Approaches to Metaphysics

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

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2. Introduction: Taking Metaphysics Seriously

   1. Introduction: Taking Metaphysics Seriously

      • William Sweet

      Pages 1-19

3. Issues in Classical Metaphysics

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 21-21

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   2. Does Being Have a Nature? (Or: Metaphysics as a Science of the Real)

      • Lawrence Dewan

      Pages 23-59

   3. Logic and Metaphysics in German Philosophy from Melanchthon to Hegel

      • Riccardo Pozzo

      Pages 61-74

   4. Metaphysics, Mathematics, and Pre-Established Harmony

      • Richard Feist

      Pages 75-90

4. Modern Challenges to the Scope of Metaphysics

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 91-91

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   2. The Integration of History and Metaphysics

      • Kenneth L. Schmitz

      Pages 93-100

   3. Suffering, Metaphysics, and Nietzsche’s Path to the Holy

      • Daniel R. Ahern

      Pages 111-125

   4. Can ‘Creation’ Be a Metaphysical Concept?

      • Peter Harris

      Pages 127-136

   5. Metaphysics West and East: Bosanquet and Sankara

      • Gautam Satapathy

      Pages 137-156

5. On the Road to Metaphysics — Freedom, Agency, and Existence

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 157-157

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   2. Metaphysics and the Origins of Arendt’s Account of Evil and Human Freedom

      • Charles Le Page

      Pages 159-179

   3. Agents, Causes, and Explanations: The Idea of a Metaphysical System

      • Leslie Armour

      Pages 181-207

   4. Speculative and Analytical Philosophy, Theories of Existence, and the Generalization of the Mathematical Function

      • James Bradley

      Pages 209-226

6. Metaphysical Theories in a Contemporary Context

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 227-227

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   2. Jacques Maritain and the Metaphysics of Plato

      • Fran O’Rourke

      Pages 229-248

   3. Metaphysics and Idealism

      • W. J. Mander

      Pages 249-264

   4. Empiricism: Principles and Problems

      • Fred Wilson

      Pages 265-300

7. The Possibility of Metaphysics

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 301-301

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Today, when systematic philosophy - and reason itself - are challenged both outside of and within philosophy, is it still possible to do metaphysics? This volume provides a broad perspective on contemporary approaches to the nature and the fundamental questions of metaphysics. Drawing on scholars from continental Europe, Asia, Canada, the United States, and Great Britain, and representing a variety of philosophical cultures and traditions, this volume surveys and extends work in metaphysics and its implications for broader philosophical concerns (e.g., in ethics and social philosophy, in mathematics and logic, and in epistemology). It also addresses such questions as the role of history and historicity in undertaking metaphysics, the nature of metaphysics, the priority of metaphysics over epistemology, and the challenges of empiricism and postmodernism.

• Friedrich Nietzsche
• Plato
• epistemology
• ethics
• freedom
• logic
• metaphysics
• philosophy

• St. Francis Xavier University, Canada

  William Sweet

Policies and ethics