Mind, Metaphysics, and Value in the Thomistic and Analytical Traditions

by John Haldane

Overview

Contemporary western philosophy divides into three broad traditions: the analytical, the continental, and the historical. In the latter half of the twentieth century, analytical philosophy was dominant in the English-speaking world and tended to ignore the other two traditions. Now, however, analytical philosophy is less isolationist. It has come to appreciate the vitality of historical philosophy.

Given their commonality of interests and shared appreciation of the values of conceptual clarity and argumentative rigour, it is particularly appropriate that there should be engagement between the main English-language tradition and the philosophy of Aquinas and, more broadly, of Thomism. The essays in this collection range widely across the fields of metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind and action, and theory of value with most linking analytical and Aristotelian-Thomistic ideas and some focusing on Aquinas in particular.

This collection is distinctive in content and unusual in North American publishing in the areas of medieval philosophy, scholasticism, and Thomism in that the majority of the contributors are based in Europe—many at medieval universities in which scholasticism had a historical presence, and in some cases a prominent and distinguished one.

Mind, Metaphysics, and Value brings together the interests, knowledge, and expertise of a wide range of scholars to form a broad and exciting intellectual community.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780268034672
Publisher:	University of Notre Dame Press
Publication date:	07/17/2002
Series:	Thomistic Studies , #1
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	238
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

John Haldane is a professor of philosophy at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, and Royden Davis Professor of Humanities at Georgetown University, Washington DC.

Contributors: Fergus Kerr, David Braine, Richard Cross, John Haldane, Christopher F. J. Martin, Stefaan Cuypers, Jonathan Jacobs, David S. Oderberg, Christopher Hughes, Gerald J. Hughes, S.J., Gyula Klima, and Martin W. F. Stone

Table of Contents

	Introduction	vii
Chapter 1	Aquinas after Wittgenstein	1
Chapter 2	The Active and Potential Intellects: Aquinas as a Philosopher in His Own Right	18
Chapter 3	Aquinas and the Mind-Body Problem	36
Chapter 4	The Breakdown of Contemporary Philosophy of Mind	54
Chapter 5	Voluntary Action and Non-Voluntary Causality	76
Chapter 6	Thomistic Agent-Causalism	90
Chapter 7	Habits, Cognition, and Realism	109
Chapter 8	Hylomorphism and Individuation	125
Chapter 9	Aquinas on God's Knowledge of Future Contingents	143
Chapter 10	Ontology and the Art of the Possible	160
Chapter 11	Contemporary "Essentialism" vs. Aristotelian Essentialism	175
Chapter 12	Practical Reason and the Orders of Morals and Nature in Aquinas's Theory of the Lex Naturae	195
	Contributors	213
	Index	217

Editorial Reviews

"All of the essays in this volume are of high quality and present arguments and insights into philosophical problems that, however controversial they may appear to many advocates of the analytic method and the Thomistic tradition, are examples of solid historical scholarship combined with the use of the tools of philosophical analysis provided by analytic philosophy. This book warrants and will reward a close and careful reading." —International Philosophical Quarterly

"All of the essays in this collection are of a very high standard, and they exhibit the combination of historical and textual sensitivity and rigour of argument that one would expect of analytically trained students of medieval philosophy." —Religious Studies

“This collection of essays provides much to whet the appetite of those who like thinking about the questions of contemporary philosophy.” —New Blackfriars

“… the volume will appeal to anyone interested in seeing the value of reflecting from a contemporary point of view on the best of medieval thought. [T]hese essays demonstrate the type of work that must be done if medieval philosophy is ever to achieve the kind of recovery and appreciation already enjoyed by the neighboring fields of ancient and early modern philosophy.” —Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

“It is hard to do justice to the contributions in this volume. [T]he overall gain of this book appears to be its challenge to the standard approach to metaphysics in analytical philosophy. [T]his volume is a welcome contribution to the renewed interest in Aristotelian philosophy and a corrective to reductionist and ahistorical tendencies in contemporary philosophy.” —Ars Disputandi

“This book presents stimulating responses to contemporary philosophical issues in light of the thought of Thomas Aquinas. The work will likely be of interest to Analytic Thomists and even to analytic philosophers in general.” —The Review of Metaphysics

From the Publisher

This is a collection of essays on varied philosophical topics of importance. The essays are interesting, and often controversial. The authors are sympathetic to both the Thomist and the analytical tradition, but they are not afraid to be critical of each.” —Anthony Kenny, Oxford University

The Journal of Modern History