Categories
A Study of a Concept in Western Philosophy and Political Thought
1st Edition
Published on 31. July 2024
344 pages
978-1-3995-2417-9 (ISBN)
Description
In ancient and modern Western thought, the problem of the nature of categories has been inseparable from arguments about the nature of selfhood; about how knowledge is organised; about how power should be distributed; and about how history should be understood. For Plato, Forms belonging to a timeless order of being played the role of categories or fundamental concepts; for Aristotle categories were immanent in things; for Kant they were a priori logical structures of our consciousness; and for Hegel they were dynamic, dialectical inter-related ideas. In Categories, O'Sullivan shows how these answers have gone forward into the contemporary era, and identifies three key schools of thought that have developed since Hegel in particular. He explains modern thought as a tension between a desire for a single dominant perspective, whether scientific or phenomenological; a belief in irretrievable fragmentation; and an effort to find a middle ground.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
File size
14,04 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-3995-2417-9 (9781399524179)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
07/2024
Edinburgh University Press
€127.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Content
- Intro
- Preface
- A Note on the Texts
- Introduction: Why Categories Matter
- Part 1: Categories in Platonic and Aristotelian Thought
- 1. Plato: Forms as Categories of Ideal Being
- 2. Aristotle: Categories as not-Forms, or Substances
- Part 2: Categories in Modernity: Kant and Hegel
- 3. Kant: The Categorial A Priori
- 4. Hegel: The Dialectical Dynamics of Categories
- Part 3: Contemporary Theories of Categories
- 5. Fragmentarians: The Categorial Kaleidoscope
- 6. Subordinationists: The Quest for a Master Category
- 7. Pluralists: The Search for Categorial Limits
- Conclusion: The Inescapability of Categoriality
- Index of Subjects
- Index of Proper Names
