Edward Feser Livres

Actuality and potentiality, substantial form and prime matter, efficient causality and teleology are among the fundamental concepts of Aristotelian philosophy of nature. Aristotle's Revenge argues that these concepts are not only compatible with modern science, but are implicitly presupposed by modern science. Among the many topics covered are: The metaphysical presuppositions of scientific method. The status of scientific realism The metaphysics of space and time. The metaphysics of quantum mechanics. Reductionism in chemistry and biology. The metaphysics of evolution. Neuroscientific reductionism. The book interacts heavily with the literature on these issues in contemporary analytic metaphysics and philosophy of science, so as to bring contemporary philosophy and science into dialogue with the Aristotelian tradition.

Professor Edward Feser argues here that Richard Dawkins has it all wrong. God is not a hypothesis, to be replaced if a more satisfactory theory comes up. Quite the contrary, Feser suggests, the existence of God can be proved by rationally compelling arguments. He thinks that not only is Dawkins wrong about this but so are his fellow atheists Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris, all three of whom are frequently subject to humorous and telling remarks.

Scholastic Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction provides an overview of Scholastic approaches to causation, substance, essence, modality, identity, persistence, teleology, and other issues in fundamental metaphysics. The book interacts heavily with the literature on these issues in contemporary analytic metaphysics, so as to facilitate the analytic reader’s understanding of Scholastic ideas and the Scholastic reader’s understanding of contemporary analytic philosophy. The Aristotelian theory of actuality and potentiality provides the organizing theme, and the crucial dependence of Scholastic metaphysics on this theory is demonstrated. The book is written from a Thomistic point of view, but Scotist and Suarezian positions are treated as well where they diverge from the Thomistic position.

Charting the life and thought of this hugely influential medieval thinker.One of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the history of Western thought, St Thomas Aquinas established the foundations for much of modern philosophy of religion, and is infamous for his arguments for the existence of God. In this cogent and multifaceted introduction to the great Saint's work, Edward Feser argues that you cannot fully understand Aquinas' philosophy without his theology and vice-versa. Covering his thoughts on the soul, natural law, metaphysics, and the interaction of faith and reason, this will prove a indispensable resource for students, experts or the general reader.

Five Proofs of the Existence of GodÊprovides a detailed, updated exposition and defense of five of the historically most important (but in recent years largely neglected) philosophical proofs of God's existence: the Aristotelian proof, the Neo-Platonic proof, the Augustinian proof, the Thomistic proof, and the Rationalist proof. Ê This book also offers a detailed treatment of each of the key divine attributes -- unity, simplicity, eternity, omnipotence, omniscience, perfect goodness, and so forth -- showing that they must be possessed by the God whose existence is demonstrated by the proofs.Ê Finally, it answers at length all of the objections that have been leveled against these proofs. Ê This book offers as ambitious and complete a defense of traditional natural theology as is currently in print.Ê Its aim is to vindicate the view of the greatest philosophers of the past -- thinkers like Aristotle, Plotinus, Augustine, Aquinas, Leibniz, and many others -- that the existence of God can be established with certainty by way of purely rational arguments.Ê It thereby serves as a refutation both of atheism and of the fideism which gives aid and comfort to atheism. Ê

In this lively introduction to the philosophy of mind, important questions are tackled with clear explanations of all the theories of mind, from the classic accounts of Descartes and Aquinas to the developments in computing and cognitive science

"Using straightforward language without sacrificing philosophical depth, this guide outlines the major schools of thought and their different perspectives on consciousness, personal identity, and the mind-body problem. It takes seriously the arguments both for and against dualism - the view that there is a real distinction between mind and body - and is thus the first introductory text to reflect the growing challenge by contemporary philosophers to the dominant materialist doctrine." "Full of examples and scenarios, and featuring a glossary of key terms and chapter by chapter guides to further reading, this is a clearly-written, balanced and up-to-date introduction to one of the most popular fields in modern philosophy."--BOOK JACKET.

"In a series of publications over the course of a decade, Edward Feser has argued for the defensibility and abiding relevance to issues in contemporary philosophy of Scholastic ideas and arguments, and especially of Aristotelian-Thomistic ideas and arguments. This work has been in the vein of what has come to be known as "analytical Thomism," though the spirit of the project goes back at least to the Neo-Scholasticism of the period from the late nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth. Neo-Scholastic Essays collects some of Feser's academic papers from the last ten years on themes in metaphysics and philosophy of nature, natural theology, philosophy of mind, and ethics. Among the diverse topics covered are: the relationship between Aristotelian and Newtonian conceptions of motion; the varieties of teleological description and explanation; the proper interpretation of Aquinas's Five Ways; the impossibility of a materialist account of the human intellect; the philosophies of mind of Kripke, Searle, Popper, and Hayek; the metaphysics of value; the natural law understanding of the ethics of private property and taxation; a critique of political libertarianism; and the defensibility and indispensability to a proper understanding of sexual morality of the traditional "perverted faculty argument.""--

Die zentrale Behauptung des „Neuen Atheismus“ von Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett und anderen lautet, dass es seit mehreren Jahrhunderten einen Krieg zwischen Wissenschaft und Religion gibt und die Religion diesen Krieg ständig verliert. Die Menschheit sei heute an einem Punkt angelangt, der eine vollkommen säkulare wissenschaftliche Darstellung der Welt möglich macht. Deshalb gäbe es keinen Grund mehr, warum eine rationale Person irgendeiner Religion Beachtung schenken sollte. Wie Edward Feser in diesem Buch zeigt, gab es nie einen Krieg zwischen Wissenschaft und Religion. Stattdessen handelt es sich um einen Konflikt zwischen zwei völlig verschiedenen philosophischen Konzeptionen: auf der einen Seite, die klassische „teleologische“ Sicht von Platon, Aristoteles, Augustinus und Thomas von Aquin und auf der anderen Seite ein „mechanistisches“ Weltbild ohne Sinn und Zweck. Der Autor führt in dieser Schrift in die wichtigsten Grundlagen der aristotelisch-thomistischen Philosophie ein und macht deutlich, dass die so genannte „wissenschaftliche Weltanschauung“ der Neuen Atheisten zwangsläufig die eigenen rationalen Grundlagen der Wissenschaften untergräbt.