Why Josef Mitterer’s Non-Dualism Is Inconsistent
Stefan Weber
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Abstract
Context: Mitterer’s non-dualism is considered to be a major conceptual alternative to (naïve as well as hypothetical as well as internal) realism and to (moderate as well as radical) constructivism and idealism - with more sympathies towards (radical) constructivism. For von Glasersfeld non-dualism is the “third conceptual revision” in philosophy, while for others it is the “most radical position,” even more radical than radical constructivism. While outside of philosophy non-dualism is sometimes applied emphatically, in mainstream philosophy it is ignored. Problem: My two questions are: (a) Is Mitterer’s critique on dualistic philosophy consistent (in Mitterer’s view, all variants of realism and constructivism are dualistic philosophy? (b) Is Mitterer’s non-dualism consistent? Method: I critically reflect on central theses of non-dualism with the help of established concepts of contemporary philosophy such as the distinctions between object language and metalanguage, and between benign and vicious infinite regresses. Results: The non-dualistic critique of dualism seems to be misleading. Central arguments of the non-dualistic alternative to dualism are self-contradictory. Even worse, non-dualism could lead to solipsism. Implications: Non-dualism has so far been discussed in various disciplines such as communication science, geography, and even informatics. It is important for all these disciplines to reflect the arguments developed in this article to prevent non-dualism from being applied uncritically.
Handling Editor: Alexander Riegler
Citation
Weber S. (2020) Why Josef Mitterer’s non-dualism is inconsistent. Constructivist Foundations 15(2): 164–174. https://constructivist.info/15/2/164
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