The Dark Ground of Metaphysics

I propose a one semester research stay (Fall 2019) at KU Leuven with Dr. Henning Tegtmeyer. I will study nothing. That is, I will study the philosophical concept of nothingness – how nothing defies and confounds thought. The concept of nothing emerges prominently in the works of Martin Heidegger, a 20th century German philosopher, and F.W.J. Schelling, a 19th century philosopher of German Idealism. In their searches for a ground (of meaning, existence, life, being, etc.), Schelling and Heidegger find nothing. They find an abyss, which comes from the German abgrund or the negation of ground. Nothing is a groundless ground. In other words, they each ground metaphysics in the dark, inscrutable groundless ground of nothing. My ultimate goal is to produce a dissertation proposal on the relation between the thought of Schelling and Heidegger through the idea of nothing. TO BE CONT’D

Faculty Supervisor:

Garth Green

Student:

Partner:

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

McGill University

Program: