Real Essentialism: 11 (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy) - Hardcover

Oderberg, David S.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0415323649 ISBN 13: 9780415323642

Publisher: Routledge, 2008

Synopsis

Real Essentialism presents a comprehensive defence of neo-Aristotelian essentialism. Do objects have essences? Must they be the kinds of things they are in spite of the changes they undergo? Can we know what things are really like – can we define and classify reality? Many if not most philosophers doubt this, influenced by centuries of empiricism, and by the anti-essentialism of Wittgenstein, Quine, Popper, and other thinkers. Real Essentialism reinvigorates the tradition of realist, essentialist metaphysics, defending the reality and knowability of essence, the possibility of objective, immutable definition, and its relevance to contemporary scientific and metaphysical issues such as whether essence transcends physics and chemistry, the essence of life, the nature of biological species, and the nature of the person.

About this title

Review:

"Presents vigorous and wide-ranging arguments in defense of an Aristotelian metaphysical scheme...this book puts forward many unfashionable views. But it argues for them with vigor and erudition." Crawford L. Elder, Analysis Reviews

"Oderberg... exemplifies the unfortunately rare combination in analytical philosophy of rigorous and historically informed argumentation...This book places hylomorphism squarely on the table for discussion." Sebastian Rehnman, Review of Metaphysics

"a major intellectual achievement....I can particularly recommend, for those interested in such matters--as many metaphysicians presently are--his very well informed discussion of powers and laws of nature, which raises important objections to many current accounts of these." E.J. Lowe, The Philosophical Quarterly

"...there can be no doubt that this learned and rigorous work deserves a wide readership."--Edward Feser, Faith and Philosophy

Synopsis:

"Real Essentialism" defends the metaphysical position that everything in the world has an essence or nature that fixes its identity. Although a traditional view in philosophy, defended most famously by Aristotle, scepticism about and hostility to the notion of essence in modern and contemporary philosophy is a commonplace. Recent work in logic and the philosophy of language has given essentialism a new life, but "Real Essentialism" argues that it has still not been given the contemporary defense it requires. With this in mind, Oderberg sets out a full theory of essence and applies it to such questions as the nature of species, the nature of life, and the essence of the person.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0415323649
• ISBN 13: 9780415323642
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 328