Scientific metaphysics once again

Mr Cristian Soto (University of Melbourne)

In this paper I put forward a prospect of a metaphysical program that can be carried out within the Enlightenment project of the sciences. In my argument I address the following six issues. (i) I begin by defending the view that metaphysics, if it is worth to be pursued, should be in the quest of knowledge of reality just like the sciences. (ii) I outline the minimal epistemic, methodological, and ontological desiderata for a metaphysics that works hand-in-hand with the sciences.  (iii) I schematize three different arguments for rejecting standard a priori analytic metaphysics, as it has been carried out over the last decades. (iv) I assess the contribution of common sense to metaphysical research, proposing a weak-eliminativist approach to both its practical and theoretical dimensions. (v) I describe the two main tasks of scientific metaphysics, viz., the examination of the boundaries of scientific ontology and the elaboration of a scientific view of reality. Finally, (vi) I evaluate the viability of scientific metaphysics by considering, first, possible cases of the relation between science and metaphysics and, second, wether or not scientific metaphysics would still be philosophy.