The Review of Metaphysics articles from March 2008

The Review of Metaphysics archives from March 2008

Some reflections on Aristotle and elitism.(Essay)
March 1, 2008... IT IS OFTEN SAID THAT ARISTOTLE, since he locates human happiness preeminently in the exercise of speculative intellect,--and not when it is in quest of truth about the divine, but when it can exercise that activity on truths already known in...

The fate of ancient Greek natural philosophy in the middle ages: Islam and western Christianity.
March 1, 2008... THE ENDURING IMPACT of ancient Greek science and natural philosophy on the civilizations of Islam and Latin Christianity is one of the great success stories in the history of the world. The successful transmission of Greek science into Arabic...

Hegel on desire's knowledge.(G. W. F. Hegel)(Essay)
March 1, 2008... I HEGEL'S PHENOMENOLOGY OF SPIRIT IS FOUNDED on the methodological commitment to treat experience itself as the final court of appeal for all questions concerning the ultimate nature of knowledge and of reality. (1) In the Phenomenology,...

Dimensions of absolute knowing.(Critical essay)
March 1, 2008... The phenomenologically necessary concept of receptivity is in no way exclusively opposed to that of the activity of the ego, under which all acts proceeding in a specific way from the ego-pole are to be included. On the contrary, receptivity...

The conversation that never happened (Gadamer/Derrida).(Georg Gadamer, Jacques Derrida)(Essay)
March 1, 2008... "IT WAS AN 'IMPROBABLE' ENCOUNTER, but improbable though it was, it took place." (1) This is how Diane Michelfelder and Richard Palmer initially described "The Gadamer-Derrida Encounter." Let me remind you of what happened (or did not happen)....

Adams, Robert Merrihew. A Theory of Virtue: Excellence in Being for the Good.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... ADAMS, Robert Merrihew. A Theory of Virtue: Excellence in Being for the Good. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2006. ix + 249 pp. Hardcover, 25.00 [pounds sterling]--This is an excellent study in substantive as distinct from meta ethics, moral life as...

Ambrosio, Francis J. Dante and Derrida: Face to Face.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... AMBROSIO, Francis J. Dante and Derrida: Face to Face. SUNY Series in Theology and Continental Thought. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2007. xv + 240 pp. Cloth, $75.00--Francis J. Ambrosio begins with a sentence that is either...

Anderson, Thomas C. A Commentary on Gabriel Marcel's The Mystery of Being, 2 vols.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... ANDERSON, Thomas C. A Commentary on Gabriel Marcel's The Mystery of Being, 2 vols. Marquette Series in Philosophy, No. 46. Wisconsin, Marquette University Press, 2006. 200 pp. Paper, $25.00--Thomas C. Anderson's Commentary on Gabriel Marcel's...

Blackwell, Richard J., Behind the Scenes at Galileo's Trial.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... BLACKWELL, Richard J., Behind the Scenes at Galileo's Trial. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006. xiii + 245 pp.--Without doubt "l'affaire Galileo," as Descartes called it, is one of the most studied events in the history of...

Brann, Eva. The Music of the Republic.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... BRANN, Eva. The Music of the Republic. Philadelphia: Paul Dry Books, 2004. xiv + 378 pp. Cloth, $24.95.--The Music of the Republic consists of a series of essays on several of the dialogues of Plato--Phaedo, Charmides, Timaeus, the Apology, the...

Buchheim, Thomas. Unser Verlangen nach Freiheit: Kein Traum, sondern Drama mit Zukunft.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... BUCHHEIM, Thomas. Unser Verlangen nach Freiheit: Kein Traum, sondern Drama mit Zukunft. Hamburg: Meiner Verlag, 2006. 209 pp. Paper, 14.80 [euro]--Though the question of the compatibility of freedom and determination has always been a lively...

Collins, Susan D. Aristotle and the Rediscovery of Citizenship.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... COLLINS, Susan D. Aristotle and the Rediscovery of Citizenship. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 193 pp. Cloth, $70.00--The book owes its title to the author's conviction that within the contemporary Western world we have lost sight...

Darwall, Stephen. The Second-Person Standpoint: Morality, Respect, and Accountability.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... DARWALL, Stephen. The Second-Person Standpoint: Morality, Respect, and Accountability. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006. 362 pp. Cloth, $49.95--The second-person standpoint, the subject of Darwall's book, is the stance we take up...

Dummett, Michael. Thought and Reality.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... DUMMETT, Michael. Thought and Reality. Lines of Thought Series. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2006. ix + 111 pp. Cloth, $29.95--This tiny book comprises slightly revised versions of the Gifford lectures that Dummett gave at St. Andrews in 1996-97....

Eisgruber, Christopher, and Sager, Lawrence. Religious Freedom and the Constitution.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... EISGRUBER, Christopher, and SAGER, Lawrence. Religious Freedom and the Constitution. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2007. 333 pp. Cloth, $28.90--The authors have drafted a scholarly roadmap through the narrow streets of the...

Evans, C. Stephen. Kierkegaard on Faith and the Self: Collected Essays.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... EVANS, C. Stephen. Kierkegaard on Faith and the Self: Collected Essays. Baylor University Press, 2006. 352 pp. Cloth, $49.95--This set of 19 chapters by an analytically astute and seasoned Kierkegaard scholar takes up the sorts of questions a...

Fabre, Cecile. Whose Body Is It Anyway?: Justice and the Integrity of the Person.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... FABRE, Cecile. Whose Body is it Anyway?: Justice and the Integrity of the Person. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2006. xiv + 232 pp.--In Whose Body is it Anyway?, Cecile Fabre challenges a common assumption among theorists of justice regarding rights...

Fiasse, Gaelle. L'autre et l'amitie chez Aristote et Paul Ricoeur : analyses ethiques et ontologiques.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... FIASSE, Gaelle. L'autre et l'amitie chez Aristote et Paul Ricoeur : analyses ethiques et ontologiques. Bibliotheque Philosophique de Louvain 69. Editions de l'Institut Superieur de Philosophie Louvain-la-Neuve; Editions Peeters: Louvain, Paris,...

Franck, Juan F. From the Nature of the Mind to Personal Dignity: The Significance of Rosmini's Philosophy.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... FRANCK, Juan F. From the Nature of the Mind to Personal Dignity: The Significance of Rosmini's Philosophy. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2006. vi + 209 pp. Cloth, $59.95--Anyone looking for a clear and thoughtful...

Grayling, Anthony. Descartes, The Life and Time of a Genius.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... GRAYLING, Anthony. Descartes, The Life and Time of a Genius. New York: Walker and Company, 2006. 368 pp. Cloth $27.95--As one of the best known philosophers, both in and out of academia, Descartes deserves this useful, highly readable...

Guyer, Paul. Kant.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... GUYER, Paul. Kant. New York: Routledge, 2006. xiii + 456 pp. Paper, $22.95--Guyer's addition to the new Routledge Philosophers introductory series is a very good book. In one volume he summarises Kant's entire philosophical output and presents...

Hanna, Robert. Rationality and Logic.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... HANNA, Robert. Rationality and Logic. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2006. xxii + 316 pp. Cloth, $35.00--This book is a densely-argued and ambitious defense of a "broadly Kantian theory of human rationality and logic" (p. xx) that Hanna calls...

Hawthorne, John. Metaphysical Essays.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... HAWTHORNE, John. Metaphysical Essays. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. x + 299 pp.--Hawthorne's purpose in publishing this collection of fifteen essays is to "detail my struggle with a range of topics that lie at the heart of metaphysics"...

Hoffmans, Stella, and Reis, Burkhard, editors. The Virtuous Life in Greek Ethics.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... HOFFMANS, Stella, and REIS, Burkhard, editors. The Virtuous Life in Greek Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. ix + 277 pp. This collection of essays on the virtuous life in Greek ethics is meant to be a celebration of the 65th...

Hyland, Drew A., and Manoussakis, John Panteleimon, editors. Heidegger and the Greeks: Interpretive Essays.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... HYLAND, Drew A., and MANOUSSAKIS, John Panteleimon, editors. Heidegger and the Greeks: Interpretive Essays. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2006. xviii + 194 pp. Cloth, $65.00; paper, $24.95--This volume arose from a conference...

Kenna, Constance and Bates, Stanley, Walter Cerf: A Personal Odyssey.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... KENNA, Constance and BATES, Stanley, Walter Cerf: A Personal Odyssey. Middlebury, Vermont: College Museum of Art, 2007. 269 pp.--The claims of beauty upon the serious attention of philosophers have glanced like pebbles across the surface of the...

Konstan, David. The Emotions of the Ancient Greeks. Studies in Aristotle and Classical Literature.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... KONSTAN, David. The Emotions of the Ancient Greeks. Studies in Aristotle and Classical Literature. Toronto, Buffalo, London: University of Toronto Press, 2006. 422 pp.--This work has as its starting point the author's presentations in the...

Lepore, Ernest, and Ludwig, Kirk. Donald Davidson, Meaning, Truth, Language, and Reality.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... LEPORE, Ernest, and LUDWIG, Kirk. Donald Davidson, Meaning, Truth, Language, and Reality. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2005. ix + 446 pp. Cloth, $74.00.--The concern of the present authors is to provide the reader with a critical and rigorous...

Mansfield, Harvey C. Manliness.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... MANSFIELD, Harvey C. Manliness. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006. xiv+ 289 pp. Cloth, $27.50; paper, $17.00--Harvey Mansfield defends manliness, which he thinks is wrongly disdained in our "gender-neutral" society. Since manliness is most...

Marcus, Solomon. Paradigme universale II. Pornind de la un zimbet.(Temp si idealism: Metafizica timpului la Kant si Leibniz)(Book review)
March 1, 2008... MARCUS, Solomon. Paradigme universale II. Pornind de la un zimbet. Pitesti: Paralela 45, 2006. 319 pp. and NITA, Adrian. Temp si idealism. Metafizica timpului la Kant si Leibniz. Bucharest: Paideia, 2005. 295 pp.--Current Romanian...

McInerny, Ralph. Praeambula fidei: Thomism and the God of the Philosophers.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... McINERNY, Ralph. Praeambula fidei: Thomism and the God of the Philosophers. Washington, D. C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2006. ix + 313 pp.--At a time when agnosticism or outright atheism seems to be the order of the day in...

Mendola, Joseph. Goodness and Justice: A Consequentialist Moral Theory.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... MENDOLA, Joseph. Goodness and Justice: A Consequentialist Moral Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 326 pp. Cloth, $80.00--As novel as it is unfashionable, Goodness and Justice seeks to evade certain intuitive objections to...

Mohr, Richard D. God and Forms in Plato.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... MOHR, Richard D. God and Forms in Plato. Las Vegas: Parmenides Publishing, 2005. xxv + 279 pp. Paper, $28.00.--This is a re-edition of a collection of essays originally published as The Platonic Cosmology (Brill, 1985). The new edition contains...

Nemoianu, Virgil. Imperfection and Defeat: the Role of Aesthetic Imagination in Human Society.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... NEMOIANU, Virgil. Imperfection and Defeat: the Role of Aesthetic Imagination in Human Society. Budapest and New York: Central European University Press, 2006. 150 pp.--This volume may be best described as a philosophy of history. An...

O'Meara, Dominic J. Platonopolis. Platonic Political Philosophy in Late Antiquity.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... O'MEARA, Dominic J. Platonopolis. Platonic Political Philosophy in Late Antiquity. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2005. 264 pp. Paper, $45.00--With the publication of the paperback edition of this book, Oxford University Press has made readily...

Paulson, Ronald. Sin and Evil: Moral Values in Literature.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... PAULSON, Ronald. Sin and Evil: Moral Values in Literature. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2007. viii + 403 pp. Cloth, $42.00-This informative journey through centuries of literature, mostly British and American fiction, is the...

Ranasinghe, Nalin. Logos and Eros: Essays Honoring Stanley Rosen.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... RANASINGHE, Nalin. Logos and Eros: Essays Honoring Stanley Rosen. South Bend, Indiana: St. Augustine's Press, 2006. 271 pp. Cloth, $45.00--According to Stanley Rosen, philosophy is aporetic but not impossible. By virtue of its nature,...

Rockmore, Thomas. On Constructivist Epistemology.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... ROCKMORE, Thomas. On Constructivist Epistemology. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littelfield, 2005. v + 164 pp. Cloth, $ 56.00--This book provides a spirited defense and elaboration of Epistemological Constructivism, or EC. The core idea of EC is that...

Rorty, Richard. Philosophy as Cultural Politics.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... RORTY, Richard. Philosophy as Cultural Politics. Philosophical Papers 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. xii + 206 pp. Cloth, $80.00; paper, $22.99--The essays in this collection form a manifesto designed to affirm (and sometimes...

Rowe, William. Can God be Free?(Book review)
March 1, 2008... ROWE, William. Can God be Free? New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. x + 173 pp. Cloth, $69.95; paper, $35.00--According to traditional theism, God is maximally great. If God is maximally great, then God must create the best world. But then...

Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph. Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... SCHELLING, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph. Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom. Translated and with an Introduction and Notes by Jeff Love and Johannes Schmidt. SUNY Series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy. Albany,...

Schaefer, David. Illiberal Justice: John Rawls vs. the American Political Tradition.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... SCHAEFER, David. Illiberal Justice: John Rawls vs. the American Political Tradition. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 2007. 384 pp. Cloth, $49.95; paper, $24.95.--Illiberal Justice is a study of John Rawls's "theory of justice"...

Thomas, Alan. Value and Context: The Nature of Moral and Political Knowledge.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... THOMAS, Alan. Value and Context: The Nature of Moral and Political Knowledge. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2006. 347 pp.--Thomas has written a wide ranging and dense scholarly work on the foundations of ethics. He constructs a cognitivist theory of...

Winfield, Richard Dien. From Concept to Objectivity: Thinking Through Hegel's Subjective Logic.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... WINFIELD, Richard Dien. From Concept to Objectivity: Thinking Through Hegel's Subjective Logic. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2006. x + 150 pp. Cloth, $79.95.--Hegel's logic remains among the most problematic of philosophical...

Wiercinski, Andrzej. Inspired Metaphysics? Gustav Siewerth's Hermeneutic Reading of the Onto-Theological Tradition.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... WIERCINSKI, Andrzej. Inspired Metaphysics? Gustav Siewerth's Hermeneutic Reading of the Onto-Theological Tradition. International Institute for Hermeneutics, vol. 2. Toronto: The Hermeneutic Press, 2003. x + 223 pp. Paper, $35.00--Despite his...

American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly Vol. 81, No. 3, Summer 2007.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
March 1, 2008... Phronesis Transformed: From Aristotle to Heidegger to Ricoeur, THOMAS P. HOHLER The article begins with Aristotle's discussion of phronesis for ethical life, only to discover the absence of a universal dimension. This issue of parochialism...

Australasian Journal of Philosophy: Vol. 85, No. 4, December 2007.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
March 1, 2008... Desire and Self-knowledge, JORDI FERNANDEZ In this paper, Jordi Fernandez proposes an account of self-knowledge for desires. According to this account, we form beliefs about our own desires on the basis of our grounds for those desires....

International Philosophical Quarterly: Vol. 47, No. 3, September 2007.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
March 1, 2008... On Burying the Dead: Funerary Rites and the Dialectic of Freedom and Nature in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, DAVID CIAVATTA Hegel's specific interpretation of burial rituals in the Phenomenology is an important part of his general...

International Philosophical Quarterly: Vol. 47, No. 4, December 2007.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
March 1, 2008... Ethical Experience and the Motives for Practical Rationality: A Kantian/Levinasian Criticism of McDowell's Ethics, MICHAEL D. BARBER John McDowell's ethical writings interpret ethical experience as intentional, socially-conditioned,...

Journal of the History of Philosophy: Vol. 46, No. 2, April 2008.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
March 1, 2008... No Man Is an Island: Nature and Neo-Platonic Ethics in Hayy Ibn Yaqzan, TANELI KUKKONEN Ibn Tufayl's story of the solitary philosopher Hayy who, aided only by the power of his natural reason, comes to his own on an uninhabited equatorial...

Mind: Vol. 116, No. 464, November 2007.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
March 1, 2008... Syntax, More or Less, JOHN COLLINS Much of the best contemporary work in the philosophy of language and content makes appeal to the theories developed in generative syntax. In particular, there is a presumption that--at some level and in...

Philosophical Quarterly: Vol. 58, No. 230, January 2008.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
March 1, 2008... Turtles All The Way Down: Regress, Priority and Fundamentality, ROSS P. CAMERON Cameron addresses an intuition commonly endorsed by metaphysicians, that there must be a fundamental layer of reality, that is, that chains of ontological...

Philosophy: Vol. 82, No. 4, October 2007.(PHILOSOPHICAL ABSTRACTS)
March 1, 2008... God, Physicalism, and the Totality of Facts, ANDREA CHRISTOFIDOU The paper offers a general critique of physicalism and of one variety of nonphysicalism, arguing that such theses are untenable. By distinguishing between the absolute...