Customer Reviews

The One and the Many: A Contemporary Thomistic Metaphysics

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This is the best inroductory text on Thomas's thought I have seen. Fr Clarke does a fine job of relaying difficult metaphysical concepts in an easy to understand manner without compromising their meaning.

In this book, Thomistic thought is effectively applied to modern philosophical and scientific issues. Ch 8 on the nature of identity through time via substance is especially good, as is Clarke's explanation on the distinction between the act of existence and a thing's essence.

This is the text I recommend for both beginners in Thomas' thought as well as more advanced thinkers anxious to gain an insight in applying Thomism to modern issues.

The history of metaphysical speculation is replete with contrast and contradiction; e.g. all is change, change is illusion, or all is one, each is all. As a result of which, many have sought new starting points and invented new lanquages (Heidegger must leap to mind) in the hope of providing improved perspectives.

In "The One and the Many", Norris Clarke accepts the challenge of Western thought. He does not attempt to start anew, invent a new language or rise above the past. Rather, he builds on the core ideas that Western speculation has provided seeking the limits and assimilating the truths of each.

Patiently and clearly by assimilation and contrast, Norris Clarke provides a 21st century "Thomistic existentialist" integration while calmly addressing the challenges of modernity to its ancient and medieval roots.

Half-way through Norris Clarke's The One and the Many, I decided to review some of Heidegger's Being and Time. Fresh from Father Clarke, Heidegger seemed intelligible. For this ametuer philosopher that was startling and a testimony to the clear think Father Clarke imparts to his readers.

This book is a joy to read. Enjoy him for both method and content and revel in a philosophy text that is an easy page-turner (this doesn't happen too often!).

Peace

W. Norris Clark has provided his reader with a very nice Thomistic metaphysics text. The text covers many of the more important areas of metaphysics such as the one and many issue, the meaning of being, act and potency, substance and accidents, causation (efficient and final), form and matter, and certain problems in metaphysics.

What the reader has here in this one text is a 'one stop' place where a thorough examination of some of the major metaphysical themes can be researched. What is more, many of these issues have been either ignored or simply disregarded in light of current analytic philosophical trends, much to the demise of modern philosophy. However, if you are wanting a good text on the classic and all important issues of metaphyics (since doing philosophy is impossible w/o doing metaphysics), then you will want to get a copy of this text.

Also, for an excellent companion to this volume see Clarke's work "Explorations in Metaphysics." Another great text for those interested in studying metaphysics.

An excellent book! This book is timely because it puts Thomistic metaphysics in a modern day context. It helps you gain a better understanding of a 13th century system of metaphysics by teaching you what it is, and how other modern day systems of metaphysics compare to it.

The end of every chapter has a series of questions to help you reflect on concepts learned in the previous pages. Some training or exposure to philosophy is presupposed because the book is written as an "advanced textbook of systematic metaphysics in the Thomistic tradition." As with any other philosophical work, reading slowly and making notes in the margins will help you grasp the concepts before moving on to others.

For those who are curious about Thomistic metaphysics, or if the Thomistic philosophical tradition appeals to you, then this book should be required reading. A truly remarkable book!

This book is a stunning introduction to, and completion, of St Thomas's metaphysics. It is wonderfully infused with hope, wonder and the joy of being and provides insights into why modern thinking (suffused, as it is, with subjectivism) reflects the thinking of Decartes, Kant and others, for whom beings were unknowable in their essence but who were only intelligible through the operation of a priori assumptions operating in the subject's brain.

The book starts off exploring "existence" or "esse" and contrasts it with non-being. It then proceeds to explore what distinguises one being (say a human being) from another being (say a dog)and defines that difference by reference to "essence", essence being a kind of limitation on pure "existence". But, even though a human and a dog have different essences, they belong to the community of existents. We are all, to different extents, image of our Maker, who is pure Act.

The next question is what distinguishes this person from another person? So, Clarke digs deeper and notes that "essence" itself is made up of two metaphysical principles, namely "form" (a kind of blueprint) and matter (the space taken up by a being). All humans have the same human form (namely the soul) but they are each possessed of different matter (albeit plastic in nature) existing in space and time.

But, then how does one account for the fact that beings change? Clarke notes that being is in Act but is also in potentiality. God himself is pure Act but we are always in flux. Clarke explores further by noting that "matter" itself is made up of "substance" (the inner core) and "accidents" (extrinsic features such as hair colour). Clarke uses the concept of "primary matter" to allow for the fact that persons can undergo substantial change, namely persons die and break down into their constituent parts, showing the plasticity of matter,

Why is it that we do not fully know ourselves or indeed the spouse with whom we may have lived for decades? Because we are images of the infinite One, who has marked our very being with his infinite touch.

Clarke finishes beautifully with a hymn-like final chapter in praise of "being".


Thank you for Fr Clark this wonderful book.

I have been a student of Philosophy for some time and I 'thought' I understood Thomistic Metephysics. Once I read this book it was as if my eyes were opened again for the first time. This is simply the best explanation of the Thomistic Metephysical system that I have seen. I have now read the book four times and each time I am stunned. The Thomistic system, primarily building upon Aristotle but bringing in crucial elements from Platinus and Neo-Platonic thought, presents a vision of the world as purposeful and goal oriented. Clarke shows how are whole world is an interconnected and organic network of causality that will lead us upward to the pure act of existence, the full perfection of existence, God Himself. Good philosophy like this will lead to the joy and happiness of contemplation, that contemplation which turned Thomas of Aquino into SAINT Thomas.

This book gave me a most remarkable introduction to philosophy. My Metaphysics class, using Clark's book as a text, led me to eventually become a philosophy major. Clark, with precision, clarity, and depth, presents the fundamental metaphysical issues, and he does so in a pertient, involving manner. I did not want to put the book down (quite amazing for a textbook). Philosophy came to life for me in that book, and philosophy sill is quite alive for me today. Thank you Norris Clark.
Of course, I have since read and studied other philosophical views, causing me to quetion and reconsider Clark's concepts. Yet, such is the One and The Many's value: you need not agree with it in order to appreciate it. In sum, this is the finest philosphical synthesis I have ever had the pleasure of reading

The previous reviewer's nonsense can be safely ignored. The Magisterium has no official teaching on evolution and it never will because evolution is not a matter of dogmatic or moral theology. As for the value of this book: Fr. W. Norris Clarke is one of the greatest living Neo-Thomists. Herein he gives us a complete Thomist metaphysics. It may well be the crown of his philosophical work. I suggest that anyone with an interest in Thomism pay it heed.

I almost gave up on this book. The first half was somwhat tedious to me because it focused on - more or less - the "mechanics" of being...I felt connection with the spiritual was missing here. But, I stuck with it, and realized the author was laying the foundation for the second half of the book which was about onness, spirituality, and God....The second half of the book was trully awe-inspiring and enlightening. It outlined a truly crediable explination - much based on St. Thomas' teachings - of the nature of spirit, being, good, evil, etc.

The only detraction from this book is that it is extreemly detailed and more accessable to a "student" of theology rather than the average person (even more so that St. Thomas' works in my view)...But a great book never the less - a real "keeper"

-Joe M.

"The ONE and the MANY" by W. Norris Clarke, S.J.

Marian Apgar sent me this book for review, as a gift, for which I am appreciative. It is a terrific introduction to Metaphysics, and here is what the book will show in the beginning.

Author W. Norris Clarke makes mention of something that I have pondered myself for many years. He calls it an "integrative vision." He is referring to what is left out and ignored when Modernist tendencies predominate in philosophy, that is, they become merely criticisms of affirmations, and they also become what Clarke calls "piecemeal" work. They are highly articulate speculations, and entirely useless to provide a guiding light or a lamp for our feet in the real world, which is where we must act and accomplish work. Without that "integrative vision" man can claim only a "piecemeal" intellectuality, without purpose or overall explanation. This is why the classical tradition of Metaphysics is useful for us in reversing the negativisms of Modernist and Deconstructionist thought. We require an "integrative vision of reality". [see p.3 INTRODUCTION]

I like the way in which Clarke gives Metaphysics a specific definition, early on in this text. Metaphysics is specifically defined as a reliance upon human thought and reason, without including any higher source of wisdom which transcends the human, such as Divine Revelation or its Theological Explication; but still, Clarke observes that the metaphysical thinker can respect transcendant sources as illuminative of a higher order. So, I am entirely comforted by this qualification.

Clarke mentions that the Medieval Christian thinkers claimed that God spoke to mankind in two books:


1. Book of Nature, whose created things speak to us directly

and

2. Book of Revelation, where God himself reveals to us his own inner nature, his plans for humanity, and offers us free gifts

Clarke would have us know that most modern philosophers have abandoned the very notion of constructing a unified, systematic inquiry, and that Deconstruction and Post-Modernism have dismantled the entire engine of Western Metaphysics. However, I would myself offer, that such a "dismantling" is largely a mere intellectual and academic enterprise. It's as though many people of some intellectual talent have said, "So there! I've said it isn't so, and there it is! It just is not so!" The unfortunate aspect of this very prevalent negativism, is that many people lack the tools to challenge these claims, and a dark night of ignorance sets in. That is, until we take up the study of Thomistic Metaphysics and begin to find the very good and useful answers known to philosphers from Aristotle to the present.

CAN WE FIND USEFUL TOOLS OF THOUGHT FOR OURSELVES? Yes we can!

Can we communicate those answers to others? Well, yes, but only with qualifications. Clarke points out that we are limited by language. Our words can only point to the truth. They do not substitute for the truth, and are not the truth itself. With that caveat however, we can move forward and obtain much progress on our path.

Herein are the many keys that we search for, and be comforted in your search; for if your way seems difficult, imagine how difficult the journey must be for those who insist that man can never know. That invocation brings the dark night of chaos down upon us, and it cannot be lifted until we wake up to affirm that we can know our own being. This singular distinction has vast implication.

*** METAPHYSICS NOT THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD ***


Metaphysics "...cannot be done by any method of empirical observation of scientific method based on quantitative measuring techniques formulated in mathematical terms, but only by its own proper method of reflective analysis and insight into the necessary conditions of intelligibility of being as such..." p.9, INTRODUCTION

This book receives my wholehearted recommendation, but with a bit of advise, based upon my experience. DO NOT, expect to read a book like this straight through and make perfect sense of it right off the bat. I recommend a much slower and round-about approach.

1. Learn to identify the general principles: An example here is learning about Aristotle's LAW of NON-CONTRADICTION.

By necessity, a good metaphysician (and Clarke is a good one) must be wordy; and I will be the first to admit that one can become discouraged, confused, and frustrated. This is neither the fault of the author nor of his reader. It's the enormity of the challenge of acquiring KNOWLEDGE-for-KNOWLEDGE's-OWN-SAKE. So be very patient with yourself.

For myself, I have cultivated a couple of generalized rules in life, which help me when facing a challenge:

RULE #1 Never, EVER, beat yourself up.
(that's your enemy's job)

RULE #2 Love yourself a LOT. (get rid of those feelings that suggest there is something wrong with loving yourself. Besides, if you do not love even YOU, it stands to reason that you will never love anyone else, either)

Now then, let's start learning about the wonderful truths discovered by the classical, medieval scholars, and start building a solid framework, a foundation knowledge that will withstand what Shakespeare called "the whips and scorns of time."
(see Hamlet's Soliloquy).