823
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. C. Tobias, J. G. Morrison, On the Nature of Ecological Paradox,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64526-7_95
Chapter 95
A Metaphysics of Naturalism
95.1 Varieties of Supervenience
Naturalism—supervenient sets of classes, ontological, empirical, philosophical,
rational, scientific, and/or consensual—whose most clairvoyant strength lies in the
span of its intimations, conceptualizations, and experiential rubrics, suggests a complex dialectic attendant upon the internalization of Nature within the human psyche
and its offspring, the natural sciences. Debate over whether there can be a uniformly
ascribed to or reliable context in Nature is no less problematic (subjective) than
identification with a supernal godhead (e.g., a Carl Sagan suggesting there is only
the Cosmos and nothing else).
Giacometti’s iconic legacy, based upon Tuscan/Villanovan/Etruscan predecessors, has given the “Solitaire” an existentialist visage (Fig. 95.1). In a world ripe
with suspect meaning, the lone figure stands somehow apart. Has not meaning
always been a self-evident quotient in human affairs? Wrote Jean-Paul Sartre,
“Between the model and the material there seems to be an unbridgeable chasm; yet
the chasm exists for us only because Giacometti took hold of it.”
1
Meaning is somehow masterminded, manipulated by any number of causes and
locations, including, but not limited to, evolution, or possibly the very idea of evolution. The organism and those who would seek to stand apart from that organism are
subject to the co-existential distribution of axioms, and the lure of comforts, in
mind, outside the mind. Do all of the many sub-sets of human consideration, history, art, science, provide anything other than a field of confirmation biases whereby
all of our ponderations are self-gratifying? Can we actually challenge these
paradigms of customary thought, daily conversation, our highest aspirations, and
collected unconscious? And what, if so, do such challenges amount to?
1 In Jean-Paul Sartre’s essay, “The Search for the Absolute,” in Albert Giacometti, New York: Pierre
Matisse Gallery, 1948. Translation by Lionel Abel—found in The Diary of Jakob Knulp, from,
Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artist’s Writings, http://www.
giacomobutte.com/blog/?p=1346, Accessed September 15, 2019.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. C. Tobias, J. G. Morrison, On the Nature of Ecological Paradox,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64526-7_95
Chapter 95
A Metaphysics of Naturalism
95.1 Varieties of Supervenience
Naturalism—supervenient sets of classes, ontological, empirical, philosophical,
rational, scientific, and/or consensual—whose most clairvoyant strength lies in the
span of its intimations, conceptualizations, and experiential rubrics, suggests a complex dialectic attendant upon the internalization of Nature within the human psyche
and its offspring, the natural sciences. Debate over whether there can be a uniformly
ascribed to or reliable context in Nature is no less problematic (subjective) than
identification with a supernal godhead (e.g., a Carl Sagan suggesting there is only
the Cosmos and nothing else).
Giacometti’s iconic legacy, based upon Tuscan/Villanovan/Etruscan predecessors, has given the “Solitaire” an existentialist visage (Fig. 95.1). In a world ripe
with suspect meaning, the lone figure stands somehow apart. Has not meaning
always been a self-evident quotient in human affairs? Wrote Jean-Paul Sartre,
“Between the model and the material there seems to be an unbridgeable chasm; yet
the chasm exists for us only because Giacometti took hold of it.”
1
Meaning is somehow masterminded, manipulated by any number of causes and
locations, including, but not limited to, evolution, or possibly the very idea of evolution. The organism and those who would seek to stand apart from that organism are
subject to the co-existential distribution of axioms, and the lure of comforts, in
mind, outside the mind. Do all of the many sub-sets of human consideration, history, art, science, provide anything other than a field of confirmation biases whereby
all of our ponderations are self-gratifying? Can we actually challenge these
paradigms of customary thought, daily conversation, our highest aspirations, and
collected unconscious? And what, if so, do such challenges amount to?
1 In Jean-Paul Sartre’s essay, “The Search for the Absolute,” in Albert Giacometti, New York: Pierre
Matisse Gallery, 1948. Translation by Lionel Abel—found in The Diary of Jakob Knulp, from,
Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artist’s Writings, http://www.
giacomobutte.com/blog/?p=1346, Accessed September 15, 2019.