Metaphysics and the good : themes from the philosophy of Robert Merrihew Adams / edited by Samuel Newlands and Larry M. Jorgensen.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Newlands, Samuel.

Jorgensen, Larry M.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Philosophy, Modern.

Adams, Robert Merrihew.

Physical Description:

416 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2009.

Summary:

Throughout his philosophical career at Michigan, UCLA, Yale, and Oxford, Robert Merrihew Adams' wide-ranging contributions have deeply shaped the structure of debates in metaphysics, philosophy of religion, history of philosophy, and ethics. Metaphysics and the Good: Themes from the Philosophy of Robert Merrihew Adams provides, for the first time, a collection of original essays by leading philosophers dedicated to exploring many of the facets of Adams' thought, a philosophical outlook that combines Christian theism, neo-Platonism, moral realism, metaphysical idealism, and a commitment to both historical sensitivity and rigorous analytic engagement. Tied together by their efforts to explore, expand, and experiment with Adams' view, these eleven essay are coupled with an intellectual autobiography by Adams himself that was commissioned especially for this volume. As the introduction to the volume explains, the purpose of Metaphysics and the Good is to explore Adams' work in the very manner that he prescribes for understanding the ideas of others. By experimenting with Adams' conclusions, 'pulling a string here to see what moves over there, so to speak,' as Adams puts it, our authors throw into greater relief what makes Adams such an original and stimulating philosopher. In doing so, these essays contribute not only to the exploration of Adams' continuing interests, but they also advance original and important philosophical insights of their own.

Contents:

Introduction / Samuel Newlands and Larry M. Jorgensen

A philosophical autobiography / Robert Merrihew Adams

Yet another anti-molinist argument / Dean Zimmerman

The contingency of existence / Michael Nelson

Consciousness and introspective inaccuracy / Derk Pereboom

Kant on apriority and the spontaneity of cognition / Houston Smit

Moral necessity in Leibniz's account of human freedom / R. C. Sleigh, Jr

Leibniz on final causation / Marleen Rozemond

Does efficient causation presuppose final causation? Aquinas vs. early modern mechanism / Paul Hoffman

Herder and Kant on history: their enlightenment faith / Allen Wood

Moral obligations and social commands / Susan Wolf

Adams on the nature of obligation / Jeffrey Stout

The grasshopper, aristotle, Bob Adams, and me / Shelly Kagan.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [405]-411) and index.

ISBN:

9780199542680

0199542686

OCLC:

276228914