Transgressing the End of Metaphysics in Martin Moors' Mythos and Logos course

summarization of Moors' ideas, by Corry Shores
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Philosophers continually try to renew philosophy. The first step is a critical return tophilosophy's origin.

The second step involves a recognition of the mythological origin, and then a transgression of another limit. So after a critical examination of philosophy's history, a philosopher who is trying to renew philosophy will secondly then look to its upper limits, to the rational knowledge it does not yet know. This too is critical, because it looks to what is limiting rational discourse. In the first step, what limited rational discourse was its mythological origin. Now what limits it is the lack of what it knows. So there is an erotic drive to transgress these upper limits.

Beyond these upper limits stand the gods with their perfect knowledge, as we saw with Plato's hierarchy. But because knowledge is deified in its absoluteness, here too, like with the first critical move, philosophers transgress again toward mythology. But the move into this divine space of knowledge is not a progression, because once there all knowledge is attained. Rather, it is a transgression, because it is a crossing of an internal limit.

Here we have the end of metaphysics. But not end as destruction, but rather end as aim or destination. So the metaphysician must think both

1) back to philosophy's origin, but as well

2) forward to its end, aim, or purpose.

[Taken from the second lecture of Professor Martin Moors Philosophy of Being 2008 course: "From Mythos to Logos - From Logos to Mythos," at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Professor Moors is not just a remarkably gifted instructor, he is as well a renownedmetaphysician and Kant scholar. His publication list is available here.

The ideas I here present are not my property, but belong to Prof. Moors. A suggested citation:

Moors, Martin. "From Mythos to Logos - From Logos to Mythos: Class 2." Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. 02-Oct-2008.

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