The Problem of Metaphysics

Abstract

A reader who has tried to follow even cursorily the discussions which are going on in contemporary philosophical literature must be conscious that something strange is happening to metaphysics. If he turns to contemporary theological discussions, he must be aware that something strange is also happening to metaphysical theology. Both have fallen on evil days. A new order, it seems, is being proclaimed, in which “ the ex-Queen of the sciences “ (as I have heard metaphysical theology called) is being sent into exile, like the Bourbons and Hapsburgs, and other crowned heads who have outlived their day. Her constitutional advisers, the systems of secular metaphysics, are being overtaken by the same fate.