The Significance of Indeterminacy

"This anthology is well organized and provides the reader with a grasp of the notion indeterminacy in both continental European and Asian philosophy . . . Although the theme is one previously neglected concept and the contributions are written by experts, most chapters are highly accessible and well structured . . . It brings into focus that indeterminacy has always played an important role in philosophical thinking ever since Aristotle in the West and Daoism in the East, and thereby opens up new areas for inter-disciplinary investigation in a global context. In short: it is determined to inspire in-depth philosophical reflection on an important theme." - Philosophy East & West "This topical and diverse collection of essays extends the critical and consequential problem of indeterminacy into both Continental and Comparative traditions. Creative yet rigorous, these essays enliven our sense of philosophy's powers, defending the delicate ambiguity yet resonant force of philosophical claims as well as extending it to include traditions as varied as Buddhism and climate change policy." - Jason M. Wirth, Seattle University, USA

Robert H. Scott is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Georgia. His research focuses on phenomenology and environmental ethics, and in his recent published work he has developed a phenomenological theory of ecological responsibility. Dr. Scott currently serves as the President of the Georgia Philosophical Society. Gregory S. Moss is currently an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Chinese University of Hong Kong. He specializes in Post-Kantian German philosophy, and has published in a variety of philosophical journals, such as Idealistic Studies, International Philosophical Quarterly, the Journal for the British Society for Phenomenology, Journal of Speculative Philosophy, and the Northern European Journal of Philosophy (forthcoming). Before completing his PhD on Hegel's Logic of the Concept under Richard Winfield, he was a Fulbright Fellow with Markus Gabriel at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat Bonn. He is author of Hegel's Foundation Free Metaphysics: The Logic of Singularity (Routledge, 2020), Ernst Cassirer and the Autonomy of Language, and translator for Markus Gabriel's Why the World Does Not Exist.

Introduction: The Emerging Philosophical Recognition of the Significance of Indeterminacy Gregory S. Moss and Robert H. Scott Part I: The Significance of Indeterminacy in German Idealism 1. Overdeterminacy, Affirming Indeterminacy, and the Dearth of Ontological Astonishment William Desmond 2. Determinacy, Indeterminacy, and Contingency in German Idealism G. Anthony Bruno 3. Free Thinking in Schelling's Erlangen Lectures Gregory S. Moss 4. Indeterminacy, Modality, Dialectics: Hegel on the Possibility Not to Be Nahum Brown Part II: The Significance of Indeterminacy for Phenomenology, Natural Science, and Ethics 5. Determinable Indeterminacy: A Note on the Phenomenology of Horizons Steven G. Crowell 6. Climate Science, Indeterminacy, and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa Trish Glazebrook and Michael Goldsby 7. Genetic Phenomenology and the Indeterminacy of Racism Janet Donohoe 8. Indeterminacy as Key to a Phenomenological Reinterpretation of Aristotle's Intellectual Virtues Robert H. Scott 9. The Effability of the Normative Todd May Part III: The Significance of Indeterminacy for Hermeneutics and Aesthetics 10. Indeterminacy, Gadamer, and Jazz Bruce E. Benson 11. Hermeneutic Priority and Phenomenological Indeterminacy of Questioning Nathan Eric Dickman 12. Against the Darkness: Beauty and Indeterminacy in John Williams's Stoner Phillip E. Mitchell 13. Confidence without Certainty J. Aaron Simmons Part IV: Asian Perspectives and Cosmological Concerns 14. Heidegger and Dogen on the Ineffable Graham Priest and Filippo Casati 15. The Nietzschean Bodhisattva--Passionately Navigating Indeterminacy George Wrisley 16. Body and Intimate Caring in Confucian Ethics Qingjie James Wang 17. Indeterminacy in Chinese Thought: Spontaneity and the Dao Robert Neville 18. Cosmological Questions Ricki Bliss and Filippo Casati