J.M. E. McTaggart : Substance, self and immortality / Ramesh K. Sharma.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sharma, Ramesh K. (Ramesh Kumar), 1945-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

McTaggart, John McTaggart Ellis, 1866-1925.

McTaggart, John McTaggart Ellis.

Philosophy, Modern--19th century.

Philosophy, Modern.

Philosophy, Modern--20th century.

Philosophers--Great Britain--Biography.

Philosophers.

Great Britain.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xviii, 525 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham : Lexington Books, 2015.

Summary:

J.M.E. McTaggart seeks to critically expound and appraise the British philosopher's thought with respect to three principal themes of his philosophy: substance, self, and immortality. Ramesh Kumar Sharma guides the reader through the labyrinths of McTaggart's intricate arguments and defends many of McTaggart's highly unorthodox doctrines and conclusions. While doing this, Sharma draws on the works of, among others, Berkeley, Hegel, and Leibniz, and at the same time attacks numerous modern-day physicalist theories that propound mind-brain identity as against the presumed reality of the self and consciousness. This work is thus recommended both for philosophers and researchers interested in: (1) such perennial metaphysical subjects as reality, existence, possibility, the basic ontological categories of substance, qualities, and relations (universals); (2) the question of the reality of the self; (3) McTaggart's overall vision of the universe or Absolute, and his rejection of the more or less predominant view that the Absolute is God; (4) McTaggart's unique doctrine, after Plato, of the immortality of the self combined with (the self's) pre-existence, post-existence, and plurality of lives; and (5) his extraordinary, but important, views on perception. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction 1

2 Reality and Existence 41

3 Substance and Characteristics 83

4 The Nature of Substance: Key Doctrines and Concepts 129

5 Matter and Sensa: Their Respective Claims To Reality (Substancehood) 187

6 The Case of Spirit: McTaggart's Idealism 209

7 Reality of the Self: Empirical Considerations 243

8 Selves and the Absolute 301

9 The Absolute, (Sell), and God 329

10 The Self and Immortality 361

11 Pre-existence, (Post-existence), and Plurality of Lives 393

12 Perception 429

13 Afterword 473.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 497-510) and index.

ISBN:

0739186752

9780739186756

OCLC:

913556844