New Century, Neorealism & World

Abstract

Our century moves on, and a certain perspective of it, or at least of its beginning, is beginning to take shape. In the panorama of reflection, neorealism, a movement that could be taken as the emblematic philosophy of the twenty-first century, has gained ground. The present paper offers an approach to that movement as practiced by one of its well-known representatives, Markus Gabriel; we can use an examination of some theses by this German author to get a glimpse of the ways taken by our deep thinking, in this case in the framework of the longstanding debate Realism vs. Idealism (or, alternately, Metaphysics vs. Constructivism). Such a struggle could be understood as rooted in ontology, but we have become aware of the fundamental co-implication between being and knowing. In this sense, starting from Gabriel’s analytics on the existing and the world, consequences will be inferred (the direction might, however, be just the opposite) on the ways, the means, the elements and the conditions of such knowledge, highlighting the possibility, and the opportunity, to make use of worldviews, a matter already raised by such authors as Dilthey, Heidegger, Foucault or Kuhn. All this leads the way to thinking about thinking itself, recalling that the philosophical standpoint, at least in our Western civilization, has summoned the dialogue from different points of view, emphasizing the commitment and practicality of philosophy itself as capable to contributing to the preservation of that treasure of our culture which is its multiplicity and polyhedrism.