Monday, February 23, 2009

Oderberg's Real Essentialism

I have recommended David Oderberg's excellent recent book Real Essentialism to anyone interested in a detailed and rigorous exposition and defense of Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysics, informed by a deep knowledge of the metaphysics literature in recent analytic philosophy. I am delighted to find that Google Book Search has a fairly generous sample of the book available here.
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8 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 24, 2009 at 4:30 PM

    Enticing. Why do the interesting philosophy books always cost so damn much?

    By the way, Prof Feser - don't you have a book due out this year on Aquinas?

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  2. Edward FeserFebruary 24, 2009 at 5:38 PM

    Yes I do, and I am just now finishing the editing. It will be out in September.

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  3. AnonymousFebruary 25, 2009 at 10:47 AM

    Professor Feser's book on Aquinas is in amazon.com as a forthcoming book:

    http://www.amazon.com/Aquinas-Beginners-Guide-Guides/dp/1851686908/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235586899&sr=1-2

    To present Aquinas' views in a "beginner's guide" format is a good idea, I'm sure that book will bring new interest in Aquinas' philosophy.

    I know the following is a premature question, but I'm a fan of your books, prof.Feser. Thus do you have in mind to write more books on philosophy? Any hints of your future books?

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  4. AnonymousFebruary 25, 2009 at 3:47 PM

    I echo Anons' cry of pain. My interest is in philosophy of religion, and increasingly in the scholastics, but the best books -- those hardcovers that you'd love to read and then add proudly to your bookshelves -- always seem to be $100+ items.

    Perhaps Prof. Feser can post on his blog a list of older books worth seeking out that can be obtained more cheaply on the secondhand market?

    "Scholastic philosophy on the cheap." How about it, Prof. Feser?!

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  5. Neil ParilleFebruary 25, 2009 at 4:05 PM

    Funny, I emailed Dr. Oderberg asking if a paperback copy of the book would be available. He suggested emailing the publisher and encouraging them.

    The price of books is always a problem. There doesn't seem to be a connection between the size of the book and the topic compared with the price, e.g. some technical books on philosophy are cheap, others expensive.

    You'd think that with the growth of ebooks that published would follow the "iTunes model" and make their catalog available digitally for a modest, uniform price.

    -Neil Parille

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  6. Edward FeserFebruary 25, 2009 at 4:30 PM

    Tom,

    Definitely, but I need a break for a while! There are several topics I intend to write on, but which one will be next is something I haven't yet decided.

    Beginning Thomist,

    That is an excellent idea and I will do so ASAP.

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  7. Neil ParilleFebruary 25, 2009 at 4:42 PM

    Here's a stupid question: Is the One World Beginner's Guide a different series from the "One World Thinkers" or are they merging the two series into one?

    -Neil Parille

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  8. Edward FeserFebruary 25, 2009 at 9:11 PM

    Hi Neil,

    I'm not certain what the current status is of the Thinkers series. The Aquinas book was originally advertised as part of it, but (like the second edition of my Phil of Mind book but unlike my book on Locke) was folded into the Beginner's Guide series. My sense is that, for marketing reasons, they do this with certain titles that are likely to appeal to non-philosophers as well as to philosophers.

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