Netzwerk Phänomenologische Metaphysik

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(2013) A non-philosophical theory of nature, Dordrecht, Springer.

Non-theological supplement

Anthony Paul Smith

pp. 95-110

Before moving on to our construction of a unified theory of philosophical theology and ecology we must deal more directly with Meillassoux's strong criticism of non-philosophy Remember that this criticism was directed at the threat of dogmatism in non-philosophy, specifically with regard to its claim to think from the Real. But the reason we have to deal with this strong criticism is not due to philosophical rules or on philosophical grounds. Rather this general axiomatic structure of non-philosophy, where the Real-One is foreclosed to thought and yet thought has relative autonomy before it as thought from the Real-One, is formally similar to theology. This is especially true of those theologies, like environmental theology, that aim to understand the relationship science and philosophy have toward reality. If this is true, and I show its validity later, then there is a question of why I am engaging in the non-philosophical project rather than simply a theological one. To answer that question I must first address Laruelle's own work on religion, which has been the dominant material of Philosophy IV and the source of a number of central concepts such as heresy. But additionally I must also provide a theory of theology that locates its own particular self-sufficient character.

Publication details

DOI: 10.1057/9781137331977_8

Full citation:

Smith, A.P. (2013). Non-theological supplement, in A non-philosophical theory of nature, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 95-110.

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