GRIPh colloquium: Jessica Frazier (University of Oxford)

The Fight for Reality: Monism, Nihilism, and Emergent Realities

A number of contemporary philosophers like Jonathan Schaffer and more recently Galen Strawson have rejoined the scholastic quest (familiar from Spinoza) to create a total account of reality grounded in an all-explaining foundation. This project is ambitious and can be attractive to those committed to the larger aspirations of metaphysics. But it can also be shaky in a number of ways, and has generated critiques focused on modality and probability, the value of regress and inheritance arguments, and whether PSR supports a fundamental ground of reality... or insists that there could never be one! One of the most intriguing puzzles is the status of emergent phenomena within the larger cosmological system. This talk will blend contemporary views with arguments from Vedanta, one of the oldest and most prolific philosophies of a single ultimate foundation, flourishing in the face of powerful Buddhist nihilist arguments for a structureless chaos. I'll explore a monist argument that tried to integrate emergent phenomena like life, consciousness, imagination and values - in one 'Whole Go', as Strawson puts it.

This event will be followed by drinks and dinner.  Host of the day will be Andrea Sangiocomo. Please register on the link to sign up for the dinner: https://forms.gle/fYyvV4qhBubvkaxNA

There is also a Studium Generale Groningen event with Jessica Frazier on March 11th in the Academy Building: The Self in Indian Philosophy.