Metaphysics of Mattering | John Vervaeke on Life’s Deep Connections
John Vervaeke's Lectern
Close Listening What Mattering Is To matter is to be bound to something real. Vervaeke's case in five steps, from the psychology of a meaningful life, through the root of intelligence, down to the ground of reality. Listen closely →Featuring
PhilosophyPhilosophy of mindEpistemology
A keynote at “Metaphysics and the Matter with Things: Thinking with Iain McGilchrist” (CPS and CIIS, March 2024). Vervaeke starts from the psychology of meaning in life, where mattering turns out to count for more than purpose, and follows it down into relevance realization — the capacity to find what matters, which he argues is neither algorithmic nor arbitrary, and which LLMs only borrow from us. From there he argues that relation, not substance, is the ground of being, drawing on Aristotle, Nishida, and the Neoplatonists.
