Being in America: Sixty Years of the Metaphysical Society

The Owl Of Minerva In America

The Owl Of Minerva In America

The Owl of Minerva, a symbol of depth and wisdom, graces the cover of "Being in America: Sixty Years of the Metaphysical Society" edited by philosophers Brian G. Henning and David Kovacs. The owl is a fitting symbol for a study of the practice of metaphysics in America and of a scholarly society devoted to its perpetuation. Speculative metaphysics has not been the dominant form of philosophical practice in the United States. In fact much of 20th century philosophy was devoted to proclaiming the death of metaphysics for various reasons, including the claimed all-encompassing study of science as a means of understanding the world. Philosophical trends including analytic philosophy, logical positivism, existentialism, and many forms of pragmatism generally set themselves against metaphysics as a purported study of being or reality.

In 1950, philosopher Paul Weiss of Yale University founded the Metaphysical Society of America devoted to the "study of reality". The society was founded to provide a forum for the many voices in philosophy that were largely denied a forum by the prevailing state of the discipline. The society was intended to encourage metaphysical thought in a philosophically pluralist way -- from a broad variety of perspectives. The first meeting of the new society took place April 15, 1950 at Yale. Weiss gave a brief inaugural address titled "The Four-Fold Art of Avoiding Questions" in which he stressed the importance of metaphysical inquiry on "such root questions as the nature and relation of being and non-being, God and the world, time and eternity, good and bad, logic and existence, the individual and the totality. The new society, and the related scholarly journal, "The Review of Metaphysics" would provide a forum in which such "root questions" could be addressed.

Since 1950, the Metaphysical Society of America has met every year (with the exception of the pandemic of 2020) in its conference in which papers are presented generally grouped around a broad metaphysical theme. At every conference the president of the society for the year delivers a substantial philosophical address.

The wonderfully ambiguously titled "Being in America" is at once a story of a small part of America, an example of the study of Being, and a history of an American community of scholars. The book documents the work of the Metaphysical Society of America during its first sixty years (1950 -- 2010). The heart of the volume consists of eighteen of the presidential addresses given over the years by the society presidents at the annual conference. The addresses are personalized through the accompanying brief biography and photograph of each speaker. The addresses are grouped loosely by subject matter into four parts rather than chronologically. The first part "The Question of Metaphysics" includes ten addresses. The three addresses in part two explore "The Question of Knowledge". In part three, three speakers explore "The Question of Language", while in the final part, three society presidents discuss "The Question of the Good."

The addresses vary markedly in their philosophical perspectives, their styles, ranging from literary to logically rigorous, and their themes. There is a broad overlap in the addresses as they all tend to address the nature of metaphysics and its importance. They try to counter the popular view of metaphysics as airy and abstract and the views of other philosophers that deny its possibility and regard it as a pseudo-study, and to show that metaphysical questions arise from the specifics of human experience and that it is the part of wisdom to consider them. The eighteen addresses include many by philosophers known to me, including Marjorie Greene, Stanley Rosen, Richard Bernstein, Nicholas Rescher, John Herman Randall, Jr. and others as well as addresses by thinkers I met for the first time in this volume. I struggled with many of the addresses but was moved by the anthology, individually and cumulatively.

In addition to the presidential addresses, the volume includes Paul Weiss' inaugural address, mentioned earlier, together with an overview of the society and its mission by Henning and Kovacs. William Desmond, another past president wrote a Foreword on the vicissitudes of the study of Being in America and elsewhere and on the role of the Metaphysical Society while past president Robert Neville's epilogue questions the direction philosophy will take in the future, whether as a narrow, technical specialty or as expansive, with themes that speak broadly to people. Neville's heart and the volume are with the latter. The volume concludes with a list of the sixty presidential addresses delivered through 2010 and the sources of their initial publication, largely in the "Review of Metaphysics".

I am not a professional philosopher, but I have loved philosophy all my life. Since retiring from a career in the law some years ago I have been able to devote more time to philosophical thinking. I was privileged to give a presentation at the 2019 Metaphysical Society of America Conference and will do so again at the 2022 annual conference, the pandemic permitting. I was moved to learn about the society, its mission, and its history through this book.

Robin Friedman