
Metaphysics and the Good
Themes from the Philosophy of Robert Merrihew Adams
Oxford University Press
Published on 8. January 2009
Book
Hardback
428 pages
978-0-19-954268-0 (ISBN)
Description
Throughout his philosophical career at Michigan, UCLA, Yale, and Oxford, Robert Merrihew Adams's wide-ranging contributions have deeply shaped the structure of debates in metaphysics, philosophy of religion, history of philosophy, and ethics. Metaphysics and the Good: Themes from the Philosophy of Robert Merrihew Adams provides, for the first time, a collection of original essays by leading philosophers dedicated to exploring many of the facets of Adams's thought, a philosophical outlook that combines Christian theism, neo-Platonism, moral realism, metaphysical idealism, and a commitment to both historical sensitivity and rigorous analytic engagement. Tied together by their aim of exploring, expanding, and experimenting with Adams's views, these eleven essays are coupled with an intellectual autobiography by Adams himself that was commissioned especially for this volume. As the introduction to the volume explains, the purpose of Metaphysics and the Good is to explore Adams's work in the very manner that he prescribes for understanding the ideas of others. By experimenting with Adams's conclusions, "pulling a string here to see what moves over there, so to speak", as Adams puts it, our authors throw into greater relief what makes Adams such an original and stimulating philosopher. In doing so, these essays contribute not only to the exploration of Adams's continuing interests, but they also advance original and important philosophical insights of their own.
Reviews / Votes
impressive... The volume as a whole is an apt tribute to the work of Robert Merrihew Adams, whose masterly scholarship and fertile philosophical insight are likely to attract close attention for a considerable time to come. * John Cottingham, The Philosophical Quaterly *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 242 mm
Width: 164 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
792 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-954268-0 (9780199542680)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Samuel Newlands is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame.
Larry M. Jorgensen is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Valparaiso University.
Larry M. Jorgensen is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Valparaiso University.
Content
Introduction ; 1. A Philosophical Autobiography ; 2. Yet Another Anti-Molinist Argument ; 3. The Contingency of Existence ; 4. Consciousness and Introspective Inaccuracy ; 5. Kant on Apriority and the Spontaneity of Cognition ; 6. Moral Necessity in Leibniz's Account of Human Freedom ; 7. Leibniz on Final Causation ; 8. Does Efficient Causation Presuppose Final Causation? Aquinas vs. Early Modern Mechanism ; 9. Herder and Kant on History: Their Enlightenment Faith ; 10. Moral Obligations and Social Commands ; 11. Adams on the Nature of Obligation ; 12. The Grasshopper, Aristotle, Bob Adams, and Me