Download or read book Final Causality in Nature and Human Affairs written by Richard F. Hassing and published by CUA Press. This book was released on 2018-03-02 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Teleology - the inquiry into the goals or goods at which nature, history, God, and human beings aim - is among the most fundamental yet controversial themes in the history of philosophy. Are there ends in nonhuman nature? Does human history have a goal? Do humanly unintended events of great significance express some sort of purpose? Do human beings have ends prior to choice? The essays in this volume address the abiding questions of final causality. The chapters are arranged in historical order from Aristotle through Hegel to contemporary anthropic-principle cosmology.
Download or read book Final Causality in Nature and Human Affairs written by Richard F. Hassing and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Intro -- Contents -- 1. Richard F. Hassing, Introduction -- 2. William A. Wallace, Is Finality Included in Aristotle's Definition of Nature? -- 3. Allan Gotthelf, Understanding Aristotle's Teleology -- 4. Francis Slade, Ends and Purposes -- 5. Ernest L. Fortin, On the Presumed Medieval Origin of Individual Rights -- 6. Richard L. Velkley, Moral Finality and the Unity of Homo sapiens: On Teleology in Kant -- 7. David A. White, Unity and Form in Kant's Notion of Purpose -- 8. John W. Burbidge, The Cunning of Reason -- 9. John Leslie, The Anthropic Principle Today -- 10. George Gale, Anthropic-Principle Cosmology: Physics or Metaphysics? -- 11. Richard F. Hassing, Modern Natural Science and the Intelligibility of Human Experience -- Contributors -- Bibliography -- Index
Download or read book Final Causality in Nature and Human Affaires written by Richard F. Hassing and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Natural Moral Law in Contemporary Society written by Holger Zaborowski and published by Catholic University of America Press. This book was released on 2010-08-01 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essays of this volume examine natural moral law, different natural law theories, and the role that natural law can and should play in our contemporary society
Download or read book Phenomenology of the Human Person written by Robert Sokolowski and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2008-05-12 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, Robert Sokolowski argues that being a person means to be involved with truth. He shows that human reason is established by syntactic composition in language, pictures, and actions and that we understand things when they are presented to us through syntax. Sokolowski highlights the role of the spoken word in human reason and examines the bodily and neurological basis for human experience. Drawing on Husserl and Aristotle, as well as Aquinas and Henry James, Sokolowski here employs phenomenology in a highly original way in order to clarify what we are as human agents.
Download or read book Plato and Platonism written by J. M. van Ophuijsen and published by CUA Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this volume, a distinguished group of philosophers aims to offer fresh insight into Platonic studies. Combining research with analysis, the authors present 14 essays on various dimensions of Plato's thought. Most of Plato's dialogues are examined, from such Socratic texts as Protagoras, Euthyphro and Crito to the allegedly late Sophist, Statesman and Laws. Several essays explore specific philosophical problems raised in a single Platonic dialogue. Some offer in-depth analysis of one dialogue - for instance, the volume includes two very different but highly provocative essays on Timateus. Others pursue a topic or theme that runs throughout a number of dialogues, and others speak about the Platonic heritage and the thought of ancient philosophers who regarded themselves as faithfully preserving and transmitting the doctrines of their master. The major subject divisions of philosophy are covered, with considerable attention being paid to issues of Platonist methodology.
Download or read book Contemporary Perspectives on Natural Law written by Ana Marta González and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-05-13 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Resorting to natural law is one way of conveying the philosophical conviction that moral norms are not merely conventional rules. Accordingly, the notion of natural law has a clear metaphysical dimension, since it involves the recognition that human beings do not conceive themselves as sheer products of society and history. And yet, if natural law is to be considered the fundamental law of practical reason, it must show also some intrinsic relationship to history and positive law. The essays in this book examine this tension between the metaphysical and the practical and how the philosophical elaboration of natural law presents this notion as a "limiting-concept", between metaphysics and ethics, between the mutable and the immutable; between is and ought, and, in connection with the latter, even the tension between politics and eschatology as a double horizon of ethics. This book, contributed to by scholars from Europe and America, is a major contribution to the renewed interest in natural law. It provides the reader with a comprehensive overview of natural law, both from a historical and a systematic point of view. It ranges from the mediaeval synthesis of Aquinas through the early modern elaborations of natural law, up to current discussions on the very possibility and practical relevance of natural law theory for the contemporary mind.
Download or read book Wealth Poverty and Human Destiny written by Doug Bandow and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2014-05-06 with total page 471 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The rapid spread of the liberal market order across the globe poses a host of new and complex questions for religious believers—indeed, for anyone concerned with the intersection of ethics and economics. Is the market economy, particularly as it affects the poor, fundamentally compatible with Christian moral and social teaching? Or is it in substantial tension with that tradition? In Wealth, Poverty, and Human Destiny, editors Doug Bandow and David L. Schindler bring together some of today’s leading economists, theologians, and social critics to consider whether the triumph of capitalism is a cause for celebration or concern. Michael Novak, Richard John Neuhaus, Max Stackhouse, and other defenders of democratic capitalism marshal a number of arguments in an attempt to show that, among other things, capitalism is more Christian in its foundation and consequences than is conceded by its critics—that, as Stackhouse and Lawrence Stratton write, “the roots of the modern corporation lie in the religious institutions of the West,” and that, as Novak contends, “globalization is the natural ecology” of Christianity. The critics of liberal economics argue, on the other hand, that it is historically and theologically shortsighted to consider the global capitalist order and the liberalism that sustains it as the only available option. Any system which has as its implicit logic that “stable and preserving relationships among people, places, and things do not matter and are of no worth,” in the words of Wendell Berry, should be regarded with grave suspicion by religious believers and all men and women of goodwill. Bandow and Schindler take up these arguments and many others in their responses, which carefully consider the claims of the essayists and thus pave the way for a renewed dialogue on the moral status of capitalism, a dialogue only now re-emerging from under the Cold War rubble. The contributors’ fresh, insightful examinations of the intersection between religion and economics should provoke a healthy debate about the intertwined issues of the market, globalization, human freedom, the family, technology, and democracy.
Download or read book Norms of Liberty written by Douglas B. Rasmussen and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2010-11-01 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The One and the Many written by W. Norris Clarke, S.J. and published by University of Notre Dame Pess. This book was released on 2015-11-30 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When it is taught today, metaphysics is often presented as a fragmented view of philosophy that ignores the fundamental issues of its classical precedents. Eschewing these postmodern approaches, W. Norris Clarke finds an integrated vision of reality in the wisdom of Aquinas and here offers a contemporary version of systematic metaphysics in the Thomistic tradition. The One and the Many presents metaphysics as an integrated whole which draws on Aquinas' themes, structure, and insight without attempting to summarize his work. Although its primary inspiration is the philosophy of St. Thomas himself, it also takes into account significant contributions not only of later philosophers but also of those developments in modern science that have philosophical bearing, from the Big Bang to evolution.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Aristotle written by Christopher Shields and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-06-27 with total page 744 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford Handbook of Aristotle reflects the lively international character of Aristotelian studies, drawing contributors from the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, and Japan; it also, appropriately, includes a preponderance of authors from the University of Oxford, which has been a center of Aristotelian studies for many centuries. The volume equally reflects the broad range of activity Aristotelian studies comprise today: such activity ranges from the primarily textual and philological to the application of broadly Aristotelian themes to contemporary problems irrespective of their narrow textual fidelity. In between these extremes one finds the core of Aristotelian scholarship as it is practiced today, and as it is primarily represented in this Handbook: textual exegesis and criticism. Even within this more limited core activity, one witnesses a rich range of pursuits, with some scholars seeking primarily to understand Aristotle in his own philosophical milieu and others seeking rather to place him into direct conversation with contemporary philosophers and their present-day concerns. No one of these enterprises exhausts the field. On the contrary, one of the most welcome and enlivening features of the contemporary Aristotelian scene is precisely the cross-fertilization these mutually beneficial and complementary activities offer one another. The volume, prefaced with an introduction to Aristotle's life and works by the editor, covers the main areas of Aristotelian philosophy and intellectual enquiry: ethics, metaphysics, politics, logic, language, psychology, rhetoric, poetics, theology, physical and biological investigation, and philosophical method. It also, and distinctively, looks both backwards and forwards: two chapters recount Aristotle's treatment of earlier philosophers, who proved formative to his own orientations and methods, and another three chapters chart the long afterlife of Aristotle's philosophy, in Late Antiquity, in the Islamic World, and in the Latin West.
Download or read book Theory and Practice in Aristotle s Natural Science written by David Ebrey and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-06-11 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aristotle argued that in theory one could acquire knowledge of the natural world. But he did not stop there; he put his theories into practice. This volume of new essays shows how Aristotle's natural science and philosophical theories shed light on one another. The contributors engage with both biological and non-biological scientific works and with a wide variety of theoretical works, including Physics, Generation and Corruption, On the Soul, and Posterior Analytics. The essays focus on a number of themes, including the sort of explanation provided by matter; the relationship between matter, teleology, and necessity; cosmic teleology; how an organism's soul and faculties relate to its end; how to define things such as sleep, void, and soul; and the proper way to make scientific judgments. The resulting volume offers a rich and integrated view of Aristotle's science and shows how it fits with his larger philosophical theories.
Download or read book Aristotle s Metaphysics Lambda New Essays written by Christoph Horn and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2016-06-06 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The treatise known as book Lambda of Aristotle’s Metaphysics has become one of the most debated issues of recent scholarship. Aristotle adresses here fundamental questions of his theory of substance, his idea of causes and principles, and his concept of motions. Furthermore, the importance of the text is due to the fact that it contains an outline of what was traditionally understood as Aristotle’s theology.
Download or read book Leo Strauss and His Catholic Readers written by Geoffrey M. Vaughan and published by CUA Press. This book was released on 2018-05-11 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book looks at the work and influence of Leo Strauss in a variety of ways that will be of interest to readers of political philosophy. It will be of particular interest to Catholics and scholars of other religious traditions. Strauss had a great deal of interaction with his contemporary Catholic scholars, and many of his students or their students teach or have taught at Catholic colleges and universities in America. Leo Strauss and His Catholic Readers brings together work by scholars from two continents, some of whom knew Strauss, one of whom was his student at the University of Chicago. The first section of essays considers Catholic responses to Strauss’s project of recovering Classical natural right as against modern individual rights. Some of the authors suggest that his approach can be a fruitful corrective to an uncritical reception of modern ideas. Nevertheless, most point out that the Catholic cannot accept all of Strauss’s project. The second section deals with areas of overlap between Strauss and Catholics. Some of the chapters explore encounters with his contemporary scholars while others turn to more current concerns. The final section approaches the theological-political question itself, a question central to both Strauss’s work and that of the Catholic intellectual tradition. This section of the book considers the relationship of Strauss’s work to Christianity and Christian commitments at a broader level. Because Christianity does not have an explicit political doctrine, Christians have found themselves as rulers, subjects, and citizens in a variety of political regimes. Leo Strauss’s return to Platonic political philosophy can provide a useful lens through which his Catholic readers can assess what it means for there to be a best regime.
Download or read book Natural Law written by Alejandro Néstor García Martínez and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2009-03-26 with total page 485 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern moral and political philosophy is in debt with natural law theory, both in its ancient and mediaeval elaborations. While the very notion of a natural law has proved highly controversial among 20th Century scholars, the last decades have witnessed a renewed interest in it. Indeed, the threats and challenges as result of multiculturalism, plural societies and global changes have generated a renewed attention to natural law theory. Clearly, it offers solid basis as possible framework to a better understanding of human goods without contradictions and partial bias. The purpose of the present volume is to provide an overview of the history of this concept (Cicero, St. Paul, Aquinas, Melanchthon, Montaigne, Descartes, Leibniz, Hume, Burke, Kant, MacIntyre, etc.) as well as a deep understanding of ongoing research, both in Europe and in America. Furthermore, the specificity of these studies will be of particular value to philosophers, law-philosophers, historians, anthropologists, sociologists and theologians, and those concerned on such issues as the relation between law and moral norm, law and practical reason, and the presence of the idea of natural law in several prominent thinkers. It includes a selected bibliography on natural law. The book also provides an excellent introduction to several of the major topics in natural law theory making it useful both as a reference text and as a sourcebook for academics alike. "Natural law is a rich, complex, and highly disputed term. Since its first appearances in the history of Western civilization, it has been used both to point to God as the source of the moral order and to assert that there is an objective order of justice in nature that men and their laws ought to respect. In modern times, natural law theory gave birth to what we usually call “human rights.” Unlike the meaning of the term, the importance of an ongoing debate on natural law and on the theories related to it is undisputable. This is why I welcome today this new collection of essays edited by Alejandro Néstor García Martínez, Mario Šilar and José M. Torralba. Natural Law: Historical, Systematic and Juridical Approaches includes a wide variety of studies, covering key authors and issues in natural law theory. Younger students will appreciate the clarity of the chapters, and more trained readers the detailed and accurate bibliographical references that each of them offers. The editors’s choice to go from a historical approach to contemporary theories, and then to theoretical and more practical issues is also commendable. Students in philosophy and in legal theory will greatly benefit from this book." —Fulvio Di Blasi, author of God and the Natural Law: A Rereading of Thomas Aquinas
Download or read book Bringing Biology to Life written by Mahesh Ananth and published by Broadview Press. This book was released on 2018-07-25 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bringing Biology to Life is a guided tour of the philosophy of biology, canvassing three broad areas: the early history of biology, from Aristotle to Darwin; traditional debates regarding species, function, and units of selection; and recent efforts to better understand the human condition in light of evolutionary biology. Topics are addressed using no more technical jargon than necessary, and without presupposing any advanced knowledge of biology or the philosophy of science on the part of the reader. Discussion questions are also provided to encourage reader reflection.
Download or read book Our Posthuman Future written by Francis Fukuyama and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2017-06-15 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is a baby whose personality has been chosen from a gene supermarket still a human? If we choose what we create what happens to morality? Is this the end of human nature? The dramatic advances in DNA technology over the last few years are the stuff of science fiction. It is now not only possible to clone human beings it is happening. For the first time since the creation of the earth four billion years ago, or the emergence of mankind 10 million years ago, people will be able to choose their children's' sex, height, colour, personality traits and intelligence. It will even be possible to create 'superhumans' by mixing human genes with those of other animals for extra strength or longevity. But is this desirable? What are the moral and political consequences? Will it mean anything to talk about 'human nature' any more? Is this the end of human beings? Our Posthuman Future is a passionate analysis of the greatest political and moral problem ever to face the human race.
