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Book Cover
E-book
Author Hoffman, Joshua

Title Substance : its nature and existence / Joshua Hoffman and Gary S. Rosenkrantz
Published London ; New York : Routledge, 1997

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 218 pages 23 cm)
Series The problems of philosophy
Problems of philosophy (Routledge (Firm))
Contents 1. The concept of substance in history -- 2. An independence theory of substance -- 3. On the unity of the parts of mereological compounds -- 4. On the unity of the parts of organisms -- 5. What kinds of physical substances are there? -- Appendix. Organisms and natural kinds
Summary Substance: Its Nature and Existence is one of the first accessible introductions to the history and contemporary debates surrounding the idea of substance. An important and often complex issue, substance is at the heart of Western philosophy. Substances are distinguished from other kinds of entities such as properties, events, times, and places. This book investigates the very nature and existence of individual substances, including both living things and inanimate objects
Taking as their starting point the major philosophers in the historical debate - Aristotle, Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, and Hume - Joshua Hoffman and Gary S. Rosenkrantz move on to a novel analysis of substance in terms of a kind of independence which insubstantial entities do not possess. The authors explore causal theories of the unity of the parts of inanimate objects and organisms; contemporary views about substance; the idea that the only existing physical substances are inanimate pieces of matter and living organisms, and that artifacts such as clocks, and natural formations like stars, do not really exist. Substance: Its Nature and Existence provides students of philosophy and metaphysics with an introduction to and critical engagement with a key philosophical issue
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 192-213) and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Substance (Philosophy)
PHILOSOPHY -- Metaphysics.
Substance (Philosophy)
Substanz
Substantie.
Form Electronic book
Author Rosenkrantz, Gary S
LC no. 96015069
ISBN 9781134831364
1134831366
0203050061
9780203050064
9781134831319
1134831315
9781134831357
1134831358
9786610185030
6610185034