A Contemporary Introduction to Thomistic Metaphysics

Download or read book A Contemporary Introduction to Thomistic Metaphysics written by Michael Gorman and published by CUA Press. This book was released on 2024 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Contemporary Introduction to Metaphysics provides the reader with an introductory presentation of key themes in Thomistic metaphysics. There are many such books, but this one is, to use a phrase Michael Gorman has adopted, "analytic-facing," i.e., it presents things in dialogue with analytic philosophy. Sometimes that means disagreeing with analytic proposals (for example, possible worlds), and sometimes it means agreeing with them (for instance, making ample use of Ryle's notion of "systematically misleading expressions"). What's more, it (gently) takes a somewhat deflationary attitude towards many things metaphysicians like to talk about, such as accidents, universals, and the like. By "deflationary" Gorman means that such items are taken seriously, but their ontological status is taken down a notch: features, universals, possible worlds, and other such things are understood in terms of what substances are. Substances are "basic beings," and other things are what they are only in relation to substances. Of course this is Aristotle 101, but metaphysicians, Aristotelians included, often slip into treating non-substances as mini-substances, and Gorman pushes back against this throughout. A Contemporary Introduction to Thomistic Metaphysics begins by explaining what philosophy is, what metaphysics is, and how these relate to other kinds of thinking. It then moves through a series of topics, ending with a brief look at applications of metaphysical thinking in theology.