Real Essentialism (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy, Vol. 11)

This man is way too brilliant, displaying encyclopedic knowledge of the history of philosophy from ancient sources to modern primary and secondary literature, along with an astounding grasp of biological science in his discussion of form and species. I was not at all conversant with the analytic philosophy, having studied only ancient and medieval, with particular attention to the scholastic metaphysics of St. Thomas Aquinas. Very deep reading, requiring concentrated attention, but well worth the effort. Really deserves a second reading if time.

This is not a book for the faint of heart. It is a book by a professional analytic philosopher defending an Aristotelian-Thomostic (AT) understanding of real essentialism, and it is written for those who are already familiar with much of the debate surrounding real essentialim in the sense that the author interacts with many other authors who argue either against real essentialism or hold to a view of essentialism (e.g. a "bundle theory") that is incompatible with the AT viewpoint of the author. Hence, this is a scholarly work as opposed to a popular level work like many of the books by fellow AT metaphysicist Edward Feser. I am not by any stretch of the imagination a professional philosopher, and so this book was very challenging for me. There are many parts that I will need to go back and reread.That being said, someone like me who is only a lowly amateur scholastic was able to get much out of this book. Oderberg defines and defends the AT view of real essentialism; that is, he defends the proposition that things have real essences which are knowable (though not exhaustively) by us. As mentioned above, he critiques other forms of essentialism or those ideas associated with essentialism, such as "other worlds" and the view that the essence of something is simply a collection of properties (the so-called bundle theory). Chapter 3 is especially helpful, as in this chapter Oderberg gives the most robust positive defense of real essentialism, arguing why such a philosophy is necessary as well as how we can know essences. Other chapters are devoted to interacting with much of modern science and modern objections to essentialism. For example, Oderberg spends an entire chapter discussing whether or not evolution and modern biology undermine essentialism (hint: they don't). He takes the time to look at common views of the phylogenetic tree and show the philosophical shortcomings of the modern (reductionist) way of determining whether two animals are of the same species. Please note this is not a criticism of biology or evolution, but a criticism of the philosophy of determining when we ought to consider two animals of the same species.Oderberg finishes the book by defending "hylomorphic dualistic" view of the human person. In other words, he discusses the implications of real essentialism to the human person.This is an essential book for those wishing to defend and hold to AT metaphysics. What is especially helpful about this book is the fact that it is true to the metaphysics of Aquinas, yet it uses those meatphysical principles to interact with modern objections based on new discoveries like human evolution. This is not the book to begin studying AT metaphysics, as texts by Feser would be better suited for the beginner. But with a decent knowledge under your belt of AT metaphysics, this book is a must read.

This book should be required reading for professional philosophers and serious students of philosophy.Professor Oderberg's book presents a serious, erudite, rigorously argued, very well-documented and detailed contemporary defense and explanation of the Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysics.If you think (like I did, some time ago) that the metaphysical ideas of Aristotle and Aquinas are a silly and naive product of the scientific ignorance of the times of their writings, then you'll discover (after close reading Oderberg's book) how much ill-informed you are. When I read this book, I already knew that most criticisms of the Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysics were based on misunderstandings of the critics. But after I read it, I confirmed that the case for an Aristotlian-Thomistic metaphysics is very hard to refute indeed; and certainly, the common and well-known criticisms against it don't affect it at all, as you can judge by yourself.Dr.Oderberg's command of the relevant metaphysical literature on contemporary analytic philosophy and his knowledge of Aristotelian Thomistic philosophy, makes this book a philosophical masterpiece.I'd dare to say this book is one of the best books on philosophy that I've ever read, and probably the best book defending the Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysics in print.If you're a serious truth-seeker, philosopher or student of philosophy, you have to read and STUDY Dr.Oderberg's excellent book.You won't be dissapointed.

In recent years, some philosophers, such as Kit Fine, E.J. Lowe, have been re-investigating an Aristotelian conception of metaphysics. This ultimately is rooted in the study of the "essence" of things. David Oderberg presents his own explanation of Aristotelian metaphysics and some of the things it entails. Oderberg deals preliminarily with modality, how this relates to modern problems (e.g. "possible worlds"), then replies to some objections against the concept of essences. Oderberg then continues to draw out conclusions and explain in clear terms such seemingly obscure things as essence, form, prime matter, analogy, being, species, genus, nature, etc. Important issues, such as the relation between evolutionary theory and the idea of necessary essences are discussed. The only thing that may have made this book better would have been if Oderberg mentioned a little bit more about science and philosophy of physics. Oderberg *does* talk about philosophy of biology, which may be somewhat more pertinent. Ultimately, Oderberg presents for an analytic audience a clear and concise enunciation of some central ideas in Aristotelian metaphysics.

An absolute must-have for anyone interested in neo-Aristotelian metaphysics, or metaphysics more broadly. Covers essentialism from many angles, including biological. It is not written in a layman-friendly way, however, so don't expect Ed Feser.