Metaphysics and ontology

Abstract

The metaphysics of Evandro Agazzi is strictly related to his epistemology. In his metaphysical reflection three phases can be distinguished. In the first one (1975”“1983) Agazzi is mainly committed to the task of demonstrating the legitimacy of metaphysics, here taken only as the knowledge of the suprasensible, by showing its substantial continuity with natural science. In the second phase (1983”“2002) Agazzi refines his vision by focusing on metaphysics taken as the knowledge of the most general features of reality, so modifying the way of conceiving its relationships to science, from a mere “division of labour” to a positive feed-back. In the same period Agazzi also investigates the philosophical causes of the contemporary antimetaphysical attitude, coming to the conclusion that it ultimately depends on the oblivion of the correct meaning of intentionality, and on the gnoseological dualism which, from Descartes on, has derived from it. In the third phase (1997”“2011) Agazzi shows that metaphysics is in a relationship of substantial continuity and positive feed-back also with logic. Precisely from this reciprocal interaction he derives the proof of the existence of various different ontological levels of reality, even in a greater number than it has been traditionally recognized.