The Metaphysics of Good and Evil

ISBN-13: 9781032239415 / Angielski / Miękka / 2021 / 240 str.

David S. Oderberg

Opis

The first, full-length contemporary defence, from the perspective of analytic philosophy, of the Scholastic theory of good and evil – the theory of Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, and most medieval and Thomistic philosophers.

Recenzje

"Oderberg’s work provides theologians the clarity necessary to avoid spouting platitudes or nonsense when posed the question: if evil is, in itself, nothing but a lack of being, how can evil wreak so much damage? Oderberg’s response is that the theory on which evils are privations of being does not entail that evils are not real. Despite sin and evil remaining mysterious features of the world, then, the first half of the book and the concluding chapter on the reality of evil would be fruitful to anyone looking to understand or defend classical Christian reflection concerning the mysterium iniquitatis." - Fr. James Dominic Rooney, OP, Religious Studies Review

Spis treści

Introduction  Part I A Theory of Good as Fulfilment 1. The basic theory: appetites and fulfilment  2. Developing the Scholastic conception of goodness  3. A case for inorganic goodness  4. The good in the living  Part II A Theory of Evil as Privation 5. In defence of the privation theory  6. Evil and truthmaking 7. Evil as cause and effect  8. The reality of evil

O autorze

David S. Oderberg is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Reading, England. He is the author of many articles in metaphysics, ethics, philosophy of religion, and other subjects. His books include Moral Theory: A Non-Consequentialist Approach (2000), Applied Ethics: A Non-Consequentialist Approach (2000) and Real Essentialism (2007). He is also the editor of several collections on ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Prof. Oderberg edits Ratio, an international journal of analytic philosophy.