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One may see a trajectory in the of and Euro-American political regarding Postmetaphysics the relationship between metaphysics and N i c h o l a s T a m p i o . For the ancients, only a few people are capable of grasping the deepest level of and those few are by supposed to govern. Political often study things that can As a rule, transcendent metaphysics supports be examined, measured, and compared, such an elitist politics. In modernity, as , political regimes, or interna- often posit an immanent metaphysics that dis- tional organizations. Political philosophers credits traditional claims to theoretical wisdom often think about things that cannot, as such, or political superiority. Many Enlightenment be empirically observed, such as , philosophers support liberal and democratic moral codes, and of . The most claims that and societies should profound activity of philosophy is metaphysics. govern themselves. Over , however, political Metaphysics, according to , is first tensions have festered between metaphysical philosophy, the study of qua being. In partisans, most notably between those who general, a metaphysics grounds and delimits view at the base of reality and those who what a thinks that political affairs do not. Postmetaphysicians seek to reduce this are and can be. In words, a metaphysics tension by arguing that philosophers may helps a philosopher explain actual political ground political theories on shared cultural affairs and envision new political possibilities. resources rather than controversial metaphys- This entry considers how several of the most ical doctrines. Pluralists respond that post- important figures in the history of Euro- metaphysicians underestimate both their own American political conceptualize being, philosophical commitments and the depth the privileged interpreters of being, and the of disagreement among global constituencies. political that accord with being. For pluralists, the task today is to Here are of a few key terms in political orders where multiple existential this entry. describes the study of things – including ones that originate outside of that move and change (in Greek, ta physika ). Europe or North America – may collaborate Metaphysics, or , describes the for common ends. of that which beyond physical things ( To best enter contemporary debates about ta physika; in , ontologia). A transcendent politics and metaphysics, it is necessary to sur- metaphysics holds that the deepest layer of vey their historical backdrop. reality resides on a different of being than physical things. An immanent metaphysics, by contrast, maintains that there is one plane of Classical Metaphysics being though human may not (yet) be able to grasp all of it. Postmetaphysics is The Euro-American conversation about the that political theory ought to focus metaphysics began in the sixth century bce on questions of real- justice instead of when Greek philosophers such as , debates about whether there is or is not another , , and Anaxagoras world. Pluralists argue that all political theories pondered the mysteries embedded in the word express some conception of metaphysics and “being” ( ). Unlike Homer, the Presocratic the pressing task is to negotiate, not suppress, philosophers doubted that such as differences between metaphysical visions. Zeus and Athena directly intervened in human

The Encyclopedia of Political , First Edition. Edited by Michael T. Gibbons. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. DOI: 10.1002/9781118474396.wbept0666 2 affairs; at the same time, their work avoids posits a two-world metaphysics and a pyramidal political themes and evinces an oracular, poetic political structure whereby philosophers dis- that does not express the philosophic cover the , politicians enforce the truth aspiration to pursue using only as taught to them by philosophers, and the . The first to bring philosophy ignorant masses work and farm. from heaven to earth, according to the Roman In The Politics , Aristotle (384–322 bce ) crit- philosopher , was (469–399 bce ). icizes his teacher ’s political vision Socrates used to go to a public ( ) and for being unrealistic and irresponsible. Plato debate with people about the of such argues that a just society possess all things, words as justice, piety, , science, and the including children, in common; Aristotle . He did not want to know whether this or responds that parents will only care for chil- that is beautiful; he wanted to know what dren whom they recognize as their own. is beauty in itself, a question that compels an Aristotle reverses Plato’s method: rather than investigation beyond appearances. Socrates was start with philosophical that can condemned for corrupting youth and making then be applied to , Aristotle col- new and not believing in the old ones. lects from Greek constitutions to Socrates’ legacy is primarily preserved in the determine what preserves and destroys states of Plato (429–347 bce ). and keeps them well or ill administered. “As in One of these dialogues, the , is other departments of science, so in politics, widely considered to be the first book of the compound should always be resolved . The Republic begins with into the simple elements or least parts of the Socrates asking several men for their defini- whole” (Aristotle 1996 : 11). Aristotle argues that tions of justice and then showing that each human beings naturally from being is flawed. To discover the nature of alone, to being married, to having slaves, to justice, Socrates proposes to create a city in inhabiting villages, and then living in a polis. speech so that he may see on a larger scale The city has a purpose ( ) in the flourish- what he wishes to know for the single human ing ( ) of human beings. Aristotle being. Socrates argues that a just city will have does maintain that philosophical contempla- harmony between its philosophical, spirited, tion is one of the few things that human beings and industrious constituencies. Socrates’ con- enjoy for its own sake; and in the work now versation partners ask what makes philoso- known to us as The Metaphysics, Aristotle phers fit to rule. Using perhaps the most famous commends the study of “being qua being,” metaphor in the history of political philosophy, including the Prime Mover that sets in Socrates explains that most people live, as it . Yet Aristotle’s political theory does were, in a cave of ignorance and that only a few not maintain that metaphysical knowledge are able to reach the sunlight of knowledge. In grants one a privilege to rule. Kings, aristo- other words, most people form opinions based crats, and citizens in a politeia (mixed regime) on what they sense in the visible realm (to govern for the common advantage; tyrants, horaton) but only the naturally gifted acquire oligarchs, and democrats rule for their own knowledge of the intelligible realm ( to noeton ). well-being. In the “School of Just as navigators take their bearings by the Athens,” the Italian painter North Star, politicians should steer the ship of Raphael (1483–1520) depicts Plato and Aris- state by the of the Good. “Unless the phi- totle at the center of the painting with the losophers rule as kings or those now called former pointing to the heavens and the latter kings and chiefs genuinely and adequately phi- keeping his hand out flat to the earth. This pic- losophize, and political power and philosophy ture conveys the debate that the two phi- coincide in the same place … there is no rest losophers bequeathed posterity regarding the from ills for the cities” (Plato 1991 : 153). Plato source of political judgments. 3

Medieval Metaphysics civic orders that keep the peace; when that hap- pens, pilgrims of the heavenly city can and In the history of western political thought, the should maintain the social order. Still, it is better conversation about the relationship between that the king be a Christian rather than a pagan: and moved from Athens to Jerusalem, so to speak, with the rise when those who are gifted with true godli- of Christianity. Jesus declared that he was the ness and live good lives also know the art Son of God and preached “you must the of governing peoples, could be more your God with all your heart, with all fortunate for human affairs than that, by the mercy of God, they should also have the your , and with all your ” and “you power to do so. (Augustine 1998 : 225) must love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37–9). In the secular realm, Jesus counseled Augustine advises a Christian king to rule his followers to “render unto Caesar the things justly, be humble, love and God, be which are Caesar’s and unto God the things slow to punish and quick to forgive, and use his that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21). The apostle majesty to “spread His worship to the greatest Paul (ca. 5–67 ce ) helped transform Jesus’ possible extent” (Augustine 1998 : 232). Many moral teaching into a political doctrine in his medieval political thinkers – including Gregory letter to the Christian community in Rome. the Great (ca. 540–604) and Isidore of Seville Paul states “those who live according to the (ca. 560–636) – would operate within an flesh their on the things of the flesh, Augustinian framework in delineating the but those who live according to the Spirit spheres of the king and the pope, secular and set their minds on the things of the Spirit” religious authority. (Romans 8:5–6). Though Paul tells the Romans (1225?–74), a Dominican to become slaves to God, he also counsels them priest teaching at the of Paris, to “let every person be to the governing enacted a shift in medieval political philosophy authorities. For there is no authority except by integrating Christian with Aristo- from God, and those that exist have been insti- tle rather than, as in Augustine’s case, Plato. tuted by God” (Romans 13:1). One of the great According to Aquinas, philosophy and the- debates in medieval political thought is how to ology provide different routes to the same des- draw the boundaries between heaven and tination: just as Aristotle shows that the Prime earth, the realms of God and Caesar. Mover is necessary to set matter in motion, The North African bishop Augustine of divine revelation proves that God created the Hippo (354–430) made a profound contribu- world. In the Summa Theologica , Aquinas dif- tion to this debate in The City of God. Augustine ferentiates four kinds of that operate in the argues that Plato is who came . Eternal law is God’s plan of gover- nearest to the truth of the Christian in his nance of . God places in doctrine that “there is one God, the Author of human beings that they may discern through this universe” who “is our first , our their reason. Human beings posit human law light and our good” (Augustine 1998 : 326). to regulate their affairs. And God reveals divine Rather than distinguish the intelligible and law to supplement natural law and direct the visible realms, however, Augustine differ- human beings in their actions. “Both the entiates the city of God and the city of man, spiritual power and the secular power derive both of which are physically intermingled. The from God’s power” – the spiritual power of the heavenly city is composed of people who live church pertains to men’s , and the secular by faith and look forward to the blessings of power of the king concerns civic welfare. Like eternal life; the earthly city is made up of peo- Augustine, Aquinas thinks that the “temporal ple who enjoy the trappings of this world. The sword should be unsheathed at the church’s bid- inhabitants of the earthly city may establish ding” (Aquinas 2002 : 196). Unlike Augustine, 4 however, Aquinas views philosophy as coequal political science is guided by the idea that one with theology and shares Aristotle’s view that cannot talk or think intelligibly about politics a mixed form of government is best. In his without normative criteria about the purpose qualified respect for philosophical (telos ) of human life. Machiavelli initiates mod- and popular government, Aquinas helped ern political science by focusing on who gets Europe transition out of what the Italian what, when, and how. scholar (1330–74) called the Dark Ages ( saeculum obscurum ). The Enlightenment(s) Many early modern European philosophers The Realist Critique of Metaphysics shared Machiavelli’s critique of classical and The of cities, capitalism, and tech- medieval metaphysics but disagreed with his nologies such as the compass facilitating thesis that power and cunning decide political long-distance travel contributed to the decline questions. The Enlightenment philosophers of medieval metaphysics. Yet philosophers wrote after the Scientific and the shape the mental vessels in which people pour Thirty Years War (1618–48). In the former, nat- their , passions, and interests, and no uralist scientists and philosophers presented a philosopher did more to discredit medieval case for a mechanical conception of the universe metaphysics than Niccolò Machiavelli (1469– in which all bodies move according to math- 1527). As a young man, Machiavelli tran- ematically determined . The scientific scribed On the Nature of Things by method is inductive rather than deductive; (ca. 99 bce –ca. 55 bce ), a Roman poet who focuses on physical causes of things rather than extolled the Epicurean doctrine that the uni- final causes; and eschews of invisible, verse is composed of swerving atoms in unmeasurable things such as souls or spirits. In and nothing else. Like Lucretius, Machiavelli other words, modern science focuses on what builds a political theory on an immanent meta- can be studied in this world rather than found physics or, as he would probably prefer to call in the Platonic realm of ; looks for real it, a physics. The Prince is ostensibly a guide and physical causes of phenomena rather than for political executives on how to acquire, Aristotelian “specious and shadowy causes,” in maintain, and potentially lose a principality. the words of the English philosopher Francis Students know from reading ancient Bacon (1561–1626); and does not concern itself and observing current events that human with theological debates about, for instance, beings desire power, glory, and riches. Rather . Furthermore, the Thirty Years War, than imagine principalities based on - fought largely between Catholics and Protestants, sophical and theological conceptions of human led to the death of approximately one fifth of nature, political scientists should “go after the the population of the Holy Roman Empire. The effective truth of the things ( la verità effec- Enlightenment philosophers sought to justify a tuale della cosa )” by studying human behavior moral politics that was both scientifically plau- (Machiavelli 1997 : 57). Machiavelli praises sible and bypassed the theological disputes that bold, ruthless executives who seize power, had contributed to Europe’s recent . including Cesare Borgia, whose cruelty had The Scot (1711–76) and the brought more peace and stability to Romagna Prussian (1724–1804) were than did the merciful behavior of the Florentines. leading figures in, respectively, the sentimentalist There is no mention of souls or God in The and rationalist branches of the Enlightenment. Prince. Machiavelli states that fortune con- Hume’s goal in A Treatise of Human Nature is to strains human (or power), but fortune is use the to study human nature. not so much a god as a catch-all term for The only solid foundation we can give to the factors that elude human control. Aristotelian science of human nature is “experience and 5 ,” or more precisely, “careful and way to the modest one of a mere analytic of exact ” on how the mind responds the pure ” (Kant 1998 : 345). A to “different circumstances and situations” metaphysics of nature, for instance, does not (Hume 2000 : 5). In the Treatise, Hume argues describe features of nature in itself; rather, such that human beings can follow abstract reason- a metaphysics describes and justifies a system ing about and can perform experi- of that make possible human inves- mental reasoning concerning matter of , tigations of nature. Likewise, in the Groundwork but he denies that human beings can acquire for the Metaphysics of Morals , Kant does not knowledge of metaphysics. In book 3 of the describe and justify a moral law that is woven Treatise, Hume presents a naturalistic, or imma- into the fabric of reality but rather one that nent, account of the origin of justice. Justice the practical faculty of reason makes or finds originates as families bond together to reap the within itself. After formulating the supreme benefits of society such as physical safety and principle of , the categorical impera- material prosperity. The human propensity to tive, Kant explains how it applies to a rational be partial to family and friends, however, ele- being in a Newtonian universe: “The moral vates the possibility of injustice and civil war. ‘ought’ is … his own necessary ‘ will’ as a Nature “provides a remedy in the judgment member of an intelligible world, and is thought and understanding, for what is irregular and by him as ‘ought’ only insofar as he regards incommodious in the affections” (Hume 2000 : himself at the same time as a member of the 314). That is to say, human beings, by employ- world of sense” (Kant 1996 : 101). Scholars dis- ing their intellect to design social institutions, agree on how to interpret Kant’s account of the can regulate human partiality in productive, intelligible and the sensible : some argue rather than destructive, ways – an argument that Kant modernizes a medieval two-world that would influence the Scottish economist metaphysics; others argue that Kant presents a (1723–90) and the drafter of the “two perspective” metaphysics that offers a rea- US constitution James Madison (1751–1836). sonable defense of the practical Hume’s philosophy would also influence of freedom. Regardless, Kant’s metaphysics of later philosophers such as the logical positiv- morals – including the basic principles of a ists who wanted to purge philosophy of its moral doctrine of virtue ( Tugendlehre ) and a metaphysical – on their view, mystical and political doctrine of right ( Rechtslehre ) – has extremist – tendencies. influenced many liberals, democrats, socialists, In the , Kant both and others who defend an idealistic politics criticized one version of metaphysics and pro- against political realism. posed a modern version that would become enormously influential. Kant chastised Plato Post-Enlightenment Metaphysics for trying to abandon the world of the senses in order to acquire knowledge: “he did not notice Kant’s earliest readers identified a problem that he made no headway by his efforts, for with his reconceptualization of metaphysics: it he had no resistance, no support, as it were, posits a gap between the mind and reality, the by which could he could stiffen himself (Kant thinking subject and the thing in itself. Kant 1998 : 140). Plato’s transcendent metaphysics himself, in the Critique of Judgment (1790), rec- does not deserve the name of a science. Rather ognized this gap and explored how art, biology, than dispose of metaphysics entirely, however, and theology could bridge it. Ironically, Kant, a Kant redefines metaphysics as the conceptual paradigmatic Enlightenment philosopher, scheme that makes possible experience. “The planted the seed of the romantic movement proud name of an ontology, which presumes to that would try to bring humanity back offer synthetic a priori cognitions of things in into contact with reality or nature. Early general in a systematic doctrine … must give romantics – including Friedrich Hölderlin 6

(1770–1843) and Friedrich Schelling (1775– corrected Hegel’s philosophy by arguing that 1854) – thought that poetry, or an aestheticized the clash of material forces, rather than a politics, could bring back into contact of ideas, determines the course of with the great current of life. But it was Georg history. In the Phenomenology , for instance, Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) who set Hegel describes a fight between a lord and a the terms of much post-Kantian philosophy. bondsman whereby the lord prevails over the In the Phenomenology of Spirit , Hegel posits bondsman in a fight to the death. In so doing, a metaphysics grounded on mind or spirit the lord empowers the bondsman who does ( ). “That the True is actual only as system, the actual work, thereby setting the stage for or that Substance is essentially Subject, is the bondsman to overcome the master. Hegel expressed in the representation of the may have viewed this narrative as about the as Spirit – the most notion and the one structure of self-conscious ; in The which belongs to the modern age and its reli- Communist Manifesto, Marx retells the story as gion” (Hegel 1977 : 14). According to Charles one of a necessary dynamic at work in concrete Taylor, Hegel tried to reconcile Kant’s account history. “The history of all hitherto existing of freedom and Spinoza’s account of substance. society is the history of struggles” (Marx Hegel argued that human beings act autono- 2000 : 246). In capitalism, the bourgeoisie, mously when they express the cosmic spirit owners of the means of production, hire the ( Geist) at the center of their being. To say that proletariat, wage earners, to work in the fac- “the substance is essentially subject” is to assert tories. In so doing, the bourgeoisie increase the that Geist , in its unfolding in history, has power, size, and communication networks of reached a point where human beings are not the proletariat, setting the stage for when the estranged from the universe. Hegel’s philos- proletariat seize control of the means of pro- ophy explains how Geist manifests in modern duction and exchange. Philosophy’s role in this politics, philosophy, art, and the ethical life of process is not to think about irrelevant the community (Sittlichkeit ). More recently, (e.g., metaphysics) in ways that comfort the philosophers have articulated a nonmetaphysi- ruling class or pacify the people. Rather, phi- cal reading of Hegel that denies that Geist is a losophy’s job is to change history by helping pantheistic notion. Rather, Hegel explains the people see, and thereby complete, the progress way in which modern subjects arrive at their of history from capitalism to communism, a judgments through rational and social order without economic classes. intersubjective debate. Geist is not a metaphys- Like Marx, (1844–1900) ical entity but the structure of the community’s was a materialist who tried to place humanity understanding of what it is to be a person. The on a new track toward a new destination. nonmetaphysical reading may provide a Nietzsche criticized Plato for slandering life, coherent and compelling account of Hegel’s that is, judging all things as inferior specimens philosophy – particularly its account of the of a supposed realm of Forms. On the other modern state in The Philosophy of Right – but it hand, Nietzsche appreciated Plato for bring- departs from how most Anglo-American and ing the ascetic into history, a disci- Continental philosophers in the past two cen- plined search for reality behind appearances. turies have read Hegel. Nietzsche calls the deepest layer of reality the Hegel’s reception has been shaped by his . According to this notion, every most influential reader, (1818–83). animal “instinctively strives for an optimum of Marx’s critique of Hegelian metaphysics takes favorable conditions in which to fully release its cue from (1804–72): his power and achieve his maximum of power- “Thought arises from being – being does not sensation” (Nietzsche 2007 : 76). In On the arise from thought” (cited in Marx 2000 : 6–7). Genealogy of Morality , Nietzsche uses the doc- In his own estimation, Marx inverted and thus trine of the will to power to explain history’s 7

path from the premoral period, to the moral enchant and fulfill us, elevate and disappoint us, period we currently inhabit, to the extra-moral but where in all this is the Being of beings, and ( aussermoralische) era on the horizon. In the what does it consist in” (Heidegger 2000 : 34). premoral period, warriors such as Homeric The human being’s vocation as is to dis- heroes, Scandinavian Vikings, and Germanic close Being through poetry and philosophy; Goths discharged their power on the weak. instead, modern humans occlude the question of Nobles tended to show respect to other nobles Being and control beings through metaphysics and institute rules of justice to control the and technology. Heidegger’s diagnosis of the existential anger ( ressentiment ) of the base. In plight of modernity, its forgetfulness of Being the moral period, however, priests and philos- and its drive to dominate nature ( ), would ophers exercise their will to power to drain resonate with many twentieth-century critical the warriors’ confidence that they should theorists. Alas, Heidegger’s alternative – the spiri- inhabit the highest rung of society’s ladder of tual revival of the German people (Volk ) – has values. In the Republic , for instance, Plato struck many political theorists as either naive or demotes warriors to gentlemen in the service sinister. Heidegger’s importance for contempo- of philosophers who know the truth; and in the rary political theory is primarily in how others New Testament, St. Paul transforms Judaism respond to his diagnosis of how metaphysics into Christianity, a populist . For has contributed to the destruction of the planet. Nietzsche, modern liberals, democrats, and Take (1899–1973) and Hannah socialists are leading humanity on a path Arendt (1906–75). On one interpretation, toward , a and way of life Strauss’s most important book, Natural Right that in nothing higher than pleasure and History, seeks to refute Heidegger’s most and tranquility. Nietzsche writes his books to important book, . According awaken a new nobility to recognize its destiny to Strauss, Heidegger attributes an essentially and assert control over the rest of humanity. In historical character to society and human the extra-moral period, philosophers of the thought, which partly explains why Heidegger – combining the life-affirming instincts supported the Nazis in the 1930s. Strauss’s of Homer and the ascetic ideal of Plato – will remedy for is a recuperation of govern. The Italian Marxist classical political philosophy. “All natural right wrote in his journal that Nietzsche provides doctrines claim that the fundamentals of jus- a philosophic veneer to the hero-worship of tice are, in principle, accessible to man as man” Alexandre Dumas’ novel, The Count of Monte (Strauss 1953 : 28). Strauss’s task in Natural Cristo. Rather than his political theory per se, Right and History is to justify classical natural Nietzsche’s main contribution to contemporary right after modern science has discredited thinking is a genealogical method that reveals many features of ancient physics and meta- the of moral and political values physics. In The , Arendt and a philosophical vocabulary to describe the looks to the ancient Romans rather than the inner dynamics of nature. ancient Greeks for guidance on how to stop (1899–1976) thought that humanity’s thoughtless use of technology. In Nietzsche did not go far enough in his critique particular, Arendt seeks to recover an appreci- of Platonic metaphysics. Nietzsche said in The ation of the vita activa , a life committed to that Being is “the final wisp doing great deeds and saying great words in of evaporating reality,” a meaningless . public about public matters. Though Arendt Heidegger replies, in Introduction to Metaphysics , values “pure thought culminating in contem- that Nietzsche is the terminus of a long tradition plation,” she writes her book to valorize “active that focuses on beings ( Das Seiende) rather than engagement in the things of this world” (Arendt Being (Das Sein ). “We encounter beings every- 1998 : 17). Arendt thinks that political theorists where; they surround us, carry and control us, today must “think without banisters,” that is, 8 without the metaphysical assurances of older Habermas disagrees with antimodernists such eras. Many contemporary political theorists, we as Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Theodor Adorno shall see, agree with Arendt on this point. (1903–69) who simply reject Enlightenment metaphysics. According to Habermas, philoso- phers need a way to criticize present-day prac- Postmetaphysics and tices, such as environmental degradation or Metaphysics is the science of being, the invis- corrupt elections, that deform the lifeworld. ible backdrop to physical things. Occasionally, Habermas extends “the Kantian tradition by people will argue that metaphysics is a medi- seeking to use the to eval relic in the modern world. The theoretical save a concept of reason that is skeptical and physicist , for instance, has postmetaphysical, yet not defeatist” (Habermas said that “philosophy is dead” because it has 1992 : 116). Communicative reason is imma- not been able to keep up with modern science. nent insofar as it emerges naturally and per- And yet metaphysical philosophers from antiq- meates language games and institutions. uity to the present argue that fails Communicative reason is also transcendent to explain much of what gives human life mean- insofar as it enables linguistic actors to con- ing, including notions of morality and justice. sider their moral norms from the perspective Metaphysics, in Kant’s words, is the “queen of of people affected by such norms. Habermas’s the ,” and to ignore it is to condemn conceptions of discourse and delibera- human beings to the realm of the given. From tive democracy are Kantian in that moral and another angle, it appears that modern societies political agents must act on principles that could are rife with metaphysical disagreements, espe- be validated by other participants in rational cially if we include theoretical physics as a kind discourse. Habermas’s thinking is postmeta- of existential faith. In the conclusion, this entry physical, however, in that it relies upon the considers two for handling the fact pragmatic of com- that metaphysics seems both necessary for municative action rather than a dubious account morality and the source of some of society’s of another world. Similarly to Habermas, the deepest disagreements. American philosopher (1921–2002) The German philosopher Jürgen Habermas contends that his theory of justice is “political (b. 1929) has called for postmetaphysical think- not metaphysical” insofar as it abstains from ing ( nachmetaphysisches Denken). According to metaphysical investigations to perform the Habermas, the metaphysical tradition of Plato, more mundane task of reconstructing ideas Augustine, Kant, and Hegel has run its course. from the public political culture to facilitate This tradition privileges the one over the many, political agreement about constitutional matters. geometrical deductions over poetic narratives, The American political theorist William E. over , and theory over Connolly (b. 1938) argues, in The of practice. Multiple factors render metaphysi- Pluralization , that there is no such thing as a cal claims suspect, including the autonomy of nonmetaphysical or postmetaphysical theory: the natural and social sciences from the reign “every political interpretation invokes a set of of philosophy, the awareness that historical fundaments about the necessities and possibil- developments and linguistic communities ities of human being” (Connolly 1995 : 1). The influence our thoughts, as well as that the political assignment today is to find a way faculty of reason has emerged naturally and for different existential faiths, or metaphysical contingently. Philosophers at the beginning constituencies, to collaborate and compete in of the twenty-first century are in the same mutually beneficial ways. Connolly adopts a boat as Hegel’s first readers who protested theme from and Félix Guattari’s against metaphysical that judge the book, A Thousand Plateaus . Most Euro- singular in the name of the universal. Still, American political philosophy is arboreal, that 9 is, it assumes that constituencies (branches) References should converge on a set of basic principles Aquinas , T. (2002 ) On Law, Morality, and Politics , (a trunk). The problem with trees, however, is ed. W. P. Baumgarth and R. J. Regan . that they make minorities suffer. Deleuze and Indianapolis : Hackett . Guattari propose, instead, that polities should Arendt , H. (1998 ) The Human Condition . Chicago : organize themselves as gardens in which mul- University of Chicago Press . tiple existential faiths (or flowers) flourish and Aristotle . ( 1996 ) The Politics and the Constitution cooperate with other faiths for the well-being of Athens , trans. S. Everson . New York : of the garden. On this image of democratic Cambridge University Press . politics, the assignment is not to keep meta- Augustine . (1998 ) The City of God against the physics out of politics – an impossible task – Pagans , trans. R. W. Dyson . New York : Cambridge University Press . but rather to cultivate an ethos of engagement Connolly , W. E. ( 1995 ) The Ethos of Pluralization . among diverse political actors and bodies. The Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press. Ethos of Pluralization promotes several Habermas , J. (1992 ) Postmetaphysical Thinking , to sustain garden politics, including agonistic trans. W. M. Hohengarten . Cambridge, MA : respect between constituencies that have MIT Press . roughly similar standing in society, critical Hegel , G. W. F. ( 1977 ) Phenomenology of Spirit , responsiveness whereby powerful constitu- trans. A. V. Miller , ed. J. N. Findlay . Oxford : encies carefully welcome minorities into the Clarendon . political arena, and studied indifference where Heidegger , M. ( 2000 ) Introduction to Metaphysics , political actors ignore harmless groups that get trans. G . Fried and R. Polt . New Haven, CT: under their skin. In his own writings, Connolly Yale University Press. Hume , D. (2000 ) A Treatise of Human Nature , ed. develops an ontology that draws upon Spinoza’s D. F. Norton and M. J. Norton . New York : account of substance, Lucretius’ conception of Oxford University Press. the swerve in nature, and Alfred North Kant , I. ( 1996 ) , trans. M. J. Whitehead’s . To flag the Gregor . New York : Cambridge University Press . contestability of his existential faith, Connolly Kant , I. ( 1998 ) Critique of Pure Reason , trans. calls it an ontopolitics . and ed. P. Guyer and A. W. Wood . New York : This entry has considered how Euro- Cambridge University Press . American political philosophers have concep- Machiavelli , N. (1997 ) The Prince , trans. A. Codevilla . tualized the deepest stratum of the universe as New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. the Idea of the Good, the Prime Mover, the Marx , K. ( 2000 ) Selected Writings , ed. D. McLellan . Christian God, swerving atoms, the world of New York : Oxford University Press . Nietzsche , F. ( 2007 ) On the Genealogy of Morality , understanding, Spirit, will to power, and Being. trans. C. Diethe , ed. K. Ansell-Pearson . New In the near future, if not already, political theo- York : Cambridge University Press . rists will need to learn more about accounts of Plato . ( 1991 ) The Republic, trans. A. Bloom . the substance of being that have originated New York : Basic Books . outside of the west. One benefit of the pluralistic Strauss , L. (1953 ) Natural Right and History . approach is that it looks forward to respectful, Chicago : University of Chicago Press . contentious dialogues about such matters. Further Reading SEE ALSO: Aristotle (384–322 bce ) ; : Aurelius Augustinus (354–430); Connolly, Connolly , W. E. ( 2013 ) The Fragility of Things . William E. (1938–); Habermas, Jürgen (1929–); Hegel, Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich ( 1770–1831) ; Heidegger, Deleuze , G. and Guattari , F. ( 1987 ) A Thousand Martin (1889–1976); Kant, Immanuel (1724–1804); Plateaus, trans. B. Massumi . Minneapolis : Machiavelli, Niccolò (1469–1527) ; Marx, Karl University of Minnesota Press . (1818–83); Natural Law; Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm Greenblatt , S. ( 2012 ) The Swerve: How the World (1844–1900) ; Plato (429–347 bce ) ; Became Modern . New York : W. W. Norton . 10

Lumsden , S. ( 2008 ) “ The Rise of the Non-Metaphysical Tampio , N. ( 2012 ) Kantian Courage: Advancing Hegel ,” Philosophy Compass, 3 (4 ), 51 – 65 . the Enlightenment in Contemporary Paul , St . ( 2007 ) The Writings of St. Paul , ed. Political Theory . New York : Fordham W. A. Meeks . New York : W. W. Norton . University Press . Rawls , J. ( 2005 ) Political Liberalism. New York: Taylor , C. ( 1977 ) Hegel . New York : Cambridge Columbia University Press . University Press .