A magisterial work in the grand tradition of systematic philosophy not seen in this country perhaps since Alfred North Whitehead's Process and Reality (1929), this book by a leading German philosopher aims to resurrect systematic philosophy as an essential part of the theoretical enterprise. In Lorenz Puntel's vision, philosophy as the universal science can be holistic without being imperialistic.

The book presents theoretical frameworks as indispensable for any and all theorizing. It argues that there can be truths only relative to sufficiently determinable theoretical...