Area of Research: Metaphysics and Knowledge

The area of research “Metaphysics and Knowledge” is constituted by a specific set of problematized themes throughout Philosophy’s History, either under the form of an investigation about being and the ways of saying it, or under the form of an investigation of the genes and justification of knowledge. Thus, this field will be able to address the question of the genesis and justification of metaphysics itself as a science, as well as its relation, on one hand, with the objects of faith and, on the other hand, with the other sciences, notably mathematics and physics. In this context, it is important to discuss the status of first science and the foundation of other sciences traditionally attributed to metaphysics. Consequently, an important point concerns the reception of Aristotelianism in the Middle Ages, mainly regarding the status of metaphysics and theology assumed from the second half of the 13th century. Along with the problem of the constitution of metaphysics as science and its relation with other sciences, questions concerning the investigation and determination of nature as such are articulated, as well as questions about the origins and limits of human knowledge, which worried so much the moderns. Questions such as the mathematization of nature, the appreciation of empirical knowledge and the establishment of an adequate method for science appear as constituents of the modern project for the foundation of knowledge, whether in its rationalist or empiricist form. The problem of knowledge is yet strongly tied to the reflection over the cognitive apparatus, the faculties of mind involved therein, its functions and peculiar operations. Therefore, the classical questions about the incorruptibility of the soul, about its cognitive powers and its relation to the senses will be covered by this field. In order to address the metaphysical problems linked to knowledge, such as the nature and the criteria of rational certainty, the theoretical description of cognition and mind, the ontology of theoretical objects and the logic underlying it, resorting to the History of Philosophy and the appropriate analytical and formal-logical methods is needed. This approach can be applied both to metaphysical and classical epistemological problems and to new problems relevant to science’s historiographical discussion and its growing interrelationship with technology and its consequences. In doing so, it is intended that the philosophical tradition be appreciated in the light of the philosophical and scientific questions of our time.