The Fundamental Problems Of Western Metaphysics

This book introduces the profound reflections of Xavier Zubiri (1898-1983) on the history of philosophy to English-speaking audiences. As a philosopher who rethought much of philosophy and theology, Zubiri felt it necessary to be in continuous dialogue with earlier thinkers both to avoid past mistakes and to extract all that is valuable from them. The theme of the present book is the transcendental in Western philosophy and how a firm grasp of it reveals underlying unity in Western philosophy, but also fundamental problems that Zubiri believed require a complete rethinking of certain basic notions and theories. Zubiri develops this theme by analyzing the work of six major philosophers: Aristotle, St. Thomas, Descartes, Leibniz, Kant, and Hegel. To conclude, he sketches his own resolution of the problems of Western philosophy, a subject addressed in greater depth in his major work, Sentient Intelligence. This translation was made possible by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Culture.

Heimsoeth enters boldly into the historical drama of Western philosophical thought at its deepest level and tells a story focused not so much on actors as on the plot itself: the great metaphysical questions about philosophy and life.

" . . an important addition to the translations of Heidegger's lecture-courses . . Heidegger's voice can be heard with few of the jolting Germanicisms with which so many translations of Heidegger's texts have been burdened. . . ." —International Philosophical Quarterly "The translators of these lectures have succeeded splendidly in giving readers an intimation of the tensely insistent tone of the original German. Heidegger's concern with a linguistic preconsciousness and with our entrancement before the enigma of existence remains intensely contemporary." —Choice "There is much that is new and valuable in this book, and McNeill and Walker's faithful translation makes it very accessible." —Review of Metaphysics "Whoever thought that Heidegger . . . has no surprises left in him had better read this volume. If its rhetoric is 'hard and heavy' its thought is even harder and essentially more daring than Heideggerians ever imagined Heidegger could be." —David Farrell Krell First published in German in 1938 as volume 29/30 of Heidegger's collected works, The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics includes an extended treatment of the history of metaphysics and an elaboration of a philosophy of life and nature. Heidegger's concepts of organism, animal behavior, and environment are uniquely developed and defined with intensity. This work, the text of Martin Heidegger's lecture course of 1929/30, is crucial for an understanding of Heidegger's transition from the major work of his early years, Being and Time, to his later preoccupations with language, truth, and history. First published in German in 1983 as volume 29/30 of Heidegger's collected works, The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics includes an extended treatment of the history of metaphysics and an elaboration of a philosophy of life and nature. Heidegger's concepts of organism, animal behavior, and environment are uniquely developed and defined with intensity.

Fundamentals of Western Philosophy is a comprehensive review of the principles underlying the four primary disciplines of Western Philosophy: Metaphysics, Epistemology, Ethics, and Political Philosophy.This work includes detailed examinations of the ideas put forth by such influential thinkers as Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, George Berkeley, John Locke, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Arthur Schopenhauer, Bertrand Russell, Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Stuart Mill, and Alexis de Tocqueville.The work also includes in-depth, chapter-by-chapter reviews of many of Western Philosophy's most essential writings, which include:• Apology/Republic (Plato)• Nicomachean Ethics/Politics (Aristotle)• Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (Kant)• Utilitarianism/On Liberty (Mill)• The Problems of Philosophy (Russell)• The Prince (Machiavelli)• Leviathan (Hobbes)• Two Treatises of Government (Locke)• The Social Contract/The Second Discourse (Rousseau)• Democracy in America (Tocqueville)• And moreWhether political, economic, cultural, or religious, all aspects of our lives are grounded in some sort of philosophical belief (even the United States Constitution has its origin in the teachings of Aristotle). Philosophy is the discipline that deals with the foundation and nature of these beliefs. Unfortunately, whether by design or otherwise, philosophy is no longer seen as the valuable component to education that it once was. Today, education concerns itself more with what to know rather than how to know. Consequently, many of us have been conditioned to accept the world as it has been presented to us by others, and without any critical thought of our own. M. James Ziccardi has written this book to help counter this dangerous trend. His objective is to provide a starting point for those who wish to have a better understanding of the beliefs that have shaped Western Society into what it is today. His hope is that by providing a better understanding of the origin of these beliefs, we will better be able to distinguish between those that have led to prosperity and those that have led to ruin.

First published in 1946, History of Western Philosophy went on to become the best-selling philosophy book of the twentieth century. A dazzlingly ambitious project, it remains unchallenged to this day as the ultimate introduction to Western philosophy. Providing a sophisticated overview of the ideas that have perplexed people from time immemorial, it is 'long on wit, intelligence and curmudgeonly scepticism', as the New York Times noted, and it is this, coupled with the sheer brilliance of its scholarship, that has made Russell's History of Western Philosophy one of the most important philosophical works of all time. -- Publisher description.

One of his great works, and a must-read for any student of philosophy, The Problems of Philosophy was written in 1912 as an introduction to Russell's thought. As an empiricist, Russell starts at the beginning with this question: Is there any knowledge in the world that is so certain that no reasonable man could doubt it? This, according to Russell, is where the work of philosophy begins. He covers topics such as reality, the nature of matter, inductive reasoning, truth, and the limits of philosophical knowledge. As one of the greatest minds in Western philosophy, Russell's thoughts are profoundly informative and provocative and suitable for anyone wishing to expand his mind. British philosopher and mathematician BERTRAND ARTHUR WILLIAM RUSSELL (1872-1970) won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. Among his many works are Why I Am Not a Christian (1927), Power: A New Social Analysis (1938), and My Philosophical Development (1959).

Heimsoeth enters boldly into the historical drama of Western philosophical thought at its deepest level and tells a story focused not so much on actors as on the plot itself: the great metaphysical questions about philosophy and life.

This book contains a series of lectures delivered by Heidegger in 1935 at the University of Freiburg. In this work Herdegger presents the broadest and the most inteligible account of the problem of being, as he sees this problem. First, he discusses the relevance of it by pointing out how this problem lies at the root not only of the most basic metaphysical questions but also of our human existence in its present historical setting. Then after a short digression into the grammatical forms and etymological roots of the word "being", Heidegger enters into a lengthy discussion of the meaning of being in Greek thinking, letting pass at the same time no opportunity to stress the impact of this thinking about being on subsequent western speculation. His contention is that the meaning of being in Greek thinking underwent a serious restriction through the opposition that was introduced between being on one hand and becoming, appearance, thinking and values on the other.