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FOURTH Course - SPRING 2008
Basic Principles in METAPHISICS
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm, at the Family Research Council Building, 801 G Street, NW, Washington, D.C. |
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“Metaphysical” is often a pejorative term implying worthless
abstraction, and a question like “What does it mean ‘to be’?”
sounds like it would only be asked by an obnoxious sophist.
But when Aristotle asked about the meaning of being, it was in
the context of a general inquiry into the nature of truth,
seeking to satisfy the natural human desire for ultimate
wisdom. This is what John Paul II had in mind when he called
for philosophy to rediscover its “genuinely metaphysical
range”: human reason can discover ultimate truths transcending
physical experience.
Considering the background and development of Aristotelian
metaphysical inquiry, this course will seek to make sense of
basic metaphysical questions, concepts, distinctions,
arguments, and discoveries. Its basic structure follows
Aristotle’s own different characterizations of “first
philosophy,” as a science of ultimate causes, a science of
being, a science of substance, and a science of God.
1.
February 27
What is Metaphysics? -preliminaries from logic and physics;
controversy over interpreting Aristotle
2.
March 12
A science of first principles -the characteristics of a wise
man; method of seeking first principles; abstraction
3.
March 26
The questions of metaphysics -the aporiae, especially concerning
the problem of universals and the question of immaterial being
4.
April 9
A science of being qua being -Analogy of being; real
vs. rational being; the real distinction between essence and
existence
5.
April 23
A science of substance -Actuality; Aristotle vs. Plato on
form
6.
May 7
Theology (a science of separate substance)
7.
May 21
Revealed Theology and Metaphysics |
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