Episode 236: Stephen Alexander Beach on his book The Drama of Metaphysics (June 8, 2022)

Western Philosophy has been a 2500-year conversation attempting to understand the reality which lies beyond the changing physical appearances of the world. This perennial metaphysical discussion provided the West with a framework for its beliefs, politics, morality, and common values. In the 20th century, this conversation was rejected in favor of new Materialist ideologies like Methodological Naturalism, Nazism, Nihilism, Communism, and Transhumanism. The success of these experiments in ideology hinge, though, on one central problem: Can man really be shaped into the image of his own making, or will his metaphysical identity always make a return?https://enroutebooksandmedia.com/dramaofmetaphysics/This week (June 8th) on The Open Door we’ll join a 2500-year young conversation. Its participants want to better understand that which is. Are material things the whole of reality? And, if so, can we get past how they appear to us? Or are there minds as well as matter? And what are we to make of ourselves? At the end of the day, and sometimes at its beginning, our politics, art, and ethics converge in what we take reality to be. Our special guest is Stephen Alexander Beach, the author of The Drama of Metaphysics: An Exploration into the Psychological Power of Worldviews (En Route Books and Media, 2022). Among the questions we will ask are the following. Please feel free to ask your own!1. Stephen, if we may, could you begin by telling us a bit about yourself and your background?2. What drew you into the drama of metaphysics?3. Just what is a worldview? Does everyone have a worldview?4. How does metaphysics give rise to a worldview?5. Could you explain methodological naturalism? Who are some of its proponents?6. Is nihilism more of an attitude than a systematic philosophy?7. What is transhumanism? Who proposes it and why?8. In focusing on the psychological power of worldviews, do we move away from metaphysics and into experimental psychology?9. St. John Paul II saw a constructive interplay between metaphysics and theology. How is this at work with respect to the Biblical teaching that we are made in God’s image and likeness?10. What new projects are you pursuing?