believe they spot in today’s culture of scientism. Going to the heart of the matter, the problem is: Whose rationality?

See references below for some relevant works of these authors.

See, for example, the works of Babich, Crease, Heelan, Kisiel, Kockelmans, Rouse. On the question of rationality, McIntyre, though not a continental philosopher, has written much that needs to be seriously pondered within the context of this paper.