Books: an excellent overview of scholastic metaphysics in the tradition of Thomas Aquinas

Scholastic Metaphysics: 

Edward Feser’s Introduction

by William E. Carroll

Edward Feser’s latest book gives readers who are familiar with analytic philosophy an excellent overview of scholastic metaphysics in the tradition of Thomas Aquinas.

Upon entering a popular bookstore, it is not unusual to find a section devoted to “New Age Spirituality” located next to one labeled “Metaphysics.” Indeed, in the popular imagination, the word “metaphysics” is often synonymous with the occult and the obscure, empty word games with no reference to reality. For those who believe that the natural sciences tell us all that we need to know about the world, viewing metaphysics as an area of rational inquiry seems absurd. One might take some pleasure in metaphysics’ abstract mental gymnastics, they reason, but no one ought to think that philosophy provides truths about the world beyond those offered by the sciences.

For those contemporary thinkers who do use metaphysics to examine fundamental principles about reality, there remains a strong suspicion that metaphysics in the tradition of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas is a dead end. At most, one might look to “scholastic metaphysics” as a set of fossils: a subject for historical study, but not to be employed as a way to knowledge of the world. But a new book is setting out to challenge that assumption.

Bringing Scholastic Metaphysics into the Present

In Scholastic Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction, Edward Feser defends traditional Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysics. By “scholastic,” Feser means the metaphysical reflection characterized by thinkers in the Latin Middle Ages, most notably (but not exclusively) Thomas Aquinas. The book is neither a historical survey of the origins and development of scholastic metaphysics nor a sustained account of the development of Thomistic thought. Rather, Feser argues that Thomistic philosophy can expand and enrich today’s metaphysical reflection. His book is an effective challenge to anyone who would dismiss scholastic metaphysics as irrelevant.

Those familiar with Feser’s many books and lively blog will recognize his characteristic vigor and his wide-ranging reading of contemporary and medieval sources. This book is particularly aimed at those trained in the Anglo-American analytical tradition, repeatedly referencing contemporary debates in this tradition. For readers not familiar with contemporary analytical philosophy, Feser’s book, despite its title, is not really an introduction.

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