In Perpetual Motion: A Dialectical Reading of Michael Della Rocca

Edited by Adam Jackson

Abstract

Dialectics and monism seem at first glance like contradictory concepts: di-, a pair, both, double; mon-, one, single, sole. In this reading of Michael Della Rocca’s book-length argue for monist philosophy, The Parmenidean Ascent, I argue that in trying to achieve monism from a starting point of relational metaphysics, we are inherently engaging in a dialectical exercise, and that such exercise is in fact more valuable than either our starting point or end goal. To do so, I describe Michael Della Rocca’s argument for radical monism, putting it into dialogue with Hegel’s dialectics. In doing so, I argue that the process of arguing for radical monism is more key to The Parmenidean Ascent’s insight than monism by itself. Not only that, but it is our only option, as I argue that Della Rocca’s Ascent renders both its starting and end points invalid, and leaves only the motion between them. I then demonstrate how we might apply such an understanding of perpetual argument by connecting it to the method of phenomenology, specifically as it is formulated in the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Finally, I conclude that this perpetual incompleteness is a feature, not a bug: in valuing a process of constant ascent, we can find value in the fact that philosophical inquiry can always be taken further, that there is always more to be found and to know. To support that such a state is more insightful than completion, I highlight examples of insights derived from similar perpetual dialectic motion in contexts other than metaphysics.