Perplexity and Ultimacy: Metaphysical Thoughts from the Middle

by William Desmond

Desmond explores perplexity regarding ultimacy-the metaphysical perplexity that precedes and exceeds scientific and commonsense curiosity. Desmond writes about the metaphysical perplexity that cannot be identified with scientific or commonsense curiosity. This perplexity is in another dimension of thought, asking questions about what precedes and exceeds the determinate intelligibilities of science and common sense. Desmond explores what this perplexity is, especially in so far as it is shadowed by the question of ultimacy. This work complements Desmond's Being and the Between.

Genres: Philosophy

278 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1995

About the author

William James Desmond (born January 7, 1951) is an Irish philosopher who has written on ontology, metaphysics, ethics, and religion. Desmond earned his B.A. and M.A. from University College, Cork, in 1972 and 1974; Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University in 1978.

Former president of the Hegel Society of America (1990–1992) and the Metaphysical Society of America (1995), Desmond is a professor of philosophy at the Higher Institute of Philosophy at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, and also at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. He is a past president of the American Catholic Philosophical Association. In his trilogy, Being and The Between, Ethics and The Between, and God and The Between, Desmond works out an entirely new and complete metaphysical/ontological philosophical system based on what he calls the potencies of being and the senses of being. His most original contribution in his metaphysics is the notion of the "metaxological", which will be explained below. Desmond's program consists mainly in exploring the senses in which modernity has devalued being and what "to be" and "the good" might mean.

This biography is an excerpt from: https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/...

Reviews

[Marcas · Rating 4 out of 5]

...Typical Desmond, heavy, but very good. William's a better writer than he is a speaker, thank God!

The proffering of a 'metaxu' over and against 'dialectic' is great.