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Metaphysics, by Peter van Inwagen
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An accessible introduction to metaphysics for readers with little or no background in philosophy.
- Sales Rank: #143189 in Books
- Published on: 2014-08-12
- Released on: 2014-08-12
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.00" h x .70" w x 6.00" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 352 pages
Review
Praise for the fourth edition:
"It is very challenging to present the ideas and arguments of metaphysics in a way that undergraduates can follow, but van Inwagen not only does so with perspicuity, but also with great insight and rigor."
—Gordon Pettit, Western Illinois University
"The exposition throughout is a model of clarity, and it is remarkable how much ground is covered. There is a precision and efficiency of expression that is impressive. Metaphysics is a first-rate text, and the author is a master of the field."
—Jenann Ismael, University of Arizona
“Metaphysics is a very helpful introduction to a difficult area in philosophy, and any library that does not have this book should get it. . . . the clarity of the writing makes this volume extremely useful to advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and those faculty who are interested in these issues but have only a passing acquaintance with them. Highly recommended.” —Choice
Praise for prior editions:
"Peter van Inwagen’s Metaphysics is a terrific upper division text—accessible, engaging, wide ranging, challenging, provocative. Chock full of everyday examples that, upon analysis, reveal intriguing puzzles and perplexities, proposed solutions to which are subject to imaginative and rigorous argument, characteristic of this gifted philosopher and outstanding metaphysician."
—Jonathan Adler, Brooklyn College
"In my judgment, Peter van Inwagen has authored the single best introductory text in metaphysics. On display throughout one finds examples of the remarkable insights and masterful style that have earned him a well-deserved place among our finest metaphysicians. I know of no one more careful in the presentation of philosophical ideas than van Inwagen."
—Hud Hudson, Western Washington University
"This is a superb book—a sophisticated but very accessible introduction to the basic issues of metaphysics by one of the very best philosophers world-wide. Highly recommended!"
—John Martin Fischer, University of California, Riverside
From the Back Cover
With thoughtful and engaging prose, noted scholar Peter van Inwagen provides a comprehensive introduction to metaphysics in this essential text. Metaphysics covers the gamut of historical and contemporary arguments of metaphysics, engaging readers through three profound questions: What are the most general features of the world? Why is there a world? And, what is the place of human beings in the world?
The thoroughly revised fourth edition includes an updated and rewritten chapter on temporality and significant improvements to the clarity and accessibility of the language, making it an even more valuable text for undergraduate students. Metaphysics remains the quintessential book in this field of study and a fascinating book for a wide range of readers, from those new to the subject to the most sophisticated philosophers.
"In my judgment, Peter van Inwagen has authored the single best introductory text in metaphysics. On display throughout one finds examples of the remarkable insights and masterful style that has earned him a well-deserved place among our finest metaphysicians."
—Hud Hudson, Western Washington University
"It is very challenging to present the ideas and arguments of metaphysics in a way that undergraduates can follow, but van Inwagen not only does so with perspicuity, but also with great insight and rigor."
—Gordon Pettit, Western Illinois University
"The exposition throughout is a model of clarity, and it is remarkable how much ground is covered. There is a precision and efficiency of expression that is impressive. Metaphysics is a first-rate text, and the author is a master of the field."
—Jenann Ismael, University of Arizona
Peter van Inwagen is John Cardinal O’Hara professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he is the author of numerous works, Material Beings (1990), Ontology, Identity, and Modality: Essays in Metaphysics (2001), Christian Faith and the Problem of Evil (2004), Persons: Human and Divine (2008), and Existence: Essays in Ontology (2014).
About the Author
Peter van Inwagen is John Cardinal O’Hara professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he is the author of numerous works, Material Beings (1990), Ontology, Identity, and Modality: Essays in Metaphysics (2001), Christian Faith and the Problem of Evil (2004), Persons: Human and Divine (2008), and Existence: Essays in Ontology (2014).
Most helpful customer reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
Extensively Revised, Even Better Exposition
By Let's Compare Options Preptorial
Showing my age, I've used this fine text to teach physical and online courses since the first edition in 1998. I teach a "metaphysical robotics" course for Engineering and Neurology students and professionals on "out there" topics like robotic reality, recursive self awareness, and autonomy of will (or predictive drivers!). If this were the typical philosophy text, I'd lose my audience (practical, hard headed Engineers and Programmers) by the first chapter. Carnegie-Mellon colleagues, take note!
The value of this series has been, and is, the author's astonishing ability to present the central concepts of metaphysics, ontology, taxonomy and epistemology with rigor, without "showing off" with the convoluted language and logic many "professionals" use to demonstrate their command of arcane semantics, rather than present the breadth and beauty of the topics.
Some philosophers bemoan the fact that epistemology "ruined" metaphysics. This text must have missed that development, as the exposition, examples, logic, breadth and depth are far clearer and more fun and readable (without sacrificing deep reasoning and giving your brain a vigorous workout) than the tiring epistemological acrobatics of other texts whose semantics and linguistics only create a contrived form of specialized Boolean algebraic rings, and seem to go nowhere but terms chasing terms.
As far as investing in this if you are into self study, or taking an online course-- I usually recommend saving hundreds of dollars by getting a previous edition, given authors and publishers who rip students and autodidacts off by churning out little-revised "next" editions. This is NOT the case with this fine text. One might wonder how a field as old as Aristotle can actually be revised (and the argument, like Euler or Euclid is that much of this is "resolved" like learning to build a compiler)-- but a huge amount has been added in very recent developments in topics like quantum physics, temporal reality (op amp integrals in our world), and mathematical reality (ala Tegmark and another of my go-to texts: Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality).
Plato's genius could imagine ideal forms projecting illusions like shadows in a cave, but not as clearly as The Matrix-- the examples in this revision are fun, engaging, and down to earth, without compromising upper echelon junior/senior undergrad math and logic levels that require careful study, not cursory reading. I usually do a comparison of contents for new editions, but so much has been revised here, that it is not necessary, PLUS the publisher has kept the price of the new edition reasonable-- under $40 US, compared to other texts in the field at over $100, and not nearly as complete or clear. I would also normally compare this to other texts, but to be blunt, this really is the "go to" text in the field, and, unlike other fields where there are several top contenders, there are really no "second bests" written this well if you're considering teaching or taking a class in this topic, or even self study/ research. Oxford is working on a new one for 2015-16, but I don't have details yet.
Highly recommended for teachers, students, and self study. I'm also a "religious/ spiritually open scientist" (kind of an oxymoron today) and find this text particularly helpful in translating where (as axiomatically defined) materialistic math leaves off, and futuristic vision/ metaphysics/ sampling bias beyond a few steps in the future take over. In particular, as a roboticist concerned with Bayesian estimates of the future (robotic "will" but including drivers and kinematics), I love Hannah Arendt's metaphysics of time and the temporal, defining will as our "organ of the future." There are numerous sections in this new edition on that topic that were not covered in previous editions. Well worth the investment IMHO.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
VERY GOOD, BUT NEEDS EXTENSION
By Yehezkel Dror
Avant-Garde Politician: Leaders for a New Epoch
This book is an outstanding introductory text on metaphysics, distinguished by introducing the reader not only to main issues of metaphysics but also to the ways of thinking on difficult and in part indeterminate basic questions. This is illustrated by the ontological and cosmological arguments on the idea of a "necessary being" (chapters 6 and 7), with discussion of related issues, such as the Principle of Sufficient Reason (pp. 159ff.)
Other merits of the book are illustrated by recognizing the possibility (I think it is a certainty) that human being "have simply not got the intellectual equipment" to reach answers on some fundamental issues (p. 177), taking into account some metaphysical implications of quantum theory (e.g. pp.179-180), stating frankly that both science and metaphysics "have no answer to the question, Why should there be anything at all" (p. 180), and more.
The statement that "...it is clear that (the thesis that our existence is without meaning or purpose) is an emotionally attractive position for many people" (p. 218) does not apply to most humans throughout history, who persistently sought transcendental meaning, inter alia for overcoming the fear of death. And lack of a sense of meaning of life is one of the prevalent causes of psychopathologies (as handled, for instance, by existential and logo psychotherapy, which do not lack clients).
My main disagreement with the author is with his use of the term "rational" to describe what is uniquely human (pp. 183ff.), including his discussion of the core of what he calls "rationality (p. 185). This is a misuse of the term "rationality," whether in its technical meaning as dealing with the relation between means and ends, or in enlarge meaning as behavior "reasonably" in terms of a given culture. For sure, "rationality" does not include value judgment, aesthetic judgment, artistic creativity, utopian or dystopian imagination, and much more that is unique to human animals.
Indeed, there is a gulf between the embodied mind of humans and those of all other animals on earth. According to the well-known "Hauser's hypothesis" on "humaniqueness," humans are unique in generative computations, enabling a practically infinite variety of expressions; multiple and open-ended combination of ideas; a variety of mental symbols; and abstract though. Also, only humans can combine and recombine different types of information and knowledge in order to gain new understandings, apply a "rule" or solution to one problem in a different and new situation, detach modes of thought from raw sensory and perceptual input, create novel images and theories, become "true believers", engage in soul-searching, consider transcendence, and more.
Such attributes are beyond even an expanded meaning of "rationality." Therefore, the author should have used another umbrella term for the special abilities of the human mind, such as "creative pondering," or rumination (in the sense of "turning over in the mind"), or whatever. Lacking an adequate term, it would have been better to speak about "higher mental attributes" which constitute humaniqueness and provide a partial list, such as above. In any case, the term "rational" is inappropriate.
However, this is a terminological issue easily corrected in a future edition. It does not impair the overall high quality of the text.
The book includes a fascinating discussion of free will (pp. `267ff.), concluding that individual actors having "free will" is a "mystery", but less so than other views. I agree that "We are unalterably convinced that our will is free, and there's an end on't" (p. 283) and that this is the only possible assumption of human action and moral responsibility. However it may well be that more attention to the notions of causation, randomness, accident, chance, indeterminacy etc. (thus Schrodinger's cat might well serve to undermine the "true-false" dichotomy), also in respect to human history (and perhaps some cosmic events?) would have reduced further the "size" of the mystery- a concept which should be understood as relative to human mental abilities, as well put by the author (pp.87-290).
All the more I miss discourse on creativity. Often choice is not a matter of selecting one of a few clear roads into alternative futures, but largely one of "inventing" additional options. Radical creativity, which is a critical power of what the author calls "rational" beings, poses the metaphysical question how past-based knowledge enables novel ideas. This may well be worth a chapter in the next edition of the book, developing also the tantalizing observation "If anything in this area is a mystery, it is the fact that science is a success" (p. 290 n. 3).
Let me conclude with a comment on the significance of the book for the improvement of political leaders (as discussed in my recent book): The author states "The best scientists seem to be able to `translate' their verbally...formulated representations of the working of things into images, which they are able to manipulate mentally in fruitful ways" (p. 237). This is also a required quality of the mind of leaders in charge of taking care of the future. Studying this book can help a fledging politician to develop in the mind this essential ability, as well as get at least an inkling of what is involved in getting "behind appearance and to investigate reality: the way the World really is and the ultimate reasons for its being that way" (p. 287) - at least as an antidote to the extreme superficiality of the vast majority of politicians. To them, and not only students of philosophy, this book is warmly recommended.
Professor Yehezkel Dror
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Lucid discussion, light on conclusions
By Jacob
PVI (pagination from the 2009 edition) sets out to defend the Common Western Metaphysic: basically the common-sense view in the west that there is a ready-made, external world independent of our mind. This text is divided into three parts: The Way the World is, Why the World Is, and the Inhabitants of the World.
Throughout he covers all of the basic problems and terminology in metaphysics today: inviduation, externality, objective realism, free will, mind-body problem, etc.
He covers the Ontological argument, albeit in its modal form (from Plantinga and others).
In terms of the mind-body problem, PVI is critical of dualism and opts for a physicalist approach. He does admit that physicalism (i.e., all properties of a person, mental and non-mental, are simply physical properties) is hard-pressed to overcome the problem of identity (see Ship of Theseus discussion).
He gives a mostly good account of free will and defends incompatibilism.
Conclusion:
The book is very well-written and surprisingly easy to read. It is accessible to the Beginner-Intermediate student. As for criticisms of the book, I am not persuaded that PVI fully dealt with Leibniz’s charge about a physical thing thinking. He says the dualist must likewise own up to the mystery of a non-physical thing (e.g., God) thinking (221). I don’t see how this is a problem for the dualist. The dualist isn’t bound to think of physical explanations for everything like the physicalist is.
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