Peter C. Hodgson engages the speculative reconstruction of Christian theology that is accomplished by Hegel's Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion, and provides a close reading of the critical edition of the lectures. He analyses Hegel's concept of the object and purpose of the philosophy of religion, his critique of the theology of his time, his approach to Christianity within the framework of the concept of religion, his concept of God, his reconstruction of central Christian themes, and his placing of Christianity among the religions of the world. Hodgson makes a case for the contemporary theological significance of Hegel by identifying currently contested sites of interpretation and their Hegelian resolution.

Scholarship in the history of modern philosophy has changed dramatically in the last hundred years. Early in the twentieth century, philosophers such as Bertrand Russell and others regularly wrote on historical topics and figures, albeit from the perspective of their own contemporary concerns. But gradually, interest in the historical Descartes, Kant, and other figures fell off as more analytical approaches came to dominate. This lasted until the late 1960's, which saw a profound renaissance in historical scholarship. Philosophers rediscovered the vitality of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century philosophy, using both analytical approaches--which look at historical problems through a contemporary conceptual lens--and historical approaches, which reconstruct the views of philosophers from within their conceptual framework.
There is now a vital, international community engaged in this scholarship. This volume showcases the best work now being written on a wide range of issues in early modern philosophy--a period in which numerous philosophical problems that continue to engage us today were first identified by Locke, Berkeley, Kant, Spinoza, Leibniz, and Descartes. Collectively the articles exemplify the diversity of methodological perspectives currently being employed by some of the most distinguished, internationally recognized experts in the field.

One of the major works of John Locke (1632-1704), this detailed and comprehensive guide is mainly concerned with moral education. While concentrating on its role in creating a responsible adult and on the importance of virtue as a transmitter of culture, it also ranges over such practical topics as the effectiveness of physical punishment, how best to teach foreign languages, table manners, and varieties of crying. This critical edition is based on the third (1695) edition, and includes variants from the first five editions, from the Harvard University Library and the British Library drafts, and from Locke's correspondence to Edward Clarke and his wife.

This work provides a general guide to the domain of contemporary philosophy for the nonspecialist.

Although scholars have written extensively on Hegel s treatment of religion and politics separately, much less has been written about the connections between the two in his thought. Religion in Hegel s philosophy occupies a difficult position relative to politics, existing both within the ethical and historical reality of the state and at the same time maintaining an absolute, transcendent identity. In addition, Hegel s views on the relationship between the two were often revised and refined over time in both his written works and his lectures. His thinking on the subject, however, provides a fascinating look at an element of his practical philosophy that was as controversial in his time as it is in ours. This book highlights various approaches to this intersection in Hegel s thought and evaluates its relevance to contemporary problems, considering issues such as religious pluralism and tolerance, conflicts between Islam and Christianity, and tensions between the secular and religious state."

What exactly are the reasons we do things, and how are they related to the resulting actions? Bittner explores this question and proposes an answer: a reason is a response to that state of affairs. This is actually in complete opposition to the broad consensus in Western philosophy that reasons are items, or configurations of items in the mind (i.e psychological states). That consensus is firmly rejected by Bittner, who tries to retrieve a thoroughly worldly understanding of reasons. Elegantly written, this work is a substantial contribution to the fields of rationality, ethics, and action theory.

Vladimir S. Soloviev (1853–1900), moral philosopher, social and literary critic, theologian, and poet, is considered one of Russia’s greatest philosophers. But Soloviev is relatively unknown in the West, despite his close association with Fyodor Dostoevsky, who modeled one of his most famous literary characters, Alyosha Karamazov, on Soloviev. In The Heart of Reality, Vladimir Wozniuk offers lucid translations, a substantive introduction, and careful annotations that make many of Soloviev’s writings accessible for the first time to an English-speaking audience. Soloviev worked tirelessly in the name of the mystical body of the Universal Church. The vast bulk of his writings can be construed as promoting, in one way or another, the cause of ecumenism. His essays also display the influence of Platonic and German Idealism and strands of Thomistic thinking. Wozniuk demonstrates the consistency of Soloviev’s biblically based thought on the subjects of aesthetics, love, and ethics, while at the same time clarifying Soloviev’s concept of vseedinstvo (the unity of spiritual and material), especially as applied to literature. Containing many previously untranslated essays, The Heart of Reality situates Soloviev more clearly in the mainstream of Western religious philosophy and Christian thought.

The system taken within Hegel's philosophy of history is 'dialectical progression'! His model starts with an existing thesis, with the contradictions incased to its structure. These contradictions unwittingly create the thesis direct opposite, or antithesis, bringing about a period of conflict between the two. The new synthesis that emerges from this conflict then finds its own internal contradictions, and the process continues. The Hegelian dialectic is called 'progressive' because each new thesis represent an advance over the previous thesis, continually until a final goal is reached. To apply Hegel's view of world history, it represents the manner in which the Spirit develops gradually into its present form. Ultimately it recognizes its own essential freedom. To Hegel, "world history is thus the unfolding of Spirit in time, as nature is the unfolding of the 'idea' in space." The dialectic process thus virtually defines the meaning of history for Hegel.

The Dictionary of Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Dutch Philosophers covers the 200-year period of the Dutch Republic, when its people experienced a Golden Age in the arts, in sea trade and in philosophy that left a lasting impression on European culture. The Dutch witnessed nothing less than a philosophical revolution, driven to a large extent by the migres from France, Finland, Portugal, Britain, Switzerland, Germany and elsewhere, who provided the Golden Age with its thinkers. As a result of the unique position held by the Netherlands during the period, this dictionary constitutes an anthology of European thought at large. Included are all foreign thinkers (such as Rene Descartes and Pierre Bayle) who exercised a major influence on the philosophical life of the Dutch Republic and who developed their ideas through interaction with other philosophers residing there. Among these resident philosophers, as well as all the well-known figures such as Benedict Spinoza, many lesser-known ones are included. Each entry includes a bibliography listing the subject's major and minor philosophical writings and giving guidance to further reading. A system of cross-references makes it easy for the reader to pursue connections and influences. In addition, the dictionary features entries on Dutch universities, city academies, publishing houses and journals. This work will be of interest to all students and scholars of the period.

The "aphoristic form causes difficulty," Nietzsche argued in 1887, for "today this form is not taken seriously enough." Nietzsche's Aphoristic Challenge addresses this continued neglect by examining the role of the aphorism in Nietzsche's writings, the generic traditions in which he writes, the motivations behind his turn to the aphorism, and the reasons for his sustained interest in the form. This literary-philosophical study argues that while the aphorism is the paradigmatic form for Nietzsche's writing, its function shifts as his thought evolves. His turn to the aphorism in Human, All Too Human arises not out of necessity, but from the new freedoms of expression enabled by his critiques of language and his emerging interest in natural science. Yet the model interpretation of an aphorism Nietzsche offers years later in On the Genealogy of Morals tells a different story, revealing more about how the mature Nietzsche wants his earlier works read than how they were actually written. This study argues nevertheless that consistencies emerge in Nietzsche's understanding of the aphorism, and these, perhaps counter-intuitively, are best understood in terms of excess. Recognizing the changes and consistencies in Nietzsche's aphoristic mode helps establish a context that enables the reader to navigate the aphorism books and better answer the challenges they pose.

The recovery of nature has been a unifying and enduring aim of the writings of Ralph McInerny, Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Notre Dame, director of the Jacques Maritain Center, former director of the Medieval Institute, and author of numerous works in philosophy, literature, and journalism. While many of the fads that have plagued philosophy and theology during the last half-century have come and gone, recent developments suggest that McInerny's commitment to Aristotelian-Thomism was boldly, if quietly, prophetic. In his persistent, clear, and creative defenses of natural theology and natural law, McInerny has appealed to nature to establish a dialogue between theists and non-theists, to contribute to the moral and political renewal of American culture, and particularly to provide some of the philosophical foundations for Catholic theology.

This volume brings together essays by an impressive group of scholars, including William Wallace, O.P., Jude P. Dougherty, John Haldane, Thomas DeKoninck, Alasdair MacIntyre, David Solomon, Daniel McInerny, Janet E. Smith, Michael Novak, Stanley Hauerwas, Laura Garcia, Alvin Plantinga, Alfred J. Freddoso, and David B. Burrell, C.S.C.

Is metaphysics possible? This book argues that the greatest threat to its viability derives from a self-destructive formalism. If what is essential to the nature of physical entities are the properties they have in common (as formalism holds), the inevitable result will be a reductionist collapse leaving only being or physical matter or some other underlying ground. In Essential Difference, James Blachowicz first constructs a one-to-one historical parallel between the modern crisis surrounding formalism (Hume/Kant/Hegel) and the ancient version (Parmenides/Plato/Aristotle), focusing on the principles of differentiation and individuation that underlie Aristotle s and Hegel s antireductionist programs. He then proposes a contemporary metaphysical theory of emergence in the context of recent philosophy of science. This theory, founded on the principle of the nonderivability of actual states from possible states, holds that the differences among physical, biological, and mental phenomena are essential to any metaphysics. Essential Difference is the only focused treatment of this problem and is itself essential for any understanding of the nature of metaphysics."

This book expounds an analytical method that focuses on paradoxes - a method originally associated with deconstructive philosophy, but bearing little resemblance to the interpretive techniques that have come to be designated as 'deconstruction' in literary studies. The book then applies its paradox-focused method as it undertakes a sustained investigation of Thomas Hobbe's political philosophy. Hobbes's theory of the advent and purpose of government turns out to reveal the impossibility of the very developments which it portrays as indispensable.

"The Crisis of Causality" deals with the reaction of the Dutch Calvinist theologian Gisbertus Voetius (1589-1676) to the "New Philosophy" of Rene Descartes (1596-1650). Voetius not only criticised the Cartesian idea of a mechanical Universe; he also foresaw that shifting conceptions of natural causality would make it impossible for theologians to explain the relationship between God and Creation in philosophical terms. This threatened the status of theology as a scientific discipline. Apart from a detailed analysis of the Scholastic and Cartesian notions of causality, the book offers new perspectives on related subjects, such as seventeenth-century university training and the Cartesian method of science. It will be of great importance to any student of seventeenth-century intellectual history, philosophy, theology and history of science.

is a comprehensive examination of the philosophy of the leading Dutch Christian philosopher, Herman Dooyeweerd (1894-1977). Dr. P. B. Cliteur, the President of the Humanist League in the Netherlands, said that "Herman Dooyeweerd is undoubtedly the most formidable Dutch philosopher of the 20th century." Dooyeweerd has shaped Dutch thinking in profound and all-encompassing ways. This academic monograph is a bold attempt to understand and critically assess his thoughts and his contribution to the world. No student of philosophy or Dutch studies can afford to go without this book. Rev. Dr. Yong-Joon Choi is the Visiting Professor of Philosophy at the Vancouver Institute for Evangelical Worldview and the Senior Pastor of Hanbit Korean Church in Cologne, Germany. Rev. Dr. Choi received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Potchefstroom University in South Africa and holds the Doctorandus degree in Philosophy from the Free University of Amsterdam, the M.Div. degree from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, and B.A. in Sociology from Seoul National University.

An examination of the relationship between philosophical and economic thought in the nineteenth century, Economy and Self explores how the free enterprise theory of Classical Economy influenced and was in turn influenced by the philosophical notion of alienation common in the writings of the age.

A scholarly edition of a work by Adam Smith. The edition presents an authoritative text, together with an introduction, commentary notes, and scholarly apparatus.