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Space, Time and Deity: The Gifford Lectures at Glasgow 1916-1918 (Two Vols.)

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'I found in Alexander's 'Space Time and Deity' his theory of 'Enjoyment' and 'Contemplation'. These are technical terms in Alexander's philosophy. 'Enjoyment' has nothing to do with pleasure, nor 'Contemplation with the contemplative life. When you see a table you 'enjoy' the act of seeing and 'contemplate' the table.. . .I accepted this distinction at once and have ever since regarded it as an indispensable tool of thought. . . .Instead of the twofold division of Conscious and Unconscious, we need a threefold division: the Unconscious, the Enjoyed, and the Contemplated.'

-CS Lewis, 'Surprised by Joy'

If D. B. Larson is the Father of the Theory of the Universe of Motion, then Prof. Samuel Alexander is the Grandfather. I've read STD four times, and each time I've learned more. Alexander's metaphysics is empirical and systematic, the opposite of Hegel's. He starts with pure space-time (motion in a line), moves on to photons (vibrations), matter, chemical compounds, biological cells, the human mind, and Deity. Space and Time are not separate, but combined in Motion, which is the fundamental component of the universe. Time is the "mind" of Space, and the "nisus" of Time brings out the succeeding empirical levels; at each level there is something corresponding to mind and body. We "enjoy" our mind and "contemplate" our body and other existents. The categories (properties) of Space-Time belong to each piece of it; Kant is wrong in declaring that the categories belong to the human mind only. The theory is realist, not idealist, and is very well thought out and very well written out. Larson's book Beyond Space and Time is basically a scientific formulation of the same concepts (with a few differences, e.g. with a less social ethics). In reading Alexander you will be in the company of perhaps the greatest metaphysical mind of the 20th century. Other philosophers seem like flunkies by comparison!