Ilario Colli is an Italian-Australian philosopher and author based in New York City, and he has embarked on an audacious intellectual mission. Colli—a former classical music journalist turned metaphysician—aspires to write the first complete system of philosophy in over a century, a grand project that aims to reconcile modern science, timeless spiritual insights, and rigorous continental philosophy into one cohesive framework.
In an era when academic thought is often fragmented, Colli stands out by reviving the old ambition of thinkers like Immanuel Kant and G.W.F. Hegel but doing so with the knowledge and sensibilities of the 21st century. He has positioned himself as a groundbreaking thinker bent on nothing less than reshaping metaphysics for our time, knitting together cosmology, ontology, phenomenology, and aesthetics into a unified vision of reality.
Colli's background is as eclectic as it is distinguished. Born and raised in Australia with Italian heritage, he pursued postgraduate studies in philosophy at The New School for Social Research in New York, where he earned a Provost's scholarship.
Before devoting himself to original philosophy, he was celebrated as "Australia's leading classical music critic"—a testament to his early career covering music and the arts. He interviewed luminaries like composer Ennio Morricone and reviewed world-class performances, making a name as a cultural commentator. His first major book, In Art as in Life: A History of Beauty and a Critique of Postmodern Relativism (2021), ventured boldly into aesthetics.
That work was hailed as "a major achievement for any writer" and "conceptually original and profound, and exquisitely well written" by critics, signaling Colli's arrival as a serious intellectual voice. On December 15, 2023, at Manhattan's venerable Salmagundi Club, he officially launched Sublimism, a new art movement he founded as a "revolutionary alternative to Postmodernism."
This movement, co-steered with novelist Raphael Chloé, calls for art to reclaim transcendent beauty and meaning. Such ventures have earned Colli glowing testimonials: one arts leader describes him as "a fascinating thinker who is poised to make a very real difference in the art world," and former Limelight magazine publisher Robert Gibbs lauds Colli's potential to become "one of the greatest aesthetic philosophers of all time."
In short, Colli has swiftly built a reputation as an ambitious polymath determined to bridge disciplines and reinfuse philosophy with grand vision.
Now in his early forties and working in New York, Colli is fully focused on his philosophical magnum opus. He describes his current project as "the first complete system of metaphysics in the Western tradition since Schopenhauer's World as Will and Representation," aiming to synthesize Western continental philosophy, the fundamentals of quantum physics, and world spirituality into "a unified account of the nature of reality."
Such a sweeping goal explicitly aligns him with the great system-builders of the past, even as it sets a new trajectory for the future. In the following sections, we explore Colli's intellectual vision in his own words—from the nature of the cosmos and being, to the role of human experience and art, to the influence of Kant, Hegel, and Schopenhauer on his thought.
Reviving the Grand Philosophical System
For much of the last century, academic philosophy has turned away from grand speculative systems. Colli acknowledges this modern fragmentation and explains why he is reviving the systematic approach to metaphysics. "Philosophy today suffers from overspecialization—we've lost the forest for the trees," Colli says.
"I'm attempting to recapture the holistic spirit of thinkers like Kant or Hegel but updated for our era. We need a unified vision of reality that connects the dots between science, art, mind, and spirit." In making this case, Colli often notes that comprehensive philosophies fell out of fashion after the 19th century.
The logical positivists of the 1920s, for example, declared traditional metaphysical questions meaningless and drove philosophy into narrow analytic pursuits. As a result, no one after Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) attempted a full-scale metaphysical system encompassing all facets of existence.
Colli argues that this left a void: "We have an abundance of brilliant micro-theories and analyses, but very little in terms of an overarching framework. The last time we saw something truly all-encompassing was in the era of Schopenhauer and Hegel. I believe it's time to try again—with all the tools and knowledge we now have at our disposal."
In positioning his work, Colli explicitly references Schopenhauer's legacy. Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Representation (1818) is often regarded as one of the last grand metaphysical systems in Western thought—one that wove together epistemology, ontology, psychology, ethics, and aesthetics into a single vision.
Colli's aim is to produce a comparably broad system, but one fit for the 21st century. He describes his project as "a work of original philosophy that seeks to do for our time what Kant, Hegel, and Schopenhauer did for theirs." The difference, of course, is that Colli can draw on modern science and a global perspective.
His system will not be penned in a pre-quantum, Eurocentric world, but in our current world of space telescopes, particle accelerators, and cross-cultural dialogue. This breadth is precisely what makes Colli's endeavor so bold. It also invites healthy skepticism—can anyone thinker truly integrate so much? Colli remains undaunted by the scale of the task.
In his view, attempting a synthesis is itself valuable: "Even if one cannot achieve absolute completeness, striving for a comprehensive system yields insights that siloed approaches miss. We need philosophers to be ambitious again." By championing systematic metaphysics, Colli is bucking a long trend and reopening questions that many had set aside.
The response to his early work suggests an appetite for this ambition: his first book's success and the robust turnout for the Sublimism movement indicate that scholars and laypeople alike are intrigued by a return to big ideas and big pictures.
Cosmology: A Universe Informed by Science and Meaning
Any metaphysical system must grapple with cosmology—the nature and origin of the universe itself. Colli insists that philosophy in the 21st century cannot ignore the profound discoveries modern cosmology has given us. "For the first time in history, we have a detailed scientific narrative of the cosmos—from the Big Bang to the present—and any new philosophy must integrate that," he says.
Our current best scientific theory, the Big Bang, describes the universe expanding from an extremely hot, dense state about 13.8 billion years ago. Colli views this empirically grounded timeline as a foundation upon which metaphysical insight can build. In his system, he intends to incorporate the age, scale, and evolution of the universe as revealed by astrophysics.
"A unified philosophy can't pretend we don't know how stars and galaxies form or that the universe is billions of years old," Colli notes. "On the contrary, it should marvel at these facts and seek to understand their deeper implications—why does the universe exist in this form, and not otherwise? What, if anything, preceded the Big Bang? These are questions at the intersection of cosmology and metaphysics."
Colli's approach to cosmology is thus deeply interdisciplinary. He embraces what physics tells us about the origin and structure of the universe while also probing the philosophical questions that science leaves open.
For instance, cosmologists acknowledge that they can't directly observe what (if anything) came before the Big Bang, and they debate theories like eternal inflation or cyclical universes to address such unknowns. Colli finds that this scientific humility creates space for metaphysical speculation.
He is careful to distinguish his method from unfounded mysticism: any claim his system makes about the universe will be consonant with established evidence. At the same time, he believes science alone does not fulfill our need for meaning. "Cosmology gives us the how of the universe's evolution," Colli explains.
"It doesn't by itself give us the why. My philosophy seeks to bridge that gap. I ask what it means that the universe has this origin story and these laws—questions science infers but does not answer." In doing so, Colli aligns with a small but growing number of thinkers pursuing a philosophy of cosmology that interprets scientific findings in a wider conceptual framework. For example, the apparent fine-tuning of physical constants (the fact that the laws of nature seem just right for the existence of life) is a scientific puzzle that veers into metaphysical territory.
Colli doesn't claim a simplistic resolution to the fine-tuning problem, but he acknowledges it as significant: a comprehensive system might explore whether such cosmic "coincidences" point toward deeper principles or purposes.
Ultimately, Colli's cosmological views combine respect for empirical facts with openness to existential meaning. The cosmos, in his philosophy, is not a cold afterthought of physics—it is the grand stage on which any discussion of reality must begin, and a source of wonder that any viable metaphysics must learn from.
Ontology: The Nature of Being and Reality
At the core of Colli's system lies ontology—the study of being. He tackles the fundamental question "What is reality ultimately made of?" with a perspective that blends classical philosophy and new ideas.
Colli's ontological stance can be described as a modern form of monism: the view that all of reality is, at base, one unified substance or principle. In conversation, Colli explains that he is dissatisfied with the traditional dualism that separates mind and matter.
"We cannot treat 'mind' and 'matter' as two unrelated domains," he argues. "Any credible ontology today must explain how physical reality and consciousness intertwined facets of a single underlying reality are." This echoes a line of thought present in various philosophies. For example, 20th-century philosopher Bertrand Russell described neutral monism as the idea that "both mind and matter are composed of a neutral stuff which, in isolation, is neither mental nor material."
Colli's vision resonates with this: he posits a neutral underlying essence to the world that can manifest as what we call mental or physical, depending on perspective. In simpler terms, Colli leans toward a worldview in which the apparent divide between thought and thing is bridged at the deepest level.
To illustrate his ontological approach, Colli often references historical paradigms. He acknowledges Spinoza's proposition that there is only one substance (which Spinoza identified with "God or Nature") in which everything exists.
He also notes more recent revivals of monism in analytic philosophy, such as theories of panpsychism that suggest consciousness is a fundamental feature of all matter—an idea Schopenhauer hinted at by asserting "The whole world is Will" (a universal inner essence).
Colli stops short of declaring his system explicitly idealist or panpsychist at this stage, but he aligns with the spirit of those views. "In my framework, reality has an inner aspect and an outer aspect, but it's one reality," he says. "What we call 'matter' is the outward expression of an underlying essence, and what we call 'mind' is the inward experience of that same essence. I'm trying to formulate this in a way that is compatible with quantum physics on one hand and the insights of metaphysics on the other."
Such a position attempts to synthesize the Western philosophical tradition (which gave us dualism and later neutral monism) with non-Western and spiritual conceptions of unity.
Colli's ontology also grapples with the age-old problem of why there is something rather than nothing. A complete system of philosophy, he asserts, should offer some account of why being exists. While he has not published the conclusion of his thinking on this, he hints that his answer will draw from multiple sources: the necessity perceived in rationalist philosophy (as in Leibniz's principle of sufficient reason), the self-organizing potential seen in modern physics (perhaps drawing on quantum vacuum fluctuations or physical laws as given structures), and the inherent creativity spoken of in spiritual cosmologies.
Any such synthesis is bound to be complex. Colli is cautious, saying that he aims to propose an ontological model that is "at least as plausible as the standard scientific one, but more conceptually satisfying." By standard scientific view, he means mainstream materialism, which assumes matter/energy as fundamental and consciousness as emergent.
Colli wants to invert or transcend that: perhaps consciousness (or something akin to it) is as fundamental as matter, or both spring from a deeper source. As an independent scholar, Colli has the freedom to pursue this daring line of thought, one that challenges reductive materialism without abandoning rational clarity.
If successful, his ontological theory could provide a new lens through which to interpret everything from elementary particles to human minds—as manifestations of one reality, comprehensible in one coherent system.
Phenomenology: Reconciling Subjective Experience and Objective Truth
Any philosophy that seeks completeness must contend not only with the external world but also with the experience itself. Phenomenology—the rigorous study of conscious experience—is accordingly a key pillar in Colli's framework. He emphasizes that 21st-century metaphysics has to integrate the first-person perspective: the world as we experience it, not just as described by third-person science.
"A system of philosophy that ignores subjective experience would be fatally incomplete," Colli says. "We need to account for the fact that reality is not only something out there but also something we are constantly perceiving and interpreting here, in our minds."
To that end, Colli draws inspiration from Edmund Husserl, the founder of phenomenology, and others who followed. Husserl developed methods to "bracket" assumptions and analyze the structures of consciousness, insisting that phenomena (things-as-experienced) hold the keys to understanding how meaning arises.
Colli applies a similar insight: his system will incorporate an account of the self and its relation to the world, heavily informed by phenomenological analysis.
In practical terms, this means Colli is interested in questions like: How does the mind construct a coherent world from raw sensory inputs? What is the nature of the self or the "ego"? How do subjective qualities (such as colors, sounds, and emotions) relate to objective physical processes? These are classic problems in the philosophy of mind and phenomenology.
Colli believes a new metaphysics must tackle what Australian philosopher David Chalmers famously dubbed "the hard problem of consciousness"—the puzzle of why and how physical brain activity produces subjective experience.
As Chalmers and others have pointed out, we currently have "no good explanation of why and how [physical] processing gives rise to a rich inner life," and it "seems objectively unreasonable that it should, and yet it does." Colli concurs with this assessment and sees it as a guiding challenge for his work. "The enigma of consciousness tells us there is something fundamental we're missing in our picture of reality," he notes.
"By incorporating phenomenology, I'm acknowledging that the way things appear to us is a key piece of the ontological puzzle—not an illusion to be explained away, but a reality to be explained."
Colli's treatment of phenomenology also connects back to his ontological monism. If indeed mind and matter are two aspects of one reality, then phenomenology (studying mind's structures) and physics (studying matter's structures) should ultimately converge. This is a hypothesis his system aims to explore.
For instance, Colli might argue that the structures of consciousness (such as time, space, and causality as we experience them) correspond to the structures of the world deeply—a viewpoint reminiscent of Kant's claim that the mind's categories shape our experienced reality, but going further by asserting that this correlation is no coincidence of perspective but a genuine identity at the core of being.
In conversation, Colli has hinted at such an idea: "When we carefully analyze consciousness, we find it has its architecture—a flow of time, a sense of self, intentionality (aboutness) toward objects, etc. I suspect these mirror aspects of the external world because ultimately, the experiencer and the thing experienced share the same underlying essence."
This philosophical stance carefully avoids the trap of solipsism (it doesn't claim "the mind makes reality" in a naive way) but rather suggests a kind of holistic unity. It also aligns with some interpretations of modern physics: notably, the role of the observer in quantum mechanics.
Indeed, quantum theory's infamous measurement problem—once called "the problem of observation"—underscores how the act of observation inextricably affects what is observed.
Colli uses such examples to illustrate that acknowledging the active role of consciousness is not mysticism but a plain fact, even in hard science. By building phenomenology into his system, Colli hopes to produce a theory of reality that does not leave the mind out of the equation—a reality that encompasses the redness of a sunset and the spin of an electron in one explanatory tapestry.
Aesthetics and Sublimism: Art as a Window to Truth
One distinctive aspect of Colli's philosophy is the prominence of aesthetics—the study of art and beauty. Unlike many metaphysicians who treat aesthetics as peripheral, Colli places it near the center of his system. This reflects both his background in the arts and his conviction that art reveals fundamental truths about reality.
Colli's foray into founding the Sublimism art movement is an extension of his philosophy. "Art and metaphysics have always been intertwined," Colli explains. "Every era's art is a reflection of that era's metaphysical beliefs. I see aesthetics as a crucial domain where our understanding of truth, meaning, and experience all converge."
His Sublimism movement is a response to what he perceives as a crisis in contemporary art—a crisis rooted in the loss of guiding metaphysical principles in a postmodern age. Colli argues that after the decline of grand narratives (like religion or Enlightenment ideals), art drifted into irony, fragmentation, and self-referentiality.
"With the advent of Postmodernism, the sacred bond between Art and Truth was torn asunder," he writes, observing that today "instead of Beauty, Nobility, and Wonder, what is exalted is the absurd, the irreverent and the crass." This stark critique underlies his call for Sublimism—which seeks to "reconcile Art and Truth" and "heal the rupture" caused by postmodern relativism.
In practical terms, Colli's aesthetics champion a return to the Sublime. He defines the "sublime" not merely in the classical sense of awe at vast or terrifying nature, but more broadly as any artistic expression of a truth too grand to be fully grasped by the senses.
"To be truly great, an artwork must be technically proficient and metaphysically rich in equal measure," Colli says, encapsulating the Sublimist ethos. "It must willfully seek to convey the higher Truth of life—what I call the Sublime."
This philosophy of art is both ancient and new. It harks back to traditions where art was seen as a gateway to transcendence (for instance, the Romantic era's fascination with the sublime, or ancient Greek ideas of beauty linked to truth), yet it is framed in response to the peculiar challenges of the 21st-century art scene.
Colli's manifesto-like article "A Call for Sublimism in Art" sets out that "an artwork must convey the higher Truth of Life, or the 'Sublime,'" building on prior thinkers but expanding the concept beyond previous iterations. He even co-authored a handbook, Sublimism: An Introduction (2023), which contains the movement's founding documents and philosophical basis.
By incorporating aesthetics into his metaphysical system, Colli is making a bold statement: that beauty and artistic truth are not secondary considerations, but central to understanding reality. This stance finds some support in historical philosophy.
Schopenhauer, one of Colli's guiding lights, gave art (especially music) a significant role in accessing the inner essence of the world (the Will). Colli likewise believes that art can reveal aspects of reality that logical analysis might miss.
"A painting or a symphony can sometimes capture a holistic truth in an instant—a sense of meaning or unity—that philosophy then struggles to articulate in words," he notes. From Colli's perspective, aesthetics provides experiential evidence for his larger claims. For example, when a work of art moves us profoundly, it hints at a universal value or meaning—suggesting that relativism ("beauty is whatever you think it is") is incomplete.
Colli frequently cites how contemporary art's malaise stems from metaphysical nihilism: "Living in the wake of Nietzsche's 'God is dead' proclamation, in a paradigm with no singular Truth or Meaning, the artist is left bereft of an aesthetic compass."
Sublimism aims to give that compass back by asserting that truth and beauty do matter and can be pursued in art. In Colli's system, therefore, aesthetics is not just about art criticism—it is a bridge between the human soul and the ultimate nature of reality.
By analyzing what we find beautiful or sublime, we glean clues about our minds and the world we inhabit. Colli's ongoing work in aesthetics thus complements his metaphysical inquiry: both seek order, depth, and meaning in a world that often appears chaotic.
By galvanizing artists alongside philosophers, Colli uniquely practices what he preaches—demonstrating his metaphysical ideas in the very cultural sphere (the arts) that he argues is most directly influenced by metaphysics.
Bridging Science and Metaphysics: Insights from Quantum Physics
A hallmark of Colli's philosophy is his conviction that modern physics, particularly quantum mechanics, reshapes our most basic assumptions about reality. "Quantum physics has forced us to rethink what is 'real,'" Colli observes.
"It shows us a world that defies common sense—particles that are also waves, and objects separated by vast distances that nonetheless appear instantly connected. A metaphysics of the 21st century has to absorb these lessons."
One crucial lesson is quantum entanglement, where the state of one particle instantly correlates with another, regardless of distance. Classical notions of separability don't easily account for such "nonlocal" links, and Colli takes this as a potent hint that the universe is deeply interconnected—an idea resonating with his monistic ontology.
In his view, quantum mechanics is "catching up" with certain philosophical and spiritual traditions that have long maintained an underlying unity in nature.
Another quantum insight Colli finds pivotal is the role of the observer. The act of measurement in quantum theory appears to affect outcomes, blurring the line between subject and object.
"The observer is part of the system," Colli says, arguing that this undermines a strict mind–matter divide—a core theme in his phenomenological approach. Rather than viewing consciousness as passively watching a pre-existing world, he sees observation and reality as intertwined aspects of one reality.
Colli also notes that mainstream physics, from entanglement experiments to subtle observer effects, increasingly challenges the classical belief in a purely mechanistic universe. "Quantum physics is telling us, in no uncertain terms, that the universe is weirdly holistic," he says.
Rather than treat these findings as mere oddities, Colli views them as evidence that science and metaphysics can converge. He hopes to build a philosophy that honors empirical discoveries while seeking deeper meaning—one in which the probabilistic, relational nature of quantum theory lays the groundwork for new perspectives on causality, free will, and the nature of mind.
Ultimately, bridging science and metaphysics is not just an academic exercise for Colli. If quantum mechanics forces us to reconsider what is "real," he argues, then any complete philosophical system must integrate those insights into a broader narrative of existence.
By doing so, Colli aims to ensure that his metaphysics remains grounded in the best evidence modern science can offer, rather than floating in abstract speculation.
World Spirituality: Integrating Global Wisdom Traditions
In addition to science, Colli's metaphysical vision reaches into the domain of world spirituality. By this, he means the core philosophical insights found within the major religious and mystical traditions across cultures—stripped of sectarian dogma and taken as profound intuitions about reality.
Colli believes that these perennial insights can and should be integrated into a modern philosophical system. "There is rich metaphysical wisdom embedded in spiritual traditions from Vedanta to Sufism to Christian mysticism," Colli notes.
"I'm mining these traditions for ideas that can be articulated in a rigorous philosophical language. The goal is not to create a theology, but to ensure our picture of reality is deep and broad enough to include what these traditions got right about human existence."
In practice, Colli has studied texts like the Hindu Upanishads, Buddhist philosophy, and mystical writings, looking for common themes that resonate with his project. One key theme he identifies is the unity of all existence. Many spiritual traditions assert that at the ultimate level, all is One—whether it's called Brahman in Advaita Vedanta, Dharmakaya in Buddhism, or the Godhead in Christian mysticism.
Similarly, there is the idea of an eternal Self or spark of divinity in each individual (Atman, soul, etc.) that is identical to the ultimate reality. These ideas are part of what Aldous Huxley famously dubbed the "Perennial Philosophy": the notion that a common metaphysical truth underlies the diverse religions of the world.
Huxley summarized this perennial core in four points, including the doctrine that "the phenomenal world of matter and individual consciousness is a manifestation of a Divine Ground within which all partial realities have their being" and that the purpose of life is to recognize our unity with that Ground.
Colli's system echoes these perennial doctrines, though he reframes them in secular terms. He doesn't necessarily use the word "Divine"—he might speak of a Ground of Being or a fundamental reality—but the concept is analogous.
"It's remarkable how convergent the testimonies of sages and mystics are, across continents and centuries," Colli says. "They all point to an underlying, unitary reality and urge us to see through the illusion of separateness."
This convergence, for Colli, is not to be ignored. Instead, he treats it as data for philosophy: evidence of a kind of experiential metaphysics discovered through meditation, prayer, or other transformative practices. He then asks how this might dovetail with the insights into science and reason.
Notably, Colli is careful to maintain intellectual rigor—he doesn't simply accept mystical claims at face value. Rather, he might say that the repeated reports of unity and transcendence hint at aspects of reality that cold materialism fails to account for, such as the persistent human experience of transcendence or oneness. He then works to incorporate a rational explanation for these experiences in his system.
For example, if his ontology posits a single substance or field (as discussed earlier), one could interpret mystical unity experiences as partial identifications with that one substance—essentially moments where the distinction between the personal self and the cosmos dissolves in consciousness, aligning with the truth that, metaphysically, the distinction is indeed arbitrary.
This interpretation would cast spiritual realization and philosophical explanation as complementary.
Colli also addresses ethical and existential implications drawn from world spirituality. Virtually all traditions emphasize compassion, love, or altruism as a response to recognizing the interconnectedness of life (think of Buddhism's compassion for all sentient beings, or the Golden Rule in Christianity).
If Colli's metaphysics holds that all beings are aspects of one reality, an ethical corollary is easier to derive: harming others is in a sense harming oneself, and understanding our unity encourages empathy. In our discussions, Colli has hinted that his system will have a moral dimension influenced by this idea.
He admires how Schopenhauer, an atheist philosopher, took Eastern-inspired metaphysics and arrived at an ethic of compassion. Schopenhauer famously considered the principium individuationis (the principle that makes us see ourselves as separate individuals) as a kind of illusion fostered by the intellect, and that morality involved seeing through this illusion to recognize the will in others as identical to one's own.
Colli's integration of spirituality moves along a similar track—emphasizing unity and the dissolution of ego as insights with practical import. "I'm not promulgating religion," Colli clarifies. "But I am saying that those peak experiences of unity and the teachings around them hold clues to the structure of reality. My work is to translate those clues into philosophical concepts, much as Schopenhauer translated Eastern myths into metaphysics, albeit updated for today." By engaging in the world of spirituality, Colli adds a layer of depth to his metaphysics that addresses questions of meaning and purpose head-on.
It ensures that his system is not only intellectually comprehensive but also resonates with the timeless human quest for understanding our place in the cosmos. In doing so, Colli aims to satisfy those, as one scholar put it, "dissatisfied with materialism's shortcomings yet not willing to subscribe to a supernatural order," offering a worldview that honors spiritual insight without abandoning rational ground.
In the Footsteps of Kant, Hegel, and Schopenhauer
Colli's philosophical ambition inevitably invites comparison to the great system-builders of the past, especially Immanuel Kant, G.W.F. Hegel, and Arthur Schopenhauer. These figures from the 18th and 19th centuries loom large in Colli's intellectual background, and he openly acknowledges both their influence and the ways he intends to go beyond them.
"I see my work as continuing a conversation with Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer—even if they aren't around to respond," Colli jokes. "They set the bar for what a 'complete philosophy' looks like. I aim to meet that bar and raise it by incorporating insights they couldn't access in their time."
One can dissect Colli's project by analogy to each of these thinkers:
Kant (1724–1804) revolutionized metaphysics by critiquing its foundations. In his Critique of Pure Reason, Kant argued that we never know "things-in-themselves" (noumena) but only appearances shaped by our mental faculties (phenomena).
This imposed a limit on metaphysical knowledge and led Kant to a system focused on epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics rather than a single principle of reality. Colli appreciates Kant's rigor and his insight that the mind actively structures experience.
The phenomenological thread in Colli's system owes much to Kant's legacy. However, Colli does not accept that the noumenon is forever unknowable. In this respect, he sides with the German Idealists who followed Kant. Philosophers like Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel were "troubled" by Kant's wall between mind and reality and responded by asserting that reality as such is fundamentally mental or spiritual.
Hegel (1770–1831) built an entire system (Absolute Idealism) in which the world is the unfolding of Geist (Mind or Spirit), eventually becoming self-aware in the human mind. Colli draws from Hegel the notion that reality might have an inherent rational structure and direction—Hegel famously saw history, art, religion, and philosophy as successive revelations of the Absolute Spirit.
Colli's inclusion of historical and cultural phenomena (like art) in his philosophy shows Hegelian influence. But Colli also critiques Hegel's Eurocentric and teleological excesses; we know now that history is not a single coherent story culminating in 19th-century Europe, and Colli's global perspective (including Eastern philosophy and modern science) corrects that.
Still, the methodological boldness of Hegel—trying to integrate all knowledge (logic, nature, mind, society, art, religion) into one framework—is mirrored in Colli's attempt. Colli often notes that Hegel's system was the last time Western philosophy tried to be truly all-inclusive, and while he does not adopt Hegel's specific dialectical logic wholesale, he does aim for a comparable breadth.
Schopenhauer (1788–1860) is perhaps the closest historical analogue to Colli's endeavor. Schopenhauer admired parts of Kant (especially the idea of the world as representation) but disagreed with Kant's agnosticism about the thing-in-itself.
Schopenhauer boldly asserted that the noumenon is Will—a blind, striving cosmic will—which we access in ourselves by introspection. His system thus unified mind and matter by saying everything is ultimately will (a metaphysical monism akin to what Colli proposes, though Schopenhauer's will be more a force than a rational principle).
Importantly, Schopenhauer incorporated art and Eastern philosophy into his worldview; he was greatly influenced by the Upanishads and Buddhism, using their concepts to inform his metaphysics. Colli explicitly cites Schopenhauer as the last comprehensive metaphysician in the West and in many ways picks up the threads Schopenhauer left.
"Schopenhauer brought Eastern wisdom into Western thought and put art on a pedestal in philosophy," Colli remarks. "I resonate strongly with that. He also recognized the primacy of a unified inner essence (Will) behind phenomena—which is very much in line with my thinking, though I will give it a different interpretation."
One area Colli diverges from Schopenhauer is in tone: Schopenhauer was famously pessimistic (seeing life as suffering born of the ceaseless striving of the Will). Colli, while not blind to suffering, takes a more optimistic or constructive stance. He is looking to not only describe the world's ills but to offer solutions—be it through Sublimism in art or through a synthesis that provides meaning and direction.
In this sense, Colli might be more aligned with Hegel's optimistic progress or even with Teilhard de Chardin's vision of an evolving universe, though Colli formulates it in secular terms.
Colli's relationship with Kant, Hegel, and Schopenhauer is one of learning and extending. From Kant he gains critical epistemology and respect for the subject's contribution to knowledge; from Hegel, the aspiration to systematic totality and recognition of the importance of history/culture; from Schopenhauer, the integration of Eastern insight and the centrality of a single metaphysical principle with aesthetic and ethical ramifications.
Colli then extends beyond them by incorporating contemporary knowledge (e.g. quantum physics, global philosophy) and by addressing areas they could not, such as the findings of modern cosmology or the plurality of worldviews in a globalized context.
He also benefits from two centuries of hindsight: he can see where those systems succeeded or failed in light of later developments. One might say Colli's project is to fulfill the spirit of Kant, Hegel, and Schopenhauer's ambitions using the letter of 21st-century thought.
As he puts it, "I'd like to think that if Kant or Hegel were alive today, grappling with relativity, quantum mechanics, comparative religion, the Internet, etc., they would embark on a project similar to mine." It's a bold claim, but one that indicates the depth of Colli's engagement with his forebears.
By consciously positioning himself in their lineage, Colli invites both comparison and scrutiny—he knows that to be taken seriously, his work will have to stand up in dialogue with these giants. And that is precisely his intent: to produce a philosophy that one day might be spoken of in the same breath as Critique, the Phenomenology of Spirit, or The World as Will and Representation.
While it remains to be seen if Colli will achieve this lofty goal, the very attempt reinvigorates a conversation that has languished. As scholarly commentators have noted, the late 20th century saw philosophy become specialized and cautious, often avoiding big systemic claims.
Colli is reversing that trend, bringing a "rebirth of philosophy" ethos that seeks to restore its role as a guide to understanding everything, not just isolated problems.
Ilario Colli's quest to synthesize cosmology, ontology, phenomenology, and aesthetics into a single philosophical system is a daring enterprise that few today would even attempt. Through his own words and works, we see a thinker equally at home discussing the Big Bang or the Bhagavad Gita, quantum entanglement, or the qualities of the sublime in art.
Colli is effectively reassembling the pieces of knowledge that modernity had scattered, forging them into a coherent worldview. In doing so, he carries forward the torch of past system-builders while infusing it with fresh fuel—scientific discoveries, cross-cultural wisdom, and a contemporary sense of urgency.
The themes that emerge from Colli's philosophy are unity, interconnection, and meaning: a deeply interconnected universe (as quantum physics implies), a reality unified at its core (as monistic ontology holds), an experiential world where mind and matter meet (as phenomenology shows), and an artistic realm that can reveal profound truths (as Sublimism asserts).
By comparing Colli to historical greats, we appreciate the scope of his ambition; by listening to his insights, we grasp the originality of his approach. It has been over a hundred years since academic philosophy saw a comprehensive system of this kind proposed, and in that time, human knowledge has expanded tremendously.
Colli stands at the nexus of that expansion, attempting to map it onto first principles. Whether his resulting "unified account of reality" will meet with acclaim or controversy remains to be seen. What is clear now is that Colli has already succeeded in one regard: he has reignited the imagination of philosophy.
In an age of specialization, he reminds us of the power of synthesis. Colli is, in effect, inviting us all to once again ponder the whole—to engage with the grand questions of existence armed with both ancient wisdom and cutting-edge insight.
If Colli's efforts bear fruit, the 21st century may well witness a new System of Philosophy that will inspire generations to come, just as Kant's, Hegel's, and Schopenhauer's once did.
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