Metaphysics and Its Task: The Search for the Categorical Foundation of Knowledge

by Gracia, Jorge J. E.

• ISBN13: 9780791442142
• ISBN10: 0791442144
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-08-01
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr

Summary

By offering the first systematic analysis of the nature of the discipline, Metaphysics and Its Task answers why metaphysics always recovers from the attacks it has been subjected to throughout its history. This is done by examining its object, method, aim, and the and of propositions of which it is composed. In addition to presenting a new conception of metaphysics and an explanation of the resilience of the discipline, the book offers a novel understanding of the nature and ontological status of categories, an analysis of the nature of reductionism and its role in philosophy, and a discussion and criticism of the main views concerning the nature of metaphysics de eloped in the history of philosophy. In this nonsectarian book Gracia uses sources ranging from Plato and Aquinas, to Collingwood and Strawson. Written in nontechnical language, it is accompanied by detailed bibliographical references.

Author Biography

Jorge J.E. Gracia is Samuel P. Capen Chair and SUNY Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, State University of New York at Buffalo. He has published extensively, and is the author of, among others, Texts: Ontological Status, Identity, Author, Audience; A Theory of Textuality: The Logic and Epistemology; Philosophy and Its History: Issues in Philosophical Historiography; and Individuality: An Essay on the Foundations of Metaphysics, all published by SUNY Press. He has edited many books for SUNY Press, including Individuation in Scholasticism: The Later Middle Ages and the Counter-Reformation, 1150--1650; Individuation and Identity in Early Modern Philosophy: Descartes to Kant (with Kenneth F. Barber); and Philosophy and Literature in Latin America: A Critical Assessment of the Current Situation (with Mireye Camurati).

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction	1	(8)
Generic and Specific Conditions	9	(10)
Object	19	(62)
Method	81	(30)
Aim	111	(12)
Propositions	123	(8)
Definition	131	(28)
Reduction	159	(18)
Realism, Conceptualism, Nominalism	177	(42)
Conclusion	219	(4)
Bibliography	223	(16)
Author Index	239	(4)
Subject Index	243