William Desmond (philosopher)
Encyclopedia
William Desmond is an Irish philosopher who has written on ontology
, metaphysics
, ethics
, and religion
. Former president of the Hegel Society of America
and the Metaphysical Society of America
. Desmond is now professor of philosophy at the Hoger Instituut Voor Wijsbegeerte http://www.hiw.kuleuven.be/eng/, also known as the Higher Institute for Philosophy, at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. In his three books: Being and The Between, Ethics and The Between, & God and The Between, Desmond works out an entirely new and complete metaphysical/ontological philosophical system based on what he calls the Potencies of Being and the Senses of Being. His most original contribution in his metaphysics
is the notion of the "metaxological", which will be explained below. Desmond's program consists mainly in exploring the senses in which modernity has devalued being and what "to be" and "the good" might mean.
In living in the milieu of the good-yet another way to characterize the ethos-we bring morality and concrete good through our power of affirming. Simultaneously, we receive the hospitality of the Ethos through what Desmond calls the "agapeic origin of the good" The Origin is the "original givenness that frees beings into their freedom" and must be understood as an agapeic gift which is overdetermined and thus cannot be aptly described or determined univocally or dialectically. As a consequence of this overdetermined origin as gift, we both generate and are generated by The Ethos.
The seven potencies are:
1) The Idiotic: By definition something which cannot be defined specifically. Related closely to the aesthetic, the idiotic potency is always with us as we dwell in the ethos. It is the potency of being present before all dianoetic reduction or understanding. As encarnate beings (thus related to the aesthetic potency) the idiotic concerns our pre-determined being. It is the original intimation of the good of the "to be". Dwelling in the ethos we generally expect being to be good. This is seen in the immediate expectation of newborns to be healthy, when we see an unhealthy baby we are shocked and sad. Our original expectation of being is goodness.
2) the Aesthetic: Our being in the world is always encarnate. We live through our bodies and basic to our being is our embodied relationship with the world. The aesthetic is the idiotic encarnate. In beauty and the sublime we get physical intimations of the good of the to be. The aesthetic potency refers to much more than the "Kantian" purified realm of the aesthetic. The aesthetic potency deals with our embodied sensual communication and interaction with the world. In the experience of the sublime for instance-again not taken in the Kantian sense-we get an intimation of the overdetermination of the origin. The exceeding power and force of being is intimated aesthetically to us through the sublime, our reaction is a sensual one through which we come to know the overdetermined power of the "to be". Our relationship with the ethos is always communicative.
3) The Dianoetic: The rational potency of lawmaking and determination. The dianoetic potency looks at the world through laws and determinate formulas. Within the equivocity of the ethos and the interplay of sameness and difference there emerge some subtle constancies which we can determine through the dianoetic potency. There are some regularities which prove helpful in order to live in the ethos, and these are determined by this potency. The dianoetic are constancies always already at work in forms of being together.
4) The Transcendental: The potency of a binding universality or Condition Of Possibility. Some constancies in the ethos are so prevalent so as to be called transcendental. The transcendental potency is that which empowers us within the ethos to look for the more general and unconditional condition of possibility. Taken in a Platonic sense, as opposed to Kantian, this Condition of Possibility is something more akin to the original "good" that always qualifies the ethos. We come to the realization of the 'agapeic origin' thanks to the transcendental potency. Itself not free of equivocities, the search for the unconditioned condition of possibility must include evil and death in whatever C.O.P it finds. The Origin that gives the 'to be' is thus itself not free of equivocities. To see the transcendental we must die. The transcendental is not a metaphysical qualification but rather Ontological as referring to the Good itself. The Origin as the agapeic good that gives all being has an ontological determination as Good. There are two transcendental relationships: 1) that between the origin and the ethos: having the characteristic of agapeic & 2) between the self and other: having the characteristic of being metaxological.
5) The Eudaimonistic: The sense of wholeness of how we are in the world. This potency, calling up the 'daimon' as the between is the potency of the possibility for a more general wholeness that calls up the idiotic and aesthetic as well as the dianoetic and transcendental. Seen metaxologically, eudaimonic wholeness in this sense might be made concrete by either the "erotic sovereign" (Nietzsche) or the "agapeic servant" (Jesus). Desmond finds problems with the Erotic sovereign as being truly whole, given that it doesn't fully consider the otherness of the ethos, which is overdetermined. The Erotic sovereign is in the end transcendence without transcendence, because it only transcends again into itself, even if as a higher form, there is never another involved. The eudaimonistic, calling up Aristotle's original thinking of a man of phronesis as happy is the potency that can take both the dianoetic and transcendental as constancies and law, and apply them to specific instances within the chiaroscuro involved in the idiotic and aesthetic. This being in between of the daimon correlates to a higher sense of wholeness being both involved and transcending the ethos.
6) The Transcending: This is the potency of the "between" itself. The mystery of self surpassing and the excess of the overdetermined milieu itself. The transcending potency can only be seen metaxologically because it is itself a move towards the open overdeterminate which is only seen thus. A movement towards the agapeic can not be done dialectically or univocally because both narrow and define, nor equivocally for transcending requires movement in the between not mere equivocity.
7) The Transcendent: The ultimate power that itself allows for the possibility f all transcending. "For this we have the extraordinary word God". The Good itself, the power behind everything, Its what is always intimated in the between. Allows for self-development and transcending to the good.
1) Univocal: This potency is that of intelligibility and identity. It is a potency most clearly seen as the driving force behind modernity. The univocal potency helps manifest intelligibility and gives determination to the ethos.
2) Equivocal: The equivocal potency is marked by its indefiniteness and difference.
3) Dialectic: characterized by mediation, the dialectic sense places emphasis on self mediated wholeness.
4) The Metaxological: From the Greek 'metaxu' meaning 'between', the metaxological is a view of the ethos from the between as overdetermined. Emphasizing mediation, it leaves the between open (as opposed to the dialectical) and emphasizes the interplay between sameness and difference. The metaxological considers the between as overdetermined and does not attempt to constrict or define the between or the ethos as whole or progressing teleologically. It is a more robust consideration on the agapeic origin as overdetermined good
for instance is best defined as a Transcendental Univocalist. Nietzsche would come close to something like an aesthete given his acknowledgment of the aesthetic/sensual part of being, he is however described by Desmond as being defined by the Transcending potency and being both equivocal and a dialectician. Hegel might be defined as a Dialectician. Desmond believes however that all of these philosophers are somehow haunted by those potencies which they seek to ignore or devalue. There is a dialectics in Kant
and there are equivocities in Nietzsche. "Metaxological vigilance" shows a clearer picture of the ethos than do any views that restrict philosophical considerations to the other senses of being and potencies.
Ontology
Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations...
, metaphysics
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
, ethics
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
, and religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
. Former president of the Hegel Society of America
Hegel Society of America
The Hegel Society of America, or HSA, was founded in 1968 at the Wofford Symposium in Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States. Its mission is to promote the study of the philosophy of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel....
and the Metaphysical Society of America
Metaphysical Society of America
The Metaphysical Society of America is a philosophical organization founded by Paul Weiss in 1950 for promoting the study of metaphysics. The society is a member of the American Council of Learned Societies...
. Desmond is now professor of philosophy at the Hoger Instituut Voor Wijsbegeerte http://www.hiw.kuleuven.be/eng/, also known as the Higher Institute for Philosophy, at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. In his three books: Being and The Between, Ethics and The Between, & God and The Between, Desmond works out an entirely new and complete metaphysical/ontological philosophical system based on what he calls the Potencies of Being and the Senses of Being. His most original contribution in his metaphysics
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
is the notion of the "metaxological", which will be explained below. Desmond's program consists mainly in exploring the senses in which modernity has devalued being and what "to be" and "the good" might mean.
The Ethos
The ethos can be defined as the ontological matrix of value at any given time. For Desmond the Human self always lives in what he calls the Ethos. The Ethos is the place where all our actions happen and where our ethical selving occurs. In The Ethos of Being, alternately known as the "chiaroscuro of the good" our self becoming takes place and is further embodied by one of the senses of being of the various potencies of being. The potencies of being are in turn expressed and embodied at different times by the Senses of Being, which are ways in which the different potencies can express themselves. The Ethos can be better understood as "a feeling of how we are in the world as a whole". We both generate and are generated by The Ethos.In living in the milieu of the good-yet another way to characterize the ethos-we bring morality and concrete good through our power of affirming. Simultaneously, we receive the hospitality of the Ethos through what Desmond calls the "agapeic origin of the good" The Origin is the "original givenness that frees beings into their freedom" and must be understood as an agapeic gift which is overdetermined and thus cannot be aptly described or determined univocally or dialectically. As a consequence of this overdetermined origin as gift, we both generate and are generated by The Ethos.
The Potencies of Being
Within the Ethos there are seven Potencies of Being which can be described as the enabling powers which allow for our ethical selving. This "enabling repertoire of self becoming" has the "character of an endowment", and is thus seen as a gift. The potencies are not a program to follow, they simply are all together the powers from which ethical selving, expressed through particular Senses of Being, take their endowment.The seven potencies are:
1) The Idiotic: By definition something which cannot be defined specifically. Related closely to the aesthetic, the idiotic potency is always with us as we dwell in the ethos. It is the potency of being present before all dianoetic reduction or understanding. As encarnate beings (thus related to the aesthetic potency) the idiotic concerns our pre-determined being. It is the original intimation of the good of the "to be". Dwelling in the ethos we generally expect being to be good. This is seen in the immediate expectation of newborns to be healthy, when we see an unhealthy baby we are shocked and sad. Our original expectation of being is goodness.
2) the Aesthetic: Our being in the world is always encarnate. We live through our bodies and basic to our being is our embodied relationship with the world. The aesthetic is the idiotic encarnate. In beauty and the sublime we get physical intimations of the good of the to be. The aesthetic potency refers to much more than the "Kantian" purified realm of the aesthetic. The aesthetic potency deals with our embodied sensual communication and interaction with the world. In the experience of the sublime for instance-again not taken in the Kantian sense-we get an intimation of the overdetermination of the origin. The exceeding power and force of being is intimated aesthetically to us through the sublime, our reaction is a sensual one through which we come to know the overdetermined power of the "to be". Our relationship with the ethos is always communicative.
3) The Dianoetic: The rational potency of lawmaking and determination. The dianoetic potency looks at the world through laws and determinate formulas. Within the equivocity of the ethos and the interplay of sameness and difference there emerge some subtle constancies which we can determine through the dianoetic potency. There are some regularities which prove helpful in order to live in the ethos, and these are determined by this potency. The dianoetic are constancies always already at work in forms of being together.
4) The Transcendental: The potency of a binding universality or Condition Of Possibility. Some constancies in the ethos are so prevalent so as to be called transcendental. The transcendental potency is that which empowers us within the ethos to look for the more general and unconditional condition of possibility. Taken in a Platonic sense, as opposed to Kantian, this Condition of Possibility is something more akin to the original "good" that always qualifies the ethos. We come to the realization of the 'agapeic origin' thanks to the transcendental potency. Itself not free of equivocities, the search for the unconditioned condition of possibility must include evil and death in whatever C.O.P it finds. The Origin that gives the 'to be' is thus itself not free of equivocities. To see the transcendental we must die. The transcendental is not a metaphysical qualification but rather Ontological as referring to the Good itself. The Origin as the agapeic good that gives all being has an ontological determination as Good. There are two transcendental relationships: 1) that between the origin and the ethos: having the characteristic of agapeic & 2) between the self and other: having the characteristic of being metaxological.
5) The Eudaimonistic: The sense of wholeness of how we are in the world. This potency, calling up the 'daimon' as the between is the potency of the possibility for a more general wholeness that calls up the idiotic and aesthetic as well as the dianoetic and transcendental. Seen metaxologically, eudaimonic wholeness in this sense might be made concrete by either the "erotic sovereign" (Nietzsche) or the "agapeic servant" (Jesus). Desmond finds problems with the Erotic sovereign as being truly whole, given that it doesn't fully consider the otherness of the ethos, which is overdetermined. The Erotic sovereign is in the end transcendence without transcendence, because it only transcends again into itself, even if as a higher form, there is never another involved. The eudaimonistic, calling up Aristotle's original thinking of a man of phronesis as happy is the potency that can take both the dianoetic and transcendental as constancies and law, and apply them to specific instances within the chiaroscuro involved in the idiotic and aesthetic. This being in between of the daimon correlates to a higher sense of wholeness being both involved and transcending the ethos.
6) The Transcending: This is the potency of the "between" itself. The mystery of self surpassing and the excess of the overdetermined milieu itself. The transcending potency can only be seen metaxologically because it is itself a move towards the open overdeterminate which is only seen thus. A movement towards the agapeic can not be done dialectically or univocally because both narrow and define, nor equivocally for transcending requires movement in the between not mere equivocity.
7) The Transcendent: The ultimate power that itself allows for the possibility f all transcending. "For this we have the extraordinary word God". The Good itself, the power behind everything, Its what is always intimated in the between. Allows for self-development and transcending to the good.
The Senses of Being
Within the ontological matrix of being, the different potencies can be expressed differently through the senses of being. These ways in which to express the potencies help explore the relations of sameness and difference within the ethos. The four potencies are:1) Univocal: This potency is that of intelligibility and identity. It is a potency most clearly seen as the driving force behind modernity. The univocal potency helps manifest intelligibility and gives determination to the ethos.
2) Equivocal: The equivocal potency is marked by its indefiniteness and difference.
3) Dialectic: characterized by mediation, the dialectic sense places emphasis on self mediated wholeness.
4) The Metaxological: From the Greek 'metaxu' meaning 'between', the metaxological is a view of the ethos from the between as overdetermined. Emphasizing mediation, it leaves the between open (as opposed to the dialectical) and emphasizes the interplay between sameness and difference. The metaxological considers the between as overdetermined and does not attempt to constrict or define the between or the ethos as whole or progressing teleologically. It is a more robust consideration on the agapeic origin as overdetermined good
Critique of Other Philosophers
Different philosophers can be seen as embodying different potencies and senses of Being throughout the history of philosophy. KantKANT
KANT is a computer algebra system for mathematicians interested in algebraic number theory, performing sophisticated computations in algebraic number fields, in global function fields, and in local fields. KASH is the associated command line interface...
for instance is best defined as a Transcendental Univocalist. Nietzsche would come close to something like an aesthete given his acknowledgment of the aesthetic/sensual part of being, he is however described by Desmond as being defined by the Transcending potency and being both equivocal and a dialectician. Hegel might be defined as a Dialectician. Desmond believes however that all of these philosophers are somehow haunted by those potencies which they seek to ignore or devalue. There is a dialectics in Kant
KANT
KANT is a computer algebra system for mathematicians interested in algebraic number theory, performing sophisticated computations in algebraic number fields, in global function fields, and in local fields. KASH is the associated command line interface...
and there are equivocities in Nietzsche. "Metaxological vigilance" shows a clearer picture of the ethos than do any views that restrict philosophical considerations to the other senses of being and potencies.