Philosophy: metaphysics and ontology Books

Book SynopsisIt's About You! integrates some of the most profound teachings from science, metaphysics, psychology, philosophy and spirituality into a set of experiential workbooks. The primary aim is to awaken the reader to their own personal intent and in so doing clarify the purpose of their life. Such knowledge equips us with the means to better manage those key areas within our lives - health, relationships, occupation and abundance, and begin living a more joyful existence. In this new, revised edition, Chris W.E. Johnson posits that when we know the totality of our Self – the fabulous resources of our Essence self, along with the foibles, fears and errant beliefs of our ego-self – we are in a much better position to free ourselves from the restraints that impede the full expression of the Self in the physical domain.

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Book SynopsisA Magical Mystery Ride through the Prism of History in a Search for the Answers to Humanity’s Highest Dreams. The Journey Across Forever is a powerful collection of writings detailing the author’s metaphysical insights and paranormal experiences over the decades as he traveled the world in a quest for truth and enlightenment. Topics under discussion include the profound mysteries of consciousness, precognition, karma, reincarnation, the “Phenomenon” (UAPs), the Dreamtime of the Aborigines, Hermeticism, alchemy and the ‘secret knowledge’, shamanism, psychotropics and the three forms of magic. Saalman reveals what the physicist, the mystic and all seekers of truth have in common and explains why climate change, the power of social media, the threat of “apocalyptic” politics and the nefarious appeal of the dark web are a spiritual challenge for each of us. Above all, The Journey Across Forever deeply explores why it is crucial that we heed the words, here and now, of those who have had a near-death experience if we genuinely believe in the reality of spiritual immortality and wish to make our way to higher dimensions upon our own exit from this planet. In the meantime, the author argues, a Brave New Aquarian Age of promise is ours for the making if we really want it and are prepared to do what it takes to secure it.

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Book SynopsisOur Eternal Existence takes the many disparate scientific, religious, and metaphysical principles into account and answers the questions: Who are we? Where are we? and Why are we here? In so doing, it provides a much-needed ethical philosophy to guide mankind - and a personal methodology to improve our lives.

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Book SynopsisRene Guenon is a major figure for anyone who recognises a need to rediscover the spiritual roots from which Western society has become so comprehensively alienated. Immersing himself in the search for spiritual truth, he chose Islam as the vehicle for his spiritual life. Settling in Egypt, he clarified and deepened our understanding of the teachings of traditional metaphysics, his central message being that there is at the source of all humanity's traditions a 'Primordial Tradition' -- a Universal Metaphysics which sets out the principles that underlie this Tradition. The truths it embodies are universal and unchanging, and form part of a unified body of higher knowledge which transcends the multiplicity of religious dogmas and philosophical systems that abound in Western society. He wrote about the need to transcend the formal and emotional aspect of religion in order to prepare ourselves for an understanding of 'pure metaphysics'. He explained how traditional societies achieved this, exploring the symbols used, in order to help individuals forward to levels of understanding which are otherwise inaccessible to minds blinkered by the limitations of the currently prevailing Western approach to existence and its meaning.Table of ContentsPART 1: THE PRIMORDIAL TRADITION AND RELIGION -- The Primordial Tradition; Religion; The Oriental Traditions; The Monotheistic Religions. PART II: THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY AND THE INTEGRAL BEING -- The Spiritual Journey; The Integral Being and its Multiple States. PART III: WESTERN SOCIETY AND THE EMERGENCE OF MODERNITY -- Aspects of Western Society; Modernity; The Humanities; Psychology; Philosophy, Logic and Metaphysics; Mathematics and Geometry. PART IV: SYMBOLISM and SYMBOLS. Index.

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Book Synopsis'Dreaming humanity's future. There is nothing like the dream to create the future' - Victor Hugo. 'Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so you shall become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil' - James Allen. What is it we, as a human race, desire in the world? What dreams do we have to shape our future? Over 100 artists, activists, authors, educators, speakers, environmentalists, scientists, young entrepreneurs, visionaries, and Elders were asked for the following: A written description of your perfect world, or your dream world. This can be one sentence or many pages; a poem or researched essay. Your dream world can be as fantastic and marvelous as you want it to be. There are no rules, no right or wrong descriptions, only the world of your imagination and the world of your dreams.Trade Reviewchange, and here we have wise guidance for the way forward. (Nowick Gray, editor, Alternative Culture Magazine, http://alternativeculture.com) This book gives hope that many powerful dreamers, from diverse traditions and cultures, are even now dreaming into being a world where all can thrive. (Andrea de Michaelis, Publisher, Horizons Magazine, FL)

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Book SynopsisAn anthology of the most important and representative passages in Hagger's innovatory literary, philosophical and historical writings, chosen by the author.

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Book SynopsisIn The New Philosophy of Universalism Nicholas Hagger outlined a new philosophy that restates the order within the universe, the oneness of humankind and an infinite Reality perceived as Light; and its applications in many disciplines, including literature. In this work of literary Universalism which carries forward the thinking in T.S. Eliot's 'Tradition and the Individual Talent' and other essays, Hagger traces the fundamental theme of world literature, which has alternating metaphysical and secular aspects: a quest for Reality and immortality; and condemnation of social vices in relation to an implied virtue. Since classical times these two antithetical traditions have periodically been synthesised by Universalists. Hagger sets out the world Universalist literary tradition: the writers who from ancient times have based their work on the fundamental Universalist theme. These can be found in the Graeco-Roman world, the Middle Ages and Renaissance, in the Baroque Age, in the Neoclassical, Romantic Victorian and Modernist periods, and in the modern time. He demonstrates that the Universalist sensibility is a synthesis of the metaphysical and secular traditions, and a combination of the Romantic inspired imagination (the inner faculty by which Romantic poets approached the Light) and the Neoclassical imitative approach to literature which emphasizes social order and proportion, a combination found in the Baroque time of the Metaphysical poets, and in Victorian and Modernist literature. Universalists express their cross-disciplinary sensibility in literary epic, as did Homer, Virgil, Dante and Milton, and in a number of genres within literature - and in history and philosophy. Universalist historians claim that every civilisation is nourished by a metaphysical vision that is expressed in its art, and when it declines secular, materialist writings lose contact with its central vision. As Universalist literary works restate the order within the universe, reveal metaphysical Being and restore the vision of Reality, Hagger excitingly argues that the Universalist sensibility renews Western civilisation's health. Literary Universalism is a movement that revives the metaphysical outlook and combines it with the secular, materialistic approach to literature that has predominated in recent times. It can carry out a revolution in thought and culture and offer a new direction in contemporary literature. This work conveys Universalism's impact on literature, and should be read by all who have concerns about the sickness and decline of contemporary European/Western culture.Trade ReviewHe hits a pace, a tilt, that really carries the reader along...Everything comes as a subordinate clause to his dramatic momentum, a hand waving out of the express train window. (Ted Hughes, Poet Laureate)

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Book SynopsisThe Spanish Jesuit Francisco Suarez (1548-1617) was an eminent Catholic philosopher-theologian whose 'Disputations Metaphysicae' were first published in Spain in 1597 and came to be widley studied throughout Europe during the seventeenth century. The 'Disputions Metaphysicae' not only constituted the high point of sixteenth-century scholasic metaphysics but exercised a great influence on early modern philosophers such as Descartes, Malebranche, and Leibniz. This is the first time that Disputations 20-22 have been translated into English. These disputations, which deal with the divine actions of creation, conservation, and concurrence,form the last half of Suarez's treatment of efficient causality. The present work completes thus Freddoso's translation of Suarez's full account of efficient causality in the 'Disputations Metaphysicae.' In his lengthy introduction, Freddoso situates the 'Disputationes Metaphysicae' within their proper intellectual context, provides a basic introduction to scholastic ontology and treatments of efficient causality, and traces the main lines of argument proposed by Suarez in Disputations 20-22.Trade Review"Freddoso is medieval philosphy's best and most prolific translator. Here, as in his earlier works, the English is both clear and faithful to the original. The translation is literal enough to satisfy philosophers, but not so ploddingly literal as to wear down the reader. Frequent footnotes help make sense of obscure references and tangled arguments. In comparing forty pages of the translation with the original Latin I was unable to find a single significant mistake, omission, or even questionable rendering" - 'The Philisophical Review' "[This serves] to indicate the brilliance of the translators at understanding the intricacies and subtleties of medieval scholastic Latin, and their sensitivity to modern readers' needs and problems." - 'The Thomist' "A brilliant piece of scholarship... Freddoso's introduction and notes are a 'tour de force'." - 'Philosophical Review' "Feddoso's translation and introduction are, quite simply, splendid pieces of work." - 'International Philosophical Quarterly'"Table of Contentspreface, intro., names index, subject index, bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe problem of the one and the many is central to ancient Greek philosophy, but surprisingly little attention has been paid to Aristotle’s treatment of it in the Metaphysics. This omission is all the more surprising because the Metaphysics is one of our principal sources for thinking that the problem is central and for the views of other ancient philosophers on it.The Central Books of the Metaphysics are widely recognized as the most difficult portion of a most difficult work. Halper uses the problem of the one and the many as a lens through which to examine the Central Books. What he sees is an extraordinary degree of doctrinal cogency and argumentative coherence in a work that almost everyone else supposes to be some sort of patchwork. Rather than trying to elucidate Aristotle’s doctrines—most of which have little explicitly to do with the problem, Halper holds that the problem of the one and the many, in various formulations, is the key problematic from which Aristotle begins and with which he constructs his arguments.Thus, exploring the problem of the one and the many turns out to be a way to reconstruct Aristotle’s arguments in the Metaphysics. Armed with the arguments, Halper is able to see Aristotle’s characteristic doctrines as conclusions. These latter are, for the most part, supported by showing that they resolve otherwise insoluble problems. Moreover, having Aristotle’s arguments enables Halper to delimit those doctrines and to resolve the apparent contradiction in Aristotle’s account of primary ousia, the classic problem of the Central Books. Although there is no way to make the Metaphysics easy, this very thorough treatment of the text succeeds in making it surprisingly intelligible.Halper's One and Many in Aristotle's Metaphysics: The Central Books was originally published in 1989 by Ohio State University Press. The reprint of this work includes a new Introduction by the author.Further, The Central Books is part of a Trilogy whose two other as of yet unpublished works Alpha—Delta and Iota—Nu will be released by Parmenides Publishing in 2008 and in 2014 respectively.Trade ReviewAs the body of the text consists in a close textual reading of books 6–9 of the Metaphysics, not every reader was able to persevere to the end, and the new introduction greatly facilitates an understanding of the author’s claims and an appreciation of his method. . . No student of these texts should miss this commentary"". - Heythrop Journal

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Book SynopsisThis translation is the result of a collaboration between Arnold Hermann and Dr. Sylvana Chrysakopoulou. Heeding the challenge of balancing intelligibility with faithfulness—while maintaining sufficient consistency to allow the discernment of technical terms—great pains have been taken to secure both accuracy and accessibility. In his Foreword, Douglas Hedley gives an insightful account of the way the Parmenides was received by different cultures and philosophical schools throughout the centuries to the present day.Hermann’s Introduction, aimed at first time readers and professional interpreters alike, offers an overview of the most noted philosophical problems addressed in the dialogue, and of its historical background. In view of the fact that certain individual issues have been exhaustively explored by generations of scholars, Hermann chooses to focus also on subjects that have at times been passed over, or trivialized: the debt the dialogue may owe to the works of earlier thinkers, or whether it constitutes a response to certain critics of the Theory of Forms; as for the Theory itself, whether it is bolstered or superseded by the dialogue’s conclusions, or whether there is such a thing as a “simple,” unparticipated Form, and if there is, why it cannot be the subject of an account; also, the issue of the “interweaving of Forms,” (the Sophist) is discussed, in light of its possible relevance to the Second Part of the Parmenides. Finally, Hermann provides an overview with a listing and summaries of the individual conclusions to each of the eight central arguments of the dialgoue’s Second Part (plus Coda).Trade ReviewIn his 70-page introduction, Arnold Hermann himself is somewhat more restrained. He sees the First Part of the dialogue as targeting ‘naive misreadings’ (15) of the Theory of Forms, and the Second Part as ‘a successful attempt to illuminate the difficulties raised by the First’ (17). For instance (to take an easy example), a form is ‘itself by itself’, and such simplicity or straightforwardness is explored in Argument I of the Second Part. Or again, since Forms have to interweave, they can be seen as complex, such as the ‘One Being’ of Argument II. These are not original lines of thought, but the introduction well conveys the author's enthusiasm for a dialogue that strikes many as rather dry. Throughout, Hermann corroborates his views by drawing connections with the thought of the Parmenides and Zeno, and other Platonic passages"". - Heythrop Journal

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Book SynopsisEdward Halper’s three volume One and Many in Aristotle’s 'Metaphysics' contends that Aristotle argues for his central metaphysical doctrines by showing that they alone resolve various versions of what is known as “the problem of the one and the many.” The present volume, Alpha–Delta, argues that these books constitute the first stage of Aristotle’s inquiry, his case for the existence of metaphysics. Halper shows that the possibility of metaphysics turns on its having a subject matter with a sufficient degree of unity to be known by one science. Although books Alpha–Delta address the problem that occupied Aristotle’s predecessors, they also prepare the way for—and are consistent with—the second stage, the inquiry into principles in the central books. Along the way Halper argues for unique interpretations of “being qua being,” the source of the aporiai, the method of “saving the phenomena,” “said in many ways,” the principle of non-contradiction, and the significance of book Delta.Trade ReviewThis book deserves to become a kind of reference point interpretation for contemporary Scholarship precisely because it is a comprehensive reading that reasserts the integrity of Aristotle's Metaphysics. Halper attends meticulously but not tediously to Aristotle's text, and he defends a plausible reading that remains philosophically rich while preserving Aristotle from confusion and contradiction"". - Review of Metaphysics

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Book SynopsisThe much-anticipated anthology on Plato’s Timaeus—Plato’s singular dialogue on the creation of the universe, the nature of the physical world, and the place of persons in the cosmos—examining all dimensions of one of the most important books in Western Civilization: its philosophy, cosmology, science, and ethics, its literary aspects and reception. Contributions come from leading scholars in their respective fields, including Sir Anthony Leggett, 2003 Nobel Laureate for Physics. Parts of or earlier versions of these papers were first presented at the Timaeus Conference, held at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in September of 2007.To this day, Plato’s Timaeus grounds the form of ethical and political thinking called Natural Law—the view that there are norms in nature that provide the patterns for our actions and ground the objectivity of human values. Beyond the intellectual content of the dialogue’s core, its literary frame is also the source of the myth of Atlantis, giving the West the concept of the “lost world.”From Platonic space to Presocratic vortices, from Philosopher-Kings to Craftsman-Gods and from modern physics to the myth of Atlantis, One Book, The Whole Universe presents in one volume the most up-to-date and penetrating scholarship on Plato’s Timaeus by some of the greatest minds alive today.Trade ReviewOne Book, The Whole Universe is remarkably thorough in the treatment of its chosen text (a thesis that can be confirmed by the index locorum) and contains precisely the sort of articles that one would want and expect in a scholarly collection on the Timaeus. There is scarcely a Timaean topic of traditional interest to scholars that is not mentioned or even given a detailed explanation"". - American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly

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Book SynopsisHow was the universe created, and what is our place within it? These are the questions at the heart of Plotinus’ Against the Gnostics. For the Gnostics, the universe came into being as a result of the soul’s fall from intelligible reality—it is the evil outcome of a botched creation. Plotinus challenges this, and insists that the soul’s creation of the world is the necessary consequence of its contemplation of the ideal forms. While the Gnostics claim to despise the visible universe, Plotinus argues that such contempt displays their ignorance of the higher realities of which the cosmos is a beautiful image.Against the Gnostics is a polemical text. It aims to show the superiority of Plotinus’ philosophy over that of his Gnostic rivals, and poses unique challenges: Plotinus nowhere identifies his opponents by name, he does not set out their doctrines in any great detail, and his arguments are frequently elliptical. The detailed commentary provides a guide through these difficulties, making Plotinus’ meandering train of thought in this important treatise accessible to the reader.

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Book SynopsisThe term dunamis (potentiality) entered into the philosophical vocabulary with Plato, but it was with Aristotle that it acquired, together with energeia (actuality), the strong technical meaning that the two terms have maintained, with variations, throughout subsequent philosophical tradition.The significance of the notions of actuality and potentiality in Plotinus’ thought can hardly be overstated. Throughout the Enneads, they are crucial to understanding the specific causality of intelligible realities and the relation of participation between intelligible and sensible realms.In Ennead II.5, Plotinus for the first time provides a systematic clarification of his peculiar use of these terms, through a sustained revision of Aristotle’s own elaboration of the topic and of his terminology. The treatise discusses the different meanings of potentiality and actuality as well as the way each of them applies or does not apply to the sensible realm, to the intelligible realm, and to matter.While the structure of the text unfolds in a coherent and cohesive manner, Plotinus’ writing in this treatise is dense and at times dry in its technicality. The detailed commentary guides the reader step by step, making an otherwise particularly difficult text accessible. Trade ReviewThis text is difficult due to Plotinus’ dense style. Based on the inclusion of important research in recent years, such as that of Narbonne and Kalligas, and on the author’s own contributions, Cinzia Arruzza’s new English translation is an improvement compared with the older ones. And her clear commentary not only sheds light upon the difficult text, but also offers innovative investigation of and answers to the controversial problems in this treatise"". - Bryn Mawr Classical Review

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Book SynopsisPlotinus’ Ennead V.8, originally part of a single work (with III.8, V.5, and II.9), provides the foundation for a positive view of the universe as an image of divine beauty against the Gnostic rejection of the world. Although it emphasizes the cosmic dimension of beauty, it is, as are most treatises of Plotinus, concerned with the individual soul. The notion that the artist has within him an idea of beauty that derives directly from the intelligible world in fact coincides with his theory that each one of us has access to Intellect through his or her own intellect. It is the exploitation of this theme that forms the central dynamic of the treatise, with its stress on our ability to ""see"" and be one with the intelligible world and its beauty.

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Book SynopsisEnnead IV.4.30–45 and IV.5 retrieves the unity in this last section of Plotinus’ treatise on Problems concerning the Soul. Combining translation with commentary, Gurtler enhances both the accuracy of the translation and the recovery of Plotinus’ often unsuspected originality. This is especially true for IV.5, where previous translations fail to convey the concise nature of his argument against both the Aristotelian and Platonic theories of vision.Plato and Aristotle each claim that vision depends on the light between the eye and the object, but Plotinus presents evidence that this is not the case and develops a novel theory of light as a second activity that moves from source to object directly, even arguing that color is in the light itself rather than merely a quality of the object. This theory of vision, in turn, depends on the nature of sympathy developed especially in IV.4.30–45, where Plotinus shows how action at a distance is both possible and necessary for the proper unity in diversity of the sensible cosmos.Trade ReviewIn this third and last part of ‘Problems Concerning the Soul’, Plotinus takes up three final problems or aporiai; insights from the first two parts are used to attack the popularly-credited influence of the planets on human enterprises, and the attendant problem of their memory and cooperation with evil"". - Heythrop Journal

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Book SynopsisPlotinus was much exercised by Plato's doctrines of the soul. In this treatise, at chapter 1 line 27, he talks of "the divine Plato, who has said in many places in his works many noble things about the soul and its arrival here, so that we can hope for some clarity from him. So what does the philosopher say? It is clear that he does not always speak with sufficient consistency for us to make out his intentions with any ease." The issue in this treatise is one that has puzzled students of Plato from ancient to modern times—and is indeed a popular topic for undergraduate essays even today: Why should the philosopher, who has ascended through a long and painful process of dialectic to "assimilation to the divine," ever descend back into the body? Plotinus himself is said by Porphyry to have attained such a state of other-worldly transcendence on at least four occasions during his lifetime, so this was a very real and personal issue for him. In this treatise we see him grappling with it.Trade Review"This volume makes an excellent start to the series. Barrie Fleet's translation is both accurate and readable. His scholarly and well-informed commentary is particularly valuable in demonstrating how Plotinus' views on the soul arise from the interpretation of Plato." Anne SheppardProfessor of Ancient PhilosophyRoyal Holloway, University of London, UK "The first volume of a new series of translations and commentaries, edited by John Dillon and Andrew Smith, is devoted to Enn IV.8. We are in the capable hands of Barrie Fleet, author of an important previous study on Enn III.6...Fleet's introduction to the treatise and his commentary will be especially helpful to readers coming to Plotinus for the first time ...[He] provides extensive discussion of the Platonic passages that inspired Plotinus; an approach that fits IV.8 especially well, since this treatise is unusually explicit in its doxographical use of Plato. Overall the volume is a promising beginning to a new series that will provide an English readership with something akin to the single-treatise commentaries and translations published by Cerf in France." Peter AdamsonProfessor of Ancient and Medieval PhilosophyKing's College London, UK "Enn. IV 8 is one of Plotinus' most fascinating essays. It begins by addressing what for ancient Platonism was a very traditional topic, namely the descent of the soul, and examines it in the light of his own personal experience, while also taking into account the doctrines of previous thinkers including Plato and Aristotle. It concludes by expounding a radically novel view according to which no real descent occurs after all. This involves a fundamental reassessment of the status of the soul and its position in the universe and, furthermore, a new understanding of its association with the body and with sensible reality as a whole. Fleet's presentation is highly readable and informative, and provides an excellent introduction to Plotinus' views on man and his relation to the cosmos." Paul KalligasProfessor of Ancient PhilosophyUniversity of Athens, Greece "A clear and accurate translation of one of Plotinus' first and more significant writings, accompanied by a helpful commentary for the English-speaking reader." Dominic O'MearaProfessor EmeritusChair of Metaphysics and Ancient PhilosophyUniversity of Fribourg, SwitzerlandTable of ContentsIntroduction: Achilles' Shield; The Fall; The Ambassadors of Death; Horse & Rider; The Silence of Words; The Structure of Narrative; The Chaos of Colors & the Order of Words; The Fallen Angel & the Survivor's Burning Eye; Epilogue: Ekphrasis, Mimesis & the Difference between Word & Image; Index.

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Book SynopsisEnnead IV.7 is a very early treatise (second according to Porphyry’s chronological table), and unlike the many treatises devoted to attempts at untangling various issues Plotinus found problematic in Plato’s thinking, this one presents the teachings of the other main schools current in Plotinus’ day: the Stoics, Epicureans, Pythagoreans, and Peripatetics, all of whom presented soul as something material or as contingent upon material soul, and so as being neither truly immortal nor imperishable.It includes observations on many mainly Stoic doctrines on perception, memory, sensation, thought, virtue, powers of material bodies, mixture and reproduction (Chapters 1–83); on Pythagorean attunement (84); and on Peripatetic entelechy (85). In Chapters 9–10 Plotinus presents, in broad terms, Plato’s doctrines on soul’s immortality—mainly that of the individual soul, but a fortiori that of the soul of the cosmos. These chapters offer some of Plotinus’ most powerful prose.He is not concerned to prove the soul’s immortality—that was an uncontroversial tenet of Platonism, to be taken for granted. In this treatise Plotinus is laying down the in­disputable foundations for his later writings.

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Book SynopsisThe main aim of this book is to discuss fundamental developments on the question of being in Western and African philosophy using analytic metaphysics as a framework. It starts with the two orthodox responses to the question of being, namely, the subject-verb-object language view and the rheomodic language view. In the first view, being is conceived through the analysis of language structure, where it is represented by subjects (particulars), objects, and relations (often universals). In the second view, there are different variations; however, the common idea is that the world's structure is revealed in the root verb of terms. This suggests a holistic and dynamic conception of being, where everything is in a continuous process of action. The book builds on analytic philosophy and explores metaphysical concepts such as space-time, modality, causation, indeterminism versus determinism, and mind and body. The book shows that in both Western and African thought, (i) similarities in different studies confirm that philosophy is a universal activity, (ii) differences within a context and beyond confirm the perspectival nature of human knowledge as individuals attempt to interpret reality, and (iii) language influences the conceptualization of being in a particular area. One of the novel aspects is the development of visual and mathematical African models of space and time.Table of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsAbbreviations and AcronymsChapter 1. General introductionChapter 2. Subject-verb-object ontologyChapter 3. Action-Language OntologyChapter 4. The question of space and time in analytic metaphysicsChapter 5. ModalityChapter 6. Causation in analytic metaphysicsChapter 7. Determinism and Indeterminism: Freedom of actionsChapter 8. Body and mind metaphysicsChapter 9. ConclusionBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThis monograph offers a comprehensive study of contingent a priori truths. Building onto a theoretical framework developed by the philosopher and logician Saul Kripke, the author also presents a new approach to these truths. The first part of the book details the many theories on contingent a priori truths. The coverage examines the cases of Kripke and David Kaplan, Donnellan and the de re requirement, Evans and weak contingency, as well as Plantinga, Salmon, Soames, and the pseudo a priori. Overall, it provides a systematic discussion and critical review of all these many positions. Next, the author develops an alternative approach. His working hypothesis is that performative verbs must play a central role in Kripke’s examples, even if they do not show up at the surface structure of the corresponding sentences. This opens up an entirely new way of looking at Kripke’s cases and of treating them by exploring some aspects of the theory of illocutionary acts. His discussion also examines brute facts and institutional facts, indexicals and performatives, as well as Frege’s theory of definitions. Providing an authoritative exploration into contingent a priori truths, this book will be of interest to students, academics, and researchers in philosophy and logic.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements.- Introduction.- Chapter 1. The Starting Point: Kripke’s “Magic”.- Chapter 2. Indexicals and Kaplan’s Cases.- Chapter 3. Donnellan and the Acquaintance Requirement.- Chapter 4. The Experience Requirement.- Chapter 5. Kripke’s Reformulation of the Contingent A Priori.- Chapter 6. Evans and The Varieties of Contingency.- Chapter 7. Two-Dimensionalism.- Chapter 8. Some Other Cases.- Chapter 9. Basic Tools: Elements of a Theory of Speech Acts.- Chapter 10. Stipulations as Performatives.- Chapter 11. One Ancestor: The Early Frege on Definitions.- Chapter 12. Global Conclusions: The Varieties of ContingentA Priori Truths.- Index.

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Book SynopsisThis book develops an original theory of agentive modality: the kind of modality that is distinctive to agents. The central thesis is that the idea of an option should be taken as primitive, and that other agentive notions – such as ability, skill, and free will – should be understood in terms of options. The main contributions of this book are twofold. First, it resolves many of the outstanding questions in the metaphysics and semantics of agentive modality. In doing so, it develops original accounts of topics that have been central to philosophy since Aristotle. It also contributes to a lively contemporary literature on these topics. Second, it articulates an austere and uncompromising form of compatibilism about free will, termed “simple compatibilism.” Simple compatibilism is so-called because it rejects both the reductive theses endorsed by traditional compatibilists and the sophisticated proposals of many contemporary compatibilists. Instead, it turns precisely on insisting that options are analytically simple. Arguments for incompatibilism are shown to rest on auxiliary principles that should, in light of the book’s general account of options, be rejected. Table of Contents1. Foundations.2. The Simplicity of Options.3. The Analysis of Ability.4. The Active and Passive Powers.5. A Picture of Agentive Possibility.6. Chapter Six: Against Reconciliation.7. Simple Compatibilism.

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Book SynopsisThis book provides a comprehensive investigation into the concept of typicality and its significance for physics and the philosophy of science. It identifies typicality as a fundamental way of reasoning, central to how natural laws explain and are tested against phenomena. The book discusses various applications of typicality to foundational questions in physics and beyond.These include: a unified interpretation of objective probabilities in classical mechanics and quantum mechanics a detailed discussion of Boltzmann's statistical mechanics, entropy, and the second law of thermodynamics a novel account of the asymmetry of causation and the arrow of time Finally, the book turns to the question: "What are laws of nature"? It argues that typicality extends to a powerful way of reasoning in metaphysics that can and should inform our commitments about the fundamental ontology of the world. On this basis, it develops an argument against the Humean best system account, according to which laws of nature are merely an efficient summary of contingent regularities. Table of Contents1. Introduction.- Part I: Probability.- 2. Typicality in Probability Theory.- 3. Cournot’s Principle.- 4. A Typicality Theory of Probability.- 5. The Mentaculus: Typicality versus Humean Chances.- 6. The Structure of Typicality.- Part II: Physics.- 7. From the Universe to Subsystems.- 8. Boltzmann’s Statistical Mechanics.- 9. It’s Complicated: The Relationship of Physics and Mathematics.- 10. Boltzmann Equation and the H-theorem.-11. Past Hypothesis and the Arrow of Time.-12. Causality and the Arrow of Time.-13. Quantum Mechanics.- Part III: Beyond Physics.-14. Other Applications of Typicality.-15. Special Science Laws.-16. Typicality and the Metaphysics of Laws.- Appendix A Time-reversal Invariance.- Appendix B Proof of Theorems

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Book SynopsisThis book investigates the compatibility between the doctrine of divine simplicity (DDS, hereafter) and divine free action primarily in the works of Avicenna and Anselm with an analytical approach. The book has three main objectives: (1) to thoroughly analyse both philosophers’ views on DDS, divine free will, and their compatibility; (2) to put them into the context of the contemporary discourse of the philosophy of religion, by investigating whether it is possible to have freedom without the ability to do otherwise (as proposed by both philosophers for divine free will) with a reference to the prominent contemporary discussions initiated by Harry Frankfurt’s counterexamples; and (3) to show the plausibility of the agent-causal view for divine freedom (as defended by Anselm and Avicenna) by briefly sketching an alternative account based on Anselmian intuitions (the meta-awareness account) which can avoid the reasons-explanation objection and the luck objection against the libertarian agent-causal view.Table of Contents1 Introduction 2 Avicenna and Anselm on God and Divine Simplicity 3 Avicenna’s Account of Free Will and Divine Freedom 4 Anselm’s Account of Free Will and Divine Freedom 5 Divine Simplicity and Divine Freedom 6 Divine Freedom, Agent-Causal Power, and Reasons- Explanation 7 Conclusion

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Book Synopsis1 Introduction (María José García Encinas).- 2 Fictional characters and their names: An antirealist argument (Juan Acero).- 3 Easy mathematical ontology (Otávio Bueno).- 4 Triviality, inconsistency and solipsism: Three problems in the metaontology of art and a Goodmanian solution (Nemesio García-Carril Puy).- 5 A deflationary artifactualist approach to the ontology of science (Xavier de Donato-Rodríguez, and José L. Falguera).- 6 Fictionalism and easy ontology about the existence of facts (Pablo Rychter).- 7 Ontology beyond Ramsey’s ladder (Mirco Sambrotta).- 8 Modal metaphysics made easy, not shallow (Daniel Dohrn).- 9 Modal normativism and modal representationalism (Theodore Locke).- 10 A pragmatic approach to (some) disputes in semantics (Irene Olivero).- 11 Replies to authors (Amie Thomasson).- Index.

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Book SynopsisNicolai Hartmann's Possibility and Actuality is the second volume of a four-part investigation of ontology. It deals with such questions as: How do we know that something is really possible? Is the possible only the actual? Is the actual only the possible? What is the difference between ideal and real possibility? This groundbreaking work of modal analysis describes the logical relations between possibility, actuality, and necessity, and it provides insight into the relations between modes of knowledge and modes of being. Hartmann reviews the history of philosophical concepts of possibility and necessity, from ancient Megarian philosophy to Aristotle, to Medieval Scholasticism, to Leibniz, Kant, and Hegel. He explains the importance of modal analysis as a basic investigative tool, and he proposes an approach to understanding the nature of human existence that unifies the fields of ontology, modal logic, metaphysics, and epistemology. This brilliant and fascinating work is relevant to many topics of debate in contemporary philosophy, including the ontology of possible worlds, the metaphysics of modality, the logic of counterfactual conditionals, and modal epistemology. It illuminates the nature of real, ideal, logical, and epistemic possibility.

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Book SynopsisThe book develops the metaphysics of meaning along the lines set up by Paul Grice, defining the three central notions of what is meant, said and implicated. The Gricean notion of what is said is threatened by semantic underdetermination: If the sentence underdetermines the thought it is used to express, what is said cannot be the proposition expressed by the sentence and meant by the speaker. This leads to a number of questions: How far does semantic underdetermination reach? Do we have to extend or restrict the Gricean notion? Is what is said semantic or pragmatic? Keeping these metaphysical questions separate from the epistemological question of how the hearer understands what is meant, which is best explained by generalizing the Gricean theory of implicature derivation and combining it with a game-theoretic model, the book provides an original defense of a Gricean view in the ongoing debate about semantics and pragmatics.

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Book SynopsisGenerally, categories are understood to express the most general features of reality. Yet, since categories have this special status, obtaining a correct list of them is difficult. This question is addressed by examining how Thomas Aquinas establishes the list of categories through a technique of identifying diversity in how predicates are per se related to their subjects. A sophisticated critique by Duns Scotus of this position is also examined, a rejection which is fundamentally grounded in the idea that no real distinction can be made from a logical one. It is argued Aquinas's approach can be rehabilitated in that real distinctions are possible when specifically considering per se modes of predication. This discussion between Aquinas and Scotus bears fruit in a contemporary context insofar as it bears upon, strengthens, and seeks to correct E. J. Lowe's four-category ontology view regarding the identity and relation of the categories.

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Book SynopsisThe aim of the book is to show that the Five Ways of Thomas Aquinas, i.e. his five arguments to prove the existence of God, are logically correct arguments by the standards of modern Predicate Logic. In the first chapter this is done by commenting on the two preliminary articles preceeding the Five Ways in which Thomas Aquinas points out that on the one hand the existence of God is not self-evident to us and on the other hand, that, similar as in some scientific explanations, the mere existence of a cause for an effect which is evidently known to us can be proved. In the second chapter every argument is translated into the symbolic form of Predicate Logic and its logical validity is shown. Additionally a detailed and critical discussion of the premises of each argument is given.

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Book SynopsisOntology is the philosophical discipline which aims to understand how things in the world are divided into categories and how these categories are related together. This is exactly what information scientists aim for in creating structured, automated representations, called ‘ontologies,’ for managing information in fields such as science, government, industry, and healthcare. Currently, these systems are designed in a variety of different ways, so they cannot share data with one another. They are often idiosyncratically structured, accessible only to those who created them, and unable to serve as inputs for automated reasoning. This volume shows, in a non-technical way and using examples from medicine and biology, how the rigorous application of theories and insights from philosophical ontology can improve the ontologies upon which information management depends.Table of ContentsIntroduction: What is Ontology for? Katherine Munn Acknowledgments 1. Bioinformatics and Philosophy Barry Smith and Bert Klagges 2. What Is Formal Ontology? Boris Hennig 3. A Primer on Knowledge Management and Ontological Engineering Pierre Grenon

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Book SynopsisThis volume is about ontological categories. The categories of an ontology are designed to classify all existents. They are crucial and characterize an ontology.

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Book SynopsisImre Koncsik beschreibt die Theorie des Geistes als naturphilosophische Theorie auf Basis der Physik. Er identifiziert signifikante Parallelen zwischen Geist und Gehirn, die beide durch Elemente der Quantentheorie und der komplexen Systemtheorie beschrieben werden können. Beide Theorien beziehen sich auf eine immaterielle, formale und imaginäre Schicht der Realität. Sie ermöglichen eine innovative Beschreibung der morphologischen Strukturen und dynamischen Aktivitätsmuster des Gehirns in Analogie zu Mustern des Geistes. Eine Theorie des Geistes bildet hinsichtlich ihrer technologischen Applikation den Grundstein einer neuen, im eigentlichen Sinn „intelligenten“ Technologie: der quantenbasierten Systemtechnologie.Table of ContentsWas Sie in diesem Essential finden können.- Der sog. Geist.- Physik: Anorganische Quantenstrukturen.- Mikroskopische Quantenstrukturen: Quantum Life.- Mesoskopische Quantenstrukturen: das System Geist-Gehirn.- Ausblick: quantenbasierte System-Technologie.- Was Sie aus diesem Essential mitnehmen können.

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Book SynopsisWas ist das Sein des Sozialen? Was konstituiert die Existenz von Gruppen und Institutionen, ihre Identität und Dauer in der Zeit? Dieses Buch resümiert den aktuellen Diskussionsstand der Sozialontologie und argumentiert für eine Ontologie des Sozialen, die sowohl formellen als auch informellen Institutionen gerecht wird. Es schlägt dafür eine Synthese aus Positionen vor, die in der gegenwärtigen Diskussion mit den Namen von John Searle und Margaret Gilbert verbunden sind.Trade Review“… handelt es sich um einen interessanten Beitrag zur philosophisch orientierten Sozialontologie …” (Prof. Dr. Gert Albert, in: Soziologische Revue, Jg. 41, Heft 1, 2018)​Table of ContentsVorwort.- 1. Wie ist Sozialontologie möglich?.- 2. Die Notwendigkeit von Sozialontologie.- 3. Gruppenkonstitution (1): Formale Relationen.- 4. Gruppenkonstitution (2): Objektive Merkmale.- 5. Gruppenkonstitution (3): Subjektiv und intersubjektiv.- 6. Gesellschaftsverträge und Kollektivpersonen.- 7. Haben Kollektivpersonen intentionale Einstellungen?.- 8. Konsequenzen sozialer Intentionalität.- 9. Institutionen und Statuszuweisungen.- 10. Sprache und Kultur: Informelle Statusentitäten.- 11. Warum Statusentitäten nicht mit ihrem Träger identisch sind.- 12. Spielarten der sozialen Konstitution.- 13. Die zeitliche Dimension sozialer Entitäten.- 14. Die Persistenz sozialer Kontinuanten.- 15. Schluss.

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Book SynopsisThe Philosophy of Living Nature focuses on the approach of the Western philosophical tradition to physis, or nature. Zdenek Kratochvíl reveals, on a philosophical level, the roots of today’s environmental crisis, presenting an etymological investigation of the concept of “nature” itself and arguing for the necessity of focusing on the world and its plurality as the background for phenomena and the context of things, as a unity of horizons, as a paradigm for understanding nature. However, as Kratochvíl makes clear, questions about the natural world have stakes far beyond the realm of philosophy: chapters in this wide-ranging and richly nuanced book deal with the identity of living organisms and the relation of life and being. Together, they provide an analysis of Darwinian and neo-Darwinian evolution and question in what sense we may know living beings.

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Book SynopsisDecades of war, social upheaval and political change have not lessened the enduring interest of the people of East Timor (Timor-Leste) in their oral traditions, something they share with their neighbors in the eastern islands of Indonesia. Although oral literature continues to occupy a central place in Timorese cultures, new forms of expression are emerging (for instance via published fiction and in social media). Nonetheless, the corpus of Timorese oral narrative largely retains an underlying metaphysical unity. Among others, it continues to express indigenous notions about gender and precedence - two important sociocultural markers that are among the most prominent topics currently under discussion by scholars of the region today. What has yet to be done, however, is to bring Timorese oral narratives into mainstream social science scholarship by subjecting them to a rigorous scholarly analysis. That is the purpose of this masterly study by the veteran Timor scholar, David Hicks. Drawing upon more than a half century of fieldwork and publishing, he discusses the tropes found in and illuminating Timorese metaphysical thought and literature. No other work has discussed these tropes before nor indeed attempted to discern patterns of thought in Timorese narratives. Certainly, the study will be of interest to scholars of literature, social science, structural analysis, Indonesian cultures and philosophy, as well as to those interested in the country's colonial past and in efforts to conserve its natural environment. The book should also appeal to educated citizens of Timor-Leste; here is a work illuminating how future aspirations might be grounded in a common heritage.

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