The first anniversary of the publication of The Last Superstition is just around the corner. How will you celebrate? You could drink a bottle of Aquinas – not a bad idea. But while doing so, why not read a hot-off-the-press copy of my new book Aquinas?
Aquinas is an in-depth but accessible introduction to the philosophical thought of the Angelic Doctor. St. Thomas’ key metaphysical ideas are set out in detail, their relation to current issues in analytic philosophy is explored, and common caricatures and misunderstandings are swept away. The core of the book is an extended, critical but sympathetic treatment of the famous Five Ways, which situates them in the broader Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysical context apart from which they cannot properly be understood, reveals how the standard objections rest on a failure to appreciate this context, and shows that each of the arguments is still defensible today. This is followed by a similarly A-T metaphysics-informed treatment of Aquinas’s philosophical psychology and moral theory. Readers of The Last Superstition will be interested to see some of its topics developed in greater detail and in a more academic and – for those of more tender sensibilities – entirely non-polemical fashion.
Some pre-publication blurbs:
“At last. A concise, accessible and compelling introduction to Aquinas's thought. Feser shows that Aquinas's philosophy is still a live option for thinkers today.” Kelly James Clark, Professor of Philosophy, Calvin College
“Lucid, cogent, and compelling. Required reading.” Christopher Kaczor, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Loyola Marymount University
“Useful and easy to read. Students and scholars will find this highly beneficial.” Fulvio di Blasi, President, Thomas International
What else is in the book, you ask? I got your Table of Contents right here:
CONTENTS:
1. St. Thomas
2. Metaphysics
Act and potency
Hylemorphism
The four causes
Essence and existence
The transcendentals
Final causality
Efficient causality
Being
3. Natural Theology
The First Way
The Second Way
The Third Way
The Fourth Way
The Fifth Way
The divine attributes
4. Psychology
The soul
Intellect and will
Immateriality and immortality
Hylemorphic dualism
5. Ethics
The good
Natural law
Religion and morality
Further reading
Remember, Christmas is coming, so you’ll need copies for family, friends, your priest, minister, rabbi or imam, colleagues, acquaintances, enemies, the milk man, the mail man, Domino’s Pizza delivery guys, and whatever random people you might meet on the street. So, as they say in Chicago, order early and often!
Comments (8)
BTW, I dedicate this post to Grobi...
Posted by Edward Feser | September 19, 2009 2:33 AM
Buying hot so I can test it out for my HS curriculum.
Posted by The Nyssan | September 19, 2009 9:13 AM
My son just started The Last Superstition. I just posted on his Facebook page that I know what his next book will be. He's 23 but still gets "homework" from me.
Posted by Gina M. Danaher | September 19, 2009 9:42 AM
Congratulations! I cannot wait to read it.
Thomas, not for just peeping Thomists anymore!
Posted by Francis Beckwith | September 19, 2009 11:54 AM
...acquaintances, enemies...
So you are sending one to Heather MacDonald. :)
Posted by Step2 | September 19, 2009 4:42 PM
Sooooo, are you sayin' you want us to borrow your book from a library? ;-)
Posted by Tobias | September 19, 2009 9:08 PM
"At last?!?" What about Chesterton's Dumb Ox. That said, I'm looking forward to the book.
Posted by Roach | September 21, 2009 10:04 AM
Oh great, it won't be TLS, TLS, TLS anymore. No. It'll be Aquinas, Aquinas, Aquinas! :)
Posted by Crumb | September 21, 2009 2:48 PM