The Romance of MetaphysicswithEmile Alexandrov

Emile Alexandrov

Books Mentioned In This Interview

Emile Alexandrov is an assistant professor of philosophy, formerly at the University of Tyumen in Russia, and currently a visiting scholar at Waseda University in Tokyo. He is author of The Other Platonist Beginning and Metaphysics and Ineffable.

Emile explores the romance of metaphysics as the love of the idea, tracing its rigorous tradition from Aristotle’s unmoved mover and primacy of thinking through Plato’s forms and the allegory of the cave. He examines Neoplatonic developments with Plotinus, Iamblichus, and Proclus, highlighting the ineffable, nondiscursive insight, ritual, and the tension between reason and mystery across history. Alexandrov connects this lineage to later thinkers including Aquinas, Kant, and Schopenhauer, and considers the role of parapsychology in renewing first-principles inquiry beyond purely discursive limits.

00:00:00 Introduction

00:07:30 Aristotle and the unmoved mover

00:15:00 Presocratics and poetic immediacy

00:22:40 Plato’s allegory of the cave

00:30:20 Plotinus and the ineffable one

00:38:00 Proclus and theurgy

00:45:40 Logos will and Aquinas

00:53:20 Schopenhauer and first principles

01:01:00 Kant reason and parapsychology

01:05:00 Conclusion

(Recorded on Friday, August 7th, 2026)

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Published on September 7, 2026

Transcripts

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