Metaphysics Matters

William Grassie list Metaphysics as #3 of his Ten Reasons for the Constructive Engagement of Science and Religion. I am not sure if the positioning was significant in Mr. Grassie's mind as he listed these points. Being the founder and E.D. of the Metanexus Institute on Religion and Science, I would think the position does mean something. But before I go into what I think it means, here is what he had to say about Metaphysics:

When we talk about metaphysics, please stay away from that section of the bookstore so labeled, which it seems has become a catch-all category for wild speculation and wishful thinking. Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature of reality, for instance the relationship between mind and matter, animate and inanimate, substance and attribute, fact and value. Contrary to much thinking in the sciences today, there is no such thing as a metaphysically free way of understanding the world. To argue that there is no overarching metaphysical reality, as in the case of postmodernism, or to argue that this reality is mere materialism, reductionistically understood, is itself to assert a metaphysical system. The moment we try to understand how disparate data relate to one another in some kind of coherent or incoherent system, we are engaged in metaphysical speculation. Some interpretations may be more adequate than others, but there are no definitive proofs. While the meta-narratives of metaphysics are currently out of fashion in academics, these are nevertheless the foundations upon which we construct our worldviews and our world-doings. One exciting aspect of the science and religion dialogue is to see how science seems to point beyond itself to something more, something transcendent, although it would be a big leap to necessarily equate this "more" with the God of Abraham, Isaac Jacob, Jesus, and Mohammed, for example, or the Buddha nature in all things. Nevertheless, metaphysics matters. We need a more humble hermeneutics in which we do not use our metaphysical assumptions as a truncheon to truncate open-end conversations.

After that remark of Dr. Grassie's, I will not add much at this moment. Let what he said sink in and roll around for awhile. Feel free to visit the site to read the other 9 points:

10 Reasons

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I will get to all of them eventually.