Categories

Reviews / Votes

It is in our nature to use categories - to understand and navigate the world around us, Luke O'Sullivan tells us. His masterful study guides us through the efforts of western philosophers to grapple with the problem of how to interpret reality. The result is an illuminating history of thought, and an insightful contribution to our understanding of this central aspect of the human condition. -- Chandran Kukathas, Singapore Management University All human thought begins with categories or the making of distinctions. A knowledge of the history of the term remains indispensable for philosophy today. In this erudite, carefully argued, and elegantly written book, which includes chapters on Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Hegel as well as some of the most important contemporary authors to have addressed the issue of categories, Luke O'Sullivan provides us with an excellent study of an absolutely crucial topic. -- Frank Ankersmit, author of Representation: The Birth of Historical Reality from the Death of the Past