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Author : Michael Frede,David Owain Maurice Charles Publisher : Oxford University Press Page : 394 pages File Size : 45,5 Mb Release : 2000 Category : Philosophy ISBN : 0198237642
Aristotle's Metaphysics Lambda by Michael Frede,David Owain Maurice Charles Pdf
A distinguished group of scholars of ancient philosophy here presents a systematic study of the twelfth book of Aristotle's Metaphysics. Lambda, which can be regarded as a self-standing treatise on substance, has been attracting particular attention in recent years, and was chosen as the focusof the fourteenth Symposium Aristotelicum, from which this volume derives. At the Symposium, each of Lambda's ten chapters was taken in turn as the subject of a session at which a specially written paper was read to and discussed by the assembled symposiasts. (The ninth chapter commanded twosessions by dint of its particular difficulty.) The papers have been revised in the light of discussion, and are now offered to a wider audience as a discursive commentary on points of particular philosophical interest covering all of Lambda. Michael Frede's extensive Introduction aims to give abroader view of Lambda as a whole and the problems it raises, and thus to provide the context for the discussion of each of the chapters. This volume will be a resource of great value and interest for anyone working on ancient metaphysics and theology.
With this book, I try to transmit those ideas that I consider appropriate to favor the progress of humanity. Every time we meditate, we extract from within ourselves the small proportion of God that we all have, and then we become creators of a new and better world. We must not waste this possibility with a life dedicated solely to the stimulation of the senses. When a philosopher meditates and has enough inspiration, he becomes the discoverer of a better world that we could have if we believe in it. Pirst the idea exists only in his mind, but when the ge nte believe him becomes reality, to putting his ideas into practice. That is the key to evolution, because all the wonders that we know today were once the dream of a philosopher.When a person is only concerned with feeling the pleasures of the bodily senses, the pleasure of feeling the essence of the universe that can only be obtained with meditation is lost. Someday perhaps there are no more discoveries to find and then stimuli are the only way possible, but in a world in evolution only those seeking the truth so n able to understand the universe in its whole. Because a materialistic man only knows how to travel through a geographical territory, whereas a philosopher when he has enough intuition, is able to travel with his mind through time and space and discover a better world that he can then share with the rest of humanity. I also try to offer readers what Jesus called "the water of life" that is, the food for the spirit that philosophy provides, because just as the body feeds on matter, the spirit feeds on emotions, which is what philosophy represents. I hope this book is like a light that guides people in that ocean of lies that is the contemporary world.
An Introduction to Metaphysics by Jack S. Crumley II Pdf
An Introduction to Metaphysics offers an engrossing survey of central metaphysical topics, including truth, universals, the nature of mind, personal identity, free will, time, and the existence of God. The book is pitched at an intermediate undergraduate level and is suitable for students without background knowledge in these areas. Topically organized, it examines a variety of historical and contemporary positions relevant to each of the included themes. Memorable and amusing drawings by Gillian Wilson are interspersed throughout the text to illustrate concepts and examples.
What is this thing called Metaphysics? by Brian Garrett Pdf
Why is there something rather than nothing? Does God exist? Does time flow? What are we? Do we have free will? What is truth? Metaphysics is concerned with ourselves and reality, and the most fundamental questions regarding existence. This clear and accessible introduction covers the central topics in metaphysics in a concise but comprehensive way. Brian Garrett discusses the crucial concepts in a highly readable manner, easing the reader in with a look at some important philosophical problems. He addresses key areas of metaphysics: God Existence Modality Universals and particulars Facts Paradoxes of material constitution Causation Time Free will Personal identity Truth. This second edition has been thoroughly revised. Most chapters include substantial amounts of new material, and there are additional chapters on Existence, Modality, Facts and Paradoxes of Material Constitution. What is this thing called Metaphysics? contains many helpful student-friendly features. Each chapter concludes with a useful summary of the main ideas discussed, a glossary of important terms, study questions, annotated further reading, and a guide to web resources. Text boxes provide bite-sized summaries of key concepts and major philosophers, and clear and interesting examples are used throughout.
The Metaphysics of Truth by Douglas Owain Edwards Pdf
What is truth? What role does truth play in the connections between language and the world? What is the relationship between truth and being? Douglas Edwards tackles these questions and develops a distinctive metaphysical worldview. He argues that in some domains language responds to the world, whereas in others language generates the world.
Every Thing Must Go by James Ladyman,Don Ross,David Spurrett,John Collier Pdf
Every Thing Must Go argues that the only kind of metaphysics that can contribute to objective knowledge is one based specifically on contemporary science as it really is, and not on philosophers' a priori intuitions, common sense, or simplifications of science. In addition to showing how recent metaphysics has drifted away from connection with all other serious scholarly inquiry as a result of not heeding this restriction, they demonstrate how to build a metaphysics compatible with current fundamental physics ('ontic structural realism'), which, when combined with their metaphysics of the special sciences ('rainforest realism'), can be used to unify physics with the other sciences without reducing these sciences to physics itself. Taking science metaphysically seriously, Ladyman and Ross argue, means that metaphysicians must abandon the picture of the world as composed of self-subsistent individual objects, and the paradigm of causation as the collision of such objects. Every Thing Must Go also assesses the role of information theory and complex systems theory in attempts to explain the relationship between the special sciences and physics, treading a middle road between the grand synthesis of thermodynamics and information, and eliminativism about information. The consequences of the author's metaphysical theory for central issues in the philosophy of science are explored, including the implications for the realism vs. empiricism debate, the role of causation in scientific explanations, the nature of causation and laws, the status of abstract and virtual objects, and the objective reality of natural kinds.
Metaphysics: A Very Short Introduction by Stephen Mumford Pdf
Metaphysics is one of the traditional four main branches of philosophy, alongside ethics, logic and epistemology. It is also an area that continues to attract and hold a fascination for many people yet it is associated with being complex and abstract. For some it is associated with the mystical or religious. For others it is known through the metaphysical poets who talk of love and spirituality. This Very Short Introduction goes right to the heart of the matter, getting to the basic and most important questions of metaphysical thought in order to understand the theory: What are objects? Do colours and shapes have some form of existence? What is it for one thing to cause another rather than just being associated with it? What is possible? Does time pass? By using these questions to initiate thought about the basic issues around substance, properties, changes, causes, possibilities, time, personal identity, nothingness and emergentism, Stephen Mumford provides a clear and simple path through this analytical tradition at the core of philosophical thought. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Author : Jorge J. E. Gracia Publisher : State University of New York Press Page : 272 pages File Size : 42,5 Mb Release : 1999-07-29 Category : Philosophy ISBN : 9781438404608
Metaphysics and Its Task by Jorge J. E. Gracia Pdf
By offering the first systematic analysis of the nature of the discipline, Metaphysics and Its Task answers why metaphysics always recovers from the attacks it has been subjected to throughout its history. This is done by examining its object, method, aim, and the kind of propositions of which it is composed. In addition to presenting a new conception of metaphysics and an explanation of the resilience of the discipline, the book offers a novel understanding of the nature and ontological status of categories, an analysis of the nature of reductionism and its role in philosophy, and a discussion and criticism of the main views concerning the nature of metaphysics developed in the history of philosophy. In this nonsectarian book Gracia uses sources ranging from Plato and Aquinas, to Collingwood and Strawson. Written in nontechnical language, it is accompanied by detailed bibliographical references.
Both the special sciences and ordinary experience suggest that there are metaphysically emergent entities and features: macroscopic goings-on (including mountains, trees, humans, and sculptures, and their characteristic properties) which depend on, yet are distinct from and distinctively efficacious with respect to, lower-level physical configurations and features. These appearances give rise to two key questions. First, what is metaphysical emergence, more precisely? Second, is there any metaphysical emergence, in principle and moreover in fact? Metaphysical Emergence provides clear and systematic answers to these questions. Wilson argues that there are two, and only two, forms of metaphysical emergence of the sort seemingly at issue in the target cases: 'Weak' emergence, whereby a dependent feature has a proper subset of the powers of the feature upon which it depends, and 'Strong' emergence, whereby a dependent feature has a power not had by the feature upon which it depends. Weak emergence unifies and illuminates seemingly diverse accounts of non-reductive physicalism; Strong emergence does the same as regards seemingly diverse anti-physicalist views positing fundamental novelty at higher levels of compositional complexity. After defending the in-principle viability of each form of emergence, Wilson considers whether complex systems, ordinary objects, consciousness, and free will are actually metaphysically emergent. She argues that Weak emergence is quite common, and that there is Strong emergence in the important case of free will.
Authority and the Metaphysics of Political Communities by Gabriele De Anna Pdf
This book explores the metaphysics of political communities. It discusses how and why a plurality of individuals becomes a political unity, what principles or forces keep that unity together, and what threats that unity can be faced with. In Part I, the author justifies the need for the notion of substance in metaphysics in general and in the metaphysics of politics in particular. He spells out a moderately realist theory of substances and of their principles of unity, which supports substantial gradualism. Part II concerns action theory and the nature of practical reason. The author claims that the acknowledgement of reasons by agents is constitutive of action and that normativity depends on the role of the good in the formation of reasons. Finally, in Part III the author addresses the notion of political community. He claims that the principle of unity of a political community is its authority to give members of the community moral reasons for action. This suggests a middle way between liberal individualism and organicism, and the author demonstrates the significance of this view by discussing current political issues such as the role of religion in the public sphere and the political significance of cultural identity. Authority and the Metaphysics of Political Communities will be of interest to researchers and advanced students working in social metaphysics, political philosophy, philosophy of action, and philosophy of the social sciences.
The Metaphysics of the School by Thomas Harper Pdf
Introduction. 4 Book I. The Definition. 50 Introduction. 50 Chapter I. The Genus of Metaphysics. 54 Chapter II. The Differentia. 62 Chapter III. Corollaries. 71 Book II. Being. 76 Chapter I. Essence. 80 Chapter II. Possible Being. 95 Chapter III. Existing Being. 112 Chapter IV. Possible and Existing Essence Contrasted. 135 Book III. Attributes of Being. 148 Chapter I. Attributes of Being in General. 148 Chapter II. Unity. 163 Chapter III. Truth. 286 Chapter IV. Goodness. 356 Glossary. 427 Introduction. THERE is a passage in the Leviathan of Hobbes, which I will set before the reader, not without a definite purpose, as a sort of Introit to my Preface. It is, as follows: 'There is yet another fault in the discourses of some men; which may also be numbered amongst the sorts of madness; namely, that abuse of words, whereof I have spoken before in the fifth chapter, by the name of absurdity. And that is, when men speak such words, as put together, have in them no signification at all; but are fallen upon by some, through misunderstanding of the words they have received, and repeat by rote; by others from intention to deceive by obscurity. And this is incident to none but those, that converse in questions of matters incomprehensible, as the School-men; or in questions of abstruse philosophy. The common sort of men seldom speak insignificantly, and are, therefore, by those other egregious persons counted idiots. But to be assured their words are without anything correspondent to them in the mind, there would need some examples; which if any man require, let him take a School-man in his hands and see if he can translate any one chapter concerning any difficult point, as the Trinity; the Deity; the nature of Christ; transubstantiation; free-will, &c., into any of the modern tongues, so as to make the same intelligible; or into any tolerable Latin, such as they were acquainted withal, that lived when the Latin tongue was vulgar. What is the meaning of these words, The first cause does not necessarily inflow any thing into the second, by force of the essential subordination of the second causes, by which it may help it to work? They are the translation of the title of the sixth chapter of Suarez' first book, of the concourse, motion, and help, of God.(1) When men write whole volumes of such stuff are they not mad, or intend to make others so?'(2) A German writer of great and deserved reputation shall take up the fugue. 'The soul of the Scholastic Philosophy, ' writes Brucker, 'and the hinge on which it all turned, was not an attentive inquiry after Truth, undertaken without prejudice and made up of connected truths deduced from concordant Principles; but the empty and ambitious affectation of a sort of subtlety that made show of great intellectual acumen. Furnished with dialectic and metaphysical weapons, it was wont to dispute, with extremest stretching of the brain, about questions most difficult indeed and acute, but commendable neither by reason of their utility nor of their certitude; and would come down into the area for the purpose of carrying on its countless philosophical skirmishes, with the help of verbal disputes, of worthless mental abstractions, of axioms assumed at hap-hazard, of distinctions destitute of the smallest foundation, and of the horrors of a barbarous terminology.'(3) A little further on, the same author deplores its 'obscure ideas, ' -- 'words without meaning, ' -- 'barbarous terms which had a sort of frightful sound from their very clatter;' and describes its teaching as the 'hobgoblins of boys, ' -- 'empty clouds, ' -- 'an immense ocean of verbal disputes.'(4)
The Routledge Companion to Metaphysics by Robin Le Poidevin,Simons Peter,McGonigal Andrew,Ross P. Cameron Pdf
The Routledge Companion to Metaphysics is an outstanding, comprehensive and accessible guide to the major themes, thinkers, and issues in metaphysics. The Companion features over fifty specially commissioned chapters from international scholars which are organized into three clear parts: History of Metaphysics Ontology Metaphysics and Science. Each section features an introduction which places the range of essays in context, while an extensive glossary allows easy reference to key terms and definitions. The Routledge Companion to Metaphysics is essential reading for students of philosophy and anyone interested in surveying the central topics and problems in metaphysics from causation to vagueness and from Plato and Aristotle to the present-day.
Metaphysics, Sophistry, and Illusion by Mark Balaguer Pdf
Metaphysics, Sophistry, and Illusion introduces a novel kind of non-factualist view, and argues that we should endorse views of this kind in connection with a wide class of metaphysical questions. It also explains how these non-factualist views fit into a general anti-metaphysical view called neo-positivism.
