Metaphysics: The Creation of Hierarchy
Overview
This comprehensive and detailed study of individuation reveals the theological nature of metaphysics. Adrian Pabst argues that ancient and modern conceptions of “being”—or individual substance—fail to account for the ontological relations that bind beings to each other and to God, their source. On the basis of a genealogical account of rival theories of creation and individuation from Plato to ‘postmodernism,’ Pabst proposes that the Christian Neo-Platonic fusion of biblical revelation with Greco-Roman philosophy fulfills and surpasses all other ontologies and conceptions of individuality.
In the Logos edition, this volume is enhanced by amazing functionality. Important terms link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a wealth of other resources in your digital library. Perform powerful searches to find exactly what you’re looking for. Take the discussion with you using tablet and mobile apps. With Logos Bible Software, the most efficient and comprehensive research tools are in one place, so you get the most out of your study.
For more works on philosophy, check out the Eerdmans Philosophy Collection (6 vols.)
Top Highlights
“Where attempts to mediate these arguments are to be found, frequently the strategy is that of a kind of accommodation: How can we adapt our belief in creation to an already established evolutionary metaphysic, or, how can we have our evolutionary cake and eat it too?” (Page iii)
“Why the chosen problem of individuation? Traditionally, the one and the many have been held in opposition, at least since the Greek philosopher Parmenides elevated the unity of essence over the multiplicity of appearance. Variations of this duality between unity and diversity are recurrent in the history of philosophy and theology—the universal and the particular, the intelligible and the sensible, the substantial and the accidental, the cosmic and the psychic, the first cause and secondary effects, the collective and the individual, the realm of transcendence and that of immanence.” (Page xxx)
“By linking the relational positioning of all individual substances to their shared source in God, my argument is that only a theological metaphysic can position being in the intermediary realm of ‘the between’ (Plato’s metaxu). In this realm, the original relation among the divine persons and the participatory relation between creation and creator intersect without however collapsing into one another. As such, ‘the between’ reflects the double hierarchy in creation and the creator. The created order of being fuses ‘monarchic’ with ‘egalitarian’ elements in such a way that the hierarchy of substances according to their degrees of being and goodness is coextensive with the equality of all finite things—compared with the perfection of infinite, divine being.” (Page xxviii)
- Title: Metaphysics: The Creation of Hierarchy
- Author: Adrian Pabst
- Series: Interventions
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Print Publication Date: 2012
- Logos Release Date: 2014
- Pages: 557
- Era: era:Contemporary
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Metaphysics › History; Individuation (Philosophy) › History; Philosophical theology
- ISBNs: 9780802864512, 0802864511
- Resource ID: LLS:METAPHYSICSINTS
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T20:20:56Z