Author: Frederick Sontag
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description

Author: Theodor W. Adorno
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0745694381
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 227

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Book Description
This volume makes available in English for the first time Adorno's lectures on metaphysics. It provides a unique introduction not only to metaphysics but also to Adorno's own intellectual standpoint, as developed in his major work Negative Dialectics. Metaphysics for Adorno is defined by a central tension between concepts and immediate facts. Adorno traces this dualism back to Aristotle, whom he sees as the founder of metaphysics. In Aristotle it appears as an unresolved tension between form and matter. This basic split, in Adorno's interpretation, runs right through the history of metaphysics. Perhaps not surprisingly, Adorno finds this tension resolved in the Hegelian dialectic. Underlying this dualism is a further dichotomy, which Adorno sees as essential to metaphysics: while it dissolves belief in transcendental worlds by thought, at the same time it seeks to rescue belief in a reality beyond the empirical, again by thought. It is to this profound ambiguity, for Adorno, that the metaphysical tradition owes its greatness. The major part of these lectures, given by Adorno late in his life, is devoted to a critical exposition of Aristotle's thought, focusing on its central ambiguities. In the last lectures, Adorno's attention switches to the question of the relevance of metaphysics today, particularly after the Holocaust. He finds in 'metaphysical experiences', which transcend rational discourse without lapsing into irrationalism, a last precarious refuge of the humane truth to which his own thought always aspired. This volume will be essential reading for anyone interested in Adorno's work and will be a valuable text for students and scholars of philosophy and social theory.

Author: Steven B. Cowan
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350016098
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 411

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Book Description
Problems in Epistemology and Metaphysics takes a pro and con approach to two central philosophical topics. Each chapter begins with a question: Can We Have Knowledge? How are Beliefs Justified? What is the mind? Contemporary philosophers with opposing viewpoints are then paired together to argue their position and raise problems with conflicting standpoints. Alongside an up-to-date introduction to a core philosophical stance, each contributor provides a critical response to their opponent and clear explanation of their view. Discussion questions are included at the end of each chapter to guide further discussion. With chapters covering core questions surrounding religious beliefs, scientific knowledge, truth, being and reality, this is a comprehensive introduction to debates lying at the heart of what we know, how we know it and the nature of the world we live in.

Author: Bertrand Russell
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0192854232
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 129

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Book Description
This classic work, first published in 1912, has never been supplanted as an approachable introduction to the theory of philosophical enquiry. It gives Russell's views on such subjects as the distinction between appearance and reality, the existence and nature of matter, idealism, knowledge by acquaintance and by description, induction, truth and falsehood, the distinction between knowledge, error and probable opinion, and the limits and value of philosophical knowledge.

Author: Chenyang Li
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107093503
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
The first English-language contributory volume on Chinese metaphysics, covering all major traditions from pre-Qin to the modern period.

Author: Xavier Zubiri
Publisher: University Press of America
ISBN: 0761848770
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
This book introduces the profound reflections of Xavier Zubiri (1898-1983) on the history of philosophy to English-speaking audiences. As a philosopher who rethought much of philosophy and theology, Zubiri felt it necessary to be in continuous dialogue with earlier thinkers both to avoid past mistakes and to extract all that is valuable from them. The theme of the present book is the transcendental in Western philosophy and how a firm grasp of it reveals underlying unity in Western philosophy, but also fundamental problems that Zubiri believed require a complete rethinking of certain basic notions and theories. Zubiri develops this theme by analyzing the work of six major philosophers: Aristotle, St. Thomas, Descartes, Leibniz, Kant, and Hegel. To conclude, he sketches his own resolution of the problems of Western philosophy, a subject addressed in greater depth in his major work, Sentient Intelligence. This translation was made possible by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Culture.

Author: Martin Heidegger
Publisher: Newcomb Livraria Press
ISBN: 3989882473
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
A new 2024 translation of Heidegger's early work "Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics", originally published in 1910. This edition contains a new afterword by the translator, a timeline of Heidegger's life and works, a philosophic index of core Heideggerian concepts and a guide for Existentialist terminology across 19th and 20th century Existentialists. This translation is designed for readability and accessibility to Heidegger's enigmatic and dense philosophy. Complex and specific philosophic terms are translated as literally as possible and academic footnotes have been removed to ensure easy reading. Heidegger's analysis of Kant's Epistemology (specifically his three critiques) is rooted in the Heideggarian concept of "fundamental ontology," which he defines as the ontological analysis of finite human existence that prepares the ground for metaphysics. This idea is distinct from all forms of anthropology, including philosophical anthropology. Heidegger's aim is to show that the identified ontological analysis of Dasein (a term he famously uses to refer to human existence or being-there) is a necessary condition for understanding the fundamental question: "What is man?" Heidegger emphasizes the role of "transcendental imagination" in Kant's philosophy, which he sees as crucial for linking the categories of metaphysics with the phenomenon of time. This connection, according to Heidegger, is central to understanding Kant's approach to metaphysics. He argues that Kant's Critique of Pure Reason should be interpreted as a foundational text for metaphysics, suggesting that it presents the problem of metaphysics as that of a fundamental ontology. Heidegger emphasizes the importance of understanding what "foundation" means in this context, likening it to the design of a building plan that includes instructions on how and on what the building should be founded. In this analogy, metaphysics is not an existing building, but is inherent in all human beings as a "natural disposition. As with all of Heidegger's works, the concept of time and its relation to human cognition and understanding is the crux of his metaphysical project, and his criticism and praise of Kant. He proposes that Kant's work represents a shift in the traditional approach to metaphysics, from a focus on what is to a focus on how human beings understand and interact with the world. This shift, according to Heidegger, is indicative of a deeper, more fundamental level of inquiry into the nature of being and existence, which he believes is essential for a true understanding of metaphysics. In this sense, Kant is a critical nexus point in the history of Philosophy, representing a seismic shift.

Author: William James
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description

Author: Elizabeth Barnes
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1135007713
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description
This book showcases a range of views on topics at the forefront of current controversies in the field of metaphysics. It will give readers a varied and alive introduction to the field, and cover such key issues as: modality, fundamentality, composition, the object/property distinction, and indeterminacy. The contributors include some of the most important philosophers currently writing on these issues. The questions and philosophers are: Are there any individuals at the fundamental level? / (1) Shamik Dasgupta (2) Jason Turner Is there an objective difference between essential and accidental properties? / (1) Meghan Sullivan (2) Kris McDaniel and Steve Steward Are there any worldly states of affairs? / (1) Daniel Nolan (2) Joseph Melia Are there any intermediate states of affairs? / (1) Jessica Wilson (2) Elizabeth Barnes and Ross Cameron Do ordinary objects exist? / (1) Trenton Merricks (2) Helen Beebee Editor Elizabeth Barnes guides readers through these controversies (all published here for the first time), with a synthetic introduction and succinct abstracts of each debate.

Author: Bob Doyle
Publisher: I-Phi Press
ISBN: 9780983580263
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
This book is an introduction to The Metaphysicist, a special sectionof the Information Philosopher website, a work in progress on someclassical questions in philosophy that 20th-century logical positivistsand analytic language philosophers dis-solved as pseudo-problems.The Metaphysicist analyzes the information content in twentyclassic problems in metaphysics - Abstract Entities, Being andBecoming, Causality, Chance, Change, Coinciding Objects,Composition (Parts and Wholes), Constitution, Free Will orDeterminism, God and Immortality, Identity, Individuation,Mind-Body Problem, Modality, Necessity or Contingency,Persistence, Possibility and Actuality, Space and Time, Truth,Universals, Vagueness, and the 20th-century problem of WaveParticleDuality.The Metaphysicist also includes pages on the classic paradoxes andpuzzles used for millennia to wrestle with these metaphysical problemsThe Debtor's Paradox, Dion and Theon, The GrowingArgument, The Infinite Regress, The Problem of the Many,The Ship of Theseus, The Sorites Puzzle, The Statue and theClay, and Tibbles, the Cat.Information philosophy is a new philosophical methodology thatgoes "beyond logic and language" to the underlying informationstructures in the cosmos, in the world, in biological systems, andin the human mind - structures without which logic, language, andscience would be impossible.416 pages, 6 figures, index, bibliography.