Distinctions of Being:
Philosophical Approaches to Reality
Edited by Nikolaj Zunic
Book Overview
What is reality? What are the diverse ways of being? Can God be known from nature? These and other quintessentially metaphysical questions are addressed in the newest volume from the American Maritain Association, Distinctions of Being. Metaphysics—as conceived by Aristotle, extended by Thomas Aquinas, and given modern expression by prominent philosophers such as Jacques Maritain—deals principally with the question of being, the basis of reality. This work considers the necessary distinctions at the heart of metaphysics, the distinctions between nature and spirit; the world and God; and the different forms of knowing in science, philosophy, and being.
Divided into four sections, the book begins with a discussion of the key principles of traditional Western metaphysics, namely, form, truth, essence, soul, and being. The second part examines the existence of God and the relationship of human nature to God. Next, metaphysical themes in the work of Jacques Maritain are discussed, with particular attention given to his notion of the intuition of being. The final section sheds light on the standing of modern science with respect to natural philosophy and religious faith.
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Contents
Nikolaj Zunic, “Introduction: The Task of Thinking Reality”
Steven Jensen, “Why the Senses Cannot Have Truth: The Need for Abstraction”
Joshua P. Hochschild, “Form, Essence, Soul: Distinguishing Key Principles of Thomistic Metaphysics”
Lawrence Dewan, O.P., “First Known Being and The Birth of Metaphysics”
Giuseppe Butera, “Incomplete Persons: Thomas Aquinas On Separated Souls and The Identity of The Human Person”
Christopher Morrissey, “‘The Great Visible God’: Socrates, Aristotle, And Thomas Aquinas On the Way from Nature to Nature's God”
William P. Haggerty, “From the Relative to The Absolute: Louis De Raeymaker's ‘Metaphysical Proof’ for the Existence of God”
Michael D. Torre, “Maritain On the Natural Desire to See God: Reflections Appreciative And Critical”
John Marson Dunaway, “The Majesty of Intersubjectivity: Maritain And Marcel Contra Cartesian Subjectivity”
John G. Trapani, Jr., “Difficult Acrobatics: ‘Gravitating Head First to The Midst Of The Stars’”
James G. Hanink, “In Defense of The Intuition of Being”
Raymond Dennehy, “How Maritain May Have Bridged the Gap Between Metaphysics and Activism”
John Deely, “Maritain, Ratzinger, And the New Era of Intellectual Culture”
Jean De Groot, “Distinguishing Between Natural Philosophy and Science: The Case of Ancient Mechanics”
Peter A. Pagan, “Faith, Physical Determinism, And Scientific Method”
Index of Names
Contributors