Xavier Zubiri's Critique of Classical Philosophy
ABSTRACT: The contemporary Spanish philosopher Xavier Zubiri (1893-1983) developed his philosophy in constant dialogue with the past. Zubiri believed that there are fundamental flaws with classical philosophy that require a fresh approach. His critique of classical philosophy falls into three areas: conceptual, factual, and scope. The first is treated in this paper with respect to five subjects. Zubiri believed that the structure of human intellection is incorrect in classical philosophy. This error contributes in large part to two key errors which he termed "entification of reality" and "logification of intellection." Closely related are errors concerning essence and the relationship of truth and reality.
Introduction
'Classical philosophy' may be loosely defined as the set of beliefs, assumptions, and analyses of experience, together with the intellectual edifice erected upon them, worked out by Ancient Greek philosophers, especially Aristotle, and further developed by Medieval and post-Medieval thinkers, foremost among them Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, and Francisco Suarez. The tradition has continued to our own day, in the persons of Jacques Maritain and Etienne Gilson, among others. Extending over a period of 2500 years, classical philosophy has undergone many changes; but some basic underlying ideas and ways of viewing the world have remained remarkably constant. It is these which are the subject of the present study.
In the course of developing his own philosophy, Xavier Zubiri (1898-1983) has thoroughly and incisively analyzed much of classical philosophy. Zubiri ultimately parts company with Aristotle and classical philosophy because he believes that despite its successes and insights, it suffers from fundamental errors with respect to both point of departure and the answers given to certain critical questions. In many cases, these errors have been set into high relief by developments in modern science; in others, they have been made visible by the critique of philosophers not in the classical tradition.
Zubiri's analysis of the errors of classical philosophy may be grouped into three broad areas:
Conceptual:
(1) Structure of human intellection.
(2) Confusion of reality and being, the "Entification of reality".
(3) Subsuming of intellection under logos, the "Logification of intellection".
(4) Nature and function of definition.
(5) The notion of truth.
Factual:
(1) Inconsistency with modern science.
(2) Disagreement with empirical facts.
(3) Failure to reach legitimate goals.
(4) Foundations and nature of mathematics.
Scope:
(1) The division of philosophy.
(2) Ability of unaided mind to penetrate secrets of nature.
(3) Structural complexity of reality.
(4) Hierarchical nature of reality.
(5) The canon of reality.
The first category is the subject of this paper.
Wal-Mart has had a significant economic impact on the US, as well as the economies of countries that have relations with the US. Wal-Mart is the world’s biggest company of any kind, with 80 percent of the households in America purchasing something from the superstore; it is the nation’s largest retailer. Wal-Mart’s continuing price reduction has given Americans the advantage of being able to afford 15 to 20 percent more than they previously could. (Hansen) In a world governed by globalization and greed, competition has become rigid; as a result firms like Wal-Mart have utilized advanced marketing strategies to insure that they are on the ‘neck’ of competition, and are the core deciders of the market. (Ortega) However, Wal-Mart made decisions that were of a disadvantage to aspects of the economy, including the depletion on a small scale of Small Town USA.
Myers, V. (1994, December). The Everglades: Researchers take a new approach to an old problem. Sea Frontiers, 40, 15-16.
algae to grow in the Everglades. Humans have also prevented natural fires from occurring and
The Florida Everglades is one of the most diverse wetland ecosystems in the United States. These tropical wetlands span an area of more than seven hundred square miles in southern Florida. The term Everglade means river of grass. The system starts in central Florida near Orlando and travels southwest to the tip of Florida. The Everglades has a wet season and a dry season which causes a great change in hydrology. During the wet season the system is a slow moving river that is sixty miles wide and over a hundred miles long. During the dry season water levels drop and some areas will completely dry up. The Everglades has many different aquatic environments all having interdependent ecosystems. The most important factor for all these environments is water. It helps shape the land, vegetation, and all the organism that live in each area. Each environment has particular needs for the organisms living in that area. Throughout the years humans have diverted the water to fit their varying needs. The state has built dikes and levees, dug canals, and have built locks to divert the water. This has all been done to keep areas completely dry for developing and agricultural needs. Today, The Everglades is half the size of its original size. Throughout the years many restoration acts have been created and updated. The Everglades restoration projects have been the most expensive environmental repairs in The United States. This is because The Everglades is one of the three most important wetland areas in the world. The Everglades National Park is the home of thirty six protected species including the West Indian Manatee, the American Crocodile, and the Florida Panther. The Everglades also homes hundreds of species of birds, fish, mammals, and repti...
The Everglades may also be known as the river of grass because of its 80.5 kilometer (50 miles) wide girth and 161 kilometer (100 miles) long span, with the source of its freshwater coming from Lake Okeechobee just to the north (Tramontana and Johnson 1-2). The Everglades then continues to flow through the southernmost sandbars, mangrove islands, and the Florida Keys before emptying into the Florida Bay. This path creates a mix of saltwater, brackish, and fresh waterways that comprise the marshes and swamplands of this unique environment (Tramontana and Johnson 1-2). Transitions from wet and dry climates are the only seasonal ch...
Wal-Mart has been a huge debate subject in the news since it began to pop up in large quantities across the entire United States. The majority of that conversation focused on the negative impacts that Wal-Mart has on the communities and economies in which its super stores are located. Richard Vedder and Wendell Cox take a different approach and while they recognizes the downfalls and negative impacts that Wal-Mart can have, he focuses more on proving that the positives that Wal-Mart has on economies and communities outweigh those negatives.
Water management is one of the most critical environmental issues facing the Florida Everglades at this point in time. The everglades watershed originates in the central Florida Kissimmee River basin north of Lake Okeechobee. Summer thunderstorms would flood this region, the big lake, and extensive areas of everglades marsh. This created a shallow, wide river which flowed slowly south through the everglades to the mangrove estuaries of the Gulf of Mexico. The summer rains would then give way to a ...
College campuses are more dangerous than ever because of the past decade; guns have not only been manufactured in excess, but availability and ease of accessibility. According to James Cool (2008), a supporter of guns on campus, reasoned why the increase of weapons occurred recently; “Our nation was founded … during the same time that modern firearms were invented and became readily available due to the Industr...
Wittgenstein, Ludwig; G. E. M. Anscombe, P.M.S. Hacker and Joachim Schulte (eds. and trans.). Philosophical Investigations. 4th edition, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Print.
Moore, Brooke Noel., and Kenneth Bruder. "Chapter 6- The Rise of Metaphysics and Epistemology; Chapter 9- The Pragmatic and Analytic Traditions; Chapter 7- The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries." Philosophy: the Power of Ideas. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2011. Print.
ABSTRACT: The discussion of Heidegger's “destructive retrieve” of Aristotle has been intensified in recent years by the publication of Heidegger's courses in the years surrounding his magnum opus. Heidegger's explicit commentary on Aristotle in these courses permits one to read Being and Time with Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and Metaphysics. My paper analyzes a network of differences between the two thinkers, focusing on the relationship between theory and praxis. From Aristotle to Heidegger, there is: (1) a shift from the priority of actuality to the priority of possibility. This shift, I argue, is itself the metaphysical ground of: (2) a shift from the priority of theory to the priority of praxis. This shift is seen most clearly in the way in which (3) Heidegger's notion of Theorie is a modification of his poíesis. The temporal ground of the reversal is seen in (4) Heidegger's notion of transcendence towards the world, and not towards an eternal being.
Thousands of kids roam a college campus - and it only takes one. No amount of preparation, staff training, or school-wide drills can prepare the university for something so terrible. This tragedy will forever change the way students and teachers operate the school. One man. One gun. And the sad part is that all of this can all be averted. For this reason, the law should consent to “licensed concealed carry” (carrying a weapon with a license) on campus. If students were allowed to defend themselves with their own weapons, they would. Teachers and students should be permitted to carry firearms onto the campus because the rule that bans weapons will not stop a shooter, it will greatly increase a person’s self–defense, and it can stop on-campus violence as well as shootings.
"Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy." Beauvoir, Simone de []. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. .
In the United States and all over the world, the entry and operations of big retailers like Wal-Mart into a small town sparks great controversy within the community. The fact that people contemplate on the fact that the policies and actions of Wal-Mart are destructive to a small town’s economy is not new. Most small town’s economies are run by subsistence and self-reliant traders. With time, the traders embrace the division of labor and specialization of skills in accordance with the trade, production and manufacturing needs of the community. In such a market, a simple move like a decision by the producers to sell directly to the consumers may spark
Thornton, Stephen. "Karl Popper." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Edward N. Zalta. Spring 2014. Web. 13 March 2014.