Path into Metaphysics

Robert E. Wood is Graduate Dean and Director of the Institute of Philosophical Studies at the University of Dallas. He is the author of Martin Buber's Ontology, and co-editor of the journal, The New Scholasticism.

"This is a brilliant 'introduction' to metaphysics, beginning with the creation of a metaphysical system (Part I) and then defending it through a reading of the Western tradition (Part II). The writing is clear and persuasive throughout; it does not presuppose antecedent knowledge of the tradition, or of any present context defining 'metaphysics.' Rather, the book develops what it needs of those things as it goes along; hence it would be splendid as an undergraduate text. Nevertheless, there are subtle references throughout Part I and direct discussions in Part II of the metaphysical tradition; for those who already know, this is a profound and subtly argued defense of a particular metaphysical position relative to the competitors; hence it is intrinsically interesting for advanced scholars and will evoke commentary in the current discussion. The book is magisterial in both senses: a fine teaching tool and an embodiment of mastery."— Robert Cummings Neville"I like the sense of philosophical seriousness that comes through. The author displays a humanly insightful touch in relation to metaphysical problems that are often wrongly dismissed as abstract and irrelevant. He communicates the sense that philosophical thought is an adventure of mind. Another major asset of the book is that it shows a wide command of the major thinkers in the philosophical tradition." — William Desmond

• List of Figures Preface Introduction PART ONE: HUMANNESS, METAPHYSICS, AND BEING 1. Secular Meditations DeathBirthEmbodimentConsciousnessSelf-IdentitySpaceTimeInterconnectedness 2. The Many Dimensions of Humanness Experience and ConceptualizationFlatland: An Imaginative ModelImagination and JudgmentIntentionalitySensingConceptualizationReference to BeingImplicit Features of Inwardness 3. Toward a Definition of Humanness Observational DifferencesThe Proximate Inner Ground: RationalityThe Ultimate Ground: Metaphysicality"Soul" as Center of MeaningThe Human Being as the Sick AnimalThe Human Being as Religious AnimalThe Human Being as Historical 4. Metaphysics and Practicality The Meaning of PracticalityImmanenceTranscendenceRelativity of NormsLevels of TranscendenceSubjectivity and the SacredImmanence and TranscendenceMetaphysics and Practicality 5. Abstract and Concrete Identifying the Context of the TermsBodiliness and ConcretenessConcreteness and UniversalityObject, Subject, PraxisPART TWO: READING THE TRADITION Section A. The Ancient-Medieval Tradition 6. Parmenides "Heart" as Starting PointThe Logic of BeingHistorical AftermathHeidegger's Approach 7. Plato Metaphor and AllegoryDreaming in the CaveIn the LightGeometry as ParadigmEros and the GoodEpilogue on Plotinus 8. Aristotle Empiricism and the Principles of Changing BeingThe Hierarchy of Changing BeingKnowing and BeingRevisiting the One and the Good 9. Aquinas Being and the Sensorily GivenEssence-Esse and GodAssimilation and Transformation of Aristotle"The Mystical"Analogy and the TranscendentalsPresence to Being Section B. The Modern Tradition 10. Rene Descartes Methodic Doubt and the CogitoBeing and GodCogito, World, GodResponse 11. Baruch Spinoza Being as a Single SubstanceFreedomUnityResponse 12. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz The MonadHierarchyFirst PrinciplesResponse 13. Immanuel Kant The Ground of Kant's ThoughtSensibilityCategoriesReasonThe Moral OrderCritique of JudgmentResponse 14. G.W.F. Hegel The Comprehension of Christian RevelationThe Phenomenology of SpiritThe Logic of the LogosNature and SpiritAbsolute SpiritResponse 15. Alfred North Whitehead Whitehead and Modern PhysicsWhitehead and PlatoResponse 16. Martin Heidegger Situating HeideggerBeing, Truth, and Being-in-the-WorldThe Light of BeingHistoricity and AuthenticityThe Play of the FourfoldThe History of Truth and the Return to Meditative ThinkingResponse Epilogue: The Metaphysical Basis of Dialogical Pluralism Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index