Summary of "ONTOLOGIA MODERNA Y CONTEMPORÁNEA"

The video explores the evolution of ontology from the medieval period through modernity to contemporary philosophy, focusing on key philosophical shifts, concepts, and figures.

Main Ideas and Concepts

Transition from Medieval to Modern Ontology
- The Renaissance, humanism, and the Protestant Reformation (notably Martin Luther) catalyzed cultural and philosophical changes.
- René Descartes marks a pivotal figure in modern philosophy, initiating rationalism and a new focus on the question of truth.
Descartes and Cartesianism
- Central question: Is indubitable truth possible?
- Methodological doubt: Doubt everything to find undeniable truth.
- Cogito ergo sum ("I think, therefore I am") as the foundational certainty.
- Dualism of substances:
  - Thinking substance (mind/human)
  - Extended substance (physical world)
- Cartesianism influenced later philosophical thought and established reason as central.
Rationalism vs. Empiricism
- Rationalism: Truth is found through innate ideas and consciousness (Descartes).
- Empiricism: Truth arises from sensory experience and acquired sensations.
- This opposition leads to Immanuel Kant’s critical philosophy.
Immanuel Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason
- Kant attempts to reconcile rationalism and empiricism through "criticism."
- Marks the culmination of modern metaphysics.
19th Century Divergent Ontologies
- Hegelian Idealism:
  - Being as becoming, continuous movement and change.
  - Reality is relational, defined by negation and synthesis of opposites.
  - Thought synthesizes reality, making thought central to understanding being.
- Comte’s Positivism:
  - Reality explained solely through sensory experience and empirical data.
Contemporary Metaphysics and Ontology
- Metaphysics remains relevant as it addresses human existence and surpasses imposed horizons (environment, surroundings).
- Key contemporary philosophers (Nikolai Hartmann, Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre) offer renewed approaches:
  - Reject universal essences and emphasize the singular, concrete individual.
  - Use phenomenological analysis to ground philosophy.
Xavier Zubiri’s Philosophy of Reality
- Proposes that reality "surpasses" being, moving beyond traditional ontology.
- Advocates a return to "first philosophy" focused on reality itself rather than abstract being.
- Human beings are metaphysical by nature, open to and developing within reality.
- Distinctions:
  - Environment: Surroundings perceived by senses, shared with animals.
  - World: Totality of reality, horizon, and challenge for humans.
  - Situation: Human experience and circumstance in the world.
  - Virtue: How humans confront and engage with reality.
- Emphasizes a metaphysics of "the other," highlighting humans as personal, social, moral, and cultural beings who create their world through knowledge of reality.

Methodologies or Instructional Points

Descartes’ Methodological Doubt:
- Doubt all previously accepted knowledge.
- Identify what cannot be doubted (self-consciousness).
- Build knowledge from indubitable foundations.
Kant’s Critical Method:
- Examine the limits and capacities of human reason.
- Reconcile empirical data with rational structures of the mind.
Hegelian Dialectic:
- Understand reality as a process of thesis-antithesis-synthesis.
- Recognize the role of negation and contradiction in the development of being.
Phenomenological Analysis (Contemporary):
- Focus on direct experience and consciousness.
- Reject abstract universal essences in favor of concrete lived experience.
Zubiri’s Ontology:
- Prioritize reality over abstract being.
- Understand human existence as fundamentally open and relational.
- Consider the environment, world, situation, and virtue as key elements of metaphysical inquiry.